Comments for Reno Languages

Comment on NITA Online server at nitaonline.org hit by power outage by Álvaro Degives-Más

Álvaro Degives-Más — Sun, 19 Sep 2010 23:24:10 +0000

I’m glad you liked it! Yes, I think there are two lessons to draw from this mishap (to be sure, it’s long since resolved) namely contingency planning on behalf of the clients / users (backups, backups, backups) and effective communications on behalf of Bluehost, both of which make all the difference in the world when the almost inevitable happens… Especially to minimize if not avoid unnecessary nerves. As one of Murphy’s Law corollary rules states, when it happens, it’s usually when you can least afford it. As the Scouts say: be prepared!

Comment on NITA Online server at nitaonline.org hit by power outage by Jaki Levy

Jaki Levy — Fri, 17 Sep 2010 16:45:09 +0000

I love your play-by-play. I had about 20-30 client sites go out last night and was keeping up with everything on twitter. Again – great recap.

Comment on NITA Online server at nitaonline.org hit by power outage by Jennifer

Jennifer — Fri, 17 Sep 2010 15:44:57 +0000

Great rehashing of Bluehost events from last night! I need to do the backup type stuff you mention – must learn. Right now remains “stuff” to do! But you make this type of “backup” sound simple enough…and with recent events its a must.
Thank you for the recount and sound info!

Comment on Linear Translation of Brands and the Domain of Wrong by Álvaro Degives-Más

Álvaro Degives-Más — Sat, 26 Jun 2010 07:29:13 +0000

Thanks! Well, as it turns out, Ralph Waldo Emerson had something to say about consistency, too… However, more on point: I don’t think the key of the issue here is whether speakers of a given language sufficiently “accept” an inherently foreign formula, but whether the marketing effort indeed allows for a consistent application of the well-known think globally, act locally adage. By that I mean: if one respects the market – and along with it, its language – enough to allocate always scarce resources to it, so as to provide a “localized” version of the message, then it follows that word order (and hence brand / sub-brand order) should be dictated by local custom, and not convenience.

Here’s another way of looking at it. Can one put a price on respect for a language? I think so; just ask the French corporate marketeers over at Danone why they re-branded their product as Dannon in the USA. The price they were willing to pay, i.e. accepting a different spelling of their very own brand (!) was apparently sweetened enough by the projected revenue of American consumers who therefor don’t have to wonder what on Earth to call their product. An alternative and infamously opposite case is made by “Made in China” translations of user manuals, which typically are the product of blind faith in a blind use of dictionaries, resulting in otherwise deservedly mocked Engrish.

So, instead of gaging the degree of entrenched linguistic contamination as a yardstick of what one arguably may get away with, I’d simplify and look at whether it’s correct in the target language in the first place. That’s because I believe that irritating people with funny language is not the cleverest marketing communication ploy.

I’ll leave it at that. :-)

Comment on Linear Translation of Brands and the Domain of Wrong by Popo

Popo — Sat, 26 Jun 2010 06:34:20 +0000

Great post. I’m currently working on a Spanish port of a well-known website and this has been an ongoing debate: “Brand, Sub-brand” vs. “Sub-brand, Brand”.

Linguistically you’re absolutely correct — but the problem is that consistency is one of the great immutable pillars of branding.

My question is: Have Spanish speakers become so accustomed to seeing the sequence of “Brand, Sub-brand” at this point, that the inversion has become acceptable in the limited context of branding?

Comment on Concha Buika & Chucho Valdés: Sombras by Álvaro Degives-Más

Álvaro Degives-Más — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 07:45:44 +0000

Más que una musa, una diosa. A saber por qué los anglófonos apenas la conocen… Pues ¡peor pá ellos! Por cierto, otro que me encanta es Ojos verdes.

Comment on Concha Buika & Chucho Valdés: Sombras by Viviana

Viviana — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 16:59:01 +0000

Exquisita…

Comment on Liar, Liar: Gigantic Chinese Fence on Fire by Álvaro Degives-Más

Álvaro Degives-Más — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 20:28:16 +0000

Ah! You have a mind like a steel trap. I was referring to forensic linguistics; if you’re interested, here’s a good write-up by Peter Tiersma, professor at the Loyola Law School in LA, which explains what it deals with. It’s something which truly fascinates me, as the practice of law is to a very great extent a matter of semantics. For example, how does one establish that a statement is indeed a threat? That may sound trivial or perhaps even an overly belaboring question for something seemingly obvious (to paraphrase a now legendary assertion of discretion in discerning facts: “I recognize a threat when I see it!”) but when you compare it with the intricate steps required e.g. in the context of a criminal trial involving a DUI case to establish that indeed the measured BAC level was appropriately obtained by a qualified professional using a properly set up piece of equipment, that question isn’t as far fetched as it seems anymore; its answer isn’t remotely as simple as it appears. I sincerely doubt that in the everyday practice of criminal law there is a generally embraced means of establishing something like that in a manner consistent with the high standard of “beyond a reasonable doubt,” especially when considering that the crux of such a matter involves a markedly linguistic issue. Given the by now well-established field of forensic linguistics, I believe it’s an interesting gap. Or, as I prefer to see it: it’s an opportunity for professional development.

But that’s fodder for deeper, separate contemplation. So yeah, I might at some point dedicate a separate post to that issue…

Comment on Liar, Liar: Gigantic Chinese Fence on Fire by tracy young

tracy young — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 16:04:32 +0000

also, didn’t you mention at the chocolate bar that you were interested in ….some type of investigative ? what was that? blogging on that?

Comment on A Curious Christmas by Viviana

Viviana — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 21:18:09 +0000

I couldn’t agree more with Alvaro’s point.

Been from a Spanish speaking country where “Navidad” is big, doesn’t leave a wide space to tolerance for other religious and non-religious festivities (ei, Hanukka, Kwanzaa). Going to a school with Jewish and Chinese classmates, showed me that not even a minority, could change the fact, even to those who did not celebrate Jesus’ birth, and where the ‘follow like the sheep’ rule applied.

In Mexico it is still hard, to grow up with a different faith. I could only imagine the same in the Hispanic community in the States, because at least in Canada, is.

That said, I always wondered where the discrimination and tolerance from too many Mexican nationals originates.

And yes, I am Mexican and one of those who do not relate to any virgin of Guadalupe, Quinceañera, and ‘demás’.

It is time to know that Mexico is also a whole-other-thing than what it could be perceived in the States. The trick is to live there. And still takes, unfortunately, a lot to be non-religiously-associated to “Navidad.”