A blog about translation, writing and language in all its glorious aspects
No, Dorothy, we’re in Kirkudbrightshire. And they use £ here (for now, anyway), not $ I spent a lot of time the other day (way too much time) on preparing quotes for translation jobs. Some were based on fee(£)/word, and a couple on fee(€)/standard page (which in my case equates to 1500 characters including spaces, …
Continue reading “Fee wizardry: a free online conversion tool”
Primary-school pupils in England have been sitting a new grammar, spelling and punctuation test (check out the specimen questions) as part of their final year assessment. Teachers have criticised the test, saying that there are better ways of assessing pupils’ English-language skills: Grammar is vital but you test someone’s writing skills by examining their writing. Just …
I recently had to translate the following seminar title from Italian to English: La reputazione della Pubblica Amministrazione: in questo paese, può l’impiegato pubblico essere un alleato del cittadino? E può cambiare il modo di vedere la P.A. da parte del cittadino? This title has a major flaw (quite apart from its utter lack of …
Continue reading “Government communication. But not through Twitter”
Language learning is good for quite a lot, by the looks of it. What’s your favourite benefit? Are there any more you would add? With thanks to Jill McIntyre of Bearsden Academy’s Modern Languages Department and Kaplan International Colleges. By Marian Dougan
I’ll soon be moving into a new office. The current occupants offered to sell me their nearly-new IKEA office furniture (the Galant range, which is attractive, good quality and reasonably priced). Their quote listed installation and labour fees at £50 an hour. Now, that included some computer cabling. But mainly, I think, assembling IKEA flat-pack …
Continue reading “Are your fees high enough? Some food for thought”
Voting is now open for the Top 100 Language Blogs 2013 competition organised by LexioPhiles and bab.la, for which we’ve been nominated in the “Language Professionals” category. Voting runs from today, 22 May, to 23:59 hours German time on 9 June 2013. If you’d like to vote for Words to good effect, you can do so here. Thank …
Continue reading “Top 100 Language Blogs 2013: voting now open!”
Training and continuing professional development (CPD) are important not just in keeping your skills up to date but also in increasing your job satisfaction. Training should also act as a signal to savvy clients that you take your business – and them – seriously. It underscores your professionalism. But training events can be expensive. There’s …
We’ve been nominated as one of the Top 100 Language Lovers 2013 in the annual competition organised by LexioPhiles and bab.la. As you can imagine, we’re well pleased! Nominations remain open until 20 May 2013 (23:59 pm German time). Voting will then run from 22 May until 9 June, with the results being made public on …
Continue reading “Top 100 Language Lovers 2013: we’ve been nominated!”
Yesterday’s local elections in England saw the UK Independence Party (UKIP) win a remarkable 25% of the vote. Immigration is a key concern of many UKIP voters, including immigration from EU countries. In 1978, I moved from the UK to Italy, where I lived until 2002. I’m pretty sure that, as viewed from the United Kingdom, …
Continue reading “English local elections 2013: a linguistic conundrum”
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 …