Language is Everything

Celebrations all round

This Saturday is International Mother Language Day, a United Nations event to promote linguistic and cultural diversity and multilingualism. The day has been celebrated on 21st February every year since 2001.

Meanwhile, there were big celebrations earlier this week as Lithuania marked the millennium of its name. The first recorded reference to "Lithuania" was made in a medieval manuscript dated 14th February 1009.

Audra Verpetinskaite, a member of our operations team who comes from Šiauliai in northern Lithuania, reports that many events and parties were held around the country. Lithuania also celebrated its independence day on 16th February, and Vilnius, the capital, is this year's European Capital of Culture.

10 things you didn't know about Qatar

This Thursday (12th February) the World Trade Centre Hull & Humber will be building links with Qatar when it hosts a visit from Chadi Abou Daher, the regional manager of the WTC Doha.

     

The day will include a free afternoon seminar on business opportunities in Qatar and the rest of the Gulf. Mr Abou Daher will also be on hand to talk to about Futurallia, an international matchmaking forum for SMEs, which takes place in Doha from 10th to 12th May.

Language is Everything is the official communications partner of the WTC Hull & Humber. We'll be there on Thursday to talk about written translation, telephone interpreting, face to face interpreting and other ideas to help you 'make it happen' in overseas markets.

We look forward to seeing you there. And if you can't make it this week, give us a call (01482 485212) and pop in us and see us at the WTC anytime: we're on the ground floor at One Humber Quays.

In the meantime, in the latest of our regular series, here are 10 things you didn't know about Qatar.

1. The State of Qatar is located on a peninsula that juts out 100 miles into the Persian Gulf from Saudi Arabia.

2. The correct pronunciation of "Qatar" lies somewhere between "cutter" and "gutter". (In other words, not like "guitar".)

3. According to the Economist Intelligence Unit, Qatar's economy will grow by 13% in 2009, making it the fastest growing economy in the world.

4. The population of Qatar has risen from less than 100,000 in the 1960s to around 1 million today. The vast majority the population is made up of foreign workers, mostly from India and Pakistan.

5. The official language is Arabic, although the large immigrant population speaks Urdu, Punjabi, Farsi and many other languages.

6. Qatar is home to the Arabic-language news channel Al-Jazeera, which has a worldwide audience of 40 million.

7. In terms of land area, Qatar is about three-quarters of the size of Yorkshire and the Humber.

8. Qatar's Museum of Islamic Art, housed in an iconic stone building designed by I.M. Pei, was opened in December last year.

9. A new airport in Doha, which will replace the existing one in 2011, will be one the biggest in the world: it will be about two-thirds the size of Doha itself.

10. The winner of the Qatar Open tennis championships in 2008 and 2009 was Britain's Andy Murray.

Thinking big

It has been announced that Carolyn Burgess, our chief exec, has been appointed to the board of Hull Forward, the city's economic development company.

John Holmes, Hull Forward's chief executive (pictured with Carolyn below), said:

"We are delighted to welcome Carolyn to our Board and very much look forward to receiving her input. Carolyn is an excellent example of a very talented, well-connected and highly motivated business woman who has shown tremendous commitment to Hull and the surrounding area, having successful relocated and grown her company here from Berkshire. I have every confidence that Carolyn’s significant business knowledge, professional experience and enthusiasm will be of great benefit, as will her dedication towards seeing the city succeed and prosper."

You can download the full press release (in Word format) here:

Download Hull_Forward_Carolyn_Burgess_Board_Appointment

Carolyn said:

"Hull Forward thinks big. The goal is for Hull to become a global economic hub: it's extremely ambitious, but, when you look at all the great things that have happened here in the past few years, it's a realistic proposition. The work of Hull Forward is tremendously important both for the city and the wider region, and I'm very excited to be a part of it."