If there’s one thing we’re passionate about at Capita TI it’s language – that goes for our translators, interpreters and in-house support team. Language and culture are the ultimate pairing – they’re a living, breathing thing that we all interpret and experience in different ways. We’ve summed up some of our favourite language and culture facts below – from Albanian to Vietnamese, there’s also something to learn…
Albanian
Language facts
Albanian is the only living descendent of the now-extinct Illyrian language, and thus the only representative of this unique branch of the Indo-European language family.
Today around 7.6 million people are estimated to speak Albanian. The language has 3 principal dialects which relate to geographical regions – Gheg from the North, Tosk from the South and an intermediate dialect which hails from the area between the two.
As Albania was under control of the Ottoman Empire until 1912, the Albanian language was not officially recognised until 1909, when the Congress of Dibra finally permitted the opening of schools taught solely in Albanian. It was also not until 1909 that a standardised spelling system, or orthography, was officially introduced. Before this, Albanian was written in makeshift combinations of Latin, Greek, Turko-Arabic and Cyrillic alphabets.
It is thought that the name ‘Albania’ came from the name of an ancient Illyrian tribe named the ‘Albanoi’ who inhabited the modern-day provinces of Durres and Dibra in 200 AD. The Albanian name for the country is actually Republika e Shqipërisë.
Clement C. Moore, author of the much-loved Christmas Eve classic ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas’ also wrote the definitive biography of Albania’s national hero, Skanderbeg.
Culture facts
Albania’s capital city Tirana, or Tiranë as it is known in Albanian lies on a fertile plain on the banks of the river Ishm, 17 miles east of the Adriatic coast. Home to over 600,000 people, it is the cultural, political and economic centre of Albania.
The city was founded in the early 17th century by a Turkish general named Sulayman Pasha, who is said have ordered a mosque, a bathhouse, and a bakery to be built in order to attract settlers. Most of Tirana as it currently stands wasn’t built until after 1920, when it was selected as the capital of the country.
From the late 1940s to 1992 Tirana was under communist rule, and this has significantly shaped the city’s development. While mayor of the city between 2000 and 2011, the current Albanian prime-minister, Edi Rama, ordered all of Tirana’s tired, grey, communist-era blocks to be painted in garish colours – bright pink, yellow, lime green etc., in order to bring a new lease of life to the city. The project was hugely successful, and the buildings have now become a tourist attraction in their own right.
Czech Slovak
Language facts
Czech is a Western Slavic language spoken by around 12 million people, closely related to Slovak, as well as Polish and Silesian.
In medieval times, Czech was one of Europe’s most important and influential languages, similar to English in the present day.
The language experienced a slow decline in importance over the ensuing centuries, due to a growing dominance of German in the territory. It wasn’t until the mid-eighteenth century that Czech academics began to fight against this, and the language experienced a revival. Since then, Czech has changed very little.
The Czech and Slovak languages are so closely related that they have previously been considered one single language under the name Czechoslovak. However, planned linguistic modifications within the two languages mean that mutual intelligibility has decreased in the past hundred years.
As with many other Slavic languages, such as Russian, Czech distinguishes between not two, but three genders—masculine, feminine, and neuter
Culture facts
Home to over 1.2 million people, Prague is the Czech Republic’s largest and most famous city. Extremely popular with tourists, it attracts 6 million visitors every year, most of whom come from Germany.
The 14th largest city in the European Union, Prague can also boast the lowest rate of unemployment of anywhere in the Union.
Often referred to as an Eastern European city, geographically Prague actually lies further west than Vienna, which is considered part of Western Europe. Prague, and the Czech Republic as a whole, are technically part of Central Europe.
According to the Guinness Book of Records, the city can count the world’s largest castle amongst its famous landmarks. Built in the 9th century, the Prague Castle (or Pražský hrad as its known locally) is a huge 18 acres. The castle served has the seat of power for various leaders throughout the country’s history, including the Kings of Bohemia, Holy Roman emperors, and the presidents of the now dissolved Czechoslovakia.
Prague was the first city in the former Eastern bloc to have one of its restaurants receive a Michelin star. The honour was awarded to the Allegro restaurant in the Four Seasons Hotel in 2008.
Greek
Language facts
Greek, or Eλληνικά, is one of the oldest of all the Indo-European languages and forms its own independent branch of the family. It has no close living relations, but of all the Indo-European languages currently spoken, it most closely resembles Armenian.
The Ancient Greeks were the first of all Europeans to use an alphabet for reading and writing. The Greek alphabet was an adapted version of an earlier Semitic script, and itself went on to be the basis for several other alphabets including Latin and Cyrillic.
It’s estimated that around 30% of the English vocabulary consists of words which originated in classical Greek. These are mainly technical and scientific terms.
Greek was the official language of the ancient Christian church, as well as the official language of education in the Roman Empire.
An isolated community living in a remote area of north-eastern Turkey has been found to speak a dialect of Greek which very closely resembles the extinct language of Ancient Greece. Spoken by just 5,000 people, the dialect gives linguists invaluable insight into how the language of the Ancient Greeks evolved into the modern-day variation.
Culture facts
It is impossible to mention the Greek capital without delving into its unbelievably rich 3400 year history. Athens is a city which can claim democracy, Western philosophy, the Olympic Games, political science, Western literature, major mathematical principles and theatres amongst its most famous exports. Also known as the Cradle of Civilisation, Athens has been home to some of the most significant political leaders, philosophers, writers and scientists that the world has ever known, including Alexander the Great, Socrates, Aristotle, Pericles, Plato, and Sophocles.
Today Athens is a buzzing metropolis with a complex identity forged through Hellenic, Roman, Byzantine, Ottoman influences. The first European city when approached from the Middle East, Athens strikes visitors with its simultaneously Eastern and Western atmosphere. The millions of tourists who visit Athens each year are also treated to a stunning range of scenery, including the famously beautiful Greek coastline, a plethora of historical sites and monuments, world-class art galleries and museums, as well as all of the other amenities of a thriving, modern capital city.
Hungarian
Language facts
The Hungarian language, known as Magyar by its speakers, has a unique heritage and history. Although it finds its roots in the Finno-Ugric subfamily of the Uralic language family, Hungary’s distance from areas where other Uralic languages are spoken has given the language a mixture of Uralic roots, coupled with influences from Turkic, Romance, and Slavic languages.
Hungarian was first spoken in the eastern areas of the Ural Mountains and began to develop as a distinct language approximately 2,000 years ago. The language gradually migrated toward the west and is believed to have arrived in the area of present-day Hungary around 900 AD.
Established in 1000 AD, the Kingdom of Hungary early felt the influence of western Christianity, and the Latin language consequently came to play a significant role in the early development of written Hungarian. Under this influence, the Old Hungarian script was eventually discarded, and since the 13th century, the Hungarian language has been written using a modified Latin alphabet. This modified alphabet makes use of diacritic marks to produce certain sounds heard in the Hungarian language that a regular Latin alphabet cannot convey.
Traditional Hungarian dishes are primarily based on meats, seasonal vegetables, fruits, fresh bread, dairy products and cheeses. The importance of livestock and the nomadic lifestyle of the Magyar people, are apparent in the prominence of meat in Hungarian food, and may be reflected in traditional meat dishes cooked over the fire. Goulash, pörkölt stew and the spicy fisherman’s soup called halászlé are all traditionally cooked over the open fire in a cauldron.
A number of dialects exist within the Hungarian language however, they are all closely related and for the most part mutually intelligible. Now the Hungarian language is spoken primarily in Hungary, where it serves as the official language, as well as in parts of Slovakia, Romania and the former Yugoslavia. It is also spoken by a small number of Hungarian immigrant groups scattered throughout the world, notably in the United States.
Culture facts
Budapest, Hungary’s capital city is divided by the River Danube. The 19th-century Chain Bridge connects its hilly Buda district with its flat Pest.
A funicular runs up Castle Hill to Buda’s Old Town, where the Budapest History Museum traces life from Roman times onwards.
Trinity Square is home to 13th-century Matthias Church and the turrets of the Fishermen’s Bastion, which offer sweeping views.
Nepalese
Language facts
Commonly known as Nepali, the language is also referred to as Gurkha, Gorkhali, Gurkhali, or Khaskura. It is the native language of over 17 million people.
Although the official language of Nepal, Nepali is the first language of just 44.6% of the population. Over 120 other indigenous languages are said to be spoken throughout Nepal.
Home to Mount Everest, the world’s highest mountain is known in Nepali as Sagarmāthā, which translates as Forehead of the Sky.
The 1920s and 30s are said to mark the birth of modern Nepali literature. The most acclaimed writers of the era were Bālkrishṇa Sama and Lakṣmīprasād Devkoṭā, who revolutionised the Nepal’s literary scene through their rejection of the earlier Sanskrit-dominated literary tradition in favour of a more Western approach.
As in neighbouring India, people in Nepal rarely use a handshake to greet one another. Instead it is common to put the palms together, bow the forehead and say Namaste, which literally translates as I salute the God in you.
Culture facts
Sandwiched between the two mighty cultures of India and China, Nepal succeeds in retaining a distinct culture of its own. Home to some of the most extreme landscapes in the world, and with 75% of its territory covered by mountains, it is a country dominated by nature.
The first known civilisation in Nepal dates back to the 6th century B.C. and was confined to the fertile land of the Kathmandu Valley. The area has retained its special significance over the years, with the city of Kathmandu still the country’s capital.
The city was named after the legendary Kasthamandap temple in the city’s Durbar Square, and was said to be built in the 16th century out of the wood of a single tree without the addition of metal, nails or rivets. Tragically, this historic emblem of the city was destroyed in the devastating earthquake of 2015.
Kathmandu, like Nepal as a whole, remains a very culturally rich city, and is home to the densest concentration of World Heritage Sites. The Kathmandu valley alone has seven UNESCO World Heritage Cultural sites within a 15km radius, earning it the title of the ‘living cultural museum of the world’ amongst travellers.
Somali
Language facts
Somali is classified within the Cushitic branch of the Afroasiatic family, and is a distant relation of Swahili and the Semitic languages Arabic, Hebrew and Amharic. It is spoken by an estimated 16 million people worldwide, including around 8 million within Somalia, where it is the official language, as well as millions more ethnic Somalis in Djibouti, Ethiopia, Yemen and Kenya.
The Somali language has a unique history of varied linguistic influences, including Arabic, English and Italian.
The early form of Somali was written using an Arabic script, however with the arrival of British and Italian colonial powers came the introduction of a Latin-based alphabet, which has been used for writing Somali since 1973.
Somalia is the only country in Africa in which one language, Somali, is spoken by the entire population.
As late as the 1970s, education in Somalia was still conducted in the language of the colonial rulers, thus today many older Somalis from the north of the country speak English, will those from the south are able to speak Italian.
Like Mandarin, Somali is a tonal language, meaning that semantic differences can be expressed by varying the intonation on words or syllables of a similar sound. Such linguistic elements means Somali ranks amongst the hardest languages in the world for an English-speaker to learn.
Culture facts
Somalia’s capital Mogadishu, known locally as Xamar, is located on the country’s southern coast and is home to an estimated 2-3 million people. Unfortunately years of bitter conflict in Somalia means that Mogadishu has developed a reputation as one of the most dangerous cities in the world, and remains virtually off-limits to foreigners. The site of The Battle of Mogadishu in 1993, the city witnessed the brutal clash between Somali militiamen, and led to many fleeing the city. The years of political and economic instability that followed continue to negatively impact the city, with 43% of the Mogadishu’s population estimated to be living in extreme poverty.
Positive change is beginning to arise in Mogadishu however, as Somalis in their thousands are beginning to resettle in the capital, leading to a much-needed increase in the number of skilled workers. Other initiatives, often funded by foreign investment, such as a program to bring streetlights to every road in the city, are also a source of hope that the Mogadishu will be able to recover its former glory.
Tamil
Language facts
The Tamil language is thought to be one of the oldest classical languages in the world. Whilst historians have been unable to provide an exact date of origin, there is evidence in the form of Tamil-Brahmi inscriptions, which were found in Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka suggesting it has been spoken since 500BC. Tamil was also one of the dominant languages of trade during the pre-colonial era.
In the ancient world, the land of the Tamil language and its people was ruled by three lines of kings, the Chera, Chola and Pandiya. The lands they ruled were called Chera Nadu, Chola Nadu and Pandiya Nadu. In today’s world, Tamil is spoken in Tamil Nadu, south east India and northern Shri Lanka as well as other parts of the world such as Malaysia, Singapore, Mauritius, Fiji and South Africa. Tamil is the 15th most spoken language in the world and Tamil speakers make up 1% of the world’s population.
Tamils are of Dravidian origin and there are four major Dravidian languages in south Asia – Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam. There are approximately 220 million native speakers of Dravidian languages in the world, and they form the majority of the population of south India. Dravidian-speaking people are natively found in India, Pakistan, Nepal, Maldives and Sri Lanka.
The Tamils are mainly rice eaters and a typical Tamil meal will often consist of many spicy and non-spicy dishes. Sambar, Rasam and Thayir ‘curd’ or Mor ‘buttermilk’. The curd or buttermilk is mixed with the rice and potatoes, carrots, beans cabbage, eggplant and other vegetable dishes are served on the side. Although the majority of Tamils are non-vegetarian, they do eat a mainly vegetarian diet.
When a language community such as Tamil uses two dialects or languages, it is known as diglossia. In linguistic speak, these are usually referred to as the H or ‘high’ type and the L or ‘low’ type. They are used in different ways for example, the H-type is more formal, conservative and prestigious and is found in elements of life such as education, literature and religion. The L-type is used in elements such as everyday conversation and, in the case of Tamil, TV and cinema. The L-type is learnt at home and the H-variety is taught later in life.
Culture facts
Chennai, on the Bay of Bengal in eastern India, is the capital of the Tamil Nadu state and one of the most industrialised of Indian states. Formerly known as Madras, it is home to Fort St. George which was built in 1644 and is now a museum showcasing the city’s roots as a British military garrison, and East India Company trading outpost.
Religious sites include Kapaleeshwarar Temple, adorned with carved and painted gods, and St. Mary’s, a 17th-century Anglican Church.
Turkish
Language facts
Turkish belongs to the Oghuz, or Western Turkic, language group which also includes Azerbaijani, Gaguaz, Qashqai and Turkmen. Some linguists argue that such languages are also part of the larger Altaic group, which houses the Mongolic, Korean, Japonic and Tungusic language families.
It is estimated that over 72 million people speak Turkish worldwide. There are an estimated 500,000 native Turkish speakers in the UK alone.
Turkish was traditionally written using a modified Arabic script; however upon founding the Turkish Republic in 1923 after centuries of Ottoman rule, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk made the use of the Latin alphabet compulsory. Certain letters, such as Ç, Ğ, Ş, were added to meet Turkish phonetic requirements, while those deemed unnecessary, such as Q and X, were removed.*Bonus fact – the very same Mustafa Kemal was given the honorary surname Atatürk, which breaks down as ata – father and türk – the Turkish people, translating as Father of the Turkish People.
In Turkish culture it is considered very impolite to address someone unfamiliar by their name, especially if that person is older than you. Young children often refer to adults as aunty and uncle, while young adults are often referred to as abi /ağabey or abla – elder brother or elder sister.
Many Turkish jokes revolve around the same 3 characters, Temel, his wife Fatma and their friend Dursun , stereotypical representations of the Turkish Everyman from the Black Sea region. Here’s an example:
Temel owes a lot of money to the local shops. One day he wins the lottery and the locals wait for him to pay back what he owes – and maybe more. However three months down the line, Temel still hasn’t paid anything so the shopkeepers come down to ask why that is the case. Temel tells them: “I didn’t want you guys to think money’s changed me!”
Culture facts
While Istanbul, Turkey’s largest and most-visited city, is often mistakenly believed to be the capital, the title in fact belongs to Ankara. Formerly known as Angora, the city is located in the North West of the county around 200km south of the Black Sea. Much debate exists surrounding the exact date of the city’s foundation; however archaeological findings indicate that the area has been inhabited since at least the Stone Age.
Ankara was thrust into the spotlight in 1919 when the nationalist leader Mustafa Kemal Atatürk (see above) established his headquarters there, and thus made the city the centre of the resistance movement against the Ottoman Empire. Upon his victory, when the Turkish Republic was founded in 1923, Atatürk declared Ankara its capital.
Today housing the government remains Ankara’s principal occupation, although the city is also Turkey’s second most productive industrial city after Istanbul. Home to over 4.5 million residents, Ankara has almost doubled in size since 1990, and continues to expand. Often overshadowed by the more famous Istanbul, tourism is also a growing industry in Ankara, as visitors begin to realise that the city has its own distinct cultural offerings. Home to thousands of monuments, ruins and museums thanks to its long and rich history, Ankara is also a classed as a green city despite its dry climate, as it meets the official requirement of 72 metres of green per inhabitant.
Vietnamese
Language facts
The Vietnamese language did not achieve its status as an official language until the 20th century, when the country of Vietnam gained independence from French rule. Vietnam’s political direction has been previously dominated by China in the first instance, and then France. The modern Vietnamese language we know today claims a wide variety of influences that have played a significant part in its development.
The Vietnamese language is spoken by more than 70 million people around the world. Vietnamese serves as the national and official language of Vietnam, where it is the mother tongue of the majority of Vietnamese. It is also spoken by a number of immigrant Vietnamese populations overseas, notably in the United States.
Chinese was the primary influence on the Vietnamese language for many centuries, as China dominated the area politically around the 2nd century BC. The written Vietnamese language utilised a modified Chinese language alphabet, combining modified Chinese characters, known as Chur nom, and standard Chinese characters, known as Han tur, until the 17th century. At this time, Quoc-ngu, the Vietnamese writing system used today, was developed.
The traditional Vietnamese diet is relatively healthy. Meals consist of mainly rice, vegetables and fish and cooking methods often involve steaming or stir-frying. Rice is the staple of the diet, consumed in some form at almost every meal. For Vietnamese adults, all three meals of the day may consist of steamed rice with side dishes of vegetables or fish or meat.
Most linguists agree on the classification of three primary Vietnamese language dialects: North, Central, and South. Most of these are mutually intelligible, meaning that speakers of one dialect are easily able to understand those speakers of another dialect.
Culture facts
Hanoi blends effortlessly into new Asia’s dynamic face with an exotic vibe of old Asia. The modern and the medieval co-exist on the streets of the Vietnamese capital.
In the Old Quarter, sellers set up shop on the myriad of streets as they have done for almost a century, locals in conical hats fly by on bicycles, grey-bearded men challenge each other to games of chess on the shores of Hoan Kiem Lake, and the city’s bold and beautiful feast at posh restaurants before dancing to the latest hits at packed nightclubs.
Hanoi is where the paradox of modern Vietnam comes alive, and the capital has it all – ancient history, the legacy of a colonial past and a modern outlook that remains optimistic about the future.
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