The Language of Brands

The concept of a ‘brand’ is often misunderstood. It’s not uncommon to confuse the terms ‘brand’ and ‘logo’. In fact, a brand is a way of signalling a set of values that could be important to the customer. Signals are communicated exclusively by language. How they are...

Is Technology Now Part of Language?

Kind of a touchy subject for translators.  Language is no longer a conversational barrier. There are a hundred different ways to communicate that don’t involve learning a second language. Imagery and the “common cause” connect cultures in ways that never existed...

“Speak Proper English” and Resist Evolution.

Change my mind. This isn’t an easy discussion for someone whose first language is English. Over the last few weeks, I’ve shared some articles that focus on the “linguaphobia” of anglophone Western countries – where the first and predominant language is English. Of...

Learning in a New Culture: Episode 4

In previous episodes in our culture series, we have broadly discussed language, technology and communication topics. For this episode, we wanted to explore language in more depth by venturing beyond lexical meaning and digging deeper into cultural paradigms. A...

Globalisation, Identity Crises and Good Countries

Why do you live where you live? Or perhaps a better question would be, where do you feel like you’re at home? And why? This week, across our social media, we explored a little of what ‘home’ is across the world. Historically, buildings are the...

Learning in a New Culture: Episode 3

After spending most of the summer travelling around and training in central Europe, some of the most obvious cultural differences only become apparent upon coming home. As an athlete and a media manager, I am online virtually all day. If it’s not for work-related...

Cooking, Festivity and Household Names

Advertising across the UK is evolving in all kinds of directions. For the most part, in better directions. Advertising usually reflects the values of a market. When we take a closer looks at these values, it is possible to build a picture of what is needed or wanted...

Markets, Food and Instalife

This week at The Word Gym we’ve been exploring the ways that food and advertising have been shaped by social media platform Instagram. Instagram is available to anyone with access to the internet. It currently has more than 800 million users. That’s quite...

Learning in a New Culture: Episode 1

Canoe slalom is often described as a ‘lifestyle sport’. It’s a slightly absurd term, because at an elite level all sports are a ‘lifestyle’. Decisions are made based on what is best for training, whether that means sleeping in the middle...

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