A 'Taste for Words'
When we say someone has a taste for words we usually mean they speak or write with creativity and style. But a few rare individuals can physically taste a word before they speak it! They have the 'lexical gustatory' variety of the condition synaesthesia in which two or more of the five senses are somehow 'crossed'.
As anyone who has ever sniffed or sipped a glass of wine or whisky knows, we all associate words, especially food words, with taste and smell, but a synaesthete might actually taste 'bacon' in response to the word 'carpenter' or live in a house that tastes of yoghurt! This may go some way to explain those idiosyncratic descriptions of wine which some sommeliers indulge in and which have caused us all to smile. Or maybe not. But it's an interesting thought!
When we say someone has a taste for words we usually mean they speak or write with creativity and style. But a few rare individuals can physically taste a word before they speak it! They have the 'lexical gustatory' variety of the condition synaesthesia in which two or more of the five senses are somehow 'crossed'.
As anyone who has ever sniffed or sipped a glass of wine or whisky knows, we all associate words, especially food words, with taste and smell, but a synaesthete might actually taste 'bacon' in response to the word 'carpenter' or live in a house that tastes of yoghurt! This may go some way to explain those idiosyncratic descriptions of wine which some sommeliers indulge in and which have caused us all to smile. Or maybe not. But it's an interesting thought!
Synaesthesia aside, let's turn our attention to a much
more familiar and frustrating form of 'crossing' - translation - from Italian
to English or vice-versa.
Consider these questions...
Can you, an experienced Italian sommelier, conduct a tasting in English?
Can you, a whisky enthusiast, discuss your favourite dram in English?
Can you, a restaurant or bar owner, afford to employ staff who can't interact 'in lingua' with your clientele?
Can you, a successful wine producer, expect to sell your products overseas if your website is not well translated?
Whisky Wine & Words run training programmes and translation services to help you answer these questions positively.
We invite you to go to our CONTACT page and send us a message detailing your requirements.
Consider these questions...
Can you, an experienced Italian sommelier, conduct a tasting in English?
Can you, a whisky enthusiast, discuss your favourite dram in English?
Can you, a restaurant or bar owner, afford to employ staff who can't interact 'in lingua' with your clientele?
Can you, a successful wine producer, expect to sell your products overseas if your website is not well translated?
Whisky Wine & Words run training programmes and translation services to help you answer these questions positively.
We invite you to go to our CONTACT page and send us a message detailing your requirements.
