Making the world a smaller place one translation at a time...

How to Set Up and Maintain a Multilingual Website

A practical guide for taking a website multilingual. We cover scoping, file export, translation methods and, multilingual SEO.

Language in Project Hail Mary

As linguists at Web-Translations, we facilitate communication across borders and overcome language barriers. That is why it is fascinating to see how communication and language barriers are tackled in film. One genre in which we can often find invented languages or communication barriers is science fiction. After all, science fiction can often involve high-stakes circumstances, like threats to planetary life and contact with alien species. Protagonists might need to find a way to understand a situation or collaborate to tackle a common problem. The science fiction film, Arrival, is a prime example of a film with language as a central theme. It brings a spotlight to the work of linguists and their role in deciphering language and fostering communication. The main protagonist is a linguistics professor who must find a way to understand why alien spaceships have landed on Earth. A more recent film that broaches linguistics and the language barrier, is Project Hail Mary, released in 2026 and directed […]

The Rise of Poetry

Poetry has seen a stark increase in popularity in recent years. The data collected by NielsenIQ BookScan showcases a trend of rising poetry sales. Figures reached a historical high in 2023 of £14.4 million before surpassing this to reach a new record in 2024 of £14.996 million. Now this record is on track to be surpassed once again. The first 30 weeks of 2026 have accounted for just over £8 million in sales. These are due to reach over £15 million by the end of the year. The rises during the last decade have been attributed to periods of political instability, as well as digital trends such as the “Instapoetry” phenomenon. Cinematic and linguistic adaptations, modern life, and social media have all played their part in poetry’s rise. In addition to print, poetry is also returning to its origins as a spoken art form. Spoken events and poetry slams have become more popular. Impact of Cinema The release of Christopher […]

Star Wars: A New Dub in Welsh

Star Wars, the renowned franchise, will be celebrating its 50th anniversary next year in 2027. The saga has been translated into more than 50 languages, including the indigenous languages Ojibwe and Navajo. The films themselves feature between 30 and 70 different languages, including Huttese, Shyriiwook, and Ewokese. C-3PO is perhaps the gold (literally and figuratively) standard when it comes to multilingual mastery. In fact, the droid boasts fluency in more than 6 million forms of communication. Hope for the Welsh Language With linguistic diversity a feature both within and without the Star Wars saga, the linguistic universe has just expanded further. The franchise has added a new star to its multilingual galaxy: Welsh. The first film in the original trilogy released in 1977, later titled Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope, has been dubbed into Welsh. This new dub will allow Welsh speakers to enjoy the film with the added emotional resonance of watching in one’s native language. […]