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Some of our clients have ongoing and prospective projects with Pemex. This article, published in El Economista last fall, explains overall P&L results for Pemex. What will Pemex financial difficulties mean for ongoing and upcoming Pemex investments?
As of the 3Q of 2014 (with an average exchange rate of $13.5/dollar) Pemex showed an accumulated loss of 11.3 billion Dollars. This loss represents an increase of 59.8% over 3Q Results for 2013. Pemex’s Treasury Department informed that this could delay planned investment projects.

In nine months accumulated losses reach 87.5% of what the company lost in 2013, which was 13 billion Dollars. The Mexican Stock Exchange explains that these year’s losses are because of lower amounts of exported crude and a reduction of 8.4% in the “Mexican Mix”. (This article was written before the significant drop in oil prices in the 4Q of 2014).
Rodolfo Campos, Deputy Director of the Pemex Treasury, stated that price adjustments by global oil producers negatively impacted the Mexican Mix, which went from $100/barrel in the 3Q of 2013 to $92 in 3Q of 2014 (the Mexican Mix is hovering around $40 per barrel at the beginning of 1Q 2015).
“It is possible that if current world tendencies continue large investments could be deferred,” he told a group of investors.
Crude Exports
​Daily crude exports averaged 1.12 MBD for 2014 while the average for the same period in 2013 was 1.17 MBD. This reduction is caused by lower sales to the US market.
The company is reporting a loss of 4.4B for 3Q 2014.
Our Comment. It is worth noting that Pemex has a huge loss. Why does it lose money despite having seemingly healthy profits. The answer is that Pemex was slapped with a 57% tax (calculated over income) in the first three quarters of 2014.

People have been trying to create the ideal language for centuries. Why stop now? Translators would be out of work, of course, but we could make up for it by teaching the perfect language course.
This is a bit tongue-in-cheek, since at the end of the day, language is inextricably linked to culture, and each culture defines what is important to its language. Still, onwards:
English Needs More __________________!
​If you could redesign the English Language today, what would you change? What features from other languages, or made up features that don’t exist in “real” languages at all, would you include?
If this exercise does anything, it certainly makes you think about the limitations of our language, and what’s important to English Speakers. It’s also a subtle reminder about the importance of saving endangered languages. Language is culture to a huge extent, and when we allow languages to die, we’re effectively allowing cultures and ways of thinking to die with them.
Tom Scott has a great video over on YouTube about 4 features he wishes English included. Our favorite of these is also Gretchen McCllough’s favorite over at Slate.
Clusivity
 It’s “clusivity” The idea that the pronoun “we” might be “inclusive” or “exclusive”
Honestly, as Tom Scott mentions in his video, once you wrap your brain around this one, you won’t be able to let it go. The idea, simply, is that in English, when we say “We’ve won the lottery!!” The person being addressed is, at the beginning of the sentence, going to be super thrilled.
By the end of the sentence, based on body language and context, that person is either going to be super-thrilled, or really, really let down.
If English had “clusivity” that situation would be cleared up and the person being addressed would know right away if he or she they were included or not. There is a different pronoun for “we – including the person being spoken to” and “we – excluding the person being spoken to”.
Neutrality
​All right. With two other posts alluding to this, certainly I don’t need to mention it again? Briefly, a non-clunky way to express gender neutrality would be great. For several reasons. First, because sometimes we don’t know the gender and don’t want to be awkward. Second, because sometimes the gender is not important, and again, we don’t want to be awkward and insist on it. And because there are people out there who do not define themselves by gender, and whether you like this or not, it exists. (I’ve heard the argument that we don’t need to accommodate everyone.)
Positive Longing
​We have the word “longing” and “yearning” but I don’t know — once you’ve listened to Portuguese, it makes you really wish we had some way of expressing “saudade”. It expresses a longing or yearning for something that doesn’t exist. It is similar to the Japanese “natsukashii” and this Tumblr does a great job of describing the two. Another blogger has tried to translate it as “pining” but I would say that the difference is the positivity in the Portuguese and Japanese words. Okay…positivity may not be the right word, either…but when someone “pines” for something, or longs, or yearns…there’s a feeling in English that the person should “get over it”. Homesickness, too, doesn’t quite cut the mustard in English for what exists in both Japanese and Portuguese.
More Time
​Hard to believe I want more time in English, as it’s a pretty good language as far as time expression goes. It’s got that great “progressive” tense in English which gives great context to ongoing activities. We’ve got lots of unreal time expressions, too, which makes English deep and rich. But wouldn’t it be awesome if we could use this expression in standard English:
I was sat at my desk all day long.
It’s apparently part of some forms of British English, and there’s a rich and fun discussion on this topic of at the Grammar Geeks Group on LinkedIn. I can’t help but wish that standard English would include this tense formation. In any case, the more the better, as far as I am concerned.
Chinese doesn’t need any time reference in its verbs. It’s all described in context. And other languages are like this, too. For me, though, I like my time baked right in. How about you? Would your perfect language include many tenses or none at all?
More Ways to Exist
In Spanish and Japanese, the verb “to be” has more than one form. In Spanish, the distinction is between states of being. In Japanese, the distinction is between animate and inanimate objects. I think it would be wonderful to expand our sensibilities and include more within that simple verb: to be. It says a lot about our existence and how we view the world, doesn’t it? If we view things that are alive differently from those which are not alive, as in Japanese, or if we have to consider the state we are in when we say I am a girl versus I am in the kitchen. Wow. Mind blown.
Other Ways for Language Lovers to Express Ourselves?
What are some other ways English could be modified to better represent us? What would you include if you could? Do you think having gendered nouns would be a good thing, for example? Would you add in certain words that seem to not exist in our language?
Let us know how you would change English for the better in 2015, if you could. And language is always changing, so perhaps this is the year you make those changes and they stick! Wouldn’t it be the accomplishment of the year to have your new word in the dictionary next year? Or, perhaps, your new verb tense?
Connect with us on social media – the buttons are directly above you. And share this post with language-loving friends via your favorite social network — those buttons are on your left! Happy New Year!!

There are some words we all misuse. Others just make you sound ignorant. There, I said it. Now don’t you want to know which words to stop using today?
Let’s get that out of the way, fast. Language changes over time, and some words that used to be considered “wrong” are now accepted as variants. So, given enough time, all the mistakes you’ve probably been making will be okay. But for now, you might want to keep this guide handy and refer to it once in awhile when you need to be correct.
Just Relax, Don’t Rage
​We misuse words all the time. Whether it’s because we’ve never stopped to think about what we’re actually saying (duck tape, anyone?) or because we sincerely don’t have a nautical background and had no idea where to begin (car careening off the road, taking a different tact?) we misuse words constantly.
The fact that some of your misuses will send listeners into a heated rage isn’t your fault. Light some incense and chill out. Namaste. Stephen Fry, the British comedian, does a great job of showing how very relaxed he is about language use as quoted in this NPR article about “less versus fewer”

Quite honestly, we tried to search for the psychology behind why we rage at language misuse, but came up short. Look for the answer in a future post.
The Top Five Words That Make You Sound Stupid
​There, it has been said. These words, when you say them, make you sound ignorant. I’m not saying you are ignorant, and people who judge you based on these words need to relax a little. But really: Stop misusing these words.
1. Irregardless — It’s regardless.
2. Refudiate — Just kidding. You must know this is wrong.
3. Expresso — It’s espresso. For some reason (perhaps they’re over caffeinated?), espresso-drinkers really get infuriated by this one.
4. Conversate — The thing is, sometimes we do need to invent a new word. In this case, though, we already have one: converse.
5. “Intensive” purposes — Intents and purposes.
The Top Five (Groups of) Words That are Just Simple Mistakes
​Lawd have mercy. Most of the time when the following mistakes are made, the person was just typing too fast. Relax. Okay?
1. Too, two, and to
2. They’re, their, and there
3. Its versus it’s
4. except and accept
5. Then and than
Actually, though, having said that…if you truly don’t know the difference in the above words, you should definitely learn this. Here is a quick guide to help you out, thanks to Wikipedia.
The Top Five Words That Are Changing Meaning
​We’ve misused the following words so often that (voila!) their meaning has actually changed. Wait around long enough, and more will be added to this list…
1. Lie and lay — Hard to believe, but true. People have begun to accept either form. It’s still incorrect to use “lay” as present tense for the intransitive, but we’re changing fast.
2. Hone in — I’m conceding. The battle is lost. Hone in on is now considered a correct variant of home in on. Still raging a little 
3. Less and fewer — William Saffire fought for this one, but after decades of battle, it’s time to relax and admit that we all know what it meant when we stand in the grocery line that says “10 items or less”.
4. further and farther — Yes, farther relates to actual distance, but who cares?
5. Peruse — Everyone uses peruse to mean “skim”, so that’s basically what it means now. Don’t worry about it!

What do you think? Are there any of these you disagree with? Let us know!

This article in Shelf Life lays out the new EU regulations, and gives the above (very funny) example of inconsistent labeling. But what about things like the mistranslation (lazy translation) for the French “nuts”? Your French-speaking employee might tell you that “noix” means nuts. And it’s true, but “noix” specifically means “walnuts”.  So a translation could read: “may contain “walnuts”” — Not great for those with serious nut allergies.
With the regulations coming into force right now, at the end of December, European food retailers are potentially unprepared for new labeling. We’re worried some businesses will try to skimp on the translations without realizing the consequences.
Don’t be that business. Do it right the first time. Whether you use us or another language service provider, just translate your packaging professionally the first time.

A huge branding issue was recently resolved in China. The California Almond Growers, who produce 80% of the world’s almonds, has been selling its almonds for 40 years in China as “apricot kernels”. Apricot kernels are a prized medicinal food in China, and so the California almonds were seen as a great deal. No one noticed this until the Chinese market recently surged, and they now import 240 million pounds of almonds.
Considering that they have been told they are buying “apricot kernels” all this time, Chinese consumer groups were appropriately upset. Of course, 40 years ago, when almonds were first exported to China, the importers just used a dictionary and there were at least 3 different names used. The most common was “apricot kernel”. As John Talbot, Vice President of Global Market Development for theAlmond Board of California told brandchannel, it is crisis management, not brilliant marketing that they face with this rebranding.
Finally, a lament that all of us who love to mock mistranslations can do better. Including us: We’ve gotten things wrong. For example, we wrote in this blog that Electrolux poorly translated a slogan to read that “Electrolux sucks”. Actually, that didn’t happen.
And we’ve learned, too, that KFC did not mistranslate their chicken fingers as “eat your fingers off”. One we got right, and that really prompted us to do our research and dig a bit deeper, was that the California Dairy Board did not mistranslate “Got Milk?” In fact, they did exactly what every good marketer should do, and they researched the language and culture they were translating into (in this case, Californians of Latin American heritage) and got it right. Unfortunately, Daniel Freedman needs to correct a few of his facts over on Moz.com. Otherwise, though, we agree with him wholeheartedly about knowing your audience and making sure to get translations right the first time.
It’s important. When you don’t research your audience, and their language and culture, you risk loosing customers.
Make 2015 the year you slow down, take some time to research your target audience, and translate professionally…the first time.

Linguistic Mysteries Abound! The Hidden Meanings of the 12 Days of Christmas:
​You know the song. You’ve been singing the 12 Days of Christmas for the past several days leading up to the big day, haven’t you? Well, if you have, you’ve gotten it all wrong from the start. So here for your trivia-loving Christmas time pleasure, is a list of 12 things you got wrong about the 12 Days of Christmas.
Begin After Christmas
1. Apparently, the 12 Days of Christmas begin from Christmas. So you should start singing on the 26th of December, not the 13th. They commemorate the 12 days between the birth of Christ and the Epiphany, when the Magi came to bring gifts (January 6).
12 Days is Originally French
​2. The 12 Days of Christmas is a very old song, and probably originally French. (Okay, you probably already guessed it was old…but did you know it was French?)
Colly Birds are Blackbirds
3. The fourth day brings four “colly birds”, not “calling birds” — This is just one of the gifts that we’ve changed up over the years. Think about playing “operator” when you were a child: Repeating the same verse over and over from child to child until the last one recites what they heard. It’s always messed up! Well, in this case, we no longer say “colly birds” because “colly” no longer is used to mean “black as coal”. If you want to be correct, you should sing “four black birds” or similar.
5 Golden Rings — Not as Dear as You May Think!
4. Five golden rings may not actually as precious as it sounds. It probably refers to a certain kind of bird which had lovely golden rings around its neck around Christmas time. So the first seven verses all refer to types of birds. Unless, of course, you believe the 1780 version of the song, which does include an illustration of 5 golden rings. The mystery continues!
A Partridge – Partridge?
​5. Speaking of which…the partridge in a pear tree. That’s a bit odd, don’t you think? Have you ever seen a partridge in any kind of tree? And a pear tree? There is lots of evidence that this was added into the English version because the Old French for partridge was pertis, which sounds a lot like “pear tree”. In the original French version, there’s just the partridge. In English, it suddenly becomes partridge in a pear tree…partridge-partridge?
Only 10 Days?
6. In the north of England, there are only 10 days of Christmas, so the song is often referred to as “the 10 Days of Christmas”.
Secret Hidden Meaning?
7. In 1979, a Canadian tried to make the claim that the 12 Days of Christmas has a hidden meaning for Catholics trying to remember the important aspects of their faith. Though he later admitted he made this up, the rumor has been circulating ever since, and has turned into a proper urban legend.
How Much Would the Gifts Cost?
​8. Since 1984, a running tab has been kept of how much it would actually cost to buy all 12 gifts. The tally for 2014 is $27,673, according to the New York Times. If you decide to shop for the gifts online, it will cost you $42,959.07, mostly due to the expensive shipping costs for the untraditional items.
No Religion
9. Just to be clear, the 12 Days of Christmas is a purely secular song. Even though it refers to religious days (Christmas and Epiphany) this time period was a celebratory one.
A Simple Memory Game
10. It’s possible that the song was simply a memory game played at Christmas parties. There is the possibility that some of the gifts have symbolic meaning, but it’s controversial.
Australian Version of the Song
11. In Australia, there’s a version of the song that includes Australian animals.
Special Bonus Coding Challenge:
Bonus: If you’d like a fun challenge, try rosettacode.org for a 12 Days of Christmas Challenge.

Curious About the Word Literally, Literally Changing Meaning?
​I was. I mean, let’s face it. One of the coolest parts of language is the anarchy of them. We collectively and without leadership decide what words mean.
Weirdly, of course, many of us want to give up this leaderless anarchy to the Dictionary Gods (or Dictionary Aristocracy) but they actually listen to us. It is they who gingerly listen to us and do their best to form decisions about what we are saying, and what these words mean.
And so, we keep talking and writing and language keeps changing as we communicate and exchange meaning with each other. Some of us, usually the young, are more creative and playful with our language. We twist it and turn it and mould it into new words. A few examples of this sort of word emergence and change are:

• Hangry meaning the anger and crankiness you feel because you are hungry. Fair enough, a new and necessary word.
• Adorkable, meaning that perfect combination of dorky but adorable. I’m sure we all know a few examples where this word is the perfect modifier. In fact, I wish this word existed back when I was young. It would have helped a lot.
• LOL, which is now in the dictionary, and which is a classic word which was invented, and then quickly changed meaning. See this post on at TED talk about texting that explains this perfectly.
• YOLO meaning “you only live once” which is being considered for dictionary inclusion. And, herein lies the problem of the dictionary. It’s useful, but conservative. Is this word a fad or a word that will last as long as this edition of the dictionary does?

Dictionaries are Conservative
​They have to be. And dictionaries are written by humans. And, further, think about this. All dictionaries are slightly different. Certainly they are useful. But they are not a supreme intelligence sent down by God to tell you what words mean. We decide what they mean, and we do it in a creative, playful very human way. The editors of dictionaries simply attempt to grasp what we’re creating.
Anne Curzan Explains This All Perfectly
Anne Curzan does a wonderful job explaining this in her TEDx talk. I had been pouring over document after document, trying to figure out a way to explain how and why words evolve and change meaning, but was coming up short. I just couldn’t synthesize it all eloquently enough. Thankfully, I don’t have to. Anne did a great job. Basically, it all comes down to how human we are.
Those Pesky Teenagers
​The Oxford Dictionary Blog explains away why words change meaning this way: Teenagers, perhaps more than other groups, want to exclude those outside their group. Hence, change the meaning of words so that those outside are literally left in the dark, unable to communicate. If bad now means good and sick means “not sick”, well, you’re going to have trouble following the conversation, pops.
But Were Those Mischievous Teenagers Behind the Literally Fiasco?
First of all, I have no idea. Second, seriously — Remember all those headlines literally freaking out over “literally” getting an updated definition last spring? Were you really surprised by the new meaning? Had you literally been living under a rock and had never heard anyone use literally in a figurative way? Really? You waited until you read the new definition in the dictionary, and then got all confused because you weren’t sure what to do?
Are you kidding?
Well, if that does describe you, and you are really confused and unsure what to do with this new definition, there’s an app for that. Of course, if you really are that uptight and clueless, I’m not sure a Chrome extension is going to help you all that much.
Second, it has been used this way since at least 1827, so, again, get over it.
Okay. Enough of my opinion. How in the world did it happen?
Auto Antonymy: Mind Blown. It’s All Over the Place
​I had always thought that those rare birds words which can hold two disparate meanings were, in fact, rare. But they’re not. Our language is crawling with them. According to Justin Erik Halldor Smith, there are many, many of these words. Literally seems like it must have cleaved, or diverged into two separate meanings. And so it is an auto antonym: a word that has two opposite meanings. Like, for example, to dust. This can mean to either remove or lightly cover in dust. Or most of our prepositions. Or, goodness, there are so many. Justin ends with this:
“Yet one might conjecture that it is the general condition of words that they have their meaning only to the extent that they threaten to mean their opposite.”
Well.
It seems that literally is an example of a word whose meaning jutted out to the extent that it flipped and now holds the opposite meaning, while still retaining its original. Okay, so there is an element of theoretical physics in the study of language and linguistics, then.
At least that much is certain.

Ever Thought About Becoming a Translator?
Translation — A Rewarding Career
But for those who meet that criteria, translation is a rewarding career. You work with an international crowd. It is entirely possible to work from home as a translator, and if you work with an upstanding agency, you’ll cultivate relationships with other language professionals as you work together as a team for your clients.
Study Online to Become a Translator
​Studying online has also grown tremendously over the past couple years, and translation is a perfect fit for distance learning. If you’ve ever considered becoming a translator, take a moment to consider doing your studies online this year. There are many ways to begin: from a master’s degree to a beginning course in translation, you can start where you need to and go from there. In fact, many of these colleges and universities offer language courses as well, so you could begin with learning a new language and see where that takes you.
No Guarantees — But Translation is Awesome
​We should add that this is not meant to be an offer of employment. We simply love the profession we’re in and would love to encourage more people to take it on. There’s probably quite a few of you out there who feel like you may have what it takes. Why not make 2015 the year that you actually go for it?
Online Translation Education Resources:
The following list of schools offers some sort of online translation education. We cannot vouch for any of these schools, but would like to recommend Translator Tips Forums as an excellent place to learn “on the ground” information about these different options.
Good luck, and we wish you well in 2015! May your every translation dream come true.

• University of Toronto – Continuing Studies Program
• University of Birmingham – MA in Translation Studies
• World Language Service
• International House Barcelona
• Cardiff Centre for Lifelong Learning
• Universite de Saint-Boniface
• City University of London
• Chartered Institute of Linguists 
• University of Bristol
• University of Portsmouth
• Universite Rennes
• Colegio de Traductores Publicos de la Cuidad de Buenos Aires
• TELUC

Since there’s been a lot of discussion lately about English changing to accommodate new ideas, I thought it might be fun to look into what really annoys people about the English language.
1. It’s Not Phonetic
​This is the one major irritation from people who are native Spanish or Japanese speakers. And the bane of English teachers worldwide. Pronunciation is impossible
There is a poem called Chaos (appropriate)  by Gerard Noist Trenite which begins,

How in the world can anyone make sense out of English pronunciation?
And as one blogger put it, “And the ‘more-educated-than-thou’ clans’ insistence that only their version of the pronunciation is accurate.”
2. How Fast Things Change
​This one really annoyed a few English language learners who were older when they started learning. This Mental Floss article looks at four things changing in English right now. They’re happening so quietly that you probably didn’t even notice.
But English is a language that is so vast and has influences from so many corners of the globe that things change constantly — and some things change in one place and not another…further confusing language learners.
3. Spelling
In English, you should be able to write fish like this: “Ghoti” That’s a famous quote from George Bernard Shaw, who wrote that the “gh” from “enough”, the “o” from “women” and the “ti” from “nation” equal, well “fish”.
So how do we ever figure out English spelling?
4. Irregular Everything
​Most languages (all other languages?) have had fewer influences than English has. That makes English particularly rich and beautiful, but it can also make English particularly annoying. Verbs are horribly irregular, so much so that it seems silly to make anyone try to remember rules about them. You’ll just end up memorizing a list of exceptions anyway.
5. Weird Plurals
Two separate sources mentioned English plurals as being really annoying. It’s true: If the plural of foot is feet, why isn’t the plural of boot, beet? I certainly can’t tell you the answer. Except, I guess, that English is annoying!
So those are the 5 most annoying things about English. Annoying but lovable. What is the most annoying thing about English for you?

Just in Time to Share Some Seasonal Joy
​Sharing Christmas Cheer and Holiday Spirit with you this season, we thought we’d collect a few of the more meaningful Christmas and Holiday quotes to spread a bit of joy around.
The season can be hectic for many of us. Trimmings have been up in stores since Thanksgiving came and went, and with an entire month devoted to Christmas, the responsibilities and obligations attached to the holiday can be overwhelming for many.
Make sure to take time to spread some of the joy and peace to those around you. You may be feeling harried and rushed, with endless responsibilities and work pressures, but so is that person next to you. Tuck a few of these quotes away and share them to someone who needs it. Or keep them for yourself and remind yourself of the peace and joy that this season is supposed to bring out in all of us.
With just over two weeks left until the big day, and then another week until the New Year begins, let’s all remember the inherent spirit of this time: Spread peace, joy and Christmas cheer as much as we can, and keep this time of year as a season of light.
Whether you celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah, the Solstice or Kwanzaa — or a celebration of something entirely different — we know that this time of year can be one that requires everyone to remember self care and care of those around you.
Honor Christmas All the Year
​Tweet: I will honor Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year. ~Charles Dickens
Kindling the Fire of Hospitality
Tweet: Christmas is the season for kindling the fire of hospitality in the hall, the genial flame of charity in the heart. ~Washington Irving
Christmas in the Heart
Tweet: It is Christmas in the heart that puts Christmas in the air. ~W.T. Ellis
A Conspiracy of Love
Tweet: Blessed is the season which engages the whole world in a conspiracy of love! ~Hamilton Wright Mabie
​It is Good to Be a Child Sometimes
​Tweet: It is good to be children sometimes, and never better than at Christmas when its mighty Founder was a child Himself. ~Charles Dickens