Archive for September, 2009

What linguistic challenges does your language pose. part 5

German to English
What about Sentence Structure? Aside from my occasional struggles with certain individual terminology, nothing has giving me more of a challenge than the difference between German and English sentence structures. Surely, restructuring the word order would not be as hard were it not for the all important theme/rheme considerations. This has been particularly difficult with some of the long-winded legal texts where slight changes in the word order can lead to slight, but significant changes in the overall message.

German-Swedish
Understanding passive as imperative. When translating from German into Swedish, I now and then encounter a problem with understanding the passive German tense.

For instance, quite often a technical text doesn’t include clear imperative instructions like “Check value A to judge if you need to stop the machine”, but rather “The value A has to be checked in order to judge if the machine needs to be stopped”. So the problem is who is supposed to check this. The reader of the text? Or should he/she get some expert to do this for him/her? Just like in English, in Swedish we often have clear instructions about who is going to do what in order to get this or that. German, otherwise a very precise language, isn’t that clear in this aspect. Very often the “pure” imperative is avoided in German, and passive is used instead.

Check out our German Translation Services website.

Another problem is an illogical order of different actions: “Press button A and then B. Before doing so, please check if the temperature is below 50 centrigrades”. For my understanding, it would be much better (and most technical writers would agree, I think), to structure the sentences in the same order as the actions have to be carried out. But this would be a life task.

German to Swedish (reply)
Quote ‘I now and then encounter a problem with understanding the passive German tense’.Reply ‘Wouldn’t that be a fault on the writer’s part?’

Reply to above:
Well, it’s not really seen as a fault, rather than a standard style used to “keep a certain level” – nobody seems to care if the message is confused! Apart from many passive constructions, in German texts you find very many nouns (originally from verbs) which often need to be translated as verbs.

Check out our German Translation Services website.

Example of garbled German (badly translated, but shows the case with noun): “The opening of this door is forbidden”

This needs to be translated at “It is forbidden to open this door”, or “You may not open this door” etc.

From my point of view, the written German in manuals and other documents is very focused on nouns and passive forms, and doesn’t have much in common with the standard spoken language.

These tips are brought to you by Translation Services UK who also offer a free translation service on their website. Remember, if you are going to get your document(s) translated then printed please make sure you use people and NOT software.

Cheap Home Contents Insurance

Hawaii Vacation Rental – A Great Vacation at a Great Price

Hawaii as a destination for leisure, or business with leisure, will always stand out among the best in the world. Whether you are getting married or attending a business conference your experience will always be one beyond imagination. The verdant setting and ease of travel to the islands makes a Hawaii vacation convenient — and you’ll never feel you are not at home.

Hawaii vacation rentals are available to meet the different budgets and needs of vacationers. All Hawaii vacation rental staff are courteous and speak English. The ambience is friendly, relaxed and exotic. A significant portion of what will make your vacation memorable will come from your Hawaii rental choice. One of the major reasons why people prefer the islands is the variety, and year-around availability, of resorts, cottages, condos and hotels.

For those who are new to the islands, the US dollar is the official currency and everyone speaks English. Hawaii is the 50th state of the US, so no passports or visas are needed for Americans to visit. Credit or debit cards are accepted in all the shops, restaurants, and hotels, and ATMs can easily be found for ready cash. Options for public transportation include taxis, tour buses, or city buses or, alternatively, you may rent your own car at the airport for complete independence.

Review Hawaiian vacation accommodations, including beachfront condos in Oahu and luxury Maui vacation rental and Kauai vacation rental accommodations. Hawaii as a destination for leisure, or business with leisure, will always stand out among the best in the world. Whether you are getting married or attending a business conference your experience will always be one beyond imagination. The verdant setting and ease of travel to the islands makes a Hawaii vacation convenient — and you’ll never feel you are not at home.

Take Surveys for Money, Working at Home!

Most large companies have no direct contact with their ultimate customers, the consumers. General Electric makes a washing machine, sells it to a distributor who resells it to appliance stores that sell it to you. The local appliance store talks with the ultimate buyer. GE does not have direct contact with them.

These large companies must know what consumers think in order to plan their production schedules, improve existing products and design new products. To measure public opinion, they hire market researchers. Market researchers use surveys to measure this opinion and get the answers.

Literally thousands of surveys are being made weekly. So how in the world do they find people to take all those surveys? The answer is simple. They pay survey participants to fill out the survey forms.

That’s what makes it possible for consumers like you and I to get money for surveys.

To get invited to take surveys for money you need to sign up with survey makers. The challenge is to find good ones. There are many, but 20% are good, 40% are marginal and 40% are to be avoided.

Your problem is how to get a good list of survey makers to sign up with. The problem is that the lower 40%, the no-pay/low-pay time wasters do 90% of the advertising, trying to recruit new survey participants to replace those that just quit.

There is, of course, more info, tricks of the trade for taking surveys for money, etc. You can find more info by clicking on any of the links here.

When you get a good list and are taking surveys for money, how much can you make? It depends on your diligence and demographics but most serious survey-takers report incomes of $200-$600 a month. Many report incomes of $1,000 a month or more.

By – J.P. Koontz

Good Web Design Practices

Your website is where your business resides, it’s like the headquarter of an offline company. It is therefore important to follow good web design principles to make sure that you attract and retain the maximum number of people to your site.

The navigation menu should be clearly marked so that visitors know how to navigate around your website without confusion.

Reduce the number of images on your website or at least optimize the images that you have on your site, so that they do not cause your website to load slowly. Optimizing images mean that you must reduce their size without losing the image quality.

Keep your text paragraphs short and do make use of bullet points to illustrate certain principles. Make sure that you use a bold font for the headings of paragraphs so that these will catch the eye. It has been proven that people tend to scan websites for information rather than read every word, and using headlines in a bold font will catch their attention and draw them into the paragraph.

Make sure that your website complies to web standards and is compatible with all browsers. The most popular browsers are Internet Explorer and Firefox and your website must at least be compatible with these two browsers. A professional web design company spends a lot of their time making sure that the site performs equally well in both of these browsers.

Make sure that your website is hosted by a reputable hosting company, since the last thing that you want is that your site is down when prospective visitors come by. Rather pay the little bit extra each month to make sure that your site is not hosted by a fly-by-night company.

Breakdown Cover – Cover is Important to Your Safety!

Dealing with a breakdown without motorcycle breakdown cover can be dangerous. When you break down in your motorcycle it is far more dangerous than breaking down in your car. You are left out there to the elements. The likelihood of you being hit is greater, and you don’t have any protection to keep your safe.

It’s important that you get off the side of the road as soon as you can. You’ll be able to do this quickly if you have motorcycle breakdown cover. This is why it is so important to have this type of cover. This way your safety is taken care of and you get the help you need. It definitely makes it worth paying for motorcycle breakdown cover.

Various Companies to Choose From

Now there are various companies to choose from for your motorcycle breakdown cover. At one point in time there were not many companies offering this type of cover, but motorcycles are more popular than ever.

So now many companies provide motorcycle breakdown cover for those who need to keep themselves protected from a breakdown with their bike. Take time to consider the companies that offer you this cover and choose a quality company that will offer you a great deal and policy.

One of the top companies that can provide great motorcycle breakdown cover for you is AA. This is the top company in the UK today. They provide the largest amount of policies and they have many great rescue vehicles available. AA stands out as a good company for your motorcycle breakdown cover, so consider what they offer and choose carefully to make sure your bike is protected.

Business Networking Info

Business Networking Info from Networking Event Finders.com

NEF Editor Spotlight Please welcome
Kaaren Douglas in LA, CA

Kaaren Douglas of the LA, CA Networking Guide is one of those extraordinary ladies whose warm smile instantly creates business networking connection. I had not met her in person until after she was brought on board, but she would have the person in the crowd that I would have been pulled to… BTW Kaaren was the referral of a [...] Read more… at Networking Event Finders.com

Is your Network Recession Proof?

We’ve been reading the headlines for months. For a while it was amusing to see how many negative words they could cram into the headlines. I actually saw the word “plunge” (or was it “plummet”?) twice on the same front page. When business networking writers used up their allotment of plunge & plummet, they switched to [...]  Read more… at Networking Event Finders.com

We Want YOU to Control The Market and Dominate Your Local Area!

Business 101 – You’ve Gotta Be Seen to Be Victorious
Social Media On Steroids

“You need to meet Mindy Selinger…” Over the years many people have come up to me to introduce themselves, relating that my name had come up in conversation as someone they should know. Why? Because my name had become synonymous with networking in San Diego County. I published the San Diego Networking Guide. Starting in 2002 with a few events in my client newsletter, The Guide grew until I had over two hundred monthly events, and a twice a month business networking newsletter. This visibility brought me speaking opportunities, workshop collaborations, business alliances and more…. but it took effort to build & maintain by myself. And I knew nothing about search engine optimization. [...] Read more… at Networking Event Finders.com

Staining Concrete Floors

Stained concrete flooring is an effortless DIY job that can improve the appearance of unappealing, simple concrete floors. Acid stains interact with the concrete floor, instead of covering it up, resulting in a more enduring outcome than epoxy garage paint we have used to use.

While generally concrete stains arrive in tans and plain colors, they can also be mixed to make distinctive colors. Owning a portion of test concrete flooring on hand will let you carry out trial with colors and effects without soiling parts of your concrete. A quality saw might also be used to engrave patterns and decorations into the floor. This technique can be used to create color boundaries for multiple color staining.

Any blemishes will remain in the concrete following staining. Prior to starting, remove the stains in any method possible. Don’t forget that sealed concrete flooring cannot be stained. As well, when cleaning the floor before staining, never use acid based cleaners. These will react harmfully with the acid stain.

Be certain to always wear the suitable protection gear when working with acid stains. Don’t leave any skin exposed. This includes having a dust mask and goggles. Keep in mind to keep the room well ventilated, as acid stains make harmful vapors when damp.

Ensure that the flooring is totally dried up after washing. Take into account to put on an smooth coat over the whole concrete flooring. Most professionals desire to use a sprayer to apply the stain. This isn’t needed, but is recommended. The more stain you use, the better-off the end color. You can also put on a sealer to add a polished effect to the stained concrete flooring. Once again, you must test this first to ensure  you like the results.

Concrete stain floor is an reasonably priced way to protect your concrete flooring and beautify it at the same time. Using these nippy tips, you can turn your plain concrete floor into an impressive feature that you can be proud of.

Ca Cd Rates

What You Need to Know About Pregnancy and Yeast Infections

During the third trimester, women may suffer more yeast infection pregnancy. During this quarter, excessive hormonal fluctuations mean the female body pH will change and can become a breeding ground for candida yeast (bacteria). Pregnant women also often become greedy-rich sugar or white flour containing foods. These sugars and refined carbohydrates increase the risk of further yeast infections.

While the yeast infection is unlikely to cause problems in the unborn child is in the best interests of mother and child is clear that in a safe and comfortable environment.

Symptoms

Symptoms of yeast infection pregnancy generally built during 1-3 days and include intense vaginal itching, irritation, pain, burning and redness of the vagina and a thick, white vaginal discharge.

Treatments

The first thing that you fight the yeast infection during pregnancy is to avoid wearing jeans, Legging, tights every day. Avoid combination cough medicines that contain several drugs and stay in a single product.

Boric acid can be very useful for women who had good results from more-than-counter anti-fungal drugs. This is a very mild acid that will not hurt you, but slightly changes the pH in the vagina to discourage the growth of yeasts and bacteria, allowing, of course, kept in check, to re-settle.

Counteract the negative effects of antibiotics, if necessary, your doctor or specialist may recommend taking probiotic, which builds back healthy bacteria, which can be destroyed with antibiotics. Drugs are used for 1 to 7 days, depending on the type and how severe the yeast infection pregnancy is.

What does a notary do?

A notary is an appointed position by the Secretary of State’s office in a given state. Just like most public officials, the State requires that the individual get a surety or notary bond prior to receiving their appointment. This bond “makes sure” that when the notary violates the public trust through neglect of their responsibilities, funds are available to indemnify the State for its loss.

The primary responsibility of notaries is to ensure that the individual parties to an agreement are who they claim to be. The State may suffer a loss if the notary public fails to properly validate the identity of the parties.

As a public official, the notary violates the public trust by failing in their duty to confirm identity. If a Missouri notary public doesn’t confirm identity and a loss occurs, an injured party can file a claim against that State for their loss, because the State was negligent through its appointed representative.

A surety bond is a promise to pay to the obligee (the State) should losses occur for a penalty amount of the bond. Notary Public bonds are generally provided by a surety company (typically an insurance carrier). The bond often runs concurrently with the term of the notary’s commission.

You’re probably familiar with a home insurance policy. When you have a rental property in Indiana claim, the insurance carrier pays the claim and writes off the loss. You aren’t required to reimburse the company for the damages. Unlike a property insurance policy however, a notary bond is simply a guarantee that the funds will be available when losses occur. The surety (insurance company) makes a payment to the State up to the penalty amount of the bond. However, this loss paid by the carrier is not simply written off. The carrier will most likely seek reimbursement from the bonded party, the notary themself.

A notary bond protects the public. Who protects the notary? Insurance coverage is available to provide this protection – it’s called Notary Public E & O and can also be obtained for a nominal fee from insurance carriers.

Investigating Amazing Business Communication Blog

Communication lies at the heart of any business. You should never write as though you were having a conversation. Today, the world is more concerned about business communication than ever before. This meant that our conversations became very annoying for both of us.

The real trick is to write in such a way that you communicate your message without overdoing the detail. The right teaching business writing online is only the need to know information. For instance, many folks have a lot of knowledge, experience, observations, insight and original thoughts.

Today, the world is closer together than ever before and an economic crisis in any one country has far-reaching effects elsewhere around the world. I’ve often read in books about writing that you should think of yourself having a conversation. Any communication expert who studies business communication will tell you that such things need to be handled very carefully to keep employees and team members fully engaged. For instance, many folks have a lot of knowledge, experience, observations, insight and original thoughts.

But that’s not all this technology will do and there will be entrepreneurs and innovators bringing you new applications for these new fantastic business communication tools, as fast as they can think them up. In fact I would even go so far as to say that without communication there can be no business. The information is just like business writing lessons plans. This did not mean believing they were stupid (something business people often wrongly assume about those who read their communications) but that they just knew nothing about what I was trying to get across.

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