In my last post, I gave some tips on “How to Be a Good Translator”. Good translators (editors, web designers, accountants, insert profession of your choice) tend to be even better when they’re working with good clients. The tips listed below (from my website article How to Be a Good Client) were written with translation …
Author archives: Marian Dougan
How to be good (1). Tips for translators
I got a pleasant surprise a couple of weeks ago when I logged on to Twitter and found that several translators had been tweeting and retweeting the link to the “How to Be a Good Translator” page on my website. If you haven’t seen them, here are the tips from that page — I hope …
Music (2): Lucio Dalla, R.I.P.
One of my very first dates with my (now) husband was a concert by Lucio Dalla and Francesco De Gregori in Taranto, in 1979. We were to meet in the doorway of the apartment block where I was living. Vito was about half an hour late, having forgotten the time while in the shower. For …
Music (1): Davy Jones, R.I.P.
This blog is primarily about language, but words take on a special power when they’re combined with music. So I’d like to dedicate this and the next post to two singers who died this week and who both meant a lot to me at different stages of my life. The first is Davy Jones, an …
Modern Languages at the University of Glasgow (2): help needed for Slavonic Studies
In my last post I mentioned Glasgow University’s School of Modern Languages and Culture’s success in fending off most of the course cuts threatened in 2011. Sadly, the Slavonic Studies Department isn’t out of the woods yet. The following is a message from Jan Culik, asking for support in the Department’s petition to the Scottish …
Modern Languages at the University of Glasgow (1): great new post-grad courses
On 28 February the Guardian newspaper published a list of Modern languages and linguistics postgraduate and master’s courses available in the UK in 2012. For some reason, the list doesn’t include the post-grad courses available at Glasgow University from academic year 2012-13. Glasgow’s School of Modern Languages and Cultures will be offering an MSc in …
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Work experience schemes. Not just for big business
I’m glad the UK government and big businesses have got the work experience issue sorted out. (Very briefly: businesses can offer unemployed young people unpaid work experience, during which the youngsters continue to receive their unemployment benefits. After protests claiming that the scheme amounted to unpaid forced labour, and criticism of the government’s threat of …
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Global. It’s, like, a relative concept. Whatevs.
A recent article in the New York Times entitled “They’re, Like, Way Ahead of the Linguistic Currrrve” suggests that there’s a lot more method in teenage-girl-speak than young women are usually given credit for. The article’s worth reading (especially if you’ve got a teenage daughter…). The author cites a Saturday Night Live sketch with Maya …
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Buzzwords
A buzzword, according to Merriam Webster’s online dictionary, is: 1. a voguish word or phrase —called also buzz phrase 2. an important-sounding usually technical word or phrase often of little meaning used chiefly to impress laymen You can tell by the definitions that Merriam Webster isn’t very keen on buzzwords/phrases. Neither am I. And two …
Google adapts its terms and conditions – and its language
I’ve got Google.com set up as my browser home page. I usually just glance at the little announcements under the logo and search box. However, this morning I noticed the announcement on the changes to their terms and conditions. It said: We’re changing our privacy policy and terms. Not the usual yada yada. Learn more …
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