Around the web – April 2015

April once again saw a multinational (Taco Bell) find out the hard way about the need for professional translation when it launched its Japanese website.  Why do I get a feeling of déjà vu? I hope that won’t be your case with my monthly round-up of articles about language, translation, interpreting and freelancing for the past month.

On Taco Bell’s badly translated Japanese website ‘Beef Crunchwrap Supreme’ became ‘Supreme Court Beef’.

• Should we italicise foreign/unfamiliar words, particularly in literary translations? Author Daniel José Older makes his case for leaving them as they are.
• 8 editing tips for translators and writers from Catherine Jan
• Is the British linguist an endangered species? asks colleague Karen Andrews
• How can we build perfect interpreting skills?
• The Washington Post visualised seven charts and maps to help understand the diversity of the world’s languages. And here are 25 maps that explain the English language.

Did you know Tristan da Cunha is the most world’s most remote location of native English speakers?

• Should the French ditch the tu and vous protocol?

Humour & Fun:

• I’m sure Scheherezade Surià had a lot of fun finding all these great pictures humorously illustrating ‘life as a translator’.

“When you go out you seem to find mistakes and mistranslations everywhere and you can’t avoid pointing them out to the people near you… like in the cinema while enjoying a dubbed or subtitled film”.

• 7 things you can’t understand if you’re not French
• Drinking tea out of a bowl? What are some French habits that foreigners don’t understand?
• What to fail at freelancing? Here’s how.

Last but not least, I’ll leave you with this quote from Gunter Grass, who passed away on 13th April.

Related articles:

• Around the Web – March 2015
• Around the Web – February 2015
• Around the Web – January 2015