The best way to visualise modern languages is similar to that of a family tree: imagine a firm trunk, with roots that go down deep, branching off in all sorts of directions. The languages we speak have this double-personality: often radically different in certain ways but yet they all hold common roots and shared histories.
The European language family
Latin is one of the primary roots of modern European languages. Although considered a dead language by some, it is at the core of many of the words used by European languages to this day. Although Latin no longer enjoys its former status as a shared language across the continent, its influence is seen in the different European language families.
For example, the Latin word for window, ‘fenestra’, exists in French as ‘fenêtre’, slightly different but still recognisable. In English, such a word doesn’t exist but it still survives through other words such as ‘defenestration’, a word to describe a person being thrown from a window, or removing a person from a position of power. As you can see, these words survive in some shape or form down the ages in different European countries, but not necessarily through direct translation.
Germanic languages such as English, German or Dutch share some basic words, albeit in slightly different ways. Words such as ‘man’, meaning adult male, are almost exactly the same across Germanic languages, save for the addition of an extra ‘n’ at the end in some cases.
However, move towards a more complex word or concept, and you might get lost in translation.
The German language often makes use of compound words as a concept to convey feelings and states of being which English doesn’t. Such compound words don’t have a common root that connects them to English at all, such as ‘schadenfreude’ (meaning ‘malicious joy). It is a compound word Germans use to describe the feeling of joy at another person’s misfortune, which due to its usefulness and the lack of an English alternative has become a borrowed word used in English.
Obstacles in business
Language barriers can cause confusion and miscommunication to arise, but they need not be an issue in this day and age. It can seem like the easier or comfier solution is to stick with English-speaking countries, but this can limit horizons unnecessarily. With the right language translation partner in place, expanding overseas can become a seamless process as part of your business taking off.
A paper published by the Cardiff Business School seeking to ascertain the impact to the UK economy due to language skill gaps claimed that some UK-based small businesses, which tend to focus their early expansion domestically, might find themselves gravitating towards exclusively Anglophone markets when the time came to look abroad. In conclusion, the paper claimed the UK economy lost 3.5 per cent, equivalent to £48 billion due to “language ignorance”, much of it due to the loss of potential exports with foreign-language markets.
Who knows if branching out into one market starts to set the wheels in motion which help you branch out even further afield? For example, if you need our help at Bubbles to translate over into the Spanish market, you wouldn’t just be able to appeal to the Spanish market in Spain. We could then adapt the text quickly and cost-effectively pivot into other Spanish-speaking markets beyond Europe, such as Mexico or other rapidly developing Spanish speaking South American markets where our expert native Latin America translators can help address the linguistic nuances for the regions.
Languages all have far more in common than you might think, and Bubbles is well-placed to put you in touch with markets all over the world to aid business growth in the years to come. Get in touch with Bubbles today to see how we can break down any language barriers your business is facing in 2022.
