Around the web – February 2023

Here’s your February 2023 round-up of news, articles, and blog posts about language, translation and interpreting.

• What are the most lucrative ways to specialise as a freelancer?

Standing out from the crowd

• This Guardian article looks at the vicarious trauma involved in several professions, including interpreting.
• Levels of violent extremist Incel language have steadily increased in the main online spaces over the past 6 years
• In The Economist: Genuine etymology is enough to keep life well-seasoned without the need for “folk etymologies” and People still hope to remake the world through language

Lots of genuine etymologies are fascinating and entertaining

• ChatGPT will gladly spit out defamation, as long as you ask for it in a foreign language
• What do multilingual dreams reveal about our night-time brain?

Sleep has a more powerful role in language-learning than was previously thought.

• What happens when your name becomes shorthand for unattractive – or even racist – behaviour?
• Did you know that spoken Latin is making a comeback?

Instead of transitioning between Latin and English, spoken Latin keeps the cognition all in one language.

• A look at UK vs US differences between the words “veteran”, “veterinarian” and “vet”
• Welsh place names are being erased – and so are the stories they tell

The Welsh name Yr Wyddfa is now used for the mountain instead of Snowdon by the national park authority

• Justine Miles went viral for her energetic sign language interpretation of Rihanna’s Super Bowl halftime show
• Why do so many of us feel that we now need subtitles to understand dialogue in the things we watch?

On a final note, if you haven’t already done so, do take a few minutes to answer both these surveys:

• The 2nd edition of the freelance translator survey organised by Inbox Translation and the ITI is open to freelance translators worldwide, and the closing date is 13 March
• Emma Goldsmith’s survey on ergonomics and health among translators and editors is also open to freelancers worldwide, and the closing date is 5 April

Further reading on the blog:

• Around the web – January 2023
• Around the web – December 2022

Adventures on a Faraway Island

Last week I was invited by the Endless Possibilities Talks (EPT) team (Al Navas, Gerda Prato-Espejo and Esther Navarro-Hall) to talk about my personal journey, that is say the story of how I came to end up living and working as a translator on this small island in the Indian Ocean that is Reunion Island. We also talked about my three years spent living in South Korea, and some of my travels. You can see the video here or below.

If you’re a translator or interpreter you may already have heard of the EPT initiative. Esther, Gerda and Al reside in the US and all work as Spanish interpreters, mainly in the courts; Esther also speaks French and is an Adjunct Professor at the Monterey Institute of International Studies and a trainer and consultant. At the beginning of this year they started a series of talks about the profession of Interpreting and Translating, using the Google Hangout on Air format. Talks are broadcast on average once a week (sometimes more), and generally include guests from the four corners of the globe. They can be watched live on Google+, or afterwards on You Tube. Previous talks have covered localisation, blogging, and technology options for interpreting, to name just a few subjects.

To find out more about EPT and their talks you can visit their Google+ page and/or their blog. You can also follow them on Twitter.

With warm thanks to Gerda, Esther and Al for allowing me this wonderful opportunity to be part of their fascinating EPT adventure, and here’s looking forward to many more talks!