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The 2012 Academy Awards Ceremony is just around the corner, and in the list of nominees are several foreign language films waiting to be selected as the best in their category. The candidates are Iran’s “A Separation“, Belgium’s “Bullhead“, Canada’s “Monsieur Lazhar“, Israel’s “Footnote“ and Poland’s “In Darkness“. All these films are screened in the U.S. with English subtitles. Creating these subtitles is a task that shouldn’t be taken lightly, particularly for the film’s director, who most certainly would have a desire to have his/her message come across as originally intended. The trick is that this is not a regular translation as one might think. There is the added challenge of making the subtitles concise enough for the audience to have time to read them and still enjoy the motion picture. This is one of the reasons why so often a viewer that is bilingual will always be able to tell that the subtitles are not a word-for-word translation, but rather a paraphrased message at times, which can only be done by professionals that understand both languages and have a technical knowledge of written text limitations in regards to keeping up with the spoken word of the original version.

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新年快乐！

According to the Chinese calendar, which consists of both Gregorian and lunar-solar calendar systems, the Year of the Dragon will start on January 23rd, 2012 and will end on February 9th, 2013.

Under Chinese tradition, each year is dedicated to a specific animal. The twelve animals are: Dragon, Horse, Monkey, Rat, Boar, Rabbit, Dog, Rooster, Ox, Tiger, Snake, and Ram. In 2012, the Dragon is welcomed back after the 2011 year of the Rabbit. Each of these animals are believed to influence the children born in that year and it is believed that they take on the character and qualities of the animal.

The Dragon is the fifth sign in the Chinese Horoscope and signifies luck.

People born in the year of the Dragon are said to be healthy, energetic, persistent, easily excitable, impatient and stubborn. On the other hand, they are reliable, honest, brave and exude confidence. Dragons are blessed with good fortune; they are smart, daring in business and have a great sense of humor.

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Pope Sylvester, also called the first “peace Pope”, after centuries of bloody persecution, served as pope from 314 to 335 AD; he died on December 31. In the West, the liturgical feast of Saint Sylvester is on December 31st. Accordingly, this last day in the year in German-speaking countries and in some others close to them, New Year’s Eve is known as ‘Sylvester’. In other countries, the day is referred to as Saint Sylvester’s Day. In Brazil, the long-distance running event Saint Sylvester Road Race occurs every year on 31 December.

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