A few weeks ago, I assisted my colleague Mariko Beaupré with editing an English text about her experiences with yoga. I am glad to report that you can read the final version on this website.

Pour les francophones : vous avez un site internet ou blogue de yoga et vous voulez que les textes anglais soient traduits vers la langue de Molière? Je peux vous mettre en contact avec Mariko. Elle aura le plaisir de travailler avec vous!

I would be remiss if I didn’t say a word or two about the 2014 Olympic Games. As you know, the games are well underway. I won’t talk much about sports in this entry—or in future entries, for that matter. However, I will talk about this: If you’re looking for language services while in Sochi, you’re in for a treat. During the city’s seventeen-day event, you will be entitled to translation, interpretation, and general communication services in any language of your choice, namely German, French, Korean, English, and of course, Russian. To read more about this announcement, click here.

Way to go, Sochi! I hope other countries will follow Russia’s lead for future events, big or small. I hate to shed light on the past, but I kind of wished Vancouver provided more services en français during the 2010 Olympic Games… *Now, now, I don’t want to start a revolution. Let’s hope Canada provides better services should one of our cities be selected for the Games—or another event—in the future.*

And speaking of Sochi, have any of you wondered how names of places, such as the aforementioned Olympic Games host, are written in other languages? My Twitter colleague André Racicot has written a number of entries on the topic. Below are a few of them. These will certainly interest my French-speaking colleagues.

Bien écrire les noms russes en français

Sotchi ou Sochi?

I’ll conclude this entry with translations or transliterations of Sochi in some other languages (courtesy of Wikipedia):

Afrikaans: Sotsji

Belarusian: Сочы

Bosnian: Soči (also in Czech, Italian, and Latvian)

Cantonese: 索契

Catalan: Sotxi

Danish: Sotji

Dutch: Sotsji (also in Norwegian)

Esperanto: Soĉi

Finnish: Sotši

German: Sotschi

Greek: Σότσι

Hungarian: Szocsi

Japanese: ソチ

Korean: 소치

Polish: Soczi

Portuguese: Sóchi

Romanian: Soci

Russian (I’d never forget this one!): Сочи

Spanish: Sochi (also in Tagalog and Vietnamese)

Swedish: Sotji

Turkish: Soçi

Enjoy the Games, and enjoy reading!