Making sense of legalese. Not.

If you’ve ever felt bewildered by legalese and found it far removed from Plain English, take heart: you’re in good company. Court of Appeal judge Sir Alan Ward recently heard a case revolving around the Council Tax liability of a family living on an old tug boat, the Cannis. One factor having a bearing on the decision was …

Measuring translation quality

Quality in translation is something that good translators have an instinctive feel for. But how do you measure translation quality? How do you define it? The European Commission’s Directorate-General for Translation evaluates the translations provided by its contractors using the criteria set out below. First, some simple Yes/No quality criteria: Compliance with technical requirements? (Y/N) Right …

The translators’ poet laureate (and rapper!)

Did you know that we translators have our own poet laureate – who’s also a pretty mean rapper? Here’s a sample: The deadline Ten thousand words for Friday OK that should be fine Two thousand words a day A good steady pace I must say Day one and all is going fine It’s telly tonight with …

A spring-time revamp for Words to good effect

We’ve had a makeover! The blog is now self-hosted (I got round to it at last). It uses the same theme as before (Unsleepable, by Ben Gray), revamped by the wonderful – and very patient – Zoë Shuttleworth of Rude Goose. With help from her new assistant, the beautiful Erica, who at 6½ months gives …