Multilingual Celebrities

Posted on May 16, 2012 by Euro London

We don’t just love languages because they can be used in the workplace; we love languages because they can be used throughout life. Last week we were surprised to find a number of multilingual football managers and Footballers, so this week we thought we’d take a look at celebrities and we were surprised to find that a growing number of Actors, Actresses and other Celebrities can speak a variety of languages.

1. Mila Kunis is famous for starring in the Black Swan and Forgetting Sarah Marshall but is well less known for her ability with languages. Brought up in the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic before moving to the United States; she first learnt Russian, then English once in the USA.

2. Bradley Cooper star of The Hangover and Limitless took it upon himself to learn another language whilst he was at university. He started to learn French whilst studying English at Georgetown University, perfecting it on an exchange program spending 6 months France.

3. Malin Åkerman may not have starred as the lead in many films but the Swedish born actress has been in some big blockbusters including Watchmen, The Proposal and the summer release Rock of Ages. Åkerman can speak English and Swedish after moving from Sweden to Canada in her childhood as well as speaking some French and Spanish.

4. Johnny Depp has not only had an amazing career as an actor starring in Edward Sissorhands, Donnie Brasco, Blow and the Pirates of the Caribbean saga, he Can speak French as well. The actor has split much of his time living between Los Angeles and France over the last 10 years where he lives with his wife and kids.

5. Sandra Bullock who has starred in Speed and Miss Congeniality, as well as appearing alongside Malin Åkerman in The Proposal, can speak fluent German which she picked up whilst living in Germany for 12 years as a child.

6. Viggo Mortensen most famously known for playing Aragorn in the Lord of the Rings trilogy as well as playing parts in Eastern Promises and a History of Violence grew up in Venezuela, Argentina and Denmark in his youth obtaining dual American-Danish Citizenship. Today he can fluently speak English, Danish and Spanish as well as having conversational Italian and French.

7. Christopher Lee famous for starring in both Lord of the Rings and Star Wars as well as playing to many lead roles in his illustrious 64 year acting career can speak fluent English, Italian, French, Spanish and German, and is moderately proficient in Swedish, Russian and Greek. Rumour has it that he has done his own dubbing for some of his films international versions.

8. Natalie Portman holds dual Israeli-American citizenship due to having an American mother and Israeli father and can speak both Hebrew and English. The actress who broke through playing Mathilda in the film Léon has also appeared in V for Vendetta and co starred alongside Mila Kunis in Black Swan.

9. Joseph Gordon-Levitt star of hit indie film 500 days of Summer and Inception has impressed fans with his ability to speak fluent French as well as English.

10. Last but not least is Will Smith – possibly the coolest man in the world. He can act, sing, dance and can add speaking languages to his list with his proficiency of the Spanish language. The actor who broke through with the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air has been playing the lead in TV and film ever since the late1980’s.

Do you have a favourite actor with a multilingual capability?

Proofreading Your CV

Posted on May 10, 2012 by Euro London

Your CV is one of the most important documents you will ever produce! You will therefore need to write cohesively and accurately and make sure there are no spelling mistakes which may see your sparkling experience and well written personal statement dismissed in a heartbeat.

Communication has always been vital and in today’s world it’s easier and more important than ever. Emails, instant messaging and social networking have meant that being able to string a written sentence together is crucial. Documents littered with typos can be embarrassing for the author and can lose you an interview you really want. We thought we’d put on our thinking caps and put together a list of our top tips we think will help you not to include a spelling mistake on your CV.

First of all, don’t proofread it – not right away at least; wait for a couple of hours after you’ve written it. This will enable your eyes to take a break from what you’ve written and allow your brain to read what’s actually on the paper and not what you think you’ve written.

Review a hard copy – If possible print out a copy of your text to look over instead of viewing it on a screen. Review the different factors involved in your CV looking at the sentence structure, wording, grammar and punctuation.

Read aloud – this can help not only catch out any spelling and grammar mistakes but also make sure your words have the correct meaning. Make sure you are using the correct spelling and meaning of a word that may be a homophone; words that are pronounced the same but have different meanings, something a spell checker won’t catch. I.e. their, there and they’re.

Lastly, make sure you get a second pair of eyes to look over it – a new set of eyes can usually pick up errors you may have missed or are been unsure about.

The CV is the first thing a hiring manager will see about you and it’s important to make a good first impression so make sure you have proofread your CV to the best of your ability and give yourself a head start in the job hunt.

Multilingual Football Managers

Posted on May 9, 2012 by Euro London

International management is a major factor of corporate business in the globalised world we live in today and one of the best examples of global management is a football club. It can be owned by a an investor from one side of the world, managed by a tactician from the other side of the world and made up of players from a variety of backgrounds and nationalities; not to mention the training staff and support team. So when Roy Hodgson was appointed to be the manager of the England national team we were surprised to find out that he spoke other languages, seven to be precise. Aside from speaking English, Roy Hodgson speaks fluent Norwegian, Swedish, German and Italian as well as some Danish, French and Finnish [1]. We wondered to ourselves why we’d only just heard about his multilingual capacity and set about looking for other European managers and Footballers who can speak several languages.

Arsène Wenger has not only had a successful career managing Arsenal football club, he’s also fluent in French, German and English as well as having a grasp of Italian, Spanish and Japanese. If that’s not enough, he also holds a masters degree from the University of Strasbourg, which he completed whilst continuing his professional football career before moving into management.

The self professed “special one”, José Mourinho, is not only a master tactician; he’s also a master linguist. José can speak 5 languages fluently which include Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, French and English as well as knowing some Catalonian; sounds like he’s practically perfect in every way.

Alex Ferguson is reported to have picked up intermediate use of some languages during his highly successful time managing Manchester United including French and Portuguese which he learnt from his French and Brazilian players.

It’s not only managers who are great linguists; several footballers not only know how to play the beautiful game but also to speak some beautiful languages too.

Ask Thierry Henry what’s French for “Va Va Voom” and he’ll be able to tell you the answer in 5 different languages including French, English, Italian and Spanish as well as a Creole language, (a stable natural language developed from the mixing of parent languages [2]).

Clarence Seedorf has not only won the Champions League title 4 times with three different clubs, he also has a lively ability with languages. Not only can the Dutch international speak Dutch, he can also speak English, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese.

Aside from being one of the best players ever, Zinadine Zidane can also speak 6 languages. His language knowledge includes Berber, Algerian, Arabic, French, English and Italian. Zidane may unfortunately be remembered for his actions during the 2010 world cup instead of his footballing prowess or his knowledge of languages though.

Do you know any Football managers or players who can speak several languages? Let us know.

[1] http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/roy-hodgson-inside-the-mind-of-englands-814842

[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creole_language

The Etymology Of Words

Posted on May 3, 2012 by Euro London

Have you ever wondered where words come from? They are taught to us as children with meanings already clearly established and parameters set out; but they can’t have always had meanings, this is where etymology comes in. Etymology is study of the true sense of a word and can be broken down itself from ancient Greek, using the Greek word Etumon (Etym) – “the true sense of a word”; and ology – “The study of”.

Knowing that words don’t appear out of thin air, we thought we’d trace the routes of some words that we use in everyday conversation.

Have you ever worked on a freelance basis, perhaps as a translator? The word freelance was coined to describe medieval knights with no allegiances to a lord i.e. they were a free lance. The word began to be used in mainstream language in the late 19^th century; however, it wasn’t until the 20^th century that the term became used as a noun, i.e. freelance journalist or translator; not “loyal” to a company.

Have you ever noticed the connection between words? This is because many words can trace their routes back to the same origin.

Homicide, Pesticide and Regicide – all end in Cide which is no coincidence as cide originates from the Latin word Caedere, meaning to kill. This gives separate meanings to words although broadly meaning the same thing i.e. Homicide – to kill a man, Pesticide – to kill a pest and Regicide – to kill a king.

Mal from the Latin language translates to the English word, bad; combine this with other words and again you have new meanings. Malaria, the deadly disease spread by mosquitos, is the combination of the Latin for bad (Mal) and the Latin for air (Aria); other examples include malnourishment and malware.

Are you tired of hearing oxymoron’s such as a deafening silence and controlled chaos; you might be surprised to know that the word oxymoron is itself an oxymoron. The word, which is used to describe contradictory terms, is composed from 5th century Latin derived from the ancient Greek terms for sharp and dull; Oxus = sharp and Moros = Dull.

Like languages, words evolve all the time. The invention of the internet has proved this to us with new meanings and definitions added to the dictionary each year.

Lost For Words

Posted on May 1, 2012 by Euro London

There are 6500 languages spoken in the world today; this number has been predicted to shrink rapidly over the coming decades to just 600 languages by the beginning of the 22^nd century. This was the startling calculation made in 1992 by the prominent US linguist Michael E. Krauss who predicted that 90% of the languages spoken in the world today will be extinct by 2100 AD, but how likely is it to become true?

India, one of the most linguistically diverse countries in the world, is home to around 900 living languages. However, in 1961 there were more than 1600 languages spoken throughout the regions of India, highlighting the unfortunate trend that like elsewhere around the globe, India is losing languages at an extraordinary rate [1].

Even UNESCO’s own estimates predict that at least half of the world languages alive today will be extinct by 2100. This is highlighted by having 473 languages already listed as nearly extinct; a further 2000 languages are spoken by less than 1000 people and 133 languages spoken by less than 10 people.

Is it too late to save some languages? We think not.

Hebrew is a language that can show us it is never too late to resurrect a dying language. Hebrew has been around since the 10^th century BC, but by the 19^th century Hebrew was a “dead language” says Claude Hagege ; Used predominantly in scholarly reading, Hebrew had no way to say “pass the salt” and “I love you” [2]. However the language was revived in the late 1800’s and now has over 11 million speakers. Other examples of languages being brought back to life include the Welsh language and Maori.

Languages may also be saved by technology. Our Recent Blog on the future of languages researched the current software available to us [3]. Could this be used to record and analyse endangered languages help us preserve them for future generations in an audio library?

Languages are the explanation of our culture and the building blocks of our civilization; what we lose each time we lose a language is a part of our human history and ancestry that we will never be able to get back.

[1] http://web1.globalpost.com/dispatches/globalpost-blogs/india/indias-languages-dying

[2] http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_8311000/8311069.stm

[3] http://www.eurolondon.com/blog/en/is-technology-the-future-of-language/

12 Inspirational Quotes On Languages

Posted on April 26, 2012 by Euro London

Over our 22 years in the multilingual recruitment sector we’ve seen some great quotes on the advantages of knowing a second language. We thought we’d put together our 12 favourite quotes we’ve found from our personal reading and group discussions to highlight the advantages of knowing a second language.

1. If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his own language, that goes to his heart – Nelson Mandela

2. Language is the roadmap of a culture. It tells you where its people are from and where they are going – Rita Mae Brown

3. To have another language is to possess a second soul – The Emperor Charlemagne

4. Whereas one language now often makes a wall, two can make a gate – Walter V Kaulfers

5. Those who know nothing of foreign languages, know nothing of their own – Goethe

6. A different language is a different version of life – Federico Fellini

7. The limits of my language are the limits of my universe – Ludwig Wittgenstein

8. You can never understand one language until you understand at least two – Geoffrey Willans

9. The sum of human wisdom is not contained in any one language – Ezra Pound

10. Thought is the blossom, language the bud and action the fruit behind it – Ralph Waldo Emerson

11. Change your language and change your thoughts – Karl Albrecht

12. The quality of our thought is boarded on all sides by the quality of our language – J Michael Straczynski

What’s your favourite one? Do you have a better quote about languages?

Why Don’t We Learn Hindi?

Posted on April 24, 2012 by Euro London

The credit crunch of 2008 and the sovereign debt crisis that affected the Euro Zone last year has had an impact on the global economy not seen since the great depression of the 1930’s. However, one group of countries seem to be weathering the storm, they have seen continued economic growth even when many of the world’s countries economies have shrunk. The BRIC countries of Brazil, Russia, India and China have emerged as some of the world’s strongest economies.

Many of us are well aware of the BRIC’s and the effects that they will have on the economy of tomorrow, we are therefore highly encouraged to learn Mandarin, Portuguese and maybe Russian, but very rarely do we see articles on the need to learn Hindi, this got us thinking; why not?
After all, there are 1.2 billion people in India only 100 million less than China. (Ok, I know that 100 million people is a lot of people, but in the context of the combined population of both countries being 2.5 billion people, it’s but a drop in the ocean).

It could perhaps be argued that because Hindi is only spoken by 500 million people around the world that we are less willing to learn the language, but mandarin is only spoken by 800 million people, 2/3rds of China’s population and only 240 million people speak Portuguese.

Perhaps then it’s because the Indian economy is only the 11^th largest in the world compared to china being the 2^nd, Brazil, 6^th and Russia 9^thlargest economies. However, India is forecast to have the world’s 3^rd largest economy by 2035 only behind China and the USA.

So why we do we not hear about the importance of learning Hindi? What are your thoughts?

Wouldn’t It Be Easier If We Spoke The Same Language?

Posted on April 20, 2012 by Euro London

In our last blog we discussed technology’s affect on the future of languages [1]. While technology will undoubtedly have an impact on the use of languages, there is another option, “complete Lingua Franca”; one language spoken by everyone throughout the world.

Since the times of the Romans there have been notable Lingua franca’s used around the world, however none have managed to stop people speaking their own native languages. Latin, French and Spanish all took their turns to make an impact on world culture and be the leading language in commerce; then came along today’s Lingua Franca, English. The use of English in science, business and computing around the world is notable; 27% of the internet’s current users speak English as a first language and a 2002 survey found that 56% of the internets content was written in English. But with the emergence of the BRICs (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) along with other developing nations, will English stay the dominant language of the developed world?

With over 6500 languages spoken in the world today by over 7 billion people we are unlikely to see any one language make the 6499 languages irrelevant or extinct any time soon. [2].But could one language be spoken by every one in the distant future? What language would it be? In our recent poll on Facebook we asked you what you thought the language of the future would be: 44% thought it would be Mandarin, 29% Spanish, only 21% thought English would continue as the predominant language and 6% thought Portuguese would lead the way [3].

With globalisation set to increase in the coming years and the BRICs hitting the developed world, how long will these endangered languages last with people increasingly learning relevant second languages and maybe not regional ones? Will we continue to speak languages that may have very little relevance to our daily lives?

Here at Euro London we do all we can to encourage learning languages; we believe it not only enhances your career, but life opportunities as well [4]. A world with only one language would be a less colourful place. Do you see a future where we all speak the same language? If not will English stay the Lingua Franca or will another language take its place?

[1] http://www.eurolondon.com/blog/en/is-technology-the-future-of-language/

[2] http://www.eurolondon.com/blog/en/15-amazing-language-facts/

[3] https://www.facebook.com/333683589864/posts/10150624395169865

[4] http://www.eurolondon.com/blog/en/12-reasons-to-be-proud-of-knowing-a-second-language/

Is Technology The Future Of Language?

Posted on April 16, 2012 by Euro London

Over the last 20 years the internet has provided us with a communication device equal to none within human history. It has changed the way we socialise, the way we shop and the way we think; psychology studies are showing that our brains are changing to become more adept at finding information rather than storing it [1]. With these massive technological advancements global projects have been set up by businesses that are beginning to break down language barriers. Google translate has collected words and translations from all over the web, enabling you to translate text based communication pretty accurately within seconds of typing the words, (although it is by no means perfect yet).

In March this year Microsoft showed off advance stage software that can learn the sound of your voice and then use it to speak a language that you don’t. Microsoft demonstrated the ability of the software showing it reading written text from one language and then speaking aloud in another language synthesized to the presenter’s voice [2]. Microsoft have announced plans for this current software to be researched further, which they hope one day enable you to speak into a device in one language and that device will translate what you said into another language.

Technology is already helping some people learn languages with software from companies such as Rosetta Stone. But will Technology become so advanced that it makes the demands of learning a language obsolete? We certainly hope not. Languages offer so much more than the ability to simply speak another language [3]). But with technology like this already being developed at an intermediate stage, where will the technology end up?

Technology like this may have seemed unbelievable 10 years ago, but today it is a very real possibility that this may be with us in the near future. After all, Microsoft’s technology is based on text input being converted to language output and we already have voice enabled mobile phones which convert your voice into information shown on your phone i.e. Apple’s Siri.

Whatever the advancement in technology, in our opinion there will always be a demand for language in the work place. In the coming year’s, technology may be able to translate your words, even using your voice to do so; but will it be able to convey the emotion in your voice and the specific semantics in your speech? We think not. What do you think? Will technology ever replace the need for languages?

[1] http://mashable.com/2012/04/10/brain-internet-infographic/

[2] http://www.technologyreview.com/computing/39885/

[3] http://www.eurolondon.com/blog/en/12-reasons-to-be-proud-of-knowing-a-second-language/

5 Words That Aren’t Translatable Into English

Posted on April 12, 2012 by Euro London

Since the beginning of time humans have strived to interact with each other. Primitively this was done with gestures and sounds, which then evolved into language and the written word. We couldn’t function in modern day society without the written word and the spoken language, so how do some languages have words that other languages don’t? Here are some words from languages around the world that describe situations and feelings that have no words to describe them in English.

Do you leave things to the last minute to find a solution? Then in the Portuguese language you’d be considered a bit of a “Desenrascanço”. The word which loosely means “to disentangle” describes a situation where you have a last minute solution to solve a problem.

Hopefully you’re not a “backpfeifengesicht” from the German language which roughly means a face that needs a slap. Whether it’s a political figure, a celebrity or even a friend I suspect you may be able to think of one or two of these backpfeifengesichts.

“Nunchi” is the art of not being a backpfeifengesicht! If you are in a social situation and someone is telling joke after joke without getting a reaction, the Koreans would say that they lack nunchi, the ability that lets you sense what would be the wrong thing to say.

“Retrouvailles” from the French language is the happiness you get when meeting someone again after a long time. A basic concept that is familiar to most of us due to our busy life styles and commuter relationships. Surprising then that the English language doesn’t have a word to represent this feeling that most of us feel, after all it’s becoming increasingly handy for our busy life styles.

Have you ever felt “koi no yokan”? This is the Japanese word for the feeling upon meeting someone for the first time that the two of you are going to fall in love. It’s not quite love at first sight as koi no yokan implies that you have a sense of imminent love, without feeling it yet.

Languages are always evolving and although English borrows many words from other languages it may have missed a few words that should perhaps have a place in the English language to describe feelings and situations.

Do you know any words from languages that don’t have an English translatable equivalent?