Just like last month, I’ve divided this round-up of April’s stories about language and translation into two sections: links that are either related or unrelated to COVID. Take your pick, or read both parts!
Non-COVID:
- During lockdown you may find yourself at a loose end (if you’re in the UK) or at loose ends (if you’re in the US). Lynne Murphy took a closer look. She also examined how the expression “on the up-and-up” means different things in the two countries.
Are you at a loose end or at loose ends?
- The Literature Translation Institute of Korea is to start an education programme to teach professional translators how to translate Korean movies and webtoons into English, Spanish & Vietnamese.
- Gendered language: how is Artificial Intelligence revealing media bias?
- Cambridge Words wrote about the ways we talk about things that don’t change as well as the language of warnings.
Things that don’t change? Leopards and their spots
- How are young people redefining “transgender” and “nonbinary”?
- How can music boost your productivity when working from home?
Have you found your ‘power song’?
- 50 funny Scottish slang words translated into English.
COVID-related:
- “There’s a big difference between working from home because you choose to and being told you can’t go out” says Claire Cox in her latest blog post.
- From discrimination to language, a variety of factors are affecting different groups’ vulnerability to coronavirus.
- Governments around the world are grappling with how to deliver important guidelines on minimising the spread of COVID-19
- Is your pandemic parlance up to scratch?
What has a hamster got to do with pandemic parlance?
- Coronavirus has “radically affected the language Russians speak“.
- FIT-Europe and its partners have released the results of their second survey on how COVID-19 is impacting independent translation and interpreting professionals in Europe.
- Etymology: find out how coronaviruses and 31 other infectious diseases and viruses got their names.
Further reading:
A Smart Translator's Reunion 