English translations
We offer professional translation services for English to Arabic, to Japanese, Chinese, Swedish, Danish, Dutch and most major world languages. And of course Aplomb translates from all these languages into English as well.
English translators
Aplomb only uses experienced translators who are mother-tongue speakers of the target language of a translation. This means translations into english are undertaken only by English mother-tongue speakers; conversely, translations from English into Arabic, Japanese, Swedish etc. are undertaken only by Arabic, Japanese or Swedish speakers.
English - phenomenon without parallel
The spectacular advance of English across the face of the globe is a phenomenon without parallel in the history of mankind.
At international conferences and economic summits, at business meetings and academic symposiums, over the airwaves and electronic networks, between airline pilots and traffic controllers, and between captains of ships at sea, English is overwhelmingly the medium of communication.
Official language
It is the official language of dozens of countries in which only a small percentage of the population actually speaks it. It is the working language of a number of international organisations (the European Free Trade Association, for one) whose membership does not include a single English-speaking nation. In many countries a knowledge of English is helpful – in some cases essential - for obtaining a certain job or pursuing a certain career.
English as a second language
No one can even guess the number of people in the world studying English as a second language. But a “snowball effect” is clearly taking place; the more people in the world who speak English, the more the rest of the world want to learn it and join the club.
First language English
English is the first language of most of the people in the US, Canada, the UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, and dozens of smaller countries including Bermuda and the Bahamas, Jamaica and many other Caribbean countries, Belize in Central America, and Guyana and the Falkland Islands in South America.
It is at least one of the official languages of about 15 countries in Africa, and of most of the Pacific islands. In India it has the title of “associate official language” and is generally used in conversation between people from different parts of the country. In dozens of other countries it is the unofficial second language.
All told, English is the mother tongue of about 375 million people – far less than Chinese, to be sure, and about the same as Hindi and Spanish. But the number of people who speak English with at least some degree of proficiency is probably twice as large and, unlike the others, it extends in large numbers to every corner of the globe.
Humble beginnings
All great languages have humble beginnings. In the case of English it was the arrival in Britain of a small Germanic tribe from an “angle” (or corner) of the Continent.
It is customary to divide the development of the English language into three periods: Old English (to 1150), Middle English (1150-1500) and Modern English (1500 to now).
Old English vocabulary consisted of a sprinkling of Latin and Old Norse words over an Anglo-Saxon base.
The Norman Conquest of 1066 brought the French language to England and for two centuries, French was the language of the English nobility. Its impact upon English was tremendous and thousands of new words were introduced into the language.
But, despite the flood of words into English from Latin, Old Norse, French, and later other languages, the heart of the language remained the Old English of Anglo-Saxon times.