Around the web – March 2022

Unsurprisingly, with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine occurring late February, the March 2022 round-up has a number of language and translation-related articles, blog posts, and stories about the war.

• How translators are supporting Ukraine: a list of resources translators, interpreters and professional organisations have created to support Ukrainians. Also see these pages on Proz and the ITI website

• A linguistic power struggle was playing out in Ukraine long before shots were fired. (Also in The Conversation: Ukrainian and Russian: how similar are the two languages?)
• In this article a Ukrainian interpreter based in the UK revealed what her job involves and why her role is so important
• An interview with Russian translator Max Lawton (carried out before the invasion of Ukraine) on reading Russian literature, translating Sorokin, books in need of translation and retranslation, learning languages, and ambitious projects
• Paulo Scott and his translator Daniel Hahn and talk about Blackness and the experience of Blackness
• UK publishers are being called on to pay literary translators royalties on the sales of books they translate
• The US Interior Department is taking steps to strip an offensive term from the names of 660 sites

The US Interior Department is looking to rename 660 federal sites that use an offensive term

• We need more speculative fiction in translation, says Rachel Cordasco

Fantasy awards, among others, rarely ever feature a work of long-form or short-form fiction originally written in another language or translated into English

• If you’re looking for books on translation, language and thought, language and the mind, grammar and punctuation, or US and UK English, the 5 Books website has recommendations from experts in each of these fields.
• 18 words for St  Patrick’s Day

It’s said that if you find a four-leaf clover, it will bring you good luck

In other news, I was honoured to be featured in the “Meet our members” section of ITI’s FrenchNet newsletter: you can see the interview here. At the beginning of March I enjoyed participating in a careers event at a local high school with a class of penultimate year pupils. And I’ve also signed up for the BP22 conference in Lisbon: will I see you there?

Elsewhere on the blog:

• Around the web – February 2022
• Around the web – December 2021 & January 2022

Around the web – December 2021 & January 2022

I was away at the end of December and for part of January, so I’ve decided to do a combined post with the most popular news articles, blog posts, and stories about translation, interpreting and language for both months.

• Struggling for credit where credit is due: more visibility is needed when it comes to crediting translators
• Mona Kareem: “What poets who are not translators fail to understand is that it is exactly ‘style, tone, and content’ that makes or breaks a translator”
• In this Ted Talk, The Language Game, former UN chief interpreter Ewandro Magalhaes explores how interpreters connect the world:

• There was much talk recently about the Greek alphabet and how to pronounce “omicron”

A slab on display at the Acropolis Museum in Athens shows decrees written in the Greek alphabet around 446 B.C. (Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group/Getty Images)

• Also in the news was Emmanuel Macron’s use of “emmerder”, and how to translate it …
• … then the international press also struggled to make sense of the “Pork Pie Plot” taking place on the other side of the Channel
• Even Boris Johnson’ critics reproduce the image he has chosen to project by repeatedly using language that reinforces it, said Deborah Cameron in December
• 5 striking ways the internet era has changed British English, according to new research

• Lynne Murphy took a(nother) look at the UK vs US differences to do with cake. She also reviewed some of 2021’s best language books, (see here for my review of Alex Bellos’ Language Puzzles in May), and designated her annual UK to US and US to UK words of the year

• The Strong Language blog recognised 2021 annual “achievements” in swearing
• Ever wonder how certain herbs and spices got their names?

On a personal level, in December I was delighted to see my status as a court-appointed sworn translator renewed for another five years!

Elsewhere on the blog

• Around the web – November 2021
• Around the web – October 2021
• Bastard Tongues (I reshared this blog post on December 20th to commemorate the 173rd anniversary of the abolition of slavery on Reunion Island).

Around the web – July 2021

Here are the most popular news articles, blog posts, and stories about language, interpreting and translation for July 2021.

• What’s the best way to get that project you want to translate? How do you make your proposal stand out? Are rates the secret? Answers here
• Fees or rates? Here’s a discussion on translation prices

(photo by Steve Buissinne from Pixabay)

• The US will be evacuating endangered interpreters from Afghanistan
• Sporting slang has spilled over into other areas of life in every country of the world

The Tokyo Olympics is on. Can you outrun the jargon?

• Metaphors (such as “wave”) have helped us understand the COVID pandemic. But they can also create confusion and complacency
• How the Rosetta Stone – which scholars raced to translate – unlocked the secrets of ancient civilisations

The letters and symbols of the Rosetta Stone helped scholars crack the code of an ancient Egyptian writing system

• Intimacies, by Katie Kitamura, is a novel about the arts of translation and power
• North Korea warns young people against using slang from the South
• The icing the cake vs the frosting on the cake: differences between British and American idioms

(valentinrussanov/E+/GettyImages)

• German airline Lufthansa is doing away with its traditional onboard salutation and has come up with a list of alternative greetings
• Chinese-speaking autism campaigners are looking for a better name for autism (see also here)
• By compiling a cookbook, an 18th-century priest united regional dialects and helped save the Slovene language

The cookbook contained decadent recipes—such as rich chocolate soup—that weren’t traditional fare

 

Elsewhere on the blog

• Around the web – May 2021
• Around the web – June 2021

Around the web – September 2020

Here are September’s most popular news stories and blog articles about translation, interpreting, and language.

• Ahead of International Translation Day, Zingword took a look at all the ways translators and translator organisations raise translator visibility

2020 has seen a number of changes forced upon the language profession

• Not only was September 30th International Translation Day, but the whole of September was World Kid Lit Month. In this article Publisher’s Weekly spoke with 10 acclaimed translators about the unique challenges and rewards of adapting international children’s books for English-speaking readers

World Kit Lit Month was established in 2016

• Corinne McKay gave a participant’s-eye view of the Cambridge Conference Interpretation Course, which was held remotely for the first time
• Pulitzer Prize-winning author and current director of Princeton University’s Program in Creative Writing, Jhumpa Lahiri championed the writerly art of translation
• Shadow Heroes is an organisation that proposes an alternative approach to (literary) translation by running creative translation workshops for secondary school pupils, taking on the myth of the “good translation”
• The language of lockdown in South Africa: Broadcasters, translators & language practitioners have had to scramble to find ways to translate COVID-related terms into indigenous languages
• 12 French words that don’t mean what you think they do

Barbe à papa, chauve-souris & poule mouillée

• 100 of the most commonly misspelled words in the English language
• Did you know “booze cruises” date back to the Prohibition era? 8 prohibition-era words

From bathtub gin to the blind pig

• This month’s incredible-but-true language story is a sign of the times 2020: a Spanish local politician hid behind his face mask to pretend he spoke perfect English

 

See also:

• Around the web – July 2020
• Around the web – August 2020
• Translators, are you guilty of nerdview? (my most recent blog post)

Around the web – May 2020

Do you know how the month of May got its name? It may (pun intended) seem a simple word, but the origin is actually fairly complex and interesting. We could say the same about several articles listed here in the May 2020 round-up of this month’s most popular stories about language, translation and interpreting.

was Maia a Greek or Roman goddess?

• Colleague Judy Jenner blogged about interpreting depositions via Zoom. Is it possible, and how does it work?
• US/UK language specialist Lynne Murphy took a look at the different ways – linguistically speaking – that Americans and Brits are talking about COVID19/the coronavirus. She also looked at whether we “stay home” or “stay at home”. (Incidentally France’s Académie Française have decided that COVID is preferably feminine in gender).
• When we’re forced to stay (at) home, how do we talk about how we spend our time? Also, what are some of the current expressions people use to talk about health?

Off-colour and on the mend

• In times past, when frustrating circumstances demanded new ways of expressing what it means to be alive, it was often female writers who sculpted the fresh coinages that kept language rippling with poignancy and power.
• Colleague Nikki Graham helpfully shared her templates for purchase order checklists. There are different ones for translation, revision, edition, and localisation.
• If you’re an etymology buff you’ll love the fascinating infographics at The Etymology Nerd.
• The first-ever state-sanctioned North Korean novel has been published in English. The subject matter is quite surprising.

Esther Kim interviews the translator of “Friend”, Immanuel Kim

• The French government has unveiled 18 new official translations for tech-related words. (Here’s an article in French on the same subject).
• En français : Quelles sont les leçons linguistiques de la crise du coronavirus ?
• Lastly, a nod to the island where I live and its (food) culture: for week 41 of her ongoing #ThatTranslatorCanCook challenge, colleague Hannah Lawrence cooked “rougail saucisse” and discussed the meaning of rougail, Creole, and Creole sausages in her blog article.

#ThatTranslatorCanCook week 41: Sausage Rougail

 

Further reading:

• Around the web – April 2020
• Around the web – March 2020
• Glossary of some useful words in Réunion Island
• 7 facts about Reunion Creole

Language podcasts

[Updated July 2021]

A recent request from a colleague on Facebook looking for interesting podcasts to listen to got me compiling the following list. I’ve listed podcasts that are about language, translation and/or interpreting, but none about language learning (there are plenty out there if that’s what you’re looking for). Depending on how much time you have available you might want to listen to all of a podcast’s episodes or just cherrypick here and there. The list is in alphabetical order and, with two exceptions, only includes podcasts in English.

• I have a soft spot for The Allusionist – subjects are very varied and I like Helen Zaltzmans’ take on things
• Because Language is a lengthy monthly podcast from Australia about linguistics and the science of language, with bonus episodes for paying subscribers. It was previously a weekly show called Talk the Talk for which there’s still an archive of 395 episodes.
• ATA’s French Language Division has a Continuing Education Series podcast (uses a mixture of French and English)
• Globally Speaking by Renato Beninatto and Michael W. Stevens is a podcast by and for localisation professionals
• Grammar Girl with Mignon Fogarty and the occasional guest: more than 700 short episodes
• Listen to Wordbee’s International Buzz for a podcast about international business, localisation, global marketing, and more. Yours truly recorded an episode on Creoles. Now renamed L10N Radio
• LangFM by Alexander Drechsel tells the stories of interesting people from the world of language
• Marketing Tips for Translators by Tess Whitty has led to a book: The Ultimate Collection of Tips from the podcast
• Meet the Translator: using an interview format Dot Roberts delves into different areas of translation and learns more about colleagues each month
• Smart Habits for Translators by Veronika Demichelis and Madalena Sánchez Zampaulo is a holistic look at working in the translation profession and the lifestyle and challenges that go with it
• Speaking of Translation is hosted by Eve Bodeux and Corinne McKay
• Subtitle (see below)
• In 2018 publisher Vagabond Voices ran 7 episodes of the podcast Think in Translation
• Translation Confessional by Rafa Lombardino explores the aspects of a career in translation that aren’t often or openly talked about
• Billed as a talk show for translators, Translators on Air (formerly known as ‘Blabbing Translators’) ran until 2018 with 71 episodes, many of which are also available on Youtube
• In 2010 the University Oxford did a four-part podcast on translation called What is Translation? that is still available
• Word Bomb by Canadian broadcaster TVO unpacks one explosive word per week
• BBC Radio 4’s Word of Mouth explores the world of words and the ways in which we use them
• NPR‘s World in Words talks about society and culture through the prism of language. One of its hosts, Patrick Cox, now produces the Linguistic Society of America-sponsored podcast Subtitle
• The Worldly Marketer is a podcast from Toronto about localisation, bringing insider perspectives about growing a business in a global marketplace

Other language podcasts*:

• Accentricity: “every voice is valid” is the leitmotiv of this podcast by Sadie Ryan about accents
• ATA also has a more general podcast
• The History of English is a chronological history of the English language examined through the lens of historical events that shaped the development and spread of the language
• In Another Voice is a podcast about poets we might not have heard of, and their poetry in translation.
• Language Chats is “a podcast for language-lovers in Australia and beyond”
• Lexicon Valley is hosted by linguist John McWhorter
• Lingthusiam by Gretchen McCulloch and Lauren Gawne is enthusiastic about linguistics
• Parliamo di traduzione a podcast in Italian by Natalia Bertelli, Martina Abagnale and Eleonora Cadelli.
• Rough Translation by NPR takes a look at how things are being talked about elsewhere in the world
• Standing on Points is a cultural history of punctuation by Florence Hazrat
• Three Percent podcasts is a weekly(ish) conversation about new books, the publishing scene, international literature in translation, and many other random rants and raves
• Caroline Alberoni hosts the TradTalk podcast (mainly in Portuguese)
• Troublesome Terps is subtitled “The podcast about things that keep interpreters up at night”. Also by Alexander Drechsel along with his  fellow interpreters Sarah Hickey, Jonathan Downie, and Alexander Gansmeier as well as the occasional guest
• Vistatalks is a language industry podcast by Vistatec. It focuses on interesting discussions with interesting people from around the world
• Long-running A Way With Words looks at language through family, history, and culture
• Word Matters by the editors of American dictionary Merriam-Webster is billed as a podcast for “readers, writers, and anyone who ever loved their English class”

*podcasts that I don’t, occasionally, or no longer listen to, mainly due to lack of time!

Further reading:

• How podcasts went from unlistenable to unmissable

What language-related podcasts do you listen to? Let me know in the comments!

Around the web – November 2019

Here’s your round-up of the penultimate month of the year’s most popular stories about language, translation and interpreting.

• “Unspeakable things”: the vocabulary used to discuss sexual violence sometimes has drawbacks.

It is hard to tackle a problem you are afraid to name.

• Urban Dictionary has long been looked down on by more traditional dictionaries, but now some linguists are using it for research. Certain U.S. states are referencing it to determine the acceptability of vanity plate names, and its definitions have also been brought up and debated in court cases.
• Talking about court cases, did you know that emojis have now ‘invaded’ courtrooms?

In 2019, dozens of emojis showed up in legal cases.

• We need to appreciate all languages spoken by someone as an integral part of who they are – both in sickness and in health.
• 5 reasons mental health interpreters are important.
• As online apps become good at translating Iceland’s complex language, the isolated country is newly vulnerable to computer scams.

Icelander Kristjan Asgeirsson lost $68,000 in an online scam. The people of Iceland are no longer protected from online fraud because of their linguistic isolation.

• Here are some of the most surprising changes made in translations of ‘Harry Potter’ books.
• There was a time when the figurative meaning of ‘fishing’ was only used in terms like ‘fishing for compliments’. Now we have ‘catfishing’, ‘blackfishing’, and ‘sadfishing’: do you know what they all mean?
• We’re fast approaching the end of the year, and MacMillan Dictionaries have already compiled a “Trending Words of 2019” quiz. Test your knowledge here. (In mid-October The Guardian also published an article with the Top 10 words of 2019 and both Oxford Dictionaries and Collins Dictionaries have named their words of the year.

What does “milkshaking” refer to?

• Even if you speak French fluently, there are some words you may never manage to pronounce correctly (personally I don’t think I have much of a problem pronouncing these ten words, but have issues with other words not on the list!).

Further reading:

• Around the web – October 2019
• Around the web – September 2019
• November 16th was Icelandic Language Day

Around the web – October 2019

October 10th marked a minor milestone for me, as I celebrated the 10th birthday of my Twitter account. Partly based on results from my Twitter feed, here’s your monthly round-up of October’s most popular stories about language, translation and interpreting.

• In a world of people striving for more public professional recognition, there’s a reason why interpreters and translators remain invisible. We allow the show to go on, carrying out projects that significantly affect people’s lives, while often remaining anonymous.
• The BBC took a look at what it’s like to have to interpret for your parents (interesting article but it’s a shame the BBC *still* doesn’t know the difference between a translator and interpreter!).
• In this Year of Indigenous Languages, here’s a timely reminder of what we lose when lose traditional, indigenous language and knowledge.

A collection of Native American utensils and weapons. (source: Getty)

• The interviewee for this month’s Greatest Women in Translation series was Marilyn Booth, translator (and joint winner with the author) of the 2019 Man Booker International Prize.
• The words that shock have changed: traditional taboo words no longer have the punch of group-based insults about which Western societies are increasingly sensitive.

The polarisation of politics has led to a new lexicon of insults

• Slang and jargon specialist Tony Thorne also took a look at the pervasive, destabilising, discomfiting language of lying in public life.
• Claire Cox wonders if we can work more sustainably from home (see also Claire’s post about the METM Split conference).

Going greener in your office

• Will the French language make a comeback in European institutions once the UK has (finally) left the EU?

Could Brexit translate into a comeback for the French language?

• En français : “Jambonlaissé” de Guillaume Remuepoire : La fameuse pièce de William Shakespeare réécrite par Google traduction …
• On a final note, October 16th was World Food Day and colleague Alina Cincan curated a post in which several foodie translators (yours truly included) shared some favourite dishes along with their etymology and a food-related idiom.

Further reading:

• Around the web – September 2019
• Around the web – July & August 2019
• October 28th was International Creole Day. See here for all Creole-related posts on this blog.

Around the web – July & August 2019

If you need to catch up with news about translation, interpreting, and language because you’ve been away over the holiday period, here’s a round-up of the most popular stories that you might have missed during July and August.

• There were two interesting posts on Caroline Alberoni’s blog:
  • How do you make sure you’re charging enough?
  • Website copywriting: writing content for websites 
• Notes from the Classroom: On Teaching Translation
• Parental leave, baby brain, and deadlines is a great post on parenting by Catherine Christaki (who I was delighted to finally get to meet in person earlier this month in Toronto!)

Parenting experiences of translators

• Is there alchemy involved in translating Harry Potter into Irish?
• Talking about literary translation, the Arts Editor of the The Moscow Times has a good, long (justified) rant about reviews of “miraculously self-translated novels” that never mention the translator’s name, and has a few suggestions up her sleeve …
• Last month I mentioned a viral video about interpreting made for Wired. Here’s the second video in the series
• How Netflix Does Subtitling for the World (apart from China)

Netlfix headquarters building in Silicon Valley

• Some metaphors are so pervasive (arguments as a war to be won, time as a commodity, and happiness as up & sadness as down) that they are fundamental to how we culturally conceive of the world.
• Is there only one right place for the word ‘only‘?

Try adding ‘only’ to various places in the line: “I found the eggs in the first shed”.

• In The Conversation:
  • • On 20 July 1969 humanity was changed for ever when Neil Armstrong landed on the Moon. But he probably didn’t realize that his famous first words could also help us better understand how humans communicate.
    • ‘Warspeak’ language has relentlessly crept into most aspects of American life and public discourse

It’s a linguistic battlefield out there

• Here is Natalie Soper‘s account of Warwick Translates Summer School 
• How freelance translators can optimise Linkedin.

 

On a sad note, in mid-August well-respected colleague Valerij Tomarenko died while hill-walking on the Scottish island of Arran. Heartfelt condolences to his family and friends.

Further reading:

• • • • Around the web – June 2019
      • Around the web – May 2019

Around the web – June 2019

I was delighted this month to finally be able to start working with a sit-stand desk. Do you have one? So here, sent while I’m standing at my desk, is your June round-up of the month’s most popular stories about translation, interpreting, and language.

• In this video-gone-viral made for Wired, Professor Barry Olsen explains what it’s really like to be a professional interpreter. At the time of writing it’s had 1.8 million views!

screenshot from the video ‘Interpreter Breaks Down How Real-Time Translation Works’

• On 4th June a spontaneous campaign started on Twitter in support of translators affected by the non-payment of the Spanish publishing house Malpaso Ediciones.
• Colleague Caroline Alberoni interviewed US-born, Mexico City-based literary translator and poet Robin Myers.
• Not only did 25th June mark the 116th anniversary of George Orwell’s birth, but 8th June was the 70th anniversary of the publication of “1984”. What influence did Orwell have on the English language?

Orwell and the English Language

• Colleagues Claire Cox and Simon Berrill wrote blog posts about the recent ITI conference in Sheffield: Spotlight on Sheffield and A welcome message.
• Simon also blogged about the RevClub ‘roadshow’ here.
• This Guardian article is a fascinating look about what it’s like to be the New Zealand PM’s sign language interpreter.

Alan Wendt poses after a post-cabinet press conference at Parliament in Wellington, New Zealand. (Photograph: Hagen Hopkins)

• In the US, the Best Translated Book Award 2019 winners were announced at the beginning of the month.
• Netflix’s miniseries “When They See Us” has shown how black slang was criminalised for The Central Park 5. It still is today.
• How to cut back on unnecessary exclamation marks in your writing.
• Finally, France’s Academie Française released guidelines on how to use certain insults properly

Members of the Academie Francaise gather at the library before an induction ceremony at the Academie Francaise in Paris on December 15, 2016. (Photo by PATRICK KOVARIK / AFP)

On a personal note, as well as translating I also do some travel writing, and this month saw the publication of the new “Insight Guide to Mauritius, Reunion and Seychelles“. This is the 3rd edition, and the 2nd edition on which I’ve worked writing and updating the “Reunion” part.

Further reading:

• Around the web – April 2019
• Around the web – May 2019
• A British member of the Académie Française
• Is our job killing us?