Around the web – May 2017

The major translation-related news this month has of course been that during its 71st session on 24 May 2017 the United Nations General Assembly adopted Resolution 288 recognising “The role of professional translation in connecting nations and fostering peace, understanding and development“. Without further ado, here’s your May round-up of popular articles about translation and language.

• Is the translation sector “undergoing a wrenching change that will make life hard for the timid”? asks Lane Greene in The Economist article Why translators have the blues.
• In the Financial Times, prizewinning translator Deborah Smith writes about the pleasures and pitfalls of literary translation.

A copy of La Tour’s ‘Saint Jerome Reading’ (c1636), depicting the priest known for translating the Bible into Latin. © Getty

• Are low rates and robots coming to get us? asks Corinne McKay
• Ever talked in French about preservatives in food only to receive weird looks? Read The Linguistic Trickery of False Friends.

“Gift” means “poison” in German. This may lead to confusion.
(iStock)

• Squint and cross-eyed: as a former childhood squinter I found this article about the differences between UK & US English usage of these terms interesting.
• Also on the subject of US English, Susie Dent explored the history of how Americanisms have entered British English on this BBC Radio 4 programme, and a Mental Floss video looks at how British and American spelling parted ways.
• How Noah Webster, author of An American Dictionary of the English Language, invented the word ‘immigration’.

Noah Webster portrayed in an 1886 print
(via Wikimedia Commons)

• In the language of hyperbole, why do we talk about ‘the mother of all‘?
• With a general election taking place in the UK on June 8th, it’s worth remembering that even in English the language of politics is full of words with a French connection.
• Is the modern digital age threatening to wipe out the Icelandic language?

On a final note, don’t forget to vote for your favourite language-related blogs, Facebook pages, Youtube channels and Twitter accounts in Bab.la’s annual Top 100 Language Lovers competition. I’ve been nominated in the Twitter category for the 5th year running. You only have until June 6th to vote (which you can do by clicking the red logo at the top right of the page)!

The 3 Phases of the Top 100 Language Lovers 2017 Competition: Nominations, Voting, Results

 

You might also like:

• Around the web – April 2017
• Around the web – March 2017
• The Icelandic Language