A blog about translation, writing and language in all its glorious aspects
This morning’s “Call Kaye” phone-in programme on BBC Radio Scotland featured a discussion of whether Friday’s Royal Wedding had made Scottish listeners feel more proud to be British. Or not. Many of the callers enjoyed and felt their Britishness reinforced by the event. Some objected to the inclusion in the service of the hymn “Jerusalem” and …
Continue reading “An English bee in my Scottish-British-European bonnet”
Ofgem, the UK energy regulator, has carried out a review of energy companies’ pricing practices. The review found that competition is being stifled by a combination of tariff complexity, poor supplier behaviour, and lack of transparency. The Chief Executive said: Consumers have told us that energy suppliers’ prices are too complicated. It is no surprise that …
Continue reading “Bewitched, bothered, bewildered and bamboozled”
Tuesday’s post (15 March) was inspired by Newcastle University’s study of Japanese- and English-speakers’ perceptions of the word “blue”. From an English-Italian translation perspective, “blue” is an interesting word, and something of a false friend. The Italian “blu” refers to dark or navy blue, while “azzurro” is used for other shades of the colour. And …
At the hairdresser’s today, for a much-needed cut by the wonderful Carol, we got to talking about books. I don’t usually go to the hairdresser’s expecting literary chat (more fool me). However, I came away with some great recommendations, including the advice to stop off at the Oxfam bookshop nearby, which Carol said is really well-stocked. …
One of the New Year’s Resolutions I recently suggested for small-business owners was to get involved in educational outreach. Tess Whitty has done just that and has written a marvellous guest post (our first ever!) describing her experience. Here it is. School Outreach – spreading the love of languages and translation I grew up in a bilingual …
Continue reading “Spreading the language love (3) by Tess Whitty: our first guest post!”
If you haven’t got round to making any business resolutions yet for 2011, or are stuck or ideas, here are some belated suggestions. Resolution 1 Raise your fees, if you haven’t already, especially if you live in the UK. See my own Resolution no. 1. If you’re a translator, check out Kevin Lossner’s post on the …
If one of your New Year resolutions is to improve your writing style (are you reading this, clients? you know who you are) this musical style guide might help you. Good news: clarity’s a-coming! It was produced by the European Commission’s Directorate General for Translation (DGT): We are leading a campaign to encourage Commission officials …
Continue reading “For a clear New Year: a musical style guide from the EU Commission.”
As I’ve been putting together the last few posts on books as Christmas gifts, it’s been a lovely surprise to discover so many publishing houses specialising in their own niche markets or in helping little-known authors get published. Sparkling Books: are publishers of non-fiction and fiction. Our series are: Sparkling Perspectives – non-fiction Sparkling Imaginations – …
Continue reading “Gifted in translation (4): Glorious Goldoni”
For those of you looking for Christmas books for children, two new translations of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s “The Little Prince” have just been published. The one shown above is a sort of double translation, as it’s a graphic adaptation by Joann Sfar with translation by Sarah Ardizzone. It’s published by Walker Books (who really should credit the …
Continue reading “Gifted in translation (3): The Little Prince”
Earlier posts this week were about books in translation and books designed by Coralie Bickford-Smith. Coralie also designed Penguin’s Limited Edition Clothbound Classic version of The Arabian Nights, translated by Malcolm Lyons with his wife, Ursula Lyons. The Limited Edition version is no longer available (unless you have over £600 to spend on Amazon). But …
Continue reading “Gifted in translation (2): The Arabian Nights”