French speakers are adopting English words and phrases to create a new linguistic phenomenon: Franglais.

"English has, for several decades now, been an important language in the world of international business, trade, politics, and law, and consequently, is the most taught language in European schools. Unsurprisingly, English words and phrases have started to see use in other languages, and France is one country that has experienced first-hand the rise of Anglicisms in its national language, primarily by young people through use of technology and exposure to the pop cultures of English-speaking countries."

Read more at the Oxford Dictionaries blog.

“Pinner” is a new use of a word with a different meaning than what you might find in dictionaries. Have you thought about how this will be translated into your language? Would you leave it in English, or would you “invent” a word easy to remember by native speakers of your language by keeping most of the original sounds?

Pinterest uses the word “pineador” on its Spanish blog, a word that  is absolutely meaningless. Do you have a better suggestion?

Spanish is the most requested language from our translation clients, followed by Spanish into English. 500 million people speak the language, and it is the official or one of the official languages of Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Puerto Rico, Spain, Uruguay and Venezuela. Spanish is one of the official languages of the United Nations, and is the most popular foreign language studied in the US.

If you are targeting Hispanic consumers in the US, or customers in Mexico or Puerto Rico, accurate translation is vital for your company to be taken seriously. Our team of expert linguists have experience translating marketing materials, presentations, technical specifications, user manuals and websites for a wide variety of industries.

P & L Translations can help you introduce your product, strengthen your brand's presence in the market, and help you develop relationships with your target. For more information or for a free estimate, please contact us at info@pandltranslations.com.

Nataly Kelly of Common Sense Advisory, a market research company, shares some interesting statistics over at the Harvard Business Review about how language influences consumers buying behavior in eight countries.

• 72.1% of consumers spend most or all of their time on websites in their own language.
• 72.4% of consumers said they would be more likely to buy a product with information in their own language.
• 56.2% of consumers said that the ability to obtain information in their own language is more important than price.

The last point really surprised me. Translation can allow you to charge a premium (and probably recoup your investment in translation) if your competitors are only selling in English. You can read the full article here.

Did you know that there used to be 27 letters in the English alphabet? The lost letter is not, in fact, lost at all but the way we use it has changed. Instead of being part of the alphabet, it has joined forces with other punctuation marks.

Can you guess which one it is (hint: it is not @)?

To find the answer, click here.