Blogs & News

Blogs and news by Taalcentrum-VU about language and communication topics.

Blogs

Accelerating your Academic Writing Process

Writing as a PhD student is more than just an academic exercise; it's an odyssey of intellectual discovery and scientific contribution. Whether crafting your dissertation or preparing your next paper, the process can seem overwhelming. Six steps to help you kickstart your writing with a clear and focused approach.

Bridging Worlds: The Art of Simplifying Science for Everyone

The language of science is often steeped in complex terminology and concepts. It can be particularly difficult for international PhD students to communicate their work to a wider audience. Yet effective science communication is essential for promoting public understanding and support for science. Here's how to translate your research into layman's terms without losing the essence.

How to write a good lay summary

As a researcher, you are used to writing about your research. This mostly involves writing for journals or your fellow researchers. But what if you want your work to reach a wider audience? If that’s your goal, you need to connect with a wider audience. And that means taking up the challenge of science communication. A summary aimed at a wider audience – known in the world of research as a lay summary – is a great way to achieve this.

‘Happy to see each other again’

Taalcentrum-VU Freelancers’ Day 2022.

Sometime, some time or sometimes?

How do I know .. when I should use sometime, some time or sometimes?

I look forward to seeing you next week

One construction in English that can pose difficulties for non-native speakers is this one: I look forward to seeing you next week. This phrase can sound incorrect to many non-native speakers, who have dutifully learned that to is followed by a verb in the infinitive, not an -ing form. They feel 'sure' that this sentence should be I'm looking forward to see you next week. Well, no. With this phrase, a different rule is being applied.

Translation process part 3: revision

The Taalcentrum-VU translation process consists of three steps: project coordination, the translation itself and revision. In this three-part series on the translation process, we explain what’s involved in each step.

Brexit: new commercial opportunities or communication quagmire?

The prospect of Brexit still looms large, and Dutch and British companies alike face a long list of challenges as a result. Intercultural communication is tricky enough as it is, and Brexit isn’t likely to make things any easier. That’s why Taalcentrum-VU is launching a website to help companies that are struggling with Brexit-related communication problems.

Translation process part 2: the translation

The Taalcentrum-VU translation process consists of three steps: project coordination, the translation itself and revision. In this three-part series on the translation process, we explain what’s involved in each step.

Translation process part 1: project coordination

The Taalcentrum-VU translation process consists of three steps: project coordination, the translation itself and revision. In this three-part series on the translation process, we explain what’s involved in each step.
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