A blog about translation, writing and language in all its glorious aspects
Merriam-Webster’s “Trend Watch” reported a spike in lookups of the word “hunker” in the run-up to Hurricane (Superstorm?) Sandy. They give this CNN headline as an example: “From Maine to South Carolina, states hunker down for storm.” Here’s the definition of hunker, from the Online Etymology Dictionary: hunker (v.) “to squat, crouch,” 1720, Scottish, of uncertain …
Continue reading “Coping with Sandy: Hunkering and coorie-ing”
Interpreters in the UK have been up in arms over the Ministry of Justice’s 2011 language services framework agreement with a company formerly called Applied Language Solutions (ALS). The service in question was court interpreting. The National Audit Office has now published the results of its investigation into the contracting out of language services in …
Continue reading “Ministry of Justice language services: FUBAR?”
Do you ever find that a certain word or phrase keeps cropping up in your work? In your source material, I mean, not your end-product. For me right now it’s “credibility” (or credibilità, to be precise). That’s because I do a lot of translation and editing for Italian government organisations and Italy is focused on …
Continue reading “Word of the moment: it’s just (in)credible.”
“Words to good effect” is one of the winning blogs in the Top 25 Language Professionals Blogs 2012 competition organised by LexioPhiles and Bab.La. We came 11th, and are totally chuffed! A big Thank You to everyone who voted for us, and to LexioPhiles and Bab.La for organising the competition. By Marian Dougan
Have you ever wondered why English beat Latin to become the world’s lingua franca? Here’s Eddie Izzard’s explanation. Warning: Not Safe for Work, contains strong language. By Marian Dougan
Here’s a wee Olympic Games language competition for readers. No prizes, just the satisfaction of figuring out the acronym/initialism puzzle. English-Polish translator Marta Stelmaszak has attended a training workshop on Language Services of the Olympics. Some of the acronyms/initialisms she found there are listed below. Can you guess what they mean? DVPM IOC/IPC NOC/NPC OCOG …
Continue reading “Olympic Linguistic Games (2): a competition”
The organisers of the 2012 Olympic Games are making a big effort to ensure that the whole of the United Kingdom feels included in the event. There was a great fuss on the BBC news yesterday (18 May) about the arrival and planned relay — covering the length and breadth of the UK, with a …
Voting is now open for the Top 100 Language Blogs 2012 competition organised by LexioPhiles, for which we’ve been nominated in the “Language Professionals” category. Voting takes place from 15 to 28 May 2012. If you’d like to vote for Words to good effect, you can do so here. Thank you! PS Having chosen a name that …
Continue reading “Top 100 Language Blogs 2012 – voting now open”
Earl Bush served for many years as press secretary for Richard J. Daley, a controversial mayor of Chicago who was a forerunner to another Bush, George W., in his mangling of the English language. Examples are: “Gentlemen, get the thing straight once and for all — the policeman isn’t there to create disorder, the policeman …
Continue reading “Translators’ and editors’ skill-set: add mind-reading”
A recent article in The Vancouver Sun entitled What are the jobs of the future? examines the skills and careers likely to be most in demand as the 21st century progresses. The article cites a study by Sharon D. Crozier, of the University of Calgary’s Counselling Centre, on “Waves of the Future and High Demand Careers” …
Continue reading “The jobs of the future… include translating”