Meet some of the world’s most colorful idioms
“Cowness hasn’t gone, buffaloness intervened” … and other idioms from around the world, chosen and explained by 47 different TED Translators and illustrated by Masahito Leo Takeuchi.
Topics > Language
Stories for "Language"
Translation by collaboration: How TEDxSapporo translators work together to find the perfect word
Ayana Ishiyama always thought she wanted to be a journalist. Two years ago, when she left her hometown in northern Japan to study abroad in the US, she signed up for journalism courses and wrote articles for the school newspaper to sharpen up her English skills. But while she loved interviewing people and sharing their […]
Can I help translate TEDx Talks if I only speak English? Yes. Meet Camille, an English language coordinator
Camille Martinez is a native English speaker who’s fluent in Spanish. In her career, she’s run a language school, worked in medical translation and interpreting, and even started a translation company. But in TED’s Open Translation Project, Martinez occupies a key role: English Language Coordinator. She is one of a handful of volunteers who help […]
40 brilliant idioms that simply can’t be translated literally
It’s a piece of cake. You can’t put lipstick on a pig. Why add fuel to the fire? Idioms are those phrases that mean more than the sum of their words. As our TED Translator volunteers translate TED Talks into 116 languages (and counting), they’re often challenged to translate English idioms into their language. Which made […]
An inspiring way to learn English? By watching TED Talks
“The world has a new mania — a mania for learning English,” said Jay Walker on the TED stage in 2009. English is accepted as a shared language of science, a language of global business and the language of the Internet, with at least 1.5 billion students learning it worldwide. So the TED Distribution team […]
How to learn a new language: 7 secrets from TED Translators
By Krystian Aparta They say that children learn languages the best. But that doesn’t mean that adults should give up. We asked some of the polyglots in TED’s Open Translation Project to share their secrets to mastering a foreign language. Their best strategies distill into seven basic principles: Get real. Decide on a simple, attainable […]
How translation amplifies ideas: TED speakers show appreciation
Shortly after model Geena Rocero gave the TED Talk “Why I must come out,” she was Skyping with an LGBTQ activist in Hong Kong. This activist mentioned how powerful it would be for Chinese speakers to be able to watch the talk. Rocero logged on to TED.com to find out how she could get her […]
Meet Latgalian and Tatar, the 104th and 105th languages on TED.com
TED.com volunteers translate talks into many languages, from commonly used (like Spanish and Mandarin Chinese) to a few less expected (like Klingon). And two new languages just joined our library: Latgalian and Tatar. Latgalian is officially the 104th language on TED.com. It’s spoken in Latgale, a region in the eastern part of Latvia, by […]
Translation as language preservation: Why a Kazakh journalist is translating TED Talks
By Krystian Aparta When Kazakh journalist Asqat Yerkimbay learned about TED’s Open Translation Project, he realized it could be instrumental in reviving his native tongue. Under Soviet rule, communicating in Kazakh became viewed as a sign of ignorance, and although it regained its standing as the national language after Kazakhstan declared independence in 1991, Russian […]
What’s the funniest talk? The one you learned the most from? Translators answer for OTP’s 5th birthday
Happy birthday, Open Translation Project! Our global initiative to bring TED Talks beyond the English-speaking world turned five this week. To celebrate, OTP asked its global network of volunteers—who, by the way, have translated nearly 57,000 talks at this point—to answer a few questions via Twitter. Below, see who they are and why they translate, as […]
Is math the language of the universe? A bilingual TED-Ed Club explores
In New York City, it’s common to hear ten different languages just on your walk to work in the morning. For the students at Lycée Français de New York, that kind of multicultural exposure doesn’t stop at the schoolhouse doors. With a combination French-English curriculum, this PreK-12 school educates students who represent more than 50 nationalities. And when […]
Meet the translator: Laszlo Kereszturi, who brings you TED Talks in Hungarian and Romanian
TED Talks are available in 94 languages, from Albanian to Vietnamese, thanks to the tireless work of our translators. So far, more than 8,500 volunteers have created the upwards of 33,500 translated talks. To celebrate this accomplishment, every week the TED Blog is bringing you a Q&A with one of our most prolific translators. Today, […]
Meet the translator: Lidia Cámara de la Fuente, who translates into Spanish
TED Talks are available in 94 languages, from Albanian to Vietnamese, thanks to the tireless work of our translators. So far, more than 8,500 volunteers have created the upwards of 33,500 translated talks. To celebrate this accomplishment, every week the TED Blog is bringing you a Q&A with one of our most prolific translators. Today, […]
Meet the translator: Unnawut Leepaisalsuwanna, who translates talks into Thai
TED Talks are available in 94 languages, from Albanian to Vietnamese, thanks to the tireless work of our translators. So far, more than 8,500 volunteers have created the upwards of 33,000 translated talks. To celebrate this huge accomplishment, every week the TED Blog will be bringing you a Q&A with one of our most prolific […]
Meet the Translator: Matti Jääaro, who brings TED Talks to life in Swedish
TED Talks are available in 94 languages, from Albanian to Vietnamese, thanks to the tireless work of our translators. So far, more than 8,500 volunteers have created the upwards of 33,000 translated talks. To celebrate this huge accomplishment, every week the TED Blog will be bringing you a Q&A with one of our most prolific […]
How language transformed humanity: Mark Pagel on TED.com
Biologist Mark Pagel shares an intriguing theory about why humans evolved our complex system of language. He suggests that language is a piece of “social technology” that allowed early human tribes to access a powerful new tool: cooperation. (Recorded at TEDGlobal 2011, July 2011, in Edinburgh, Scotland. Duration: 20:11.) [ted id=1203] Watch Mark Pagel’s talk […]