language resources
and useful links

Acronym Finder- Find out what those acronyms and abbreviations stand for

The Free Dictionary - Online Dictionary, Encyclopedia and Thesaurus. Free access

A Dictionary of Slang - English slang and colloquialisms used in the United Kingdom

A Dictionary of Difficult Words- A-Z index of over 13,900 difficult words

AND - Anglo-Norman Dictionary - an evolving online dictionary
Anglo-Norman is the variety of French in use in the British Isles from the Norman Conquest until the end of the fifteenth century, and a major source of vocabulary in modern English. The online version presents an electronic and fully searchable version of G-Z in the first print edition (MHRA, 1977-1992) and of A-F in the second edition, currently being prepared. For those interested in the computing side of it, the site also provides much information (by Michael Beddow, the technical consultant) on technical aspects of the online dictionary.

BDLP - francophone database project


BDLP est un projet d'envergure internationale qui s'inscrit dans l'entreprise du Trésor des vocabulaires français, lancée par le professeur Bernard Quemada dans les années 1980. L'objectif est de constituer et de regrouper des bases représentatives du français de chacun des pays et de chacune des régions de la francophonie.

La página del idioma español - El castellano - diccionarios, gramática, etimología, cursos, y más...

Diccionario Etimológico - La Página del Idioma Español pone a su disposición el primer diccionario etimológico en la Internet, que se irá desarrollando gradualmente con la incorporación de los envíos de "La palabra del día"

Regionalismos de la lengua española - diccionario de regionalismos - léxicos regionales - vocabulario temático de regionalismos

The Gateway to the European Union - Europa - EU bookshop, publications, statistics, directories

EUROVOC - Thesaurus- Eurovoc is a multilingual thesaurus covering the fields in which the European Communities are active
Eurovoc 4.2 exists in 16 official languages of the European Union

FAO Terminology- Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations - FAOTERM database
names of countries - language resources - terminology databases - glossaries and thesauri, documentation, publications and reference

Lexique informatique officieux de la Commission ministérielle de terminologie informatique (Français-Anglais)- By Philippe Deschamp, Institut National de Recherche en Informatique et en Automatique

How Many?-a dictionary of units of measurement

Macmillan English Dictionary - Most Popular New Words of 2004

Multilingual and Fun - How to amuse yourself with machine translation
NewsTran.com ("The Original Multilingual MetaNews Translator"), established in early 2001, provides news from around the world via AltaVista's free translation service, using the translation engine of Systran. You can read the news in any one of 11 original languages, or a translated version in the language of your choice.

The results are sometimes unpredictable and more often funny. Look out for the 'American to British' button.

Terminology Collection- On-line dictionaries - Acronyms, Fun, Slang, Old language and etymology, Terminology Forum

WIKIPEDIA - The biggest multilingual open access encyclopedia on the internet. Over 500000 articles and still growing.

WordReference.com - Online French, Italian and Spanish Dictionary

Centro Virtual Cervantes - la ventana a la lengua española y la cultura en español
oteador, actos culturales, obras de referencia, aula de lengua, foros

EBLUL - European Bureau for Lesser-Used Languages - promoting European linguistic diversity, linking language communities
EstBLUL Holds Its First European Conference
Official and working status for the Irish language in the EU - and more...

European Culture Portal - linguistic diversity
The 40 or so indigenous languages existing within the European Union are a key element of its heritage and culture. The learning of languages opens doors to understanding of different cultures and is a necessary skill for Europeans. The Union therefore encourages knowledge, preservation and dissemination of European languages, as well as languages of third countries with which it cooperates.
Languages, opening doors to cultures - Learning a foreign language is a condition of cultural exchange. It is also a necessity for Europeans, who are required to move, work and communicate within an expanding European Union.
Preserving, enhancing and disseminating languages - Linguistic diversity is one of the most remarkable aspects of Europe's cultural heritage, providing a source of richness for building up the Union's trade and economy.
International cooperation 
and more...

EU - Interinstitutional Style Guide - Conventions common to all languages
Typographic instructions, countries, languages, currencies and their abbreviations,
footnotes and their references, other conventions

Languages- Individual Latin American Languages & Language Groups
This page contains links to resources for those interested in Latin American languages

The Mercator Network

Mercator is a network of three research and documentation centres dealing with the regional and minority languages which are spoken by more than forty million citizens of the European Union. It was set up following the Kuijpers Resolution in the European Parliament and has developed in parallel with subsequent EU and Council of Europe policies for the protection of minorities, equal citizenship, the promotion of linguistic diversity, and access to the information society.

The network's mission is to provide reliable objective information about the minority languages both to the majority-language populations and to the minorities themselves for whom the data provide the basis for cross-border contacts and long-term strategies.

VERBIX - Independent non-profit organization that aims to promote and protect linguistic diversity.
This site contains verb conjugations for hundreds of languages, ranging from national and international
languages to regional and even extinct languages.

Grant & Cutler - the UK's largest language bookseller.

Wide range of foreign language resources including language - learning material, reference books, technical dictionaries, literature, history, politics, popular fiction, translations and foreign films on DVD. Specialists in French, German, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese and Russian books. Large World Languages Department with materials for many other languages.

Master in Translation and Interpretation in Public Services - University of Alcalá de Henares - Spain
Arabic-Spanish, French-Spanish, English-Spanish, Russian-Spanish, Romanian-Spanish
 read more...

PROGRAMA DE FORMACIÓN EN TRADUCCIÓN E INTERPRETACIÓN EN LOS SERVICIOS PÚBLICOS DE LA UNIVERSIDAD DE ALCALÁ - España
(Árabe-Español, Inglés-Español, Francés-Español, Ruso-Español, Rumano-Español, y otras lenguas minoritarias)
 read more...

Do you want to take a French course in France or another exotic location worldwide? Whether you just want to be able to order "un beaujolais nouveau" or whether you really want to get to grips with the language, Cactus has a range of French courses in France and abroad to suit all your needs and budgets. Learn French in its fascinating home country of France, or why not let it take you further afield to Montreal, Monaco or Guadeloupe...

Training Courses by the Institute of Linguists Language Services Ltd

British Chambers of Commerce Export Directory- 

The world is becoming a smaller place. Powerful communications networks and rapid means of transport are opening up new opportunities for businesses to trade abroad, but at the same time linguistic barriers can present an obstacle to fluent communication. Sending out marketing literature and written communications may be easy enough at home, but it is not such a simple matter in a foreign language.

  read more...

Lost in translation?

- How to get your marketing message to international audiences -  by Martin Heimann

Did you know that only 28% of the entire European population can read English? This percentage is even lower in South America and Asia. Even the growing Hispanic community in the U.S. still prefers to read in Spanish for the most part. This means that if you want to sell your products and services to these markets, you will need to be able to communicate effectively in their languages.  read more...

Mediation as translation or translation as mediation?

Widening the translator's role in a new multicultural society - by Carmen Valero-Garcés

Contrary to expectations, globalization is not accompanied by the use of a single language. It is obvious that the constant influx of people from other countries and cultures is producing changes in the way society is structured as well as in how relationships are established in the European Union (EU). These changes also affect interlingual mediation and the role that translators and interpreters (T&I) have to perform. read the full article...

Why You Need a Global Web Site - by Huiping Iler, August 30, 2005

German Chancellor Willy Brandt once said, "If I am selling to you, I speak your language. If I am buying from you, dann müssen Sie in meiner Sprache sprechen." (Translation: then you must speak my language.)

Recent studies have shown that Internet users rely on their native-language version of Web sites to perform most tasks. Just consider: Would you buy a computer from Dell's Japanese site?

read more... source link

Hermes—God of Translators and Interpreters:  The Origins of Language and the Prehistory of Interpreting -  by Alexander Gross

A historical inquiry into the earliest days of interpreting, demonstrating how they provide a window onto both the "prehistory" of translation and the origins of language. Paper just presented on March 24 at the Translation2000 Conference, sponsored by the NYU Translation Studies Program.

The ancient Greek word for interpreter/translator is Hermêneus, directly related to the name of the god Hermes. Its many further meanings—mediator, go-between, deal-broker, marriage-broker—open up a window onto the work of interpreters during prehistory. And the knowledge that we gain of this prehistory thanks to these meanings provides an additional window opening onto the origins of language itself. 

read the full article... source link

1536—1546: Ten Years that Changed The Perception of the Translator - by Alex Gross

Those who suppose translators lead hard lives today might want to consider the fate of their Sixteenth Century colleagues. During the ten years between 1536 and 1546, three famous translators met their death. One was tortured first and then burned at the stake in that great center of civilization, Paris. The second was strangled and then burnt in the city of Antwerp. And even though our third colleague died more naturally, it wasn't because half of Europe didn't long to see him hanged, drawn, quartered, and impaled in pieces. 

read the full article...

Some Major Dates and Events in the History of Translation - by Alex Gross

The speaker will try to show some common threads in the history of translation or at least some modern parallels with more ancient examples. As for instance the perils of translating from Sumerian into Hebrew, Sacred Egyptian into Classical Greek, or Aramaic into Arabic. Or the even greater physical perils suffered by translators who have been murdered for their efforts, from a Persian interpreter executed by Themistocles to French and English translators burnt at the stake by religious conservatives to the forced suicide of Walter Benjamin in Spain to the assassination of Hitoshi Igarashi, Salman Rushdie's Japanese translator.

read more...

Blogos - News and views on languages and technology
Language in Business - Localization Culture - Personalization and Design - Translation Technology
Blogos covers language through multilinguality and translation, localization and global markets,
individual skills and emerging technologies, enablers and barriers, knowledge and speculation

globalization.com - portal to information about Globalization, Internationalization, Localization, and Translation

Language Technology World- LT World is the most comprehensive WWW information service and knowledge source
on the wide range of technologies that deal with human language.
The service is provided by the German Language Technology Competence Center at DFKI

HLTCentral Home of Human
Language Technologies- The gateway to speech and language technology opportunities on the Web HLTCentral web site was established as an online information resource of human language technologies topics of interest to the HLT community at large. It covers news, R&D, technological and business  developments in the field of speech, language, multilinguality, automatic translation, localisation and related areas. Its coverage of HLT news and developments is worldwide - with a unique European perspective.
For more news visit: News archives

The JOURNAL OF DIPLOMATIC LANGUAGE - an academic journal appearing four times a year, addresses the power of language in international relations. JDL features peer-reviewed, theoretically grounded reports of research, and provides a forum for in-depth discussion of central issues in diplomatic language. Areas of interest include:
textual analysis of international instruments - rhetoric, ambiguity, and metaphoric language - text interpretation and translation - documentation and archiving - conceptual and relational analysis - cultural, social, and historical analysis - negotiations and travaux préparatoires - current research methodologies - and any other topic clearly relevant to the language of diplomacy

El Trujamán- "trujamán viene del árabe y es la forma castiza de dragomán (que a su vez proviene del griego bizantino).
Como voz castiza la recoge el propio Nebrija, y Cervantes —entre otros autores clásicos— la incluye en su episodio del retablo de Maese Pedro (Quijote II, capítulo 25) para significar ‘intérprete’..." "Una sección diaria dedicada en exclusiva a la traducción en todos sus aspectos que pretende, de modo sistemático, exponer las reflexiones de los traductores vinculados con la cultura hispánica."

TranslationDirectory.com - The Translation Directory is a portal for linguists, translators, and everyone involved in the language industry. Latest News of Language and Translation Industry

Translation Journal - A Publication for Translators by Translators about Translators and Translation

Table of Contents 1997-2005

EUROLANG - Eurolang® is a specialist niche news agency covering topics related to lesser-used languages, linguistic diversity and national minorities within the European Union. It provides an expanding on-line daily service across Europe, to NGOs, the media, European, State and local government, academia, researchers and the general public. The purpose of Eurolang is to provide, on a daily basis, relevant and current news about Europe's regional, stateless and minority language communities, numbering some 46 million speakers, to the general public and to national and regional media (newspapers, magazines, TV, radio, internet media) in Europe and worldwide.

Council of Europe - European Day of Languages 2005
Celebrating linguistic diversity, plurilingualism, lifelong language learning
26 September 2005 - read more...  source link...

European Commission - Education and Training
latest news

International Federation of Translators
International Translation Day - 30th of September 2005 - Translation and Human Rights
The right to express oneself in one's language. The right to be served in one's language. The right to information. The right to culture. The right to knowledge. The right to a fair trial. The right to legal aid. These rights, now known as human rights, could not be respected if no translator was present. As soon as there is an interrelation between two languages and two cultures, the translator is there. All that is then needed is to draw up a list of everything that we do on a daily basis to fully take stock of the place of translation in our lives.
  read more... source link

Blogos - Language Industry News and Events

Your language can say that? - What is Multiculturalism? - National Punctuation Day - ...

read more... source link

globalization.com - portal to information about Globalization, Internationalization, Localization, and Translation

(30-Sep-2005) The Three Hurdles Of Global Web Sites - When it comes to a global Web site strategy, one size doesn't fit all.
One of the most difficult issues companies are dealing with in the new global economy is thinking locally and managing globally. Sure, companies have always had international divisions and subsidiaries, but they tended to be isolated fiefdoms. Now the global economy requires that companies use their Web site to provide a consistent image to customers, no matter where they are.
read more... source link

Inttranews - Daily News for the language industry
Inttranews is a multilingual daily news service for Interpreters, Translators, Linguists and the language industry in general.

Rugged speech recognition computer - Romany to become Official Language in Spain? - Maya city discovered with hieroglyphs - European language survey published - Ancient translations - Linguistic diversity in UK increasing... and more

read these and previous news...  source link

Translation Journal - translators events - 2005 - Conferences, Seminars, Forum
language and business - financial terminology - global markets...
details... source link

Mercator Newsletter 
Research network and information service concerning regional and/or minority languages of the European Union with the support of the European Commission.

The 4th Mercator International Symposium will be held on 26, 27 and 28 October 2005 in Aberystwyth, Wales and will have the theme of "Translation of Culture, Culture of Translation: Languages in Film, Television and Literature".

news -  read more...

recruitment & vacancies - read more

Guide to Aberystwyth: extensive, comprehensive, complete, sardonic, original, 'warts & all'

Aber illustrated, Message Board! Aberystwyth Touristy - Shopping - Boomtown - Aber Year - Travel - Weather - Maps Hotels, Bars, Property, Café, Restaurants, Education, Genealogy, Clubs, Societies, Sports, Music, Arts, Media, Health Emergency & Rights, Environment, Recycling, Charity, Shops, Internet, Live, Contacts, Politics, Misc, Utility, Monopoly State, Jobs, Commerce, Aber Tech, Negatives, Near-by, Aber History, Aber Bits, Aber e-Postcards, Aber Postbus, Zooming Map - Wasel Chemij - Vas's Web Sites - design portfolio

Anglesey, Wales The Isle of Anglesey (Ynys Môn in Welsh) is situated off the north-west coast of Wales near the beautiful Snowdonia mountain range. Read more about the History, Nature, Maps, Gallery, Places, Weather and Books.

Best of Wales sites - The Best Hand Picked Web Sites

The new system has some new features like related categories, searchable categories, site reviews and site ratings

Wales Index - Search for Welsh Sites

Want something Welsh? - We'll tell you where to go!

SearchInWales.com - Search In Wales

Welsh based Search engine for web sites based in Wales, about Wales or of interest to people in Wales

Sain Wales - Wales’ leading record company
Sain's recordings reflect the rich variety of the music of Wales, ranging from its acclaimed Male Voice Choirs to Bryn Terfel. From the truly traditional to the latest Welsh rock releases, encompassing traditional and contemporary folk music, pop and rock, country and ballad, vocal and instrumental. If you want good harp music, the latest in Welsh language rock, a thousand voices hymn-singing at the Albert Hall, or the best rugby videos, look no further!

Welshpedia - Community Encyclopedia


Welshpedia is an encyclopedia especially for Wales. It is written collaboratively by you its readers. The site is a Wiki, meaning that anyone, including you, can edit any article right now by clicking on the edit link that appears at the top of every Welshpedia article.

NLP Catalysts
Personal change practice run by Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) Advanced Therapeutic Specialists Ian Sharp and Jane Munro.
NLP recognises the importance of the use of language as the basis of established patterns of behaviour. Modifying our use of language is one of the tools which NLP utilises to allow the introduction of desired changes in our personal lives.

Business to Business Directory - UK

B2BIndex is a quality business to business directory

Haabaa - high quality directory of UK relevant websites
Haabaa.co.uk brings you high quality directory of UK relevant websites.
Some portion on Haabaa directory comes from the open Directory project whilst the remaining are hand reviewed to guarantee that the information provided by Haabaa are of high quality.

rate this site

UK Business Directory


Online UK business directory offering a business directory for UK businesses and companies

 - a really useful resource for anyone searching for businesses and services in the UK -

UK Small Business Directory - a website designed for modern 24/7 living.
Fully interactive, live editing and TOTALLY FREE
This directory offers the Internet user all the information of a Company in seconds.

UK Trade & Investment - Exporting is never simple, but it helps to be connected! UK Trade & Investment can help you achieve your international business potential. For those exporting for the first time or businesses experienced in international trade expanding into new markets we can help develop export capabilities and provide expert advice, reliable data, and professional research.

visit your local town or city website @ www.2cUK.net

FBNC Networking: a powerful marketing tool for SMEs
The Friday Business Networking Club -fbnc- was created by a group of business people in Mid Wales wishing to share their experiences in setting up and developing their own companies with colleagues in the world of business in the region.

BIZ123 - The Great Business Resources
BIZ123.com is designed to be your one-stop destination for anything you can think of
that is about or related to International and Local Business.

International Business Directory
InternationalBusinessDirectory.com is designed to be your one-stop destination
for anything you can think of that is about or related to International Business.

Search Biz - All Business Guide Directory
SearchBIZ.com is designed to be your one-stop destination for anything you can think
is about or related to International Business.

International Business Directory

Best Web Sites Best Web Sites -Web Directory

directory of UK websites

Comprehensive Human-Edited Directory

Most Popular Sites - Search Engine & Web Directory

Pedsters Planet - Website Directory

A keyword-driven website directory.

Portal IT Directory

World web human edited directory of quality family-friendly and spam-free sites organized by subject

Search Engine and New generation Web Directory
It contains Ads/Announcements system, Free Library,
and Information about Countries of the World

Web - a human-edited, spam free web-directory

World Site Index
A searchable directory of websites organised by subject

Search the web with SEO Friendly Directory

AbiLogic is a Business Web Directory of quality family-friendly and spam-free sites organized by subject. Offering free and paid listings.

AlgolOnline - Individually designed websites, hosting, maintenance and update services for small businesses. Business and promotional printing

babelscribe services
Web design with a difference!

Transcribing your ideas for the web. Site creation, hosting and maintenance

consultancy, software,web, and database
SmartData can tailor solutions to meet the particular needs of your business - creating bespoke solutions from scratch or integrating your existing solutions. These solutions can help you improve efficiency and data quality, automate and manage your business processes, and free up resources

Kovach Computing Services produces a line of inexpensive, easy-to- use statistical software, including MVSP, Oriana, Simstat, Wordstat, QDA Miner, XLStat and Data Desk, as well as our Windows keyboard utility Accent Composer and the PracticeMill authoring and testing tool

SiteProNews - newsletter and daily news for webmasters

Data Recovery - R-Tools Technology Inc. is the leading provider of powerful data recovery, undelete, drive image, data security and PC privacy utilities for the Windows OS family. Our mission is to give our customers around the world the system tools to bring about a visible and substantial increase in viability, production and easy of use at the lowest possible cost to the customer.

Internet Links Directory

The XE.com Universal Currency Converter - you can get every world currency at XE.com
XE.com E-Mail Currency Update Service- you can perform interactive foreign exchange rate calculations, using live, up-to-the-minute currency rates
Information on the Euro Currency- all you need about the Euro

The World Clock - shows current local times around the world

International Dialing Codes - If you need to make a phone call to someone in another country and you are not
quite sure how to dial the number, then this service should hopefully help you

language codes - ISO 639 Microsoft , Macintosh
ISO 639 Code List - 2 and 3-letter language codes. ISO 639 Registration Authority is the Library of Congress.
Language Tags - In "Tags for the Identification of Languages" (RFC3066) there is a provision for listing unique "tags" or names for languages and variants of languages. This document summaries the list of assigned language tags.

A Dictionary of Units - This provides a summary of most of the units of measurement to be found in use around the world today
(and a few of historical interest), together with the appropriate conversion factors needed to change them into a 'standard' unit of the SI

How Many? - a dictionary of units of measurement

Practiline Software - Word and line count software for Word, Excel, PowerPoint, WordPerfect, HTML and PDF

Firefox - web browser