A blog about translation, writing and language in all its glorious aspects
Today is the 150th anniversary of the Gettysburg address, delivered by Abraham Lincoln on 19 November 1863. Cordelia (aka Dilly or Dill) Ditton, a Glasgow-based actress, director and communication coach, wrote an interesting blog post about the Address back in February, entitled “Abraham Lincoln, the power of sound and maybe the greatest speech ever written“. …
Continue reading “The Gettysburg Address: lessons for writers (and translators!)”
Do you have a favourite font for on-screen work? Or do certain fonts hurt your eyes the minute you open the file? I’ve been working on a short translation project consisting of two interview transcripts of about 600 words each. Both of the source texts were in Arial 12-point, justified, without a single paragraph break. …
Continue reading “Workable fonts, and a tip for proofreading”
Two British institutions were in the media this week: the monarchy, with the birth of Prince George of Cambridge; and the Church of England, with the Archbishop of Canterbury’s support for credit unions and his challenge to payday loan companies. And two organisations were quick to exploit the marketing opportunities these events presented. One was …
Continue reading “A marketing lesson from George (no, not that one)”
Saints Alive, a new exhibition at the National Gallery in London, features “large-scale kinetic sculptures by Michael Landy that bring a contemporary twist to the lives of the saints”. The saints on display include St. Jerome, renowned for his translation of the Bible and the patron saint of translators. St. Jerome (borrowed from a painting by Cosimo Tura from 1470) is shown …
Continue reading “St. Jerome: a good role model for translators?”
A very quick post – a few links to blogs and videos, essentially – for those of you who didn’t make it to the Institute of Translation and Interpreting (ITI) conference in Gatwick in May and are curious to know what everyone got up to. Here are some snapshots: Reflections on the ITI Conference, by …
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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 …
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