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…
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…
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…
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,…
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…
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…
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…
mihi placet. That’s how to “like” something in Latin. Facebook will ask you “quid in animo tuo est?” instead of “what’s on your mind?” Hopefully not everyone will respond with MC (short for magno cachinno = LOL). For describing those…
Once upon a time there was a young woman called Mary Jones. She was Welsh. She wanted to read the bible in her own language. So she saved for 6 years and walked 26 miles to get a copy. The End?…