On 10 April 2013, Express Language Solutions’ CEO Dina Railean attended an event organised by Invest Hong Kong, UKTI, Hong Kong Trade Development Council and Interim Head of International Investment. The event was hosted by the Peel Group.

The speakers of the panel informed the audience members about the business opportunities in the Far East, and in particular, Hong Kong.

The event was very well attended and provided excellent networking opportunities for its attendees.

We look forward to attending future events in the area.

Express Language Solutions’ CEO Dina Railean will give a talk tomorrow 11 April 2013 on International Marketing from a Language Perspective. The presentation will be given as part of an event organised by North & Western Lancashire Chamber of Commerce and will take place at HSBC in Preston, UK.

As the event is an opportunity for businesses to network with each other that are looking at exporting their services, the role of international marketing to export is key.

As a result, Express Language Solutions will offer tips and guidance for businesses looking to market themselves abroad in order to appeal to their target audiences.

The presentation will cover topics such as website translation, translation of marketing material and also localisation for international markets.

Here at Express Language Solutions, we recognise the importance of adapting to the needs of each and every client, and in doing so, understanding the particular cultural norms that differ from one client to another.

As a result, as members of NWLCC, we are pleased to make a presentation at this event in order to share the insight that we have gained with fellow members and also to be given the opportunity to discover the insight that others have to offer.

Since the publication of recent articles regarding Yahoo’s CEO Marissa Mayer’s proposal to ban workers from working from home instead of at the Yahoo offices, a great deal of debate has arisen surrounding the issue.

On the one hand, there are supporters of the ban, which has been instated, who agree that if workers are in fact working from home, instead of in the office, they are much less productive, as they do not have the boundaries of a normal working day and thus are pushed less to carry out tasks and meet targets within certain time frames.

Another factor in support of this argument, is the suggestion that if people are forced to go back to the office to work, then relations are strengthened amongst employees and an overall feeling of cohesion is achieved as it is easier to track who is working with whom, or on behalf of whom if all people can be accounted for at the same time.

However, the instruction for Yahoo’s employees to all return to the office instead of working from home has led to a backlash from people who argue that for many people the obligation of working in the office is not one that they could adhere to.

After said wave of criticism, Yahoo bosses clarified that Mayer’s comments and instructions only applied to those working for Yahoo, and were not in reference to other people’s working commitments.

However, with this newly-ignited controversy, it seems that a number of people believe that the ban on working from home should apply to all of those individuals who do not go to the office everyday and instead work often, if not always, from their own homes. Yet, with many jobs being of a freelance nature, or of those in which no actual office exists, it seems that the benefits of working from home, such as is the role of freelance translators, should be brought to attention.

Of course, whilst some translators work in-house for companies, many translators work on a freelance basis, working on translations as and when they are requested. Due to the nature of the translation and interpreting industry, unless one works for a large organisation as a staff interpreter, or in-house as a translator, the work load is unpredictable.

As a result, translations are fitted around translators other commitments, often other jobs, and thus are carried out from home, allowing the translators to not only work a number of translations around one another but also meaning that instead of the work productivity which is contained within the average 9am-5pm period, translators are in a position to work to tight deadlines and to deliver translations at any time of the day ensuring the client will receive it often much in advance of the proposed deadline.

What are your thoughts on the ban on working from home? We would love to hear them.

With the Easter Weekend upon us, here at ELS, we thought it would be interesting to take another look at global celebrations of the Easter period and typical customs or traditions pertaining to others during the festivities. Read on to find out more.

Hungary
In Hungary, Easter is celebrated similarly to other areas of Europe which celebrate the Christian customs of Easter. However, in the more rural areas, away from Budapest, in areas such as Mezokovesd or Holloko other more unusual customs are carried out. It is said to be a long-held tradition that women and men dress up in traditional folk costume. Furthermore, women are doused with buckets of water when spotted by passing men. However, this ritual is not one that is widely carried out and a less controversial ‘sprinkling’ of water can be expected from men to women, or even a preferable sprinkling of perfume.

Germany
In Germany, Easter is celebrated with a number of traditional activities. Children are visited by the Easter Hare, who is believed to walk on his hind legs and deliver chocolate eggs. A special type of cake is traditionally baked for Easter in the shape of a lamb. It can be dusted with icing sugar or equally filled with cream. The lamb cake is not only a nice Easter treat but is representative of the Lamb of God. In some areas of Germany, people go out on candle-lit parades early in the morning to remember the walks Jesus made after his crucifixion and resurrection. These parades typically end in church service. In other areas, children have egg and spoon races and men chase after eggs, which they have rolled down a hill, in order to prove their readiness to marry!

Italy
The Lamb of God cake is also a popular Easter dessert in Italy, as well as the Colomba di Pasqua – a cake shaped like a dove! Eggs also feature prominently in the Italian diet over the Easter period. Eggs are consumed as they are said to represent fertility and renewal of life. Many Italians go on holiday over the Easter break, either abroad or often to the countryside to get away from the hustle and bustle of the city for a while. Whilst Easter Sunday is a time reserved for family, Easter Monday, known as Pasquetta is usually spent with friends.

Greece
In Greece, as well as the common tradition with the other countries in this list, Easter is a time for celebrating with family over a traditional meal. This meal usually comprises of different Greek dishes, but the main ingredient is always roasted Lamb. Additionally, Greeks go to church over the Easter period. Easter eggs are painted red, as opposed to being different colours and are usually real eggs rather than chocolate ones. The red colour is used to signify the spilling of the blood of Jesus on the cross.

Belgium
In Belgium, children are told that the Thursday before Easter, all the church bells in the country fly to Rome. This is given as a reason to why none of the church bells are ringing, but in fact, they are silent in mourning for the death of Jesus. It is well known that Belgium is famous for its chocolate, and thus Easter is especially a time for Belgians to enjoy chocolate in its Easter-related lamb, rabbit or chick shapes. However, this year, Belgian post offices have released a limited number of chocolate infused stamps for the occasion. The stamps are scented and also contain cocoa oil in the glue to even make them taste of chocolate when licked.

We hope you have enjoyed this blog on a few of the Easter customs around the world. We would love to hear how you all celebrate Easter in your own countries, so please let us know!

International Women’s Day is celebrated on March 8 every year. It was originally called International Working Women’s Day. The purpose for celebration ranges from general appreciation of women through to appreciation and celebration of women politically, economically and socially.

It is celebrated around the world often with different themes being chosen to mark the occasion each year. It is an opportunity to also reflect on the challenges that women still face today, such as the overall issue of gender inequality that is prevalent in parts of society, as much in the third world as it can be seen in the UK and worldwide.

However, the date was not truly established as an important event to be honoured until 1977 when the UN General Assembly invited its member states to proclaim the day as a day for women’s rights and world peace.

Each year, International Women’s Day carries a different theme. Each theme is relevant to ongoing issues for women whether social, political or otherwise. This year, the UN is stepping up its campaign to end violence against women in line with International Women’s Day.

Efforts are being placed on raising awareness of issues such as violence against women in Pakistan and India as well as the prevalence of violence and mistreatment of women in the Republic of Congo.

The overarching message of the day will continue to be to fight for equality for women and their rights in all countries of the world.

Different events are organised each year to raise awareness and also celebrate the women. For example, in businesses and schools, different conferences, dinners and functions are set up to make presentations and organise debates about the day.

In some countries, the day is a national holiday, such as in places like Russia, Moldova, Azerbaijan and Armenia. In Moldova and Russia, this day has taken the form of “Mothers’ Day”, when males are expected to show their affection to their wives, girlfriends by buying gifts and flowers for them. Children are expected to treat their mothers too. On this day you may see a lot of men carrying large bouquets of flowers for their loved ones.

Here at Express Language Solutions, we believe it is important to recognise all that women have achieved in the world and to ensure the continuation of the fight for gender equality.

How is International Women’s Day celebrated in your own countries? We would love to know.

Mărțișor is a celebration of spring that begins on 1st March each year. It is a tradition belonging to Moldova as well as Romania, and has variations in places such as Bulgaria and Macedonia and Albania. The term Mărțișor is a diminutive that which literally translates as ‘Little March’.

According to legend, on the first day of March, Spring came out into the forest to find a small snowdrop flower blossoming. In appreciation of its beauty and to protect and enable it to grow, Spring decided to remove the snowdrop of surrounding thorns.

In witnessing this act, Winter became angry and decided to try and obliterate the flower by creating a violent, wintery storm. However, in order to protect the snowdrop, Spring covers it with her hands, and in the process is cut by the thorns on the flower. As a result, her blood is shed and drops onto the snowdrop, turning the once white flower, partially red.

This act of bravery resulted in Spring defeating Winter. As a result, from March 1st, the coming of spring is celebrated as a passing from the winter months.

It is tradition to wear small red and white threads that are customarily tied together with contrasting red and white fringed ends. The colours are said to represent the blood that was shed onto the snowdrop. These small decorative trinkets are often worn simply tied in a bow, or are tied to various small charms such as those depicting flowers, ladybirds or love hearts.

The trinkets are worn throughout the first nine days of the month and are often given as gifts between friends and family members to celebrate the turn of spring and to symbolize love, friendship and hope for the rest of the year.

In Moldova, Mărțișor is also celebrated with the annual arrival of a ten day music festival in the capital city. The music performed is largely folk or classical but other genres and styles are of music are also incorporated.

How do you celebrate the coming of spring in your own countries? We would love to hear from you.

Wales

According to old Welsh folklore, instead of what is known as St. Valentine, St. Dwynwen is instead celebrated. St Dwynwen is believed to have been a woman who, for reasons which vary through story to story, was not allowed to be with the man she loved. As a result, when an angel appeared to her in her dreams she wished for her love from him to cool. Instead, he was turned into a block of ice. In order to undo the curse on him, she wished firstly to unfreeze him, secondly for future couples to find each other and finally to remain unmarried. As a result, she later devoted herself to the church as a nun. Since then she has been known as the romantic Saint. For this occasion, love spoons which are engraved and carved of wood are given by couples to each other.

Denmark

Valentine’s Day in Denmark is not as much a fanfare as it is in other countries, but still the Danes have managed to invent a few traditions of their own for the event. Typically, on Valentine’s Day, men send little love poems or notes to women. However, instead of simply signing the note or poem with his name, the man instead signs off with a number of dots – a dot for each letter of his name. If the woman manages to figure out the name of her admirer, she is rewarded with an egg at Easter. However, if she is unsuccessful, she has to buy her admirer an egg instead.

South Korea

Although Valentine’s Day is celebrated to a similar extent to that of Japan (below), the single population is also given an opportunity to celebrate, or even mourn, their single status. This opportunity is known as ‘Black Day’. The reason for the name is to do with the custom on this day – for single people to meet up and eat black noodles together. The white noodles are black in colour as they are covered in a black bean sauce. Depending on different viewpoints, Black Day can either be viewed as a day of celebration, one in which to get together with friends and have fun, it can also be viewed as a sad reminder of each own’ s lack of romantic partner. Although to brighten the mood, South Koreans have plenty of other days to celebrate – on the 14^th of each month in fact, with events such as ‘Kiss Day’, ‘Hug Day’ and ‘Music Day’.

England

According to tradition, in the 18th century, unmarried women in England used to pin bay leaves to the corners of their pillows. In doing so, it was thought that they would have dreams of their future husbands.

According to other English traditions dating back to the late 16^th century, gloves were a traditional Valentine’s Day gift for women from male suitors. In fact, women were said to utter the phrase “Good-morrow Valentine, I go today; to wear for you, what you must pay; A pair of gloves next Easter Day’’ to men of their choosing. It was then, the chosen male’s customary obligation to buy the woman a pair of gloves in time for Easter.

These days, England tends to adopt the overall Americanised custom of exchanging Valentine’s cards, chocolates, flowers and other varieties of gifts.

Japan

As is a typically American custom, the Japanese gift their romantic partners chocolate on Valentine’s Day, but to the Japanese, the gift of chocolate has much more significant and expressive sentiment than the usual box of American chocolate hearts. However, unlike the usual custom of men providing women with chocolate, on Valentine’s Day, it is the women who buy chocolate for the men. Furthermore, it is not just reserved for romantic partners, but women are often expected to give chocolate to platonic males in their lives such as family members and friends or even colleagues.

Men are given the chance to return the favour a month later on ‘White Day’ (so called as white is a symbol of purity and love) in which men often give women chocolates, flowers or jewellery as gifts, amongst other things. The whole custom of giving chocolate on these two occasions in Japan stems from a chocolate manufacturer’s idea to increase sales by running an advert in a local paper. As a result, other companies caught on to the idea, and started promoting their chocolates as a romantic gesture, and since then it has become an important annual tradition.

These are just a few examples of how St. Valentine’s Day is celebrated around the world. Here at Express Language Solutions, we would love to hear your views and stories of how St. Valentine’s Day is celebrated in your country.

Happy St. Valentine’s Day!

Express Language Solutions’ CEO Dina Railean will give a talk tomorrow 7 February 2013 on the role of exporting to overseas companies as a panelist at the Exporting Works event organised by the Liverpool Chamber of Commerce.

The talk will focus on how Express Language Solutions operates in the export industry both directly, – through exportation of interpreting and translation services to overseas markets, as well as how it offers its services to businesses wishing to export their goods and services abroad.

The talk will follow on somewhat from the previous presentation given by Dina at the Liverpool Chamber of Commerce in October, which discussed online sales for export, including website translation.

As always, Express Language Solutions is pleased to be able to contribute to discussions organised by Liverpool Chamber of Commerce, which as members ourselves, gives fellow members an insight into how to export to their chosen markets.

New Year is a time for resolutions and celebrations all over the world. In ancient times, noise making and fireworks was meant to ward off evil spirits and bring good luck, the perfect start to a New Year. It is believed that the Babylonians were the first to make New Year’s Resolutions, and people of all countries have been breaking them ever since. However, in modern times, many countries and cultures have developed their own particular ways of celebrating.

United States of America

On New Years Eve, at 11:59pm, millions of Americans tune in to watch the dropping of the giant ball in Times Square in New York City. The ball, which is made of Waterford Crystal, weighs 1,070 pounds, and is six feet in diameter, reaches the bottom exactly at midnight. What most people don’t know is that this ritual is carried out five times, as local news stations replay the event at midnight in each time zone.

On New Year’s Day, the Rose bowl and the Tournament of Roses Parade, which is a parade with elaborate and beautiful floats, is the highlight of most American’s day. The event has taken place in Pasadena, California since 1886.

 Spain 

At midnight, Spaniards eat twelve grapes, each one brining luck for one month of the year. The actual countdown is primarily followed from the clock on top of the Casa de Correos building in Puerta del Sol Square in Madrid. It is traditional to eat twelve grapes, one on each chime of the clock. This tradition has its origins in 1909, when grape growers in Alicante thought of it as a way to cut down on the large production surplus they had had that year.

Belarus

In Belarus, unmarried women compete at games of skill to determine who will get married first in the New Year. One game involves setting piles of corn and a rooster before each of the single ladies. Whichever pile the bird approaches first, is believed to be the one who is to be married first.

Ecuador

A New Year’s Eve tradition in Ecuador is for men to dress as women representing the “widow” of the year that has passed. There are traditional family events and meals and modern celebrations such as hosting parties and going to nightclubs. The main event takes place at midnight where fireworks are lit and thousands of life-size dummies, representing misfortunes of the past year, are burned in the streets.

 Japan

In Japan, New Year’s Eve is used to prepare for and welcome Toshigami (年神), the New Year’s god. People clean their home and prepare Kadomatsu or Shimenawa to welcome the god before New Year’s Eve. Buddhist temples ring their bells 108 times at midnight in the tradition Joya no Kane (除夜の鐘). The rings represent the 108 elements of bonō (煩悩), mental states that lead people to take unwholesome actions.

In most cities and urban areas across Japan, New Year’s Eve celebrations are usually accompanied by concerts, countdowns, fireworks, and other events to mark the beginning of the New Year. People gather around the Zojoji Temple to release helium balloons up in the sky containing New Year’s wishes and watch the lighting of Tokyo Tower with a year number displayed on the observatory at the stroke of midnight.

Resources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Year’s_Eve

http://ryanseacrest.com/2010/12/28/9-strange-new-years-traditions-from-around-the-world/

http://www.infoplease.com/spot/newyearcelebrations.html

Following on from last year’s blog on Christmas Traditions around the World, here at Express Language Solutions, we thought it would be only fitting to look at those of some other countries that were not previously mentioned.

Poland

Christmas in Poland is a major annual celebration. During advent a number of traditions are carried out. The Polish Piernik (gingerbread) is baked and often made into different shapes (hearts, stars etc.)

Christmas decorations are also crafted including baubles, garlands and ornaments. A special kind of wafer known as Opłatek is shared between people. It is very thin and has a religious image related to nativity embossed on it such as The Virgin Mary or Jesus or even the star of Bethlehem. The sharing of the wafer is important and symbolizes forgiveness and well-wishes between participants for the rest of the year.

Christmas Eve, known as Wigilia is of highest importance in Poland, in which a feast is consumed after fasting. Wigilia derives from the Latin vigilare meaning ‘to watch’. Typical dishes consumed during the meal include: mushroom soup, dumplings, known as uszka, and fish (namely carp).

Furthermore, it is customary to leave an empty seat at the dinner table for any passing visitor who may want to join in with the feast. This tradition derives from the story of Mary and Joseph looking for a place at the inn. Therefore, with an empty seat reserved for wanderers, nobody is left out in the cold at Christmas.

Afterwards people attend midnight mass (Pasterka) and sing carols.

Traditionally, the bringing of gifts from Father Christmas known as Swiety Mikolaj (St. Nicholas) occurs on 6 December .

Finland

It is believed that Finland is the homeland of Father Christmas. According to tradition, he lives in the North of Finland in Lapland. As a result, tens of thousands of letters are sent each year to Father Christmas, known in Finnish as Joulupukki by children all around the world.

Unlike other traditions, such as in the UK in which Father Christmas arrives in peoples’ homes through the chimney at night, in Finland he arrives on Christmas Eve and knocks on peoples’ doors before entering and asking if there are any good children in the house and giving out presents.

Once again, Christmas Eve is a much bigger celebration that Christmas day. It is customary to eat a certain type of Finnish porridge for breakfast in the morning followed in the evening by Christmas dinner which usually consists of dishes such as roast ham, different casseroles and breads.

Christmas day in itself is a relatively quiet affair in which people tend to stay at home and relax with their families.

Moldova

In Moldova, Christmas is celebrated on 7 January. However, Catholics still celebrate the day on 25 December. For the Orthodox majority, people attend church in the morning.

Afterwards, children go carol singing door to door. For their efforts they are rewarded with sweets and sometimes money as well.

After returning from church, the Christmas dinner is served and eaten. A special sweet dish that is served on Christmas day is comprised of boiled wheat with nuts. The wheat is seen to bring prosperity for the coming year.

Father Christmas is known in Moldovan/Romanian as Moș Crăciun who tends to give out presents to children in the New Year.

The Christmas dinner traditionally includes a selection of meats such as jellied pork or chicken, and cakes and biscuits are often served after the eating of the main meal.

France

In France, although in more recent times the Christmas tree (sapin de Noël) is used as a festive decoration, the Nativity crèche is more important and traditional to French culture. If a Christmas tree is used, it is decorated with red ribbons, candles and small toys.

The Christmas dinner varies from region to region in France. Commonly, in Paris it is comprised of a sea-food based platter including dishes such as foie gras and oysters, whilst in Burgundy Turkey is commonly consumed and in Alsace it is goose that is often feasted upon for dinner.

Children leave their shoes out for Father Christmas (Père Noël) to place small gifts into them.

As just a few examples of how Christmas is celebrated around the world, we would love to hear your views and stories of how Christmas is celebrated in your country.

Furthermore, is Father Christmas in your country known to just speak your language, or is he viewed as multilingual?

Here at Express Language Solutions we wish you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.