by Summer Worsley

  
Amang the bonie winding banks,
Where Doon rins, wimplin, clear;
Where Bruce ance rul'd the martial ranks,
An' shook his Carrick spear;
Some merry, friendly, countra-folks
Together did convene,
To burn their nits, an' pou their stocks,
An' haud their Halloween
Fu' blythe that night.
 

• Halloween, Robert Burns

 
The most spooktacular night of the year is nearly upon us. From pagan rite to the kind of shopping bonanza that gives retail CEOs wet dreams, the ancient holiday has remained firmly entrenched in our calenders.
 
Look at this stanza from Robert Burns’ 1785 poem, Halloween. In between the Scots-laden lines, it contains one of the earliest recorded uses of the term ‘Halloween.’ In fact, some scholars credit the Scottish poet with popularising the word, a nifty contraction of All Hallow’s Eve, or in Scots, Allhallow-even.
 
Burns’ own footnotes define Halloween as follows: “[It] is thought to be a night when witches, devils, and other mischief-making beings are abroad on their baneful midnight errands; particularly those aerial people, the fairies, are said on that night to hold a grand anniversary.” It’s fitting that a Scottish poet brought Halloween as a term to popularity as the holiday is Celtic in origin, in the old Celtic calendar it was the final night of the year.
 
Etymology aside, how did we go from Samuin, the Celtic end-of-year celebrations, to the rather odd tradition of dressing our small children up as mischief-making beings who traipse the neighbourhood looking for candy?
 
Trick or treating has become a mainstay of Halloween, and while for most of the 20th Century it was largely confined to North America, the modern tradition is moving to other parts of the world.
 
Historically, dressing up began because the Celts celebrated the end of the year by donning evil spirits costumes. Celtic lore has it that as we change years, the dead and the living overlap and demons return to mortal soils again. Dressing up as these creatures was a way to keep safe — if you happened to encounter a real underworld spirit, it would think that you, the costumed human, was one of them.
 
Then a bit of a shift occurred when the Catholic church got involved and claimed the holiday as its own (which they did for a few others, too). Beginning in the eighth century, the Catholic church put some effort and thought into stamping out ancient Samuin traditions. It’s the church who coined the terms All Hallows Even (which became Halloween), All Soul’s Day, and All Saints’ Day.  Many Samuin traditions were adjusted to fit these festivities and by the eleventh century, the Church too had embraced the costume tradition.
 
Early trick or treaters were known as soulers. Children and poor adults would visit neighbours asking for food and money in return for songs or prayers, often in the name of the dead. One souling tune originated in the late 19th century and was later adapted by both Peter, Paul and Mary (of Puff the Magic Dragon fame) and Sting:
 
A soul! a soul! a soul-cake!
Please good Missis, a soul-cake!
An apple, a pear, a plum, or a cherry,
Any good thing to make us all merry.
One for Peter, two for Paul
Three for Him who made us all.
 
Later, souling became guising, from “disguise” and the children would offer a performance of some kind in return for fruit or money. It’s thought that guising as a practice made its way to North America with Scottish and Irish immigrants in the 19th and 20th centuries. In the US, the original term was dropped, but in Scotland, it still prevails today — one recent headline reads: “Scottish Government officially calls for no guising on Halloween”.
 
Trick or treating in North America became standard in the 1920s and 30s, predominantly on the west coast at first but the tradition slowly spread. After the world war sugar rations lifted, Halloween’s popularity surged and trick or treating was solidified as a US tradition. The earliest known reference to the term comes from the November 4, 1927 edition of the Blackie, Alberta Canada Herald:
 
“Hallowe’en provided an opportunity for real strenuous fun. No real damage was done except to the temper of some who had to hunt for wagon wheels, gates, wagons, barrels, etc., much of which decorated the front street. The youthful tormentors were at back door and front demanding edible plunder by the word “trick or treat” to which the inmates gladly responded and sent the robbers away rejoicing.”
 
In the 80s, trick or treating began to jump back across the Atlantic to England, where it was met with some resistance. Many viewed the holiday as a US cultural import and resented the commercial aspects of the holiday. It remained popular in Scotland and Ireland, however, thanks to the Celtic heritage. The 21st century has seen Halloween and trick or treating become common in nations where it was barely observed before, perhaps because of an increasingly globalized, interconnected world and the advent of social media. Or perhaps because Halloween provides the perfect excuse for a party, for both old and young people, and if Western history has taught us anything, it’s that any excuse for a party is a good excuse, whether we’re dressed as mischief-making beings or not!

by Summer Worsley

Pled is now acceptable and other changes to the stylebook in 2020
 
We previously discussed the importance of the Associated Press Stylebook when we covered 2019’s changes.
 
While 2020’s update did not contain too many dramatic, debate-inducing changes, there are still a few interesting adjustments. And if you’re wondering just how much AP Stylebook changes could trigger intense discussions, look into how 2014’s more than/over shift was received on Twitter. One retweeter called it “blasphemy” while another said AP was dead to them.
 
Let’s take a look at what’s new in 2020.
 
Capitalise Black
 
The influential guide now notes that “Black” should be capitalised when used in the context of race and culture, a move that solidifies a change many publications, including The New York Times, had already embraced.
 
There was a brief period when the AP had not announced whether “white” should also be capitalised, but it has now noted that “white” stays in lowercase. For example, “the rallies were attended by both Black and white protestors.”
 
In a memo to staff, John Daniszewski, AP’s Vice President for standards said: “We agree that white people’s skin color plays into systemic inequalities and injustices, and we want our journalism to robustly explore these problems. But capitalizing the term white, as is done by white supremacists, risks subtly conveying legitimacy to such beliefs.”
 
Use person-first language
 
A few changes this year are related to using what is known as person-first language. That is, using descriptions over labels. For example, referring to an individual as “a senior” is identity-first language as it is not specific to the person in question, and each reader’s conception of what “a senior” means is not universal.
 
The stylebook has offered both “older adult” and “older person” as alternatives. Although, it should be noted that both these terms can be imprecise. Reference to an older person in a story about teenagers could mean an adult over 25, for example.
 
The basic idea behind using person-first language is to avoid stereotyping and potentially offending people.
 
Another change in this vein was the addition of a “homeless” entry. Particularly at issue is the commonly used noun “the homeless.” The stylebook notes: “Avoid the dehumanizing collective noun the homeless, instead using constructions like homeless people, people without housing or people without homes.”
 
Sexual crimes
 
The need for specificity was also highlighted in the updated sexual crimes section. The changes here were quite significant and writers and editors working with these topics should take a look at all the adjustments.
 
Overall though, the general advice is to ensure the language used is both specific and accurate as many of the terms in question carry exact legal meanings.
 
Pled is now okay
 
One change that did ruffle a few feathers was the go-ahead to use “pled” as the past tense of the verb “to plead.” For example, “the accused pled guilty.” According to the AP, many writers indicated that they wanted to use “pled” so the stylebook was updated to reflect this.
 
Copy editors and writers should note that the Chicago Manual of Style still recommends “pleaded.”
 
Midnight is out
 
It garnered less negative attention than pled, but the stylebook’s change to midnight will probably affect more people. Now, the guide recommends avoiding the word “midnight” as there’s an element of confusion over whether that means the end of the day or the beginning of the next one.
 
Instead, get the maximum amount of clarity by writing the time out. So, 11:40 pm Wednesday or 12:05 am Thursday. And if it’s 12:00 am, use the time.
 
The plus symbol (+) is in
 
Last year we saw the acceptance of “%” and this year it is the plus symbol in the spotlight. Now, “+” is acceptable when it is pronounced and part of a company, event, or branding. For example, “Disney+” not “Disney-plus.”
 
Other constructions should continue to use the full word, so it’s still an “A-plus on the exam” and “500-plus dollars.”
 
Use gender-neutral terms
 
Whenever possible, use a gender-neutral term over a gendered option. For example, “search” over “manhunt.” The entry noted that editors and writers should “balance common sense, respect for the language, and an understanding that gender-neutral or gender-inclusive language is evolving and in some cases is challenging to achieve.”
 
The stylebook does caution against “tortured” constructions such as “snowperson.”
 
Preheat is allowed
 
Previous advice cautioned against “preheat” on the basis of redundancy. For example, “heat the oven to 180 degrees celsius” achieves the exact same thing as “preheat the oven.” But 2020’s adjustment embraces the term, largely because it is so commonly used and understood. Not to mention the number of kitchen appliances with a dedicated “preheat” button.
 
Prior to making this change, the AP solicited feedback on social media and there was an outpouring of support for “preheat.” The people have spoken!
 
That concludes our round-up of 2020’s most interesting AP changes. In total, there were more than 200 adjustments, to delve deeper into these, pick up a digital copy of the stylebook here.

by Summer Worsley

Sexting is more rule-based than you think

Analysing the Marquis de Sade’s work, cultural theorist Roland Barthes notes that Sade creates “pornograms,” an intertwining of discourse with the erotic practices of bodies so that writing becomes a site for “the exchange of Logos and Eros” (Barthes 1976).
 
Contemporary lovers engage in pornograms of a different sort; by merging discourse with eroticism in text messages. Participatory compared to Sade’s one-sided depictions, texts provide a vehicle through which romantically involved partners can construct what McSweeney calls a “private world”, a shared virtual reality that can last for a short time or longer periods.
 
While sexting may feel open and unstructured, the reality is that messaging with a romantic partner or potential partner isn’t always a playful, erotic free for all. Instead, it is subject to the same unspoken rules that govern all semi-synchronous digital messages, in particular, pragmatic politeness.
 
What is Politeness? 

In pragmatics, linguists broadly define politeness as “linguistic and non-linguistic behavior through which people indicate that they take others' feelings of how they should be treated into account” (Kádár 2013). That is, the tactics we employ to avoid conflict and maintain communicative peace (Leech 2014).
 
There are two key theoretical frameworks that linguists use to describe how politeness works. The first is through “face wants” and it follows the research set out by Goffman in 1955 and later by Brown and Levinson in 1987.
 
In this framework, which forms the basis of most linguistic pragmatic research, politeness is constructed by the positive and negative face wants of each individual. “Positive face wants are the desire for inclusion, social closeness, and familiarity; negative face wants represent the desire for autonomy, social distance, and respect” (McSweeney 2018).
 
The second theoretical approach, exemplified by Locher and Watts, views the conversational strategies people use in terms of social appropriateness as opposed to face wants. In regards to text messaging, this approach is as helpful as face wants. Consider the social appropriateness of sending six messages over several days to someone who is not responding or, in a sexting context, sending an unsolicited dick pic to a recipient barely known to the sender.
 
Basic politeness strategies such as saying please and thank you and letting a conversation go when it is obvious one participant is not engaged are well known. But performing politeness in text messaging is different than doing so in a face-to-face verbal conversation. This doesn’t mean that messaging is devoid of politeness, but rather that it is performed through different strategies.
 
Performing Politeness in Text Messages 

Attending to the recipient’s face wants, be they positive or negative, can be accomplished in a number of ways, whether the sender is texting or sexting. Strategies such as emoji use, the time elapsed between messages, the use of letter repetition, and many others allow participants the chance to mitigate the force of messages, set the tone, and generate affection. Below are two key factors that determine politeness among texters.
 
Time Elapsed Between Messages 

Texting, and indeed sexting is a semi-synchronous activity that is unique to computer-mediated conversation (CMC). There can be an immediate back and forth between participants (synchronous conversation) or a time lag between messages being opened and replied to (semi-synchronous).
 
In The Pragmatics of Text Messaging, McSweeney notes that texting theoretically offers flexibility in regards to time spans, but texters may feel differently. More than one lover has read much into how long their beloved takes to open and/or reply to a message, and may even use the time elapsed between messages as a gauge indicating the state of their relationship.
 
While sending a text might save negative face by giving the receiver a chance to decide when to respond, it can generate conflicts.
 
Emoji Use 

“He text me an eggplant, I text him a peanut” - Doja Cat
 
While the eggplant emoji may have taken over from the banana as the most explicit food-based emoji, it is far from the only emoticon partners use in text messages. In McSweeny’s corpus, emojis appeared in 90% of the messages between some romantically involved pairs. Most common is the kissing face emoji, which helps senders attend to the positive face wants of the recipient and simultaneous serve as pragmatic particles, setting the tone of the message.
 
In The Emoji Code, cognitive linguist Vyvyan Evans points out that emojis are much more than a passing phase. Instead, emojis reflect the “fundamental elements of communication; and in turn, this all shines a light on what it means to be human.” While emoji naysayers may be quick to point out that emojis are not a language, which, as they lack grammar, is true, they do provide a way for interlocuters to add nuances and mitigate the force of messages (Evans 2017). For romantically involved partners, emojis are used to help navigate the complex shared space created online.
 
In the same way that a kissing face emoji can be used to attend to the recipient’s positive face wants, a message lacking an emoji can be used to signal displeasure, or even serve as a face-threatening act in certain contexts.
 
While sexting and texting a lover or potential partner might be easy and uncomplicated for some, research reveals that for others it’s a fraught landscape with multiple factors affecting how well-received messages are. The strategies couples use to attend to each other’s face wants are governed by pragmatics, in much the same way as face to face conversations are, albeit filtered through a digital landscape. 

Hi folks!
Some of you may be stuck at home in front of the computer screen for a while to come, so I decided to ask Summer to write something about Zoom for us this month. I had a rather fun experience using Zoom recently. I was trying to convince a sales person that I did not have the funds to spend nearly 160 euros a month (!) on advertising on Google (especially if I have to correct the mistakes of the auto-translated text myself!), so I thought maybe you would appreciate a little light-hearted reminder of the joys of doing business in front of a computer screen. And if you have stories of your own to tell (cat or child vying for attention, connection breaking down, ... or worse!), please share them with me and I'll put the best ones up on my Facebook page (with a free promotion and link to your site if they're really hilarious). Stay safe, sound and sane! Yours, Alexandra

Zoom Fatigue? You're Not Alone
by Summer Worsley

As June gives way to July, many workers across Europe and beyond are diligently logging on and into virtual workspaces. For many, the daily nine-to-five involves seemingly endless hours of video conferencing platform Zoom.
 
Once second fiddle to Skype, Zoom has risen to the fore during the coronavirus pandemic and has become the call option of choice for many businesses. Its use is so pervasive, the verb “to Zoom” and the past tense “Zoomed” are now as widely accepted as “to Google” and “Googled.”
 
But all the video chat seems to be wearing us down and “Zoom fatigue” has entered the popular lexicon with a bang this year.
 
Data from Google trends shows we’ve had so much Zoom fatigue we’ve increasingly searched for that exact phrase along with alternatives such as “Zoom fatigue is real” and “Zoom fatigue is taxing the brain.”
 
So what is it about Zoom that’s causing a collective sign around the world?
 
For many critics, it’s the video element: users feel self-conscious about their appearance or surroundings. Additionally, the lack of direct eye contact that makes decoding extra-linguistic cues that little bit harder.
 
Or the difficulty arises from selecting a suitable background or area to make calls from. Users who live in studio apartments have noted that making calls from their bedrooms (where they predominantly work) feels invasive — after all, not many of us want to invite the boss into our boudoirs.
 
Another critical issue driving Zoom loathing, as pointed out by the Economist’s Johnson column, is that Zoom calls, and video conferencing in general, disrupts the natural turn-taking model that governs human speech and conversational interactions.
 
What is turn-taking? 
Linguists, and conversation or discourse analysts, in particular, use the notion of turn-taking to measure how well speakers adhere to broadly accepted conversational “rules.” Such rules are not set in stone but are well-established across languages and even cultures.
 
Breaching the rules involves transgressions such as dominating the conversation or interrupting the speaker who holds the floor. When speakers are part of a natural conversation, they often adhere to a “no gap no overlap” model of turn-taking. What this means is that the next speaker picks up the conversation without infringing on the previous speaker’s turn and without leaving too much of a gap in speech.
 
While the no overlap here isn’t strictly true (speakers often tag their utterances onto the end of the previous speaker’s utterance) it is done so in a way that doesn’t interrupt or disrupt the previous speaker’s speech. (Coates ‘89)
 
A change in speaker is determined by a broad set of linguistic and extra-linguistic clues that create a transition relevance point (TRP): a junction at which the conversation can pass from one speaker to the next.
 
Frequently in natural conversation, speakers also support each other with minimal responses: interjections such as yeah, yes, mm, mhm, ah, and others that are used to encourage the speaker, display agreement, and indicate that conversation partners are attending to what is being said.
 
Outside of a video conferencing context, turn-taking can be affected by gender, as linguists such as Eldesky, Coates, and Cameron have shown, and by power or status. In the case of the latter, so-called higher-status individuals may hold the floor longer than lower-status individuals and may interrupt more frequently.
 
Turn-taking and Zooming 
Within the Zoomcosm though, the turn-taking model is tipped on its head somewhat. Although video calls represent a relatively stable technology, they are not without their downsides, including latency or lag.
 
When we speak into our computers, the audio and video data is chopped into tiny pieces, sent via a different channel to the receiving computers, and then reassembled in a process known as packet switching. But when packets are delayed, by even a tiny bit, the software providing the platform has to decide whether it will present the hastily rearranged packet as is, with glitches, or to delay the output.
 
According to the Economist, Zoom aims for a delay of just 150 milliseconds but this affected by multiple factors including how busy the connections are, the quality of a given participant’s connection, and others.
 
Although 150-millisecond delays seem unimportant, they may impact how a speaker’s utterances and the receiver’s replies are both received and perceived.
 
Some studies suggest that positive replies to questions are viewed as less genuine when there is a delay between the utterance and the next speaker’s reply. There’s also the possibility that video calling dehumanises speakers to a certain extent: one study showed that courts were less trusting in refugee cases when the individual in question presented via video call.
 
Complicating conversational matters on Zoom is that speakers may find it harder to self-select their speech turn in the conversation. Delays mean that opportunities to speak up are missed or that the first speaker, upon passing a TRP with no other speaker taking up the baton, continues speaking for longer than is necessary.
 
And minimal responses, a key part of human speech, become harder to jam into the flow of conversation when latency makes it difficult to respond at the “right” time.
 
These are all interesting areas for further study and it will be interesting to see if conversation analysts turn to video calls as the next big field warranting examination.
 
In the meantime, we suggest investing in some good quality blue-light-blocking glasses [Gunnar makes some great ones like gamers use, or you can also get them in DIY stores; Alexandra' note] and trying to weather the tempestuous Zoom storm as well as you can. And it could be worse… after all, most workplaces have avoided the dreaded Zoombombers, so the only troll you’ll have to contend with is that one coworker who views video conference calls as his solo stage.

by Summer Worsely

Welcome to WTF, a column dedicated to helping with some basic concepts in English linguistics. Up for discussion this month, WTF is a morpheme?
 
In a nutshell:
 
A morpheme is the smallest possible grammatical unit that carries meaning. Words can be monomorphemic or multimorphemic, that is, comprised of one or more morphemes.
 
Here’s an example: talk is monomorphemic, talked is multimorphemic.
 
Here’s another one: lock is monomorphemic, unlock is multimorphemic.
 
Morphemes also come in different types, they can be bound or free which, as the names suggest, means they can stand alone or always have to be bound to another morpheme.
 
For example, talk is a free morpheme while -ed is not. Likewise, lock is free while un- is bound.
 
We can also classify morphemes based on where they occur in a word, describing them as root, affix, and combining form morphemes.
 
You can think of root morphemes as the “core” of a word, so the meaning of unreadable is built around the root morpheme read. The affixes in this word are un- and -able and, as you probably already know, affixes are either suffixes that appear at the end of a word or prefixes that appear at the start of a word.
 
Combining forms are like affixes but they carry a little more lexical weight, you can connect a combining form with an affix to create a word, one common example is cephal- and -ic which together make the word cephalic. There are other types of combining forms too, take a look at this helpful post by Miriam Webster to learn more.
 
Some morphemes have allomorphs, allomorphs are the different pronunciations of the same morpheme in different contexts. Allomorphic morphemes that you use every day include the plural making suffix -s and the past tense suffix -ed.
 
Consider the way you say these words: cats, dogs, horses. In each, the plural morpheme -s sounds distinct from the others. Try again and see how the position of your tongue changes with each word.
 
Another way we classify bound morphemes is by describing them as either inflectional or derivational. The easiest way to figure out the difference is by seeing if the bound morpheme changes the grammatical class of the root.
 
Here’s an example: normal and the affix -ise combine to make normalise.
 
Normal is an adjective and normalise is a verb, the -ise affix in this context is derivational because we can use it to derive a new class of word.
 
Here’s another example: odd and -ly combine to make the adverb oddly.
 
Inflectional morphemes are different because they affect the grammatical or semantic function of a word but never change its word class. For example, take and taken are both verbs.
 
In English, unlike many other languages, there are only eight inflectional morphemes:
 

• -s (plural - one cat, many cats)
• -’s (possessive - John’s paper)
• -s (third-person singular present tense - she plays the piano)
• -en (past participle - she has taken her piano)
• -ed (past tense - she played the piano)
• -ing (progressive - she is playing the piano)
• -er (comparative - John is faster than Mary)
• -est (superlative - John is the fastest runner)

 
Derivation is a far more common word-forming process in English than inflection. Other languages, such as Hungarian, display complex and productive inflection. German, on the other hand, is moderately inflectional, it has a richer inflection system than English but is not considered a highly inflectional language.
 
Note that some derivational morphemes do not change the word’s grammatical category. One example of this is the prefix un-, happy and unhappy are both adjectives. Here, un- has a reversative function.
 
This can get a little ambiguous, consider the word unlockable: does it mean unable to be locked (un- and lockable) or able to be unlocked (unlock and -able)? For this reason, morphologists, that is, linguists who specialise in morphology, adopt a hierarchical approach. Diagrams can help discern the internal structure of a word. Take a look at this handout from Stanford for more info.
 
And the last type of morpheme we’ll look at are infixes. In English, these are rare and occur in inventive expletives: abso-bloody-lutely, fan-fucking-tastic.
 
Okay, got it, but why do morphemes matter?
 
Morphemes matter because words, just like sentences, are governed by rules and have an internal structure. Morphology, morphological research and insights benefit semantics, phonology, and other research areas. In particular, morphology is of interest to cognitive scientists who focus on language acquisition theories.
 
Professional translators also need in-depth knowledge of the target language’s morphological system to avoid any unfortunate mistranslations or clumsy text.
 
Get more info
 
A solid and readable introduction to English morphology is Andrew Carstairs-McCarthy’s Introduction. The book also touches on the formation of English from a historical context and explains where we garnered some of our productive morphemes from.
 
Over at the Ling Space, Moti Lieberman has a series of quick, fun videos on morphology. Find those here. 

The coronavirus crisis illustrates the governing power of language
by Summer Worsley

Since January I’ve been working on a large project for an in-development machine-learning tool. Because natural language processing is a necessity for any true AI innovation, I’ve been dealing with language data comprised of real phone conversations, collected with the speakers’ full knowledge and consent, of course.
 
It’s been interesting seeing the shift in conversation topics from January to April. At the outset, the novel coronavirus received very little airtime from participants. By April, it was the predominant topic of conversation for many. Passing references to COVID-19 gave way to full hours devoted to breaking news, and the ongoing impact on the speaker and their nearest and dearest.
 
While it’s not uncommon for a major event to dominate news cycles and therefore daily conversation, it is rare for a major event to affect the globe simultaneously. This has given rise to an unprecedented spike in new or previously little-used terminology. Suddenly we use terms like PPE (personal protective equipment), social distancing, and self-isolation regularly — often in the same sentence.
 
What is most striking, perhaps, is the governing metaphor we use to describe and talk about COVID-19 and its impact: pandemic is war.
 
Healthcare workers are on the front line, we are battling a global pandemic, our body’s own defense system fights the virus, government task forces are formed, the globe is under attack and healthcare systems are in a vulnerable position.
 
This is exemplified in the following Tweet from UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson. The message is harried, almost fervent. Meanwhile, the mixed use of uppercase text, italics, underlined and bold words along with terminology such as enemy and deadly tap into a Blitz mentality.

Elsewhere, it’s a similar story. French President Emmanuel Macron places the nation on a “war footing” while across the Atlantic, Donald Trump has declared himself a “war-time president.” Leaders across the globe are pledging to do “WHATEVER IT TAKES” (to quote Boris) to flatten the curve, limit casualties, and protect their countries and citizens.
 
I write this from Wellington, New Zealand. Here, our progressive Prime Minister is not immune to a little soft propaganda. We are bombarded with the following messages: Unite against COVID-19 and stay home, save lives, break the chain of transmission. In press briefings, phrases such as stay the course, make sacrifices, our mission, our team of five million, and be kind are put to highly skilled use.
 
Here, the war metaphor is persistent but softened. If Britain is prepping for another Blitz, we are being encouraged to grow vegetables for our own survival. As a reporter at Stuff points out, “it’s an iron fist dressed up in velvety words.”
 
While pandemic is war may feel like a natural and fitting metaphor in the current crisis, we should not forget the power metaphors have over discourse.
 
In 1980, prominent linguist George Lakoff and philosopher Mark Johnson triggered an enduring debate on the power of metaphors in their book ‘Metaphors We Live By’. Lakoff and Johnson argue that metaphors do more than act as linguistic flourishes but actively construct the ways we think. In their view, metaphors are a fundamental element of human speech and by extension, how we act.
 
“Our ordinary conceptual system, in terms of which we both think and act, is fundamentally metaphorical in nature”
 
A seminal work, ‘Metaphors’ feels like the right choice these days; Lakoff and Johnson famously start their argument by setting out just how pervasive the argument is war metaphor is. War, it seems, never goes out of linguistic style.
 
Language choices matter. Framing means the difference between one interpretation and another. In our language choices, we can reinforce one ideology while simultaneously sidelining others, particularly in political or social debates. As a case in point, consider Donald Trump’s “Chinese virus.”
 
Currently, as Marina Hyde writes for The Guardian, we count ordinary citizens who contract the virus as soldiers, whether the analogy is fitting or not, and it may even do more harm than good.
 
One objection to militarised language and thinking is that it normalises military intervention. The argument goes that instead of examining the causes of the next conflict, whatever that may be, we automatically adopt a this-is-war mentality and adapt our response in that direction, ignoring the underlying political, social, or economic factors.
 
Of course, there may be benefits to the war metaphor right now: it engenders a collective response, should be universal instead of polarising, and prompts citizens to follow government advice and recommendations for the community as a whole.
 
Good or bad, the war metaphor is here to stay. Trying to actively change entrenched public discourse patterns is impossible at the best of times and even more so when other concerns are far more pressing. What will be interesting to watch is whether our war talk persists after the immediate crisis is over.

by Summer Worsley

As we mentioned in our previous post, the passive voice is a grammatical voice, not a matter of tone or passivity in the general sense.
 
Linguists sometimes use the term diathesis to describe the relationship between the verb and the subjects in a sentence and classify verbs as transitive or intransitive.
 
We’ll use grammatical voice in this post to examine the relationship between the action (also called state) expressed by the verb and the subjects or objects identified.
 
In the very simplest terms, if the subject is the agent, the verb is in the active voice. But when the subject is the target of the action, the verb is in the passive. You can think of it somewhat like a who-done-it of the verb.
 
Here’s an example:
 
Active
 
The lawyers made an error.
 
Passive
 
An error was made.
An error was made by the lawyers.
 
In the second example, “the lawyers” comes after the verb and the sentence is grammatically passive.
 
Note the first example of the passive voice, we don’t know who or what caused the action. In some types of writing, the author doesn’t want to reveal that information, perhaps to build suspense or to deliberately engender ambiguity. Or the passive is put to use to de-emphasise the subject.
 
Sometimes it’s necessary to leave out the “doer” of the action. In legal writing or in news reports when that information is deliberately obscured, the passive voice is essential.
 
In other instances, the passive voice is used because the doer is unknown or just irrelevant. As Geoffrey Nunberg puts it, passive is helpful when individuals are “being laid off, tossed out of their homes, dropped from their medical plans, and generally worked over.”
 
Writing in this way also removes blame, either because blame isn’t necessary or the writer doesn’t need to or want to acknowledge the agent of the action.
 
Here are a few examples:
 
My bike was stolen!
A door was left open.
Agricultural run-off was dumped in the ocean.
Mistakes were made. (A famous example courtesy of Ronald Reagan)
 
Passive Voice Myths 
There are a few myths surrounding the passive voice that despite being incorrect continue to hold sway, let’s take a look at those now.
 
Myth 1: Any use of the verb “to be” equates to the passive voice.
 
While it’s true that “to be” can weaken the impact of writing, in and of itself it does not automatically equate to the passive voice. However, when “to be” is combined with a past participle, the passive voice often results.
 
It is very common for people to think they’re seeing a passive when they see a copula (am, are, be, been, being, is, was, or were) even when other indications of the passive, such as a passive clause complement, are not present.
 
Myth 2: The passive voice is never in the first-person.
 
Many people believe that sentences with “I” or “we” are automatically in the active voice. But it is entirely possible to construct a first-person sentence using the passive voice. Consider, “I was smacked by the bat.”
 
Myth 3: The passive voice is ungrammatical.
 
It is not ungrammatical and does not break any of the syntactic rules that govern English sentences. Rather, passive hating is a matter of style and stylistic choice. Often these aversions relate to clarity.
 
Myth 4: Never use the passive voice.
 
In English writing and in that of many other languages, the passive voice appears frequently. While avoiding the passive might work well in some texts, it is absolutely necessary and even preferable in others.
 
It is an intrinsic part of our language and as such will always be present. After all, if it was so bad, we wouldn’t continue using it century after century!
 
If you’d like to learn more about the passive voice and why it holds its rightful place in English writing—and why ignoring the prescriptivist advice of passive naysayers is a good idea—check these interesting and often spicy articles from some of the world’s leading passive defenders.
 
Worthless grammar edicts from Harvard - Geoff Pullum
How to defend yourself from bad advice about writing - Mark Liberman
Evil passive voice - Arnold Zwicky
Drinking the Strunkian Kool-Aid: victims of page 18 - Geoff Pullum (Kudos to the Pullum for the title here)
 
Have you been told to Avoid Passive, when and why? We’d love to hear about it, drop us a comment below and let’s chat!

by Summer Worsley
​
Roam the internet’s endless pages on writing tips, online writing best practices, and search engine optimisation how-tos and you’ll find a common directive: Avoid the passive voice.
 
Of course, the internet doesn’t hold a monopoly on Avoid Passive (to borrow a term from Stanford linguist Arnold Zwicky). We’ve been told to create active sentences and phrases for a long time. But where does this wisdom come from and why does it hold such validity today?
 
In today’s post, we’re going to turn back time and look at the history of Avoid Passive before turning our attention to today’s passive aggressors.
 
And in next month’s post, we’ll examine what the passive voice is (there seems to be a lot of confusion), how it operates, and why it’s the better choice in some circumstances.
 
Where Did Avoid Passive Come From? 

​In 1947, Orwell instructed readers in his much-anthologized essay ‘Politics and the English Language’ to: “Never use the passive where you can use the active.”
 
However, there are plenty of passive constructions in the essay. According to Geoffrey Pullman, at the University of Edinburgh, 26 per cent of the transitive verbs Orwell uses are in the passive. A much higher percentage than the 13 per cent in most prose.
 
But Avoid Passive goes back a little further than ‘47. Zwicky notes that neither Hall (1917) nor Fowler (1926) take issue with the passive in their influential grammars but from the 30s onward, grammar handbooks start to demonize the passive as weak and ineffectual.
 
Then, Strunk and White came along with has been wonderfully called a “vile little compendium of tripe about style.”
 
The Elements of Style was first written by William Strunk Jr. as a writing aid for his students. Later, E.B. White (of Charlotte’s Web and The New Yorker fame) added to the guide and in 1959 it was published by Macmillan with substantial additions from both authors.
 
Elements has held tremendous cultural sway ever since. Time even named it one of the most influential books written in English since 1939.
 
Unfortunately, Strunk and White advise against the passive whilst simultaneously utilising passive clauses:
 
“Many a tame sentence of description or exposition can be made lively and emphatic by substituting a transitive in the active voice for some such perfunctory expression as there is or could be heard.”
 
Nonetheless, this hypocrisy largely passed without scrutiny and Avoid Passive began to form a key role in the modern ideology of English style.
 
Today’s prescriptivists come in two forms: human and app. While grammar curmudgeons still publish high-blown works mostly informed by personal preferences, apps govern much of the writing you encounter online.

by Summer Worsley

Heal thyself like it’s 100 C.E.
 
With the holiday season here, it’s safe to assume that more than a few of us will get carried away with the festivities. Whether it’s too much holiday spirit or too many glasses of spiced wine, Christmas and New Year celebrations often result in a mean headache.

Fear not, our handy guide to recovering from a Christmas hangover like an ancient Roman will have you back on your feet in no time.

Back in the glory days of the Roman Empire, wine was a big hit. It was consumed for pleasure and debauchery but also added to water as a means of “purifying” it. Wine was served with every meal, at every feast, and to every guest. Even children would drink with their meals.

Is last Saturday night causing you Sunday morning problems? Did you party all night like Bacchus let loose in a vineyard with a bunch of lustful satyrs?

Here’s your recovery plan:
 
#1. Wear Flowers in Your Hair 

This is twofold. Firstly, you’ll look pretty. Any vague unease or whiff of embarrassment you’re carrying from the night before with vanish when you don one of these instant confidence-boosters.

Secondly, like the Romans, you can use your flower crown to let others know that you’re full of power and virility. The flower crown also signified eternity, by wearing your wreath of laurel or poplar you will let the world know that you will make it through this hangover — even if Sunday feels like an eternity.
 
#2. Curative Wreaths 

Above and beyond looking good and smelling great, flower crowns and wreaths were also used as a medicine. Snippets from ancient Greek and Roman texts show that doctors devoted whole treatises to the healing powers of wreaths.

They were so important that the great naturalist and philosopher, Pliny, dedicated the whole of his twenty-first volume of ‘Natural History’, his magnum opus, to flowers and plants that were suited to wreaths.
 
#3. Eat the Right Foods 

The modern-day hangover cure of cola and a cheeseburger pales in comparison to the healing powers of a Roman morning-after fry-up.

Our ancient friends were actually less concerned with curing themselves after a big night than they were with preventing a hangover in the first place. To that end, it was recommended that swallows’ beaks were eaten before getting stuck into the vino.

If it was left too late and/or the beaks didn’t do the trick, pig offal was a suitable cure. Sheep lungs and owl eggs were also popular.
 
#4. Ingest a Toxic Soup to Help You Purge 

Back in the day, a perfectly valid hangover was a nasty-tasting, toxic soup with the plant Oleander as a key ingredient.

​Oleander is poisonous in large dosages, so the chef who concocted the brew had to make sure that the proportions were just right. Too much and the person with the hangover could die. The right amount would just make them throw up for a while. Here’s what ancient physicians have to say on the matter:

"If a man has taken strong wine and his head is affected ... take licorice, beans, oleander, [with] oil and wine ... in the morning before sunrise and before anyone has kissed him, let him take it and he will recover."
 
#5. Read the Classics 

Still feeling rough around the edges? If so it’s time to get lost in a good epic poem. Think you’re having a bad day? It could be worse. Consider Odysseus, this poor guy spent 10 years trying to get home after the Trojan War in Homer’s ‘The Odyssey’.

On the way he does spend a fair bit of time eating, drinking, and making love to the demi-human but oh-so-beguiling Circe, so perhaps we needn’t feel too sorry for him.
 
#6. Cabbage in Abundance 

According to the ancient Romans and Greeks, cabbage and Brussels sprouts are a natural cure for hangovers. Simply eat cabbage and counteract the effects of too much wine.

The wisdom behind this is that grapevines and cabbage plants were natural “enemies”. In fact, the Roman thought that planting cabbage near a vine would cause the vine to wither.  
 
Still hungover? If so, our condolences, and we hope that next time you’ll remember to have a few swallows’ beaks before you start imbibing!   [Alexandra's note: Or eating too many 'Vanillekipferl' (vanilla half-moons, see pic below), a traditional type of Christmas cookie on the continent!]

and you asked about an IT book, here is the link to a website with an IT-related glossary: 
https://whatis.techtarget.com/
They have a free book to download as well.
Don't know if this is what you were looking for but hope this helps.
Best wishes, 
​Alexandra

by Summer Worsley

"Talk about the return of the Anunnaki Gods” YouTuber MrMBB333 declares in his video, ‘Unreal! Two GIANT Men spotted nearby Giza Pyramids!’
 
MrMBB333 tells viewers that he was perusing Google Earth by the pyramids in Cairo, Egypt when he stumbled upon the “giant” men in a street view photo. He then goes on to wonder if these giant men are the very same guys who built the pyramids.
 
For this YouTuber, and many of his 30,000 strong followers, the idea that Sumerian deities could be casually wandering through a suburban area in Giza seems entirely viable. Unfortunately, the concepts of foreshortening and angular perspective don’t seem quite as viable. These are not giant men at all, rather, they’re just closer to the camera than the cars and the other people in the background. And the camera is angled upwards.
 
This video is just the tip of the Anunnaki conspiracy-theory iceberg though. Type Anunnaki into a Google video search and watch the hits roll in; currently, there are more than 230,000. Most are uploaded by channels with names such as ‘Ancient Astronaut Archive,’ ‘High Strangeness’, ‘Enigmas of the Universe, and ‘Zohar StarGate Ancient Discoveries’.
 
So, who are the Anunnaki and why are they inspiring such a crusade of fervent followers and believers?
 
The Anunnaki were the gods worshipped in ancient Mesopotamia, a historical area that covers modern-day Iraq and stretching to parts of Syria, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey. The belief system stems from the Sumerians and Akkadians and was later informed by the Babylonians and the Assyrians. All of these civilizations lived in Mesopotamia in the millennia prior to the Christian era.
 
Anunnaki as a term refers to those gods who were the offspring of An, the Sumerian god of the sky. Cuneiform texts dating from the proto-literate period circa 3400 - 2900 BCE make reference to ‘a-nuna’, and ‘a-nuna-ke-ne’. Depending on the scholar, these terms either mean princely offspring or offspring of An.
 
According to the Sumerians the main god, An, came into being after Nummu, the waters, birthed him. The waters also spawned the god of the earth, Ki. Ki and An produced a son, Enlil god of storms, rains, and winds. It is Enlil who separated An from Ki and claimed the earth, leaving the heavens to his father.
 
Much of our knowledge of the Anunnaki come from the stories, ‘Inanna's Descent into the Netherworld’ and ‘The Epic of Gilgamesh’. In both of these, the Anunnaki are portrayed as judges decreeing fates in the underworld. In other stories, the deities serve different functions and specifics on their role in Sumerian mythology is contradictory.
 
Like other polytheistic belief systems, the Sumerians worshipped multiple gods who were related to each other and had human traits and characteristics. Much like the more familiar gods of Greek mythology, Sumerian gods had human foibles, desires, and aims. The individual gods had wide-ranging powers and were described as imposing beings, physically far larger than non-divine humans.
 
Interestingly, there are a few striking similarities between the Sumerian religious traditions, — particularly as they grew and shifted focus along with increased urbanization — and the Abrahamic religions Christianity, Islam, and Judaism.
 
All four, for example, tell the story of a great flood. And all four feature a female character who is referred to as “the mother of all living”. In the Bible, this is Eve, and in the Hebrew and Aramaic traditions, Hawwah, made from the rib of Adam. In the Mesopotamian texts, “this mother of all living” is born from the sperm (or waters) of Enki, a powerful son of An.
 
Lost in translation?
 
Our knowledge of Sumerian mythology concerning the Anunnaki comes from cuneiform tablets excavated from the area in the 1800s. These tablets are predominantly literary in nature and contain myths, epics, panegyrics and the like. Of the many thousands of tablets unearthed, many are yet to be translated because there are very few cuneiform specialists in the world.
 
One self-proclaimed specialist is Zecharia Sitchin a Russian-born American author. In the 70s, Sitchin turned away from the widely accepted scholarly view of the Anunnaki and crafted an opposing myth of his own, one that has been embraced by independent theorists and conspiracy aficionados all over the world.
 
Instead of accepting the mainstream translation of ‘Anunnaki’ as “offspring of An” Sitchin based his theory on the idea that the cuneiform sign DIĜIR means “people of the blazing rockets”.
 
In 1976 Sitchin published a book called ‘The 12th Planet’. In it, he claims that Sumerian cuneiform tablets reveal an unrecognized planet called Nibiru. The inhabitants of this planet are the Anunnaki who came to Earth with the express purpose of mining gold in Africa.
 
According to Sitchin, they did so because gold would help to replenish the atmosphere on Nibiru which was failing. But the miners were not keen on working in the gold mines so the Anunnaki bred with Homo erectus resulting in Homo sapiens who were created to work in the mines as slaves.
 
For Sitchin, modern-day humanity is a direct result of alien astronauts genetically engineering us hundreds of thousands of years ago.
 
It may sound completely outlandish, but Mr. Sitchin’s theory is a popular one. ‘The 12th Planet,’ his first book, has sold millions of copies and has been translated into dozens of languages. He followed this book with six other volumes which make up the ‘Earth Chronicles’ series.
 
Supporters of Sitchin point to solid evidence of early mining in Africa as proof that the Anunnaki did indeed come from the stars via Nibiru. But why does an early African civilization need to have their agency and capabilities stripped from them and credited to alien astronauts instead?
 
Building on Sitchin’s work, David Meade, another self-proclaimed academic whose work would probably struggle to pass peer review, claims that the Anunnaki built the pyramids.
 
There’s a trend here. Writing for The Conversation, Julien Benoit notes that racism is the root of these theories which discredit early peoples and instead privilege extraterrestrial intervention. That all of this supposed alien activity happens in the Global South is, perhaps, unsurprising.
 
"Despite all this evidence, some people still refuse to believe that anyone from Africa [or anywhere in what is today considered the developing world] could possibly have created and constructed the Giza pyramids or other ancient masterpieces. Instead, they credit ancient astronauts, extraterrestrials or time travellers as the real builders."
 
Sitchin has faced criticism from linguists and cuneiform scholars worldwide who have called his work “amateurish” and the work of a “dogmatist”. In 1979, Roger Wescott, a past president of the Linguistic Association of Canada and the United States, reviewed ‘The 12th Planet’ and noted that Sitchin’s favoured expressions include ‘without question’ and ‘there can be no doubt’ which “regrettably, he applies to the most questionable assertions and the most doubtful interpretations.”
 
Despite reviews such as this one, alien astronaut theories of creation and past civilizations, which are largely the result of Sitchin’s ‘pioneering’ work, have massive cultural currency.
 
Conspiracy theories will always be appealing to us because as a species we have the ability to find patterns and craft inferences, even ones that are not really there. Once we've half-formed these ideas our confirmation bias, a powerful cognitive force, takes over and we find evidence to support what we think.
 
We ignore evidence that points to the other side of the story. We also like to bestow upon ourselves the ability to be different, to think outside-of-the-box, to reason above and beyond our fellow humans.
 
This could be the reason why, despite the flaws and contradictions in his work, Sitchin has managed to craft a modern-day myth, one that now stretches beyond his legacy.
 
Imagine years in the future, a society somewhat like our own discovering ‘The 12th Planet’ and the pseudo-science documentaries it spawned, in much the same way that we discovered the cuneiform tablets. What would they make of our myths?
 
As for the role of the Anunnaki in creation? The truth is out there. Whether it’s to be found on YouTube is debatable.

by Samuel Gitukui

One of the main reasons why it’s crucial to understand the needs of the customer is because this is the number one way to promote innovation. Predicting the requirements of customers is never easy, however.

In fact, business leaders can get biased as they try to understand what a customer wants. Such biases can have negative consequences to the entrepreneur and the business as a whole. An example of bias is the fact that an entrepreneur is more likely to use his or her most recent experience with customers. The downside is that this may not paint the complete picture.

The best way to understand customers is to think like them. However, it is hard to sometimes know where to start.
Let’s consider a few tips to help you better understand your customers.

1. Make a follow up on the outlier answers

Sometimes you may not get a direct answer but this doesn’t exclude the response nonetheless from being an important input.  You can get valuable information by not just considering the responses while doing your interviews but also observing the behavior of your customers.

This type of flexibility when conducting research can provide you with information that you may not have gotten otherwise.

2. Make use of objective tools

When you are designing a product as a business leader, it is very easy to focus more on your individual assumptions. When conducting your product validation, it is important that you remain as objective as possible.

As you create the product, document all the assumptions that you have. This will enable you to make the required changes as you go along. This allows you to remain aware and to be objective.

You can also use the moderate user testing method. This is where the testing exercise is moderated in many different ways. It involves guiding the whole process and answering the questions that the participants ask.

To the business, the benefits are great. It is an excellent way to find out how the customers view your products and you can understand what parts of the product fails to meet customer expectations.

3. Try framing the questions differently

You can try framing the questions for your research differently to find out the effect on user feedback. A recent study showed that the design of the questionnaire had a significant effect on the type of responses and the type of feedback.

For example, you can ask a question in a negative way or you can use percentages instead of numbers.

The bottom line is that it is not simple to find out what users really want. Sometimes they may not be aware of what will work best for them or they may not have a direct answer.

However, to understand the minds of the customer is crucial if you want to stay ahead of the game in the modern business environment. Preforming basic studies and surveys simply is not enough. Take time, be patient and invest in knowing the real truth behind customer wants.

by Samuel Gitukui

When it comes to innovation, two of the biggest names online are Sportify and Amazon. In the modern business era, which is unpredictable, these two business models are able to remain ahead of the game.

Both Amazon and Sportify must be doing something right. They are market leaders and experts at gauging the overall direction of the trend, making the right choices and executing their plan well enough to keep customers engaged and happy.

Leadership is the driving force of a company’s success. Many businesses still feature a top down hierarchy leadership that is slow to pick on trends and equally slow to adapt.

Think of a company as a car. Just as the driver guides the car in the direction he wants, the same is true with the business leader. The role of the leader can determine whether the business dominates the market or ends up as just another failure.

There are three main types of leaders.

1. The entrepreneurial leader

The entrepreneurial leader engages the minds of the customer by creating products that are not just innovative but simple to use. Sometimes, customers may not know how much they need a particular product until they try it.

They are masters of streamlining organization by coming up with new innovations and concepts. Entrepreneurial leaders also know how to support and foster team members to bring their own ideas to the table.

Through team building, experimentation and risk taking, these leaders are able to encourage their team members to become more innovative. By looking into the future and seeing the potential and encouraging innovation from their workers, the entrepreneurial leaders move the business into the future.

Entrepreneurial leaders are also able to take full responsibility of the results. If their ideas turn out unsuccessful, they will take their fault and never that of the team members.

2. The enabling leader

These are leaders that are able to create a work environment that focuses on the wellbeing of the worker as well as the relationship with other workers. The contribution of every individual worker is acknowledged.

An enabling leader can be a great complement to the entrepreneurial leader. Since they are able to push employees to greater levels of performance, they are the ones that help to keep the business culture solid and from collapse as the business moves to the next level.

The enabling leader helps to build a strong and capable team that integrates well with each other.

3. The architecting leader

If there is one thing about architecting leaders, it is their unique ability to look into the future and put measures in place to take the business from where it is now to where it needs to be. They create the long-term plans from which other business leaders will work to drive the company forward.

Think of them as visionaries.

Architecting leaders are also able to focus on current global trends and come up with innovations to take advantage of the trends.

by Summer Worsley

Although Germany’s economy has stalled a little of late, the years beforehand saw an unparalleled level of steady progression. All this action contributes to a thriving domestic and international market, one that can be tapped into by making sure your website is in German as well as English.
 
Connecting to audiences who speak either language (or both) expands your business and increases your outreach.
 
Furthermore, with the global online marketplace crowded and packed with cookie-cutter sites offering services and products that seem largely indistinguishable, it’s hard to stand out from the crowd. Add to this the fact that search engine optimisation (SEO) in English is highly competitive, and it becomes key for German and European websites to have websites in German.
 
Not to mention, individuals respond well to text in their native language. With an estimated 220 million speakers worldwide, ignoring this market is not wise.
 
Translation tools are of little use to German speakers wanting to understand text in a foreign language either, these usually miss the mark completely and are rarely as nuanced as translations by native German speakers. Check out our post on machine translation fails if you’re still not convinced.
 
Need more reasons to have your website translated to German? Here are some compelling points.
 
Europe’s Largest Economy
 
Thanks to some pretty impressive industrial advances, Germany is at the fore of European economic development and exports many more goods than neighbouring countries do. In line with demand, businesses hire more staff who, in turn, spend their wages in the home market and beyond.
 
Generating online interest from German speakers and consumers is a natural step for European businesses.
 
Online Business is Booming
 
Websites with text in English and German (and other European languages) cast a wider net over the potential customer base. The German-speaking base, in particular, responds very well to online promotions. In fact, 2014 saw Germany a close second to the United Kingdom in the number of internet sales. The nation hit a staggering one-fifth of total online sales across the continent.
 
Moreover, online payments and transactions are popular. That same year, more than 60 per cent of all transactions in Germany were conducted digitally — a percentage even higher than that of the United States.
 
Unemployment is Low Across Germany
 
In August 2019, Germany boasted an impressive 3.1 per cent unemployment rate, one of the lowest in the world and a record-breaking figure for the nation. The steady period of financial growth enables staff to gain and maintain jobs that pay at and above a livable wage and generates expendable income.
 
Much of this extra cash finds its way into the coffers of online businesses and grows the digital sales sector in all niches. As imaginable, native speakers choose to vote with their wallets and easily align themselves with companies that speak directly to them, in their mother tongue.
 
SEO Matters — And it’s Easier in German
 
It’s no secret, English dominates the digital sphere. Despite the fact that roughly 20 per cent of the global population speak English, more than half of all the content on the web is in English.
 
Search engine optimisation is now a fact of life and something that all businesses have to consider, whether they operate fully online or maintain a slight digital footprint. Consider the world’s top-ranking websites across all industries, imagine how many people open those sites just because they appear on Google’s first page? If your business is in a highly competitive field, SEO matters even more.
 
Differentiation your website can be as simple as getting some first-page Google power with clever SEO in a language that is not English. Ranking highly in search results is simply easier in German than in English because there is less competition.
 
Make Sales With German
 
While Brexit may be taking its agonisingly slow toll on Europe as a whole, the German economy has remained steadier than expected. Now is the perfect time to incorporate German text into your website and make sure you reach the German-speaking market.
 
But there is a right way to add text in German (or any language) do it with the help of fully qualified human translators. Sub-par content in any language is off-putting and may scare off the very clientele you’re trying to court.
 
Need to get your website ready for the German market? Talk to us today to find out how we can help with German to English and English to German translation services.

by Samuel Gitukui

One thing that sets entrepreneurs and great business leader apart is their drive. Most successful leaders have at some point had to overcome great obstacles and challenges. Everybody admires those that aim high and fail hard.

But there’s a downside to being competitive. Many entrepreneurs and business leaders who have the drive to pursue a new concept may also be prone to changing their minds too quickly. This can cause a few problems.

The importance of consistency

A good business leader needs to be aware of the fact that while they may be fine with trying new things, the employees may feel insecure about new business concepts.

Employees want security and a steady income at the end of the month.

If the leader is inconsistent, the employees will be doubtful of the future of the business and their position in the organization.

One study showed the top reasons why workers leave a business. Two of the main ones included poor communication and poor management. On the list were also factors such as favorism as well as double standards.

The moral of the story is that consistency is important in a business. It provides the workers with a sense of security. Otherwise the team members are likely to have high levels of stress. This will obviously impact negatively on the operations of the business. Workers will be distracted and the production will be low.

One the other hand, the entrepreneur and business leader thrive on new concepts and ideas.

Sometimes, leaders show inconsistency without being aware of it. Some of the main ways they do this is by:

1. Making changes without communicating to team members

Sometimes changes in regulations and the business environment in general will require the business to adapt. However, if you do not communicate to your team mates, it is likely that you will build resentment.

When the change is taking place, it is important to let others know why as well as how it will impact the business for the better. Otherwise, the team members are less likely to accept the change and even if they do, they will do so at a slower rate.

2. Different rules with different teammates

Sometimes it’s only natural to treat different employees differently. For example, a worker who has been in the company for a long time and always hits deadlines may not be treated the same as someone who just joined the organization.

However, it is important that even the new worker understands the situation in order to prevent resentment in the workforce.

All employees need to be treated fairly. Note that there is a difference between treating them fairly and treating everyone the same. The most important thing is that there is communication and understanding of the business culture.

3. Competition

Business leaders need to be competitive in order to stay ahead of the game. However, keeping an eye on what the competition is doing and always reacting to it could make one seem inconsistent without them knowing.

For example, if the business follows certain rules and principles, then a competitor uses tactics and methods that the business doesn’t believe in, you may seem inconsistent when you start copying the competition.

At the end of the day, communication is needed to explain to team members why the business is changing its course.

by Samuel Gitukui

One thing is for sure, entrepreneurship requires one to have a knack for managing stress. Indeed, it is not for everyone. Setting up shop, attracting customers, marketing and processing payroll can take its toll on the business leader.

There are also the team members to manage and sometimes creating a good relationship with your employees can be difficult.

There are only two main reasons why entrepreneurs will hire. First is the need help with the current work load and second, is that they need people with more experience than they have to fill a void in the company.

Such employees will have their own opinion and views on how work needs to be done. It is likely that they have worked with different managers and businesses before and will therefore have different views and experiences to yours.

This is not to say that they are right and should not be given directives. This simply means that it is important to consider their side of things and incorporate it in your decision-making process.

Entrepreneurs and business leaders are prone to making certain assumptions that could ruin their relationship with their employees.

1. Employees will hold themselves accountable

It’s easy for business leaders to be under the misconception that the employees believe in the course and that they have the same interests as you. This type of thinking might cause you to expect them to work extra harder and to not complain when things get tough.

However, the truth is that they are not as invested as you are to your business and will not hold themselves accountable. They will mostly see your business and their employment as a means to an end.

2. Employees are motivated by money

Money can be a good incentive and any business leader may be tempted to increase salaries to prevent employee turnover.

However, employees are motivated by more than just money. Imagine a case where a team member complains that they don’t have enough time to spend with their kids. Simply increasing their salaries will not solve the cause of their frustrations. For this you will need to provide more free time and flexible work hours.

3. Employees will be fine with a lack of decorum

Employees understand that business leaders can be busy, having to run around dealing with the major issues of the business. However, being busy doesn’t means that they will tolerate a culture where nobody is smiling or talking to each other due to being overworked.

Business leaders need to slow down and take the time to complement their team members and acknowledge the efforts to the company.

4. Employees cannot handle change or risk

The mind and body get used to the status quo and changes are not always easy to deal with. However, thinking that the employees will not tolerate any risk or changes is wrong.

This type of thinking could cause the leader to keep things at a slow pace. As a result, employees are likely to deal with monotony at work.

As long as the change is communicated, employees will be open to new challenges.

by Samuel Gitukui

As a business leader, it is a good thing to be competitive. It allows you to enhance your performance. Having a rival will also help you commit to achieving your goals, hitting your targets and therefore boost overall performance.

However, before you can pick a business rival to compete with, it is crucial that you first understand the disadvantages of competition and the risks involved. Being too competitive may cause you to make irrational business decisions and take more risks. This could end up hurting your business in the long run.

These are 3 main tips you can use for healthy business rivalry while also helping you to avoid risky moves.

1. Commit to your business principles

You can boost your focus by finding someone to compete with. You are better able to achieve your goals which will ultimately take your business to the next level. The downside is that when the competition is fierce, you may have a win-at-all-costs mentality.

This may cause you to put aside your business principles and “play dirty”. However, you may ruin your businesses reputation in the process and damage business relationships that are crucial to the success of the business.
Take time off as a business leader and think about what is important as well as the business principles.

2. Take regular breaks to think

Rivalry will make your business perform more efficiently since you have the motivation to work even harder. However, note that the eagerness to be the best may also contribute to your business’s lack of success.

This is especially the case when you end up making impulse decisions. One study proved that business leaders are more prone to make reactive decisions instead of being more cautious in their decision making.

However, as a smart business leader, you can avoid this by performing critical thinking. Think about different viewpoints, and consider the cost and benefit of your decision.

3. Do not take unnecessary risks

Having a rival that you want to beat not only causes you to make irrational and reactive decisions but it can also cause you to take unnecessary risks. This could jeopardize the position of your business in the market.

An example can be seen clearly when it comes to football. If a team views an opposing team as a high risk, they are more likely to have more offensive strategies and lag behind on the defensive and risk aversion strategies.

Many business leaders will instead of focusing on avoiding the risks, will dive into a strategy without performing proper market research.

Final Thoughts

Being a good business leader means finding the right balance between controlling your emotions and competing with your business rival. Making the wrong move can slowly cause your enterprise to crumble.

The best way to avoid unnecessary risks is to employ critical thinking. Take regular breaks and engage your mind in a rational conversation. In this way you will be able to remain competitive and still make the right business choices.

by Samuel Gitukui

Many big businesses unfortunately do not treat their workers in an ideal manner. Whether its management barking orders or the supervisor never letting the employee perform their tasks without breathing down their necks, this is simply inefficient management and undermines the creativity and the job satisfaction of the employee.

The small business or startup is often characterized by few employees and the business leader takes the time to acknowledge individual contribution to the company.

Many business leaders have recently become aware of the treatment of employees and have put in place policies for allocating more benefits to the employees. However, there is more that needs to be done. The great thing is there are those enterprise leaders that are pushing for workers to receive a share of the company profits including dividends.

These are some reasons why modern large businesses should maintain a startup mentality.

It can be disastrous to force changes on the workers
It is crucial for the employees to have a choice in the company matters. Since there are at the forefront of the day to day business, they will after all, be the first to come up with ideas on how processes and procedures can be improved.

Modern businesses see changes at light speed. Unfortunately, there are some managers that still believe that the best way forward is to do more talking and less listening.

Surprisingly, it is the management that needs to embrace change the most. The employees need to be allowed a voice and should not feel as though they are being controlled all the time.

This will also result in employees having more opportunities to grow as they share their ideas. Team members feel appreciated and valued and this increases job satisfaction and reduces turnover.

Employees want more than money

The younger workforce of millennials wants more than a well-paying job. They want a job that gives their lives meaning. In fact, studies show that millennials will gladly leave the organization for a lower paying job that offers greater fulfillment.

The main reasons why many businesses should maintain a startup mindset will often come down to a sense of belonging. If millennials are given the opportunity to make a difference, they will have greater job satisfaction than simply having a better pay.

As a business leader, it is important that you ask yourself, does the job offer my workers more than just a check at the end of the month? If the answer is no, then something needs to be done about it.

And there is good reason to keep a young workforce and the right company culture is key to maintaining your workforce. Being an autocratic leader is more likely to put off the younger worker force. They are the most energetic and have the best potential of skyrocketing the business to the nest level.

One excellent way of giving employees meaning in their jobs is allowing them time every day to work on what they think will benefit the business.

Creating the Ideal Company Culture

The company culture has the largest influence on employee job satisfaction and whether they enjoy working for the company or not.

Creating the perfect company culture however is not easy. It needs patience and somewhere along the way, the business leader is going to make mistakes. With the right ideals, and a willingness to create a workforce that enjoys working for your business, there are a few things that you can do.

Let’s find out!

1. Start off by hiring for skill, attitude as well as knowledge

When hiring your next employees, having the right skills and knowledge is crucial. Granted there will be new job skills that will be acquired once the employee is in training. However, it is important that the employee demonstrates what they are capable of doing. Only then will you be able to judge whether the candidate is right for the task or not.

During the interview, instead of just using buzzwords, the potential employee will show their knowledge of the subject matter. This makes training easier and ensures that you get someone who is capable.

But having the right skills and knowledge is just the first step. It is important the interviewee has the right attitude. You want to hire people who are likeable and who will integrate well with the rest of the workforce.

Try learning the individual at a more personal level and you can tell how likeable they are.

2. Make the hiring process more streamlined

The interview process can make or break the attitude of the candidate to your business. If it lengthy and has too many questions, the worker will be discouraged and will no longer have any enthusiasm to work for the company.

In fact, if another company offers the candidate a more attractive offer, they will prefer that company over yours.

Always make sure that the interview process is simple and doesn’t make the interviewee feel threatened. Also ensure that you follow up and send feedback to the potential employee whether or not they got the position.

Do not completely eliminate them from future positions and assure them that they will get first priority when there is another position in the company.

3. Make your employees comfortable

If you want your employees to enjoy coming to the office every day, it is important to put measures in place to make their work environment more comfortable.

Some savvy business leaders will go as far as having inhouse acupuncture or holding parties and comedy shows for their employees. All this is great but not always necessary.

You can maintain a healthy and thriving workforce, by providing a few basic essentials such as office space filled with natural light, fresh air and allowing them to personalize their work area.

You can so make sure that the equipment is up to date as well as adding a few green plants that bring a bit of life and color to the working area.

Note however that managing a young workforce requires skill and a good business leader will know how to bring everyone together.

How To Manage a Young Workforce

While the goals of managing every workforce is to bring people together, it is important to understand that managing a young workforce is not the same as managing an older workforce. Since they have different needs, the approach on management needs to be different in order to bring everyone in sync.

A younger workforce has greater demands and these demands are also more intensive. For one, the younger generation requires a greater sense of job flexibility, as well as participation in business objectives. They want to do something that has meaning and want to know that their actions are directly impacting the business in a positive way.

Millennials are first and foremost in search of a company culture that is more open. The business environment needs to adapt by having fewer departments. Granted what one business does may not apply to all businesses, but you can get valuable information from understanding what the younger generation requires.

Communication is key and according to a recent study, companies that have invested in good communication systems provide 47 percent more profit to their shareholders than companies that have not invested in proper communication channels.

Simply put, if you are dealing with a smaller and younger team that is highly energetic, you can increase the business revenue significantly by boosting communication. All you have to do is listen to your young workforce and understand their needs and requirements. From here you can tailor the right communication channels to them.

This is the age of social media and almost all tasks are digitalized. The human resource department thus needs to work even harder to ensure that the office is running as expected. Consider that almost everyone who is under 40 years old is using a social media channel. As a business leader, it is important to consider applying similar channels of communication. Simply put sending an email is more likely to be ignored than sending a slack conversation.

Once you understand this, you can incorporate into your own business. You will need to put a two-way communication channel to the organization. You can do this by putting in place an open reporting system where everyone knows what everyone else is doing. The employees also need to know what management is planning.

Also talk to the employees. Find out about their worries and concerns and use that information to come up with proper communication channels. After doing this, you need to share your views to them to get the young workforce conversant with your plans.  You can then sell them your ideas and internal protocols.

However, all this is faced by certain challenges top of which is selling the idea to the CEO and the business leaders. There is every chance that providing such an idea will be met with a certain level of resistance.

As a business leader however, you should aim at ensuring that the right communication channels are in place. Stand firm with your decisions and see to it that your ideas are implemented.

Once you have the right communication channels in place, use them to provide positive feedback to your employees.

Why Business leaders Need to Make Use of Positive Feedback

Feedback is not always about telling your team members where they need to improve. It is also important to complement them where they have performed well. Many workers will tell you that their boss is yet to give them any positive feedback and will often receive much criticism when they have underperformed.

A positive feedback is a direct, effective and sophisticated way to encourage positive behaviors in the business. But there is a right way to provide positive feedback.

Providing compliments

Complimenting team members for performing well in their work will automatically increase their morale. In turn, their productivity goes up.

On the other hand, team members who work extra hard on their job but don’t receive any acknowledgement will be demoralized.

Some leaders simply believe that people should not be complemented if they are being payed to do their job. However human psychology proves otherwise.

Being specific

Avoid being vague in your compliments. Be specific and tell the team members exactly why you are complementing them and what part of the task appealed to you.

The compliment and acknowledgement will have a greater effect and appear more real.

Elements of a positive feedback

Start by using positive terms such as excellent, great, and wonderful.  When you give the compliment, be specific on what was good about the work or presentation.

Also talk about the results of the actions of the team member such as increased revenue, and greater efficiency.
End the compliment by thanking them.

Don’t add in any criticism

Make sure that you do not add in a negative feedback while giving your positive feedback. 

Note that in a meeting, there may be need to talk about what can be improved as well. However, giving a positive feedback on its own is enough to provide a significant effect as well.

Write it down

After giving a positive feedback, you can also put it in writing such as sending a note or sending an email to the team member.

A hand written note feels more personal in this digital era.

Let all the other team members know

The positive feedback will have a greater effect if it sent during a meeting. After all, it is always the best to praise in public and correct in private.

When you want to give negative feedback, call the team member to the office and have a private conversation. Do not do this in front of the other team members as this can create a feeling of resentment.

Also, it’s a good idea to have a specific time of day to give positive feedback and to do this regularly. The aim is to boost the self-esteem of the workers. This can have a huge impact on their productivity.

Another major benefit of positive feedback is employee satisfaction. Team members feel content in their place of work when the leader shows them that they are making an impact in the business. This will reduce the rate of employee turnover.

Having a workforce that enjoys working for the business makes it that much easier to delegate tasks and focus more on where the business is headed. Delegating however demands patience.

Learning How to Delegate Tasks

Delegating work as a business leader is one of the hardest choices you can make. It is not easy to trust that someone else will complete the work in time and maintain the same level of high-quality standards that you do. However, failing to delegate will often leave you with too much work, leave you feeling overwhelmed and burned out at the end of the day.

There is great benefit to learning how to delegate. You are able to focus on other tasks and you will not be as emotionally and physically drained.

Delegation is important for any business leader. Why? Because you are also able to develop the strengths of your individual team members. As a result, your collective strength increases. As a leader you can focus on the future and the direction of the business without being clogged up by the weeds.

And when it is all said and done, delegation helps you remain sane by not having too much on your mind.

Many business leaders however will struggle with delegation. The good thing is that you have access to tools that can make the delegation process simpler. However, to really get into the whole delegation process there are some myths that you will have to dispel from your thoughts.

1. Team members are already busy

As a leader, you may be grateful that your team members are busy and all involved in their own individual tasks but you may also worry about them being too busy and unable to take on more tasks. You may be concerned that being too busy will cause them to feel resentment.

However, the best way to get around this is to talk to the team members themselves. Ask them if they are open to more work. You would be surprised at how much work can be taken off your shoulders.

Asking is far better than assuming.

2. They will not meet the quality standards

The fact is you will be better at performing a task than your team members simply because you have spent a lot of time doing it. However, unless you believe that your team members can create quality output, you will never be able to delegate.

Always remember that your team is the best resource that your business has. By taking the time to build on their skills, you are making an investment into the future. Granted, they may not be able to work up to standards the first or second time. However, over time, their skill set will grow and they will be able to provide quality output.

3. I will finish faster

Of course, if you are the expert, your team members will not be able to complete the task as fast as you can. However, the alternative is being in a position where you cannot grow. The whole business stagnates because of this.

If you focus on the speed of finishing tasks, you will not see the bigger picture and the business will not grow any more than it already has.

October marks the start of our new series on business leadership. Enjoy!

How A Business Leader Can Help Manage Stress in The Work Environment
by Samuel Gitukui

As a business leader, you want to avoid stress at the workplace as much as possible. In the modern hectic business world, stress at work is an epidemic. Not only will it hurt the health of the worker, but it will also hurt the overall performance of the business.

But there are different levels of stress. Acute or short-term stress lasts just a short time until the project causing the stress is handled. The human body is designed to cope with short levels of stress. It is the long-term stress that has the largest potential for disruption.

Whenever you notice any type of chronic or long-term stress, it is important that you have measures in place to deal with it.

This explains why the leader’s job is highly important. Team members will have improved health, relationships and productivity once stress is managed.

Happy workers translate to better relationships with the suppliers, lenders and customers. This will push your business to the next level.

This is how to manage stress in the workplace.

1. Provide solutions

The best business leaders empower their workers to manage stress by themselves. One of the ways to do this is by providing them with time management classes where they learn how to delegate and prioritize on tasks. The team members are better able to determine the best way to manage their own stress.

While most managers will leave the task of managing the workforce to the HR, getting into the problem yourself as a leader shows your team that you are concerned for their wellbeing and that you want to see them develop both health wise and career wise.

But why is empowering employees so important. Well, when they feel in control, they have less stress and more job satisfaction.

Cortisol, adrenaline and norepinephrine are all stress hormones that are released by the brain. The more comfortable people feel, the less of these hormones are produced.

2. Be transparent

By creating time for conversations with your employees, you can discuss company values and morals and objectives.
Take the time to thank the team members for being a part of the organization and acknowledge each individual’s contribution to the team.

Regular meetings will allow you to show the company data and performance to the members. Attribute the individual successes to the individual team members.

Your team members will feel part of the business family and will have a clear picture of what their roles are in the organization thus reducing overall stress and boosting performance.

3.Take time off

Research shows that up to 80 percent of workers will force themselves to work when being sick. A good business leader knows that this will only make things worse eventually as the stress levels rise to chronic levels.

Be the leader that creates an environment that encourages workers to take the time off and take care of themselves. Less stress equals more job satisfaction and thus better production.

Hi folks, it's me this time.

I hope you'll all read Summer's brilliant posts below, but I just had to barge in and post this text excerpt that I had translated by the free version of DeepL, a translation program available on the web.

In keeping with the topic of some posts I wrote a while ago (on machine translation) and because I saw a job offer recently where the client suggested using the program to do a preliminary translation and then "making the necessary changes", I decided to give one of those programs another try. Turns out that employer was right -- about having to edit and make changes, I mean. Because even a simple text like the beginning of an (edited) article about photography ends up with only part of its meaning intact. Look at  this: 

English: 
Any type of or style of photography presents endless challenges. Whether you’re capturing people, buildings, or wildlife, there are a million different ways things can go wrong or take unexpected turns. Now, throw in working with the ever-changing sun, random weather, and unpredictable clients, and you’ve just scratched the surface of using and shooting with natural light.
Overcoming the variability and challenge of natural light photography begins and ends with understanding the sun. This guide will teach you what you need to know, like how to plan a shoot at 12pm on a sunny day, or what lens to use during a sunset, or what to capture when the day’s light is all but fading way. Here’s how you can take your best photos yet using only the light supplied by the sun.
 
German: 
Jede Art von Fotografie stellt eine endlose Herausforderung dar. Egal, ob Sie Menschen, Gebäude oder Wildtiere einfangen, es gibt eine Million verschiedene Möglichkeiten, wie Dinge schief gehen oder unerwartete Wendungen nehmen können. Jetzt können Sie mit der sich ständig ändernden Sonne, dem zufälligen Wetter und unvorhersehbaren Kunden arbeiten, und Sie haben gerade die Oberfläche der Verwendung und Aufnahme mit natürlichem Licht zerkratzt.
Die Überwindung der Variabilität und Herausforderung der Naturlichtfotografie beginnt und endet mit dem Verständnis der Sonne. Dieser Leitfaden zeigt Ihnen, was Sie wissen müssen, wie Sie eine Aufnahme um 12 Uhr an einem sonnigen Tag planen, welches Objektiv Sie bei Sonnenuntergang verwenden sollten oder was Sie einfangen sollten, wenn das Tageslicht fast verblasst ist. So können Sie Ihre besten Fotos machen und dabei nur das von der Sonne erzeugte Licht verwenden. 
Übersetzt mit www.DeepL.com/Translator

Those of you who speak German and English will see what I mean, the others can contact me and I'll explain. Have a lovely autumn!
Yours,
Alexandra