The European Poet of Freedom Festival starts in Gdańsk today. The poet’s award is 100,000 złoty (about 24,000 euros), and their translator into Polish wins a tenth of that. Seven nominees, from Kazakhstan to Estonia, face some very sharp judges…
Blog Archives
flying stones: the European poet of freedom 2014
Tagged with: Contemporary, Croatian, Dorta Jagić, English, Europe, freedom, Gdańsk, German, Iren Baumann, Literature, Małgorzata Wierzbicka, Miloš Đurđević, Poetry, Polish, Ryszard Wojnakowski, Switzerland, Translation, translator
Posted in European Poet of Freedom, gender, international, literature, poetry, translation
Posted in European Poet of Freedom, gender, international, literature, poetry, translation
divided by a common language
I started teaching English while living in Poznań in 1999. I only knew two other native speakers there at the time, Peter and Peter, who were both from the East Coast of the US. And sometimes, we simply didn’t understand…
Tagged with: American, British, English, false friends, Language, Translation, words
Posted in international, language, President's Day, translation
Posted in international, language, President's Day, translation
chocolate for everyone
Valentine’s Day both loses and gains something in translation. For the Japanese, today is the day when the women give chocolate (and only chocolate) to the men. This is because one chocolate company made a translation mistake, switching the genders, when…
Tagged with: cake, chocolate, Estonian, Finland, Finnish, friends, Japanese, Language, Translation
Posted in translation, Valentine's Day
Posted in translation, Valentine's Day
translators are like
If you google “translators are like”, you get: translators are like ninjas translators are like google bad translators are like big hairy spiders. While this has a lot going for it (we’re saboteurs, expert data crunchers – or terribly self-referential? –…
Tagged with: Central Europe, George Szirtes, Ginger Rogers, Hungarian, Kristina Zdravič Reardon, left-handed, shoes, Slovene, Spanish, Translation, translator
Posted in international, language, literature, translation
Posted in 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…
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 