“This book might change your life, or at least your handwriting.” Alejandro Zambra is not wrong about Mario Levrero’s Empty Words. Annie McDermott’s translation, out last Thursday, might just do the same for you. There are plenty of “how to…
Blog Archives
Empty Words
Tagged with: And Other Stories, Annie McDermott, books, Mario Levrero, Spanish, Translation, Uruguay, writing
Posted in books, translation, words
Posted in books, translation, words
The Condition of Secrecy
Words grow out of her like leaves from a tree. They just emerge that way, it’s an organic process. There are so many endless possibilities, starting from somewhere, one could end up anywhere at all. Words fight each other and…
Tagged with: books, Danish, essays, Inger Christensen, Susanna Nied, The Condition of Secrecy, Translation, writing
Posted in books, translation, words
Posted in books, translation, words
the language is yours, cherish it
This week’s number one, slaying Justine Timberlake and Adele, is a song in te reo Māori. What a fantastic end to the 40th Maori Language Week in New Zealand. Here’s the karaoke version of Maimoatia/Cherish it by the team at Pūkana (a…
Tagged with: Aotearoa, Cherish it, Maimoatia, Maori, Maori Language Week, New Zealand, Pūkana & Whānau, te reo Māori, Welsh
Posted in international, language, music, translation, words
Posted in international, language, music, translation, words
two hundred thousand lakes
Finland has 1 lake for every 26 or so people, 187 888 in total, and most have marvellous names which look unpronouncable or untranslatable to a non-Finnish speaker. The rather fabulous designers Aamu Song and Johan Olin of http://www.com-pa-ny.com have put some answers on postcard:…
Words to bridge the gap
From a capella to zeitgeist, English has always filched other people’s words and run with them. There are so many more waiting to be used. And Ella Frances Sanders has brought them to life. As she says in Lost in Translation:…
Tagged with: Ella Frances Sanders, Inuit, Japanese, The Bridge Called Langauge, Translation, Untranslatable Words, Welsh
Posted in books, Illustration, language, translation, words
Posted in books, Illustration, language, translation, words
Happy Birthday translators!
Happy 60th Birthday to us! The Finnish Association of Translators and Interpreters (SKTL) is 60 this year. The party has started: a lively exhibition opens tomorrow. The opening tonight was a celebration of linguistic skills and challenges in a multicultural…
Tagged with: Anne Kerhola, Caisa, diaspora, Finnish, Finnish Association of Translators and Interpreters, happy birthday, Illustration, Poetry, Sivuvalo, Swedish, Translation
Posted in international, language, literature, poetry, translation, words
Posted in international, language, literature, poetry, translation, words
Do Geese See God?
Do geese see God? (English) Knit again and you’ll get a beer (Neulo taas niin saat oluen, Finnish) It was raining bread in the garden (Aias sadas saia, Estonian) Maybe tomorrow that lady will give a cake to the hedgehogs…
Tagged with: English, Esperanto, Estonian, European Day of Languages, Finnish, Free Word Centre, German, Latin, Palindromes, Polish
Posted in language, translation, words
Posted in language, translation, words
keeping the language alive: polari, manx, cornish
When I was a teenager in Cardiff, the family next door spoke Welsh, but most people around spoke English. When I went to babysit, the boys were in shock: how could this other person speak their home language too? They…
Tagged with: Cornish, Endangered Languages Project, English, Gaelic, Manx, Mick Paynter, Morrissey, Ned Maddrell, Polari, Welsh
Posted in international, translation, words
Posted in international, translation, words
translate it yourself
Tired of bad translations? Put the poetry back into translation yourself! At the Modern Poetry in Translation website, you can read submit your own English translation of a poem, based on a literal translation and sound recording in the original…
Tagged with: Alberto Caeiro, Carmen Bugan, Christine Marendon, Czesław Miłosz, Daniel Weissbort, First World War, German, Ken Cockburn, Miroslav Holub, Modern Poetry in Translation, Poetry, Portuguese, Romanian, Ted Hughes, Translation, Zbigniew Herbert
Posted in books, international, translation, words
Posted in books, international, translation, words
100 years of pacifism 1914-2014
100 years ago today, Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria was shot in Sarajevo, triggering what H.G. Wells called the “war that will end war”; it wasn’t long before the irony of that phrase was felt. The Oxford English Dictionary has…
Tagged with: Émile Arnaud, English, First World War, French, Language, Oxford English Dictionary, Pacifism, Translation, words
Posted in history, international, language, words
Posted in history, international, language, words
