Around the web – May 2015

Every year May sees the nomination and start of voting for Bab.la’s Top 100 Language Lovers competition, with categories for Facebook Pages, Youtube channels, Language learning blogs, Language professional’ blogs and Twitter accounts. I’m honoured to have been nominated for the third year running in the latter category. Results will be announced on June 17th. While we’re waiting, here’s my monthly round-up of articles about translation and language for May.

• We know the rule about always having native speakers translate into their mother tongue. But are there cases where a non-native may do a better job, asks colleague Alina Cincan?

Native or Non-native… That Is the Question

• A list of 10 trademark signs of a bad translation job offer.
• Words Without Borders recently ran a series of questionnaires with Man Booker International Prize writers and their translators. Here’s an interview with George Szirtes, translator of László Krasznahorkai.
• How do American and British speakers of English use the word ‘shock’ differently?
• Why do some words almost invariably come as a plural? 12 nouns that are always plural.
• One of the ironies of the English language is that occasionally both contradictory meanings of a word are correct even if they’re wildly different.

‘Bolt’ is one example of a contronym

• 14 illustrations that convey moments which no single English word can describe.
• We all know too much sitting is bad for you. If you still need convincing this short video explains the hidden perils of spending a lot of time on our derrière.

Are our bodies built for a sedentary existence?

Fun:

• Here are some ways translators may react to everyday situations
• 25 of the best idioms from around the world, ranked

‘To throw a chicken at oneself’ is a Chilean expression meaning ‘to run away’.

• Some Italian expressions just don’t have the same ring to them when translated word-for-word into English…
• Can you pronounce what is apparently the trickiest word in French?

What’s the hardest word to pronounce in French?

 

Related articles:

• Around the Web – April 2015
• Around the Web – March 2015
• Around the Web – February 2015
• Top Language Twitterers 2015

Top Language Twitterers 2015

Every year since 2009 Blabla language portal has held its Top 100 Language Lovers competition. There are five categories:

• Language Learning Blogs – blogs about the language learning process.
• Language Professionals Blogs – blogs by people using languages in their profession, such as translators or interpreters.
• Language Facebook Pages – Facebook Pages related to language topics.
• Language Twitter Accounts – Twitterers who share content about languages.
• YouTube channels – Youtube users who vlog about languages.

The nominations received have been narrowed down to 100 for each of the five categories. For the third year running I’ve had the pleasure of being nominated in the Language Twitter Account category for my Twitter account @Smart_Translate. Last year, I was delighted to arrive 4th in the Twitter category, and 5th overall.

My @Smart_Translate Twitter account

50% of the final score will be based on user votes. You can participate in voting here, or by clicking on the button to the right, until June 14th. Note that twitterers are listed alphabetically by name (e.g. Cath Cellier-Smart), not by Twitter handle. There’s no need to be on Twitter yourself to vote, as the link takes you to a web page where you just click on a link. You can also vote in the other categories by clicking on the links above.

Ranking and results will take place June 15th-16th, and results will be published on June 17th.

P.S. You can follow and/or tweet about the competition (all categories) on Twitter using the hashtag #tll15.

If you’d like to find about more about the competition see this article.