Our English Spanish translation service comprises a wide variety of English into Spanish translations. Our Spanish linguists also write de novo Spanish articles based on English or Spanish texts. English Spanish translators in our group also write Spanish medical news for the general public about important new medical findings.
English or Spanish Science Language Articles.
The active and passive voice in the medical literature in Spain and in the United States. A comparative study. The majority of the manuals on style and scientific writing recommend limiting the use of the passive, preferring the active forms. In order to know the degree of monitoring of this recommendation we have carried out an analysis of a sample of articles of Spanish and United States journals in two different times (1989 and 2001). The use of the active voice is declining in Spain even being almost anecdotal, while in increases in the United States. In both times evaluated the American authors use the active voice more than the Spanish. The possible reasons of this situation are discussed and solutions are suggested. rce
Timed picture naming in seven languages. Timed picture naming was compared in seven languages that vary along dimensions known to affect lexical access. Analyses over items focused on factors that determine cross-language universals and cross-language disparities. With regard to universals, number of alternative names had large effects on reaction time within and across languages after target-name agreement was controlled, suggesting inhibitory effects from lexical competitors. For all the languages, word frequency and goodness of depiction had large effects, but objective picture complexity did not. Effects of word structure variables (length, syllable structure, compounding, and initial frication) varied markedly over languages. Strong cross-language correlations were found in naming latencies, frequency, and length. Other-language frequency effects were observed (e.g., Chinese frequencies predicting Spanish reaction times) even after within-language effects were controlled (e.g., Spanish frequencies predicting Spanish reaction times). These surprising cross-language correlations challenge widely held assumptions about the lexical locus of length and frequency effects, suggesting instead that they may (at least in part) reflect familiarity and accessibility at a conceptual level that is shared over languages. pbr |
