This Christmas carol, Entre le boeuf et l ‘âne gris, is well loved in France, where was written in the 13th century, but not known well at all in the English-speaking world, so I couldn’t find it sung in English anywhere online. I…
Yearly Archives: 2014
Between the Ox and the Grey Ass
Tagged with: carol, Christmas, Entre le boeuf, Finnish, French, Heinillä harkien kaukalon, Martti Korpilahti, Paul Ayres, Translation
Posted in Christmas, faith
Posted in Christmas, faith
tube tongues: the language at each end of the line
Sometimes someone makes you see something you know well in a new way. Oliver O’Brien’s Tube Tongues does just that. The UCL scholar mapped all the languages spoken at each London tube stop. It’s fascinating, and great for language learners…
Tagged with: Ana Hudson, Brixton, Filipa Leal, Lavinia Greenlaw, Noshi Gillani, Nukhbah Langah, Oliver O'Brien, Poems on the Underground, Poetry, Portuguese, Tranlsation, Tube Tongues, Urdu, Victoria Line, Walthamstow
Posted in international, poetry, translation
Posted in international, poetry, translation
Polish children’s books take on the world: find today’s lokomotywa
We always need more children’s books to delight the eye and the ear, in as many languages as possible. The Polish Dwie Siostry (two sisters) Publishing is awarding 2,500 euro to the best new one to add to their catalogue:…
Tagged with: Children's Books, Dwie Siostry Publishing, Illustration, Julian Tuwim, Lokomotywa, Michael Dembinski, Polish, Translation
Posted in books, translation
Posted in books, translation
Rilke’s Advent
No-one does Advent better than the Germans. The Leo German dictionary usually has an excellent online advent calendar (in German, with poems and pictures for every day). So who better, I thought, to start Advent, than the German poet Rainer…
Tagged with: advent, English, German, Leo.org, Poetry, Rainer Maria Rilke, Stephen Mitchell, Translation
Posted in translation
Posted in translation
The Newest New Words
(Lewis Carroll’s Through the Looking Glass, 1872, with John Tenniel’s illustration) To be master or mistress of meanings, you need to be up to date with good sources. You might remember that the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) will deliver a new…
Tagged with: Alice in Wonderland, English, German, John Tenniel, Language, Lewis Carroll, neologisms, Through the Looking Glass, Translation, words
Posted in language
Posted in language
Dead poets translation society: “I was not there I don’t know”
How do you translate a dead poet? The November issue of Poetry magazine is dedicated to translation, with translator’s notes on each poem. I made a beeline for languages I know – and found they shared a problem. The poet…
Tagged with: Dafydd ap Gwilym, Dafydd Johnston, Gwyneth Lewis, Jennifer Grotz, Jerzy Ficowski, Piotr Sommer, Poetry, Polish, Translation, Welsh
Posted in history, poetry, translation
Posted in history, poetry, translation
Women on the top of the world?: Rauni Magga Lukkari
It is extremely hard to find Sámi literature in English. This could be a deliberate strategy: Sámi author Ellen Marie Vars refused to allow translations of her work into majority languages, because she wanted people to read in Sámi. The…
Tagged with: Finnish, KEnneth Steven, Nordic, Poetry, Rauni Magga Lukkari, Rowan, Sami, Translation, Women
Posted in literature, poetry, translation
Posted in literature, poetry, translation
The space between: After the Berlin Wall fell
25 years ago, the Berlin Wall came down. 9 November might seem like a good date to celebrate German reunification, but because the same day in 1938 saw the burning of synagogues and destruction of Jewish property across Germany, they…
Tagged with: 9 November 1989, Berlin Wall, books, German, history, Jewish, Literature, Michael Hulse, Russian, Russian Disco, Translation, Wladimir Kaminer
Posted in books, history, international, literature
Posted in books, history, international, literature
Suspended Sentences: New translation of Modiano
A new translation of 2014 Nobel Laureate Patrick Modiano’s stories, Suspended Sentences, comes out next month. The translator, Mark Polizotti, also happens to be publisher in chief of MoMa. These novellas are needed: Modiano in English and in print is very hard to…
Tagged with: books, cinema, Flemish, French, history, Literature, Louise Colpijn, Mark Polizotti, Nobel Prize for Literature, Patrick Modiano, Second World War, Suspended Sentences, Translation
Posted in books, cinema, history, literature, translation
Posted in books, cinema, history, literature, translation
