Music and Lyrics

Dear Reader, The simple birthday song above implies a principle that I have considered important in my life since I was a little kid just learning to speak. Everyone understands the same message differently. Languages have always fascinated me. There is what some would call magic in how two people can say the same thing but in two totally different ways. You might call me biased because it is my career, but linguistics and translation is vital in our world today. It recently came to my attention that the White House removed their Spanish localization and translations from their website, as seen on inverse.com , gizmodo.com , and other websites. While the website underwent a huge change for a new president and his cabinet, it is more than a slight oversight to remove any language from your website, especially if the website represents a government entity. Now, I'm doing my best to give our new president the benefit of the doubt, despite the numerous scandals, outrag...

Dear Reader, Photo Credit : English-SpanishTranslator.com As my "auld" acquaintance, it has been awhile since we last talked. However, I'm here to wish you a happy new year! One of my resolutions is to write at least twice a month, which means I must find topics or ideas at the same rate. Luckily, today's topic was an easy choice based on a conversation I had with Lauren over the holiday break. Lauren and I flew home to Pennsylvania to visit her family, which was a delight. On our returning flight, she asked me to help her prepare for an interview for graduate school. We looked at the possible interview questions for a particular school and went to work. The first questions were simply inquiring about her past, her family and her interests; it was small talk. The questions became more specific when they shifted to her reasons for attending graduate school and her motives for wanting to be an occupational therapist. She mentioned her desire to help other peopl...