Around the web – June 2017

June 9th saw the announcement of the results of Bab.la’s 2017 Language Lovers competition, and I was delighted to come 2nd * in the Twitter category! (Full results here). What else has been happening in the world of language and translation during the month of June?

• How do you choose a good translator? asks Kathe Lieber.
• Should every translator blog? Hanna Sles gives four reasons to do so.
• Caroline Alberoni continued her Greatest Women in Translation interview series with French and Portuguese to English translator Sophie Lewis.
• Do you know which ten countries are named after historical figures?

What country is this, and where does its name come from?

• Here are 10 tips for improving your writing in your non-native language(s).
• Stan Carey looked at cucks, cuckoos, cuckolds, and cuckqueans (a word I once had the occasion to use in a translation!).

A cuckoo, from whence the etymology of cuckold

• The Guardian reminded us that misprints and typos are an ungainly tradition stretching back centuries.
• Where the cows come home: 8 everyday English words with cows and oxen at their root.

Bugles were originally made from the horns of oxen

• Google News Lab created some surprisingly beautiful visualisations of the most popular words translated from various languages into English using Google Translate.
• Turkey wants to purge Western words from its language

Recep Tayyip Erdogan takes a new step in his campaign against foreign influences

 

On a final note you might like to check out my latest podcast for English language learners, which is on a rather unusual subject (there are video and audio versions).

* Another milestone this month was the fact my Facebook page reached 1000 followers!

 

Further reading:

• Around the web – May 2017
• Around the web – April 2017
• Around the web – March 2017