July newsletter: brand name translation, komorebi & travelling abroad

Welcome to the LEaF newsletter

Good morning everyone and welcome to this sunny edition of the LEaF newsletter. We hope you are all having a good summer so far and are looking forward to some lazy summer days as the schools break up and life settles into a slightly slower pace over the next few weeks (for some of us at least!)
With that in mind, why not take a few minutes to broaden your horizons with a fantastic Japanese word, some brilliant tips to reducing your carbon footprint this Plastic-Free July and a look at some truly gorgeous baby hammocks produced by one of our clients, Pauli&Co? And, as it is Plastic-Free July, why not try to make a switch to a non-plastic alternative today? From water bottles to toilet paper – there is something for everyone to try!

Lucy – Founder of LEaF Translations



Brand name translation – things to consider
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You may have noticed that some brands choose to translate their brand names when establishing themselves in a new market and expanding internationally – take Walkers vs Lays as an example. There are perks to both keeping the same name and translating to a new one, but sometimes you may not have a choice in the matter. Check out our blog post to find out more.


Word of the month

Everybody admires sunlight filtering through the LEaFs (pun intended) but why don’t we have a word for it in English? We are so happy to have found that there is a word for this in Japanese!​​​​​​​​
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Kanji = Japanese symbols that represent whole words.​​​​​​​​
Hiragana = Japanese syllabary.​​​​​​​​



LATEST NEWS
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  • This month is Plastic-Free July, a month to think about the plastic we use in our lives and to try to reduce our reliance on plastic. Take a look back at our turn over a new LEaF challenge and our Plastic Free July blog for inspiration.
  • Lucy recently attended a York Enterprise event where she represented the Good Business Charter and shared tips about ethical business. It was a great success and we got to feature our new banner for the first time!  
  • We recently had a LEaF team day to catch up and make future plans. Although we couldn’t all be together in person (silly trains), it was great to virtually get together as a team.

What do you think?

In last month’s poll, we asked you:

Do you have plans to travel abroad this summer?

We received such varied results to this one (see these below) and some of you also told us that, even though you have plans to travel, it still feels weird and slightly risky, which we completely understand.

LinkedIn: 65% – yes, 35% – no
Instagram: 43% – yes, 57% – no 

To help you with the worries of travelling since lockdown and put your mind at ease, check out our COVID Language Hub for useful phrases that you won’t find in the normal phrase books.

Head to our Instagram Highlights and LinkedIn for this month’s poll:

Our grammar poll this month is a bit of a test for our usual readers. We’re once again quizzing you on the rules of apostrophes, although this one is slightly more difficult than the last.

Fill the gaps: “I like my car, but __ paint is peeling.”

1) its
2) it’s

Hint: We explained this in a recent edition of our newsletter, but no cheating!



Introducing: Pauli & Co
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You may recognise this picture as it featured on our Instagram not too long ago. These gorgeous baby hammocks were created by Pauli & Co. We recently translated the printed information that is sent out with their products from German into English. Make sure to check out their beautiful Instagram account to find out more about them!


Kitty LEaF blog 2021

About the Author

Kitty

Kitty Trewhitt is a translation project manager at LEaF Translations. She oversees each phase of the translation project and keeps in contact with both the client and linguists throughout the process. Besides managing our projects, Kitty also translates and proofreads texts from French and Italian into English, as well as creating LEaF’s monthly newsletter and managing the company social media accounts.