Author: Monika Vance

Language Series

Italian: The Language of Romance and Waving Arms

The Italian language is melodic, deeply expressive, and elegantly romantic. Shaped within a culture of animated debate, intellectual masterpieces, unrushed meals around crowded tables, masterful craftsmanship, world-defining music, and landscapes that are like open-air galleries.

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Medical TranslationFeatured

Beyond English: Why Instructional Language Matters in Rater Training

Most clinicians learned medicine in their national instructional language and can speak or read English, but conversational fluency is not the same as instructional fluency for complex diagnostic constructs.

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Featured

Translating COAs: TransCreation vs. TransAdaptation

Some content cannot be translated word for word. Sometimes not at all. Here, I define transadaptation and transcreation and how they are used in translating content for marketing, aerospace and clinical practice and research.

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Language Series

French Is Global. Why French Doesn’t Have a Universal Variant.

Why isn’t there a French equivalent to LatAm Spanish or Modern Standard Arabic?

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Language Series

The Czech Language: Precision With Inventive Wordplay

Czechs enjoy their language. Its razor-sharp lexicon and creative linguistic elasticity allow it to pivot effortlessly between bureaucratic precision and playful, socially inventive wordplay. In speech, this produces rhythmic compact slang with highly specified expression that can land with a friendly punch of dry humor. The ability to play with words is woven into Czech identity and a shared sense of belonging.

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Language Series

15 Interesting Facts About Chinese Languages

Chinese doesn’t just look different on the page. It also works differently in the mind. Its writing system encodes meaning rather than sound. Its grammar leaves time, number, and reference largely to context.

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Language Series

LatAm Spanish vs. U.S. Spanish: What’s the Difference?

Latin American Spanish and U.S. Spanish are not two regional flavors of the same thing. They exist for different reasons.

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Clinical OutcomesCultural AdaptationFeatured

Adaptive Behavior Is Universal. The Behaviors Used to Measure It Are Not.

Adaptive behavior instruments measure how individuals function in daily life. The domains are universal, but the behaviors used to assess them vary across cultures.

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Language Series

Latin American Spanish: The language everyone uses but nobody speaks

Latin American Spanish – not to be confused with U.S. Spanish – is the language nobody speaks and yet, the one global enterprise operations depend on.

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FeaturedClinical Outcomes

A Brief History of Clinical Outcome Assessments

Clinical outcomes assessments are routinely used across clinical settings. Learn about their developmental history in clinical practice and what to consider before using them in new settings.

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