It is that time of year again – time for the next Hobbit movie, a chance to escape back into the magical world of Middle Earth. The first Hobbit film was too long, but it was also the first film I saw…
Blog Archives
hobbit scripts
Tagged with: Anglo Saxon, Cirith, Elvish, Finnish, Hobbit, J. R. R. Tolkien, Language, Literature, Lord of the Rings, Runes, Scripts, Tengwar, The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, Tibetan, Transliteration, Welsh, words
Posted in international, language, literature, The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, translation, words
Posted in international, language, literature, The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, translation, words
twist your tongue around the world
Sometimes your tongue gets in a knot and the words just don’t come out. But if you can untangle it, you will sound fluent as never before. I tell first time visitors to Finland that they can find the lift…
Tagged with: English, Finnish, Hebrew, Language, Latin, Maori, Polish, pronunciation, Tongue-twister, Welsh
Posted in international, language, translation, words
Posted in international, language, translation, words
like two berries
Idioms are great. But they don’t always translate easily. Finnish idioms differ from English ones according to the culture. In the land of forests, you don’t stand around uselessly like a lemon, but sit like a mushroom (“istua kuin tatti”), and…
stories in translation: UK children’s book week 2013
In the UK it is Children’s Book Week from 7-11 October. How many of those books are translated from other languages? Not many, unfortunately. Here are my top 3 for 2013: One of my favourites as a young child was…
Tagged with: animals, Children's Book Week 2013, Children's literature, Estonian, French, Gunilla Wolde, Irish Gaelic, Lila Prap, Mrs Pepperpot, Oksa Pollock, Pippi Longstocking, Slovene, Sue Rose, Swedish, Welsh
Posted in Children's Book Week 2013, Illustration, international, language, literature, translation
Posted in Children's Book Week 2013, Illustration, international, language, literature, translation
international translation day: beyond linguistic barriers – a united world
It’s the 22nd International Translation Day today. The Congolese member of the Federation of Interpreters and Translators chose the theme “Beyond Linguistic Barriers – A United World,” because the work of TTIs (translators, terminologists and interpreters) breaks down global barriers in…
Tagged with: Bethlehem, Bible, Greek, Hebrew, International Translation Day, Jerome, Jerusalem, Language, Septuagint, Translation, Translators Without Borders, volunteer
Posted in international, language, NGOs, translation
Posted in international, language, NGOs, translation
translate for your life: Marcel Reich-Ranicki
Known as the “pope of literature” to Germans, and self-styled as “Germany’s literary hangman”, Marcel Reich-Ranicki was not an easy critic. He unapologetically followed Fontane’s maxim that “Schlecht ist schlecht und muß gesagt warden” (Erst leben, dann spielen. Über polnische Literatur. Wallstein 2002, p.183). His life was not easy,…
Tagged with: German, Ghetto, history, Holocaust Memorial Day, Jewish, Language, Literature, Marcel Reich-Ranicki, Polish, Translation, Warszawa
Posted in history, language, literature, translation
Posted in history, language, literature, translation
advice to sign writers
Dear sign writers: If you’ve got a tourist menu, translate ‘dodatki’ with care. If you’re programming a cash machine, don’t give your card holders existential angst. But if you have a park, or a café bookshop like Massolit Books, put up lots and…
language has different eyes: die Sprache hat andere Augen
The Romanian-German writer Herta Müller is 60 today. Four years since the Times introduced her Nobel literature win with “Herta Müller – who she?” a new book about her is finally out in English. Here’s her Nobel Prize acceptance interview in…
Tagged with: German, Herta Müller, Language, Nobel Prize, Poetry, Romanian, West Berlin
Posted in language, translation
Posted in language, translation
more than moomins: illustration and translation
Tove Jansson would be 99 today. I began learning Finnish by reading the Moomin comic strip, which made Tove Jansson’s name around the world. Started in the London Evening News in 1954, the complete collection is still being published in Finnish. Tove’s 1960s…
Tagged with: Alice in Wonderland, Fantasy, Finnish, Hobbit, Illustration, Moomins, Tenniel, Tolkien, Tove Jansson, Translation
Posted in Illustration, translation
Posted in Illustration, translation
found in translation 