14 December, 2016 | less than a minute read

Emojis - Don't get lost in translation

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James Barclay

CEO Passle Inc

Get in touch

James Barclay

CEO Passle Inc

Who knew?! The poo emoji means good luck in Japan and the halo emoji means the devil in China. Quite the opposite to what they mean in the UK.

Emojis are now so important to the way people communicatie that a translation firm in London is seeking an expert in emojis to fill a full-time position whose role it will be to explain cross-cultural misunderstandings of emojis (amongst other things I am assuming).

Although not officially a language emojis are used to tell stories and it is important to know how your emojis will be understood.

A study, published by the University of Minnesota in April

, found that there are massive differences in the way emojis are interpreted which can lead to "significant potential for miscommunication".

So be careful and do your research - make sure your wavy hand and halo face are not misconstrued and don't be offended if you get sent a poo!

A company in London has advertised for an emoji translator in what is thought to be the first such job worldwide. The role will involve explaining cross-cultural misunderstandings in the use of the mini pictures, and compiling a monthly trends report. Agency boss Jurga Zilinskiene said emojis were a "potential growth area" as "inconsistencies" had developed in their use. Last year, a UK linguist said emoji was the country's fastest-growing language.

www.bbc.co.uk/...