The world speaks over 7,000 languages and each has its own rhythm, quirks and stories. However linguistic differences are not only restricted to speech. As a translation company, we are understandably fascinated by the ways languages are written, and the remarkable diversity of the world's orthographies.
Many writing systems use spaces to mark word boundaries. However, in a small number of languages this is not the case. In Thai script, for instance, text consists of a continuous string of characters where spaces are only used to delimit sentences. Readers must rely on their linguistic knowledge to understand where one word ends and another begins which can be challenging for second language learners who are unfamiliar with continuous writing systems.
It can also be challenging when calculating how many words a text contains. In fact, traditional word counts cannot be used when analysing a Thai text for translation into English!
Contact our friendly team to see how we can help you.
