The organisers of the 2012 Olympic Games are making a big effort to ensure that the whole of the United Kingdom feels included in the event. There was a great fuss on the BBC news yesterday (18 May) about the arrival and planned relay — covering the length and breadth of the UK, with a …
Category archives: Communicating
Global. It’s, like, a relative concept. Whatevs.
A recent article in the New York Times entitled “They’re, Like, Way Ahead of the Linguistic Currrrve” suggests that there’s a lot more method in teenage-girl-speak than young women are usually given credit for. The article’s worth reading (especially if you’ve got a teenage daughter…). The author cites a Saturday Night Live sketch with Maya …
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Want to look trustworthy? Write it right.
Word geeks like translators and editors are always wittering on about poor translations or badly written web material being bad for business, because they make a company look sloppy or unreliable. Well, I saw this belief in action during our recent trip to Lisbon. We needed to hire a car, and I asked my 16-year-old daughter, …
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Planning a new website? Communicate! (with your translator too)
One of my clients told me recently that their company is re-doing its website. They’re working with web-designers and -developers, copy-writers, graphic designers and search-engine optimisation (SEO) specialists based in Spain, the US and various Italian cities. The client, a company based in north-east Italy, already works with designers and suppliers based in Spain, Denmark, …
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Signing up to The Sunday Times…+
tarting next month, the Sunday Times will be charging for access to its online edition. One day’s access will cost £1, a week’s subscription £2. The weekly subscription will include special digital services, such as an e-paper and new applications. Judging from the following invitation (in today’s “Culture” supplement), those new applications might give subscribers …
Top 100 Language Blogs 2010 – we’re well chuffed!
“Words to good effect” is one of the winning blogs in the Top 100 Language Blogs 2010 competition organised by LexioPhiles and Bab.La. We came 42nd overall, and 9th in the Top 10 Language Professionals category. We’re delighted! A big Thank You to everyone who voted for us! By Marian Dougan
Marketing? Some boy telephoned…
…and he’s wishing he hadn’t. The phone rang. I answered. Me: Hello, Marian Dougan speaking. Caller (male): Hello, can I speak to the Managing Director? Me: Who’s calling, please? Caller: I’d like to speak to the Managing Director. Me: Yes, but who’s calling? Caller: It’s a business call, I’d like to speak to the Managing …
Four and twenty embedded tweets for much less than sixpence
A quick up-date to yesterday’s post comparing embedded tweet tools. Publitweet have now tweaked the code for their Blackbird bookmarklet to reduce font size a bit and include clickable #hashtags and @mentions. They’re also releasing a version that will in turn allow people to embed your embedded tweet in their site, with your site/tweet indicated …
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Embedding and emailing your tweets
It’s now possible to embed tweets directly into your blog using free tools such as Twitter Media’s Blackbird Pie, Publitweet’s Blackbird bookmarklet, or Tweetshots. I’ve tried them out for size, here are the results. Blackbird Pie Cleverly done article (not the same tool that I used, BTW) RT @guardiantech: That Twitter embed tool – now …
How to be a good client (1)
I’m currently translating a speech for a government speech-writer who’s a delight to work with. Here’s why. First, he gave us advance warning (of about 10 days) that he’d be working on a speech to be delivered in mid-April. He asked if we could be on stand-by over the Easter period to translate it. So …