As a language student preparing to be an interpreter, one of the most infuriating things I’ve had to deal with is having to go back and research terms again, especially if I’ve worked with them or translated them already in the past.
    It happens to all of us – you hear a complicated and specialized new term and its translation for the first time like los inhibidores selectivos de la recaptación de serotonina [ISRS] (in English, Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors), and If you’re anything like me and forgot to write it down, when the…

The Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis, or Linguistic Relativity, is an extremely controversial concept  which explains how language affects the way we think and perceive reality. It is often defined to include two “versions,” strong and weak. The strong version of the hypothesis claims that language determines thought, and that linguistic categories both limit and determine cognitive categories. In other words, the language we speak completely controls the way we think and perceive reality. The weak version claims that linguistic categories and usage can only influence thought and decisions, and do not determine them. In other words, language guides the way…