Linguistic doom-mongers frequently lament the demise of the English language, complaining that standards are just not what they used to be, that kids these days simply don’t have a grasp of how to use language correctly, lack creativity, etc., etc. Human nature appears to have a natural tendency to assume that things gradually get worse, [...]

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I’ve had a Blackberry for about 6 months now and it has changed my life. No joke. It has changed my life, but in ways that have been surprising. The amazing ease of viewing emails which appear instantaneously on its screen like text messages is notoriously mesmerizing and hard to ignore, but has allowed me [...]

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Following the recent shocking news that the University of Bradford has had to shut down its postgraduate course in Translating and Interpreting course due to lack of funding, this first link is to a petition to the Prime Minister entitled ‘Save language provision in higher education, particularly Interpreting and Translating’. Click here to add your [...]

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I’m delighted to report (somewhat belatedly) that earlier this year successfully passed the ITI membership exam and can now call myself a Qualified Member (MITI) of the Institute of Translation and Interpreting (I’m already a full member of the Chartered Institute of Linguists). Woop woop (does air punches at her desk)!
Before I get too excited [...]

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Here’s why: ????????Thoughts on Language and Translation.

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Since leaving my office job two months ago my working life has seen many changes. Far from being the ‘easy life’ working from home, I’ve found myself busier, more stressed, and more productive than ever before. In the early stages of freelancing there’s a lot for me to learn, and what a steep learning curve [...]

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Last weekend I attended an event at International Pen’s ‘Free the Word’ festival at the Southbank Centre. This was the first of what I hope will become an annual event, celebrating literature in translation and literature published in languages other than English.
In the UK the literature market is dominated by English-language books, and only 2% [...]

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In line with my occasional series on linguistic gaffes, I was intrigued by an article published in The Telegraph on Monday about the translation into Galician of the famous book The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon. As the article mentions, the book “won the Whitbread Book of the Year [...]

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I can hardly fail to have noticed the visit by Nicolas Sarkozy to London this week. Oh what a visit it was! It was initially unclear what the purpose of this visit was, it seemed like a bit of a love-in and an excuse for yet another flashy trip abroad for ‘Sarko’. It eventually culminated [...]

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It has seemed to me recently that the translation industry in the U.S might be rather more developed than in the UK, particularly if I go by the number of translation blogs which originate from the U.S. I must say I am slightly surprised by this; forming part of the continent of Europe you would [...]

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