tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-188490192011-12-10T09:56:19.558Zlanguage and languages in translation and interpretationCMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17971156460371741334noreply@blogger.comBlogger961100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18849019.post-21764570714113243602011-09-29T12:07:00.000+01:002011-09-29T12:41:41.731+01:00

I have been reading (aloud, I hasten to add) The Lion the Witch the Wardrobe (1950), by C.S.Lewis. Remarkably, within the space of half a paragraph (at the end of Chapter 7) the author comes up with three different solutions to the same problem:(...) Susan drained the potatoes and then put them all back in the empty pot to dry on the side of the range while Lucy was helping Mrs Beaver to dish up

CMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17971156460371741334noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18849019.post-88334393654900369642011-06-17T02:37:00.003+01:002011-06-17T03:46:46.427+01:00

For the day that's in it, the Irish Times reports that some spoilsport has gone and used a computer to crack Leopold Bloom's conundrum,“Good puzzle would be cross Dublin without passing a pub”.Speaking of spoilsports, Bloomsday celebrations have up to now been inhibited by copyright restrictions but that is all set to change, as from next year:THE EXPIRY of the copyright on James Joyce’s Ulysses

CMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17971156460371741334noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18849019.post-87276715786032160862011-02-16T18:44:00.001Z2011-06-13T19:44:13.821+01:00

One of the two latest charges facing Silvio Berlusconi arises from his having made a call to a police station to obtain the release of a Moroccan theft suspect (and "exotic dancer") whom he claimed to be "la nipote di Mubarak".This word nipote is discussed by Umberto Eco in Mouse or Rat (see earlier post) as an instance of a single Italian word corresponding to several possibilities in English.

CMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17971156460371741334noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18849019.post-57410343701180652492011-01-29T22:45:00.000Z2011-01-29T22:45:00.473Z

Microsoft's attempt to prevent Apple trademarking the name "App Store" has been widely reported, e.g. in the FT:Russell Pangborn, a legal adviser for trademarks at Microsoft, said an “app store” was an “app store”. Like “shoe store” or “toy store,” it was a generic term that was commonly used by companies, governments and individuals that offered apps. The term “app store” should continue to

CMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17971156460371741334noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18849019.post-72445381719738604442011-01-26T19:18:00.001Z2011-01-26T20:13:22.183Z

Lots of media coverage recently (here and here, for example) of the fact that Spain's co-official languages (Catalan, Basque, Galician, Valencian) can now be spoken in plenary sessions of the Spanish Senate.Plenty too of the kind of criticism one would expect: the senators all speak Spanish anyway so why pay for a tower of babel when they can communicate just fine without it. In short, it is a

CMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17971156460371741334noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18849019.post-21038094734724814272010-08-11T23:34:00.000+01:002010-08-11T23:34:43.414+01:00

There are reports in the Brussels media of a strange phenomenon currently to be observed in the linguistically divided capital, with adjacent cinemas advertising Hollywood's latest blockbuster variously as Knight and Day (for Dutch-speakers) and Night and Day (for Francophones).Vreemd fenomeen in Brussel: op de ene hoek van de straat heet de nieuwe prent van Tom Cruise 'Knight And Day', aan de

CMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17971156460371741334noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18849019.post-88497086390055391012010-06-11T23:21:00.001+01:002010-06-11T23:32:38.606+01:00

As proceedings get underway in South Africa, here is a betting shop in Brussels:Nice to see that this obscure rival to the World Cup (previously noted in Germany 2006) is still going strong.I have previously expressed puzzlement at the bizarre English-only approach to public communications so pervasive in Brussels, a city with a large French-speaking majority. But the term world championship

CMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17971156460371741334noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18849019.post-13965156395435188372010-06-09T16:23:00.002+01:002010-06-09T16:49:14.469+01:00

There was a fine article on translation by author/translator Tim Parks in the Observer recently.I liked this line on the nature of the translator's craft: changing everything in order that it remain the sameWhich is precisely what people never get (Milan Kundera in particular, it seems).

CMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17971156460371741334noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18849019.post-14428266197824863962010-02-12T19:01:00.000Z2010-02-12T19:01:21.968Z

"Where are you travelling from this morning?", a customs officer asked the passenger in front of me as we exited the airport arrivals area.Where is that this morning travelling from, is what I'd like to know. Taken literally, it implies the passenger is a familiar face to the customs officer, a regular user of the airport travelling to and from different places. The passenger's bewildered

CMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17971156460371741334noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18849019.post-33691617378155224322010-02-05T15:22:00.003Z2010-02-05T15:41:57.053Z

The Financial Times had a piece about interpreters the other day, prompting a typically stodgy riposte in today's edition from AIIC, our international association. The article itself is the usual sort of thing, worth reading however for its unwitting irony:As Benoy discovered to its cost, interpreters need to be close to the subject matter as well as competent linguisticallyAnd:Ms Olivier ...

CMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17971156460371741334noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18849019.post-50403235213885011962009-10-13T11:45:00.001+01:002009-10-13T11:45:00.317+01:00

While interpreters in Spain risk being taken for actors (previous post), their translator colleagues seem to get mixed up with journalists. The story that a German women's magazine is to stop using anorexic models appears thus in Spanish daily El País:Brigitte, la revista femenina más popular en Alemania, ha anunciado que, el año que viene, sustituirá a las modelos profesionales por mujeres "

CMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17971156460371741334noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18849019.post-91100750757421333132009-10-08T15:30:00.000+01:002009-10-08T15:33:21.481+01:00

In an earlier post I suggested that the term interpreter could usefully be abandoned in favour of the more transparent interprater if differentiation from translators is felt to be essential.There are of course a number of existing alternatives available, in English and other languages, all of them now obscure but preserved in surnames.One is latimer, ultimately from the Latin latinarius, "a

CMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17971156460371741334noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18849019.post-30673239378622633342009-09-29T11:45:00.004+01:002009-09-29T12:05:36.311+01:00

By way of follow-up to the previous post I should mention the intriguing note on Anglo-Saxon which appears in the OED up to the 1989 second edition but is absent from the (brand-new) draft revision of September 2009:For these there was apparently at first no collective name; subsequently, the name Englisc (Anglish, English) was extended from the dialect of the Angles (the first to be committed to

CMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17971156460371741334noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18849019.post-73350567617412921602009-09-24T12:20:00.003+01:002009-09-24T12:29:56.922+01:00

Anglo-saxon, in French (and its equivalents in other languages), is a vague sort of term, not usually clear as to who or what it is intended to include or exclude: at times it appears to be more or less synonymous with English-speaking but enough of the original sense lingers on to make it incongruous with a large subset of English-speakers (the likes of Groucho Marx or Billie Holiday for example

CMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17971156460371741334noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18849019.post-67357371185524463672009-07-25T22:24:00.002+01:002009-07-26T00:08:37.551+01:00

Dominating the bunch sprints at this year's Tour de France - as at last year's - is Manxman Mark Cavendish, generally described in the local media as britannique. The Isle of Man is in neither the United Kingdom nor the European Union. Mr Cavendish is therefore, unless other conditions are satisfied, not entitled to the freedom of movement enjoyed by EU citizens. He's moving around France freely

CMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17971156460371741334noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18849019.post-78189463191795257332009-07-01T00:11:00.003+01:002009-07-01T09:51:57.734+01:00

From the Guardian, reporting on the European under-21 championship finalGerman teams do not throw away 2–0 leads and so it proved. Although England chiselled out a trio of openings, their opponents twisted the knife further on the counter with late goals from the centre-forward Sandro Wagner who, for much of the evening, had looked to lack the composure of his namesake.That namesake being Wagner,

CMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17971156460371741334noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18849019.post-84362688546960663972009-05-06T17:36:00.005+01:002009-09-29T12:21:54.179+01:00

Its existence is denied in many quarters e.g. in this Glossary of Translation Industry Terms:Simultaneous translationThere is no such thing. A translation is done in writing; an interpretation orally. If your supplier doesn't know the difference between translation and interpretation, this is one of the Red Flags & Warning Bells that your meeting is in troubleOr this:Stop confusing translators

CMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17971156460371741334noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18849019.post-62889784229776904442009-05-06T17:05:00.000+01:002009-05-06T17:10:34.291+01:00

Daniel Hannan is a right-wing British member of the European Parliament who has taken to ending speeches in plenary sessions with a Latin-sounding phrase initially unidentified but now revealed as Pactio Olisipiensis censenda est ("the Lisbon Treaty must be put to a vote") echoing Cato the Elder who is said to have ended his speeches in the Roman senate with Carthago delenda est ("Carthage must

CMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17971156460371741334noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18849019.post-73506299195648637462009-02-10T17:24:00.000Z2009-02-10T17:25:03.891Z

I had been preparing a post on the word "fair" but it seems to have been well covered now by a recent Language Log post so I will confine myself to the expression "fair play".Fair play is commonly perceived, like its sometime synonym cricket, as quintessentially English in origin. A view well expressed in this letter to a newspaper:One summer about 15 years ago we found ourselves camping in a

CMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17971156460371741334noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18849019.post-74428515371442321562008-12-03T17:20:00.001Z2008-12-03T17:22:28.337Z

BBC World News had two big stories the other night: the UK's crisis budget and the composition of the incoming US administration.Some of the UK terminology was perceived as requiring translation for an international audience: value-added tax became sales tax ("or VAT as the Brits call it") and Chancellor of the Exchequer was first glossed then replaced by Finance Minister.In the US report, though

CMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17971156460371741334noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18849019.post-53849383942063398122008-11-25T15:53:00.000Z2008-11-25T16:03:13.310Z

In an earlier post I mentioned a Sunday Times article on a supposed shortage of into-English translators at the European Commission. While the article itself is somewhat confused, it now appears to have been based on facts, after all, however garbled in the transmission. This, in particular: ... the European commission has had to recruit linguists from Spain and Greece to translate documents into

CMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17971156460371741334noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18849019.post-56348626635729433372008-10-13T12:55:00.000+01:002008-10-13T12:55:57.018+01:00

It's official:93.1% of residents of Belgium speak English at homeOK, that refers to Belgium, Wisconsin, although an innocent from abroad might think it true of Belgium, Europe, after a stroll through the streets of Brussels, so pervasive is the presence of English on the exteriors of shops and cafés there.Shop-front signage in foreign languages is by no means peculiar to Brussels, of course, but

CMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17971156460371741334noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18849019.post-82141093182178970092008-10-08T14:10:00.000+01:002008-10-08T14:10:00.488+01:00

A mix-up at my Brussels hotel resulted in me getting a touch of the VIP treatment: a little tray of complimentary refreshments and delicacies awaited me in my room, accompanied by this note:Given that the hotel is a stone's throw from the European Parliament, which was in session at the time, the Madame Le Pen in question may safely be assumed to be French Front National MEP Marine Le Pen,

CMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17971156460371741334noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18849019.post-66671059363071278082008-09-21T02:22:00.000+01:002008-09-21T02:22:00.626+01:00

At the European Court of Justice last week we had a German-language case on used-car imports into Austria. The cars concerned were ones of interest primarily to collectors - not exactly antiques but headed that way.Actual antique cars are known in German - quite officially - as Oldtimer, which Wikipedia calls a Scheinanglizismus (i.e. a pseudo-loanword from English).By extension, cars that are

CMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17971156460371741334noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18849019.post-83539676883513712142008-09-05T11:59:00.000+01:002008-09-05T23:48:34.944+01:00

Via Transblawg recently a Sunday Times article on a supposed shortage of into-English translators as bemoaned by the European Commission. Echoing an earlier Guardian piece on a shortage of into-English interpreters (sneered at here).The Commission is a somewhat recent convert to the joys of market economics and perhaps not everybody there has yet mastered the basic principles. For as any

CMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17971156460371741334noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18849019.post-3507991735827453282008-05-23T14:19:00.000+01:002008-05-23T14:21:29.449+01:00

In Mouse and Rat (see earlier post), Eco discusses foreignising versus domesticating translation:Probably the most blatant example of a reader-oriented or domesticating translation is Luther's. For example, discussing the best way to translate Ex abundantia cordis os loquitur from Matthew 12:34, he remarks: "If I followed those jackasses, they would probably set the letters before me and have me

CMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17971156460371741334noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18849019.post-81911595624462705592008-05-13T16:32:00.000+01:002008-05-13T16:39:04.940+01:00

According to Western media reports (e.g.), last Sunday's elections in Serbia were a contest between a pro-European alliance and the ultra-nationalist Radical Party.Don't know about you but ultra-nationalist has a decidedly rabid ring to my delicate ear. Those with similar political views in Britain go by the rather more cerebral epithet Eurosceptic.Patriotic is more salubrious still but, like God

CMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17971156460371741334noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18849019.post-912108150015913212008-04-20T23:30:00.001+01:002008-04-21T00:04:16.014+01:00

A not entirely recent article in the Guardian entitled Wanted: English speakers with fluency in sarcasm reports on a "critical shortage" of up-and-coming conference interpreters working into English.Of all the lubricants of international affairs, interpreting is most crucial, which makes the shortage of people who can do it is so serious. A proliferation of post-war international organisations

CMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17971156460371741334noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18849019.post-91318304864444323832008-03-20T21:59:00.003Z2008-03-21T10:47:19.569Z

David Stifter lectures at the Institut für Sprachwissenschaft at the University of Vienna although his Sengoidelc: Old Irish for Beginners is written in English and published in the US by Syracuse University Press. It took me a while to figure out what his native language is - the name wasn't much help. Perhaps an American working in Europe or an Austrian who writes even better English than

CMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17971156460371741334noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18849019.post-3564300334825198392008-01-17T14:37:00.000Z2008-01-17T14:50:10.074Z

Still with Umberto Eco it appears that, like the 23rd archbishop of Paris André Vingt-Trois and anyone called Esposito or Colombo (including Christopher Columbus?), he is descended from a waif:Eco’s grandfather claims to be a foundling, and that he was given the name Eco by “an inventive civil servant.” Supposedly the name is an acronym for ex caelis oblatus, or “offered by the heavens.”How apt

CMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17971156460371741334noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18849019.post-22504186942868719132007-12-18T17:20:00.000Z2007-12-18T17:54:59.637Z

On the subject of over-confident non-native speakers (post before last), I see that Umberto Eco was pulled up recently by Language Log for repeatedly using the unidiomatic phrase "according to me" in a BBC interview. The underlying Italian phrase ("secondo me") is identified as the culprit in a later post on the same site.Eco has written a number of books on translation, including Mouse or Rat?:

CMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17971156460371741334noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18849019.post-85317898359776650122007-12-07T23:59:00.000Z2007-12-08T00:44:49.285Z

Reported in yesterday's Financial Times:The panel, initially dubbed a "wise men's committee", will be approved by European heads of government at the December 14 summit in Brussels, but it will instead be officially known as a "reflection group".This follows expressions of concern from some governments and EU commissioners that the term "wise men" implied an absence of women on the panel.As it

CMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17971156460371741334noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18849019.post-79234335882349228422007-11-20T18:27:00.000Z2007-11-20T17:30:22.487Z

A case recently before the European Court of Justice threw up an instance of a literal translation that means more or less exactly the opposite of the original.For reasons best known to themselves the Greek plaintiffs had chosen to bring their action in English (they would have been perfectly entitled to use Greek). Not only that but at some point during the written procedure they applied to

CMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17971156460371741334noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18849019.post-53594084346924723202007-11-05T16:22:00.000Z2007-11-14T17:44:16.549Z

separated by a common language explores differences between British and American English. A recent comment there makes a point that is often overlooked in such contexts: This isn't the first time that it's seemed likely that the dividing waters are those of the Tweed and Esk rather than the Atlantic.BrE and AmE are convenient labels but don't always correctly map the linguistic fault-lines. The

CMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17971156460371741334noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18849019.post-41378336545674066972007-10-17T19:00:00.000+01:002007-10-18T13:54:27.186+01:00

André Vingt-Trois is archbishop of Paris, one of twenty-three archbishops in France. He is also now one of twenty-three new cardinals named by the Pope.Wonder if he'd have known the answer to this: Q. Pagliacci is one of my favorite operas, and I plan to see it at the Met this season. One thing about it confuses me, though: Tonio bangs his drum and invites the villagers to the show “a ventitre

CMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17971156460371741334noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18849019.post-42607587249066566382007-10-12T16:34:00.000+01:002007-10-12T16:34:51.999+01:00

Just as Italy is known as the bel paese (see previous post), France is sometimes referred to as the grande nation. At least by Germans it seems to be. Or rather it seems to Germans that it is referred to as such by the French but this is not actually so.I get 18,000 plus google hits for "die grande nation" site:de and less than 1,000 for "la grande nation" site:fr. The Germans tend to use the

CMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17971156460371741334noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18849019.post-62300668759386090332007-10-08T21:49:00.000+01:002007-10-08T21:54:58.002+01:00

As reported in a recent post, it appears the British are now the cooks of Europe so in terms of the old joke we must have died and gone to hell. Here in hell, it seems, Italian opera is not sung in Italian:To celebrate the 300th anniversary of the homegrown playwright Carlo Goldoni's birth, La Fenice opera house decided to throw a very lavish birthday celebration: it commissioned an opera ...One

CMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17971156460371741334noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18849019.post-2776558720864189252007-10-01T16:44:00.000+01:002007-10-01T17:01:56.337+01:00

Good news in today's Financial Times:Newspapers have until now chosen between offering their content free, or charging on a subscription or “pay-per-view” basis. But Ien Cheng, publisher of FT.com, said the site would pioneer a new approach from mid-October. Articles and data will be free to users up to a total of 30 views a month. They will then be asked to subscribe for access to more

CMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17971156460371741334noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18849019.post-59084128733437756242007-09-25T17:51:00.000+01:002007-09-25T17:53:35.357+01:00

Recently in the Financial Times:I first came across girolles and chanterelles in a French context as, it seems, have most British cooks working today. In French, the distinction seems simple. A girolle is an apricot-coloured mushroom with an unmistakable vaulted cap, whose gills run down to a thick stem below. It has a rich and meaty flavour and a good texture. A chanterelle in Europe is

CMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17971156460371741334noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18849019.post-69890011179370315222007-09-20T13:58:00.000+01:002007-09-20T13:58:58.520+01:00

Counterfactual history is about working out what the consequences would have been if a particular historical event had had a different outcome. What if Hitler had been assassinated, what if Kennedy hadn't, that sort of thing.Counterfactual may is this sort of thing:Helmet may have saved cyclist: police... where the unfortunate cyclist was killed:Police say a bicycle accident that killed a man

CMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17971156460371741334noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18849019.post-71333113887745025172007-09-16T02:09:00.000+01:002007-09-16T02:09:57.122+01:00

From Wednesday's International Herald Tribune:The British and the Irish can still down a pint of beer, walk a mile, covet an ounce of gold and eat a pound of bananas after the European Union ruled Tuesday that the countries could retain measurements dating to the Middle Ages.Under a previous EU plan, Britain and Ireland would have been forced to phase out imperial measurements by 2009. But after

CMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17971156460371741334noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18849019.post-21860381635722188682007-07-23T00:38:00.000+01:002007-07-23T00:42:04.785+01:00

Transcribers of the spoken word face similar challenges to interpreters. Not only do they have to be familiar with their subject-matter and its terminology, they also need the sort of overview that allows them to judge whether what they think they have heard can plausibly be what was actually said.George Kimball, covering the British Open golf for the Boston Herald, had a story about Tiger Woods

CMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17971156460371741334noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18849019.post-74504680360321217502007-06-30T21:47:00.000+01:002007-07-01T00:45:05.424+01:00

Under the EU's now defunct constitutional treaty, regulations and directives were to be renamed laws and framework laws respectively, apparently in the name of jargon-busting (inter alia).I note with relief from the presidency conclusions of the recent EU summit that the reform treaty now being mooted will revert to the terminological status quo:the denominations "law" and "framework law" will be

CMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17971156460371741334noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18849019.post-72845014928861606832007-06-23T23:18:00.000+01:002007-06-23T23:19:32.262+01:00

The webstream of the Floyd Landis hearing (see earlier post) is apparently no longer available (wonder what that's about) but I still want to comment on the strange instruction given by the presiding arbitrator to the interpreter before he went about his work. This was to 'translate the words' and, explicitly, not to interpret. Now personally I don't regard it as a major crime to refer to

CMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17971156460371741334noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18849019.post-2173408479813021842007-06-23T23:10:00.000+01:002007-06-23T23:15:53.047+01:00

A headline in today's Guardian:Chancellor insists prime minister resists move to drop free market clauseThat should have been a warning but this second headline still threw me:Chancellor insists Sarkozy move is watered downOf course if you go on and read the piece it's clear what is meant. But why make it unclear in the first place?From the Guardian Style Guide:subjunctiveThe author Somerset

CMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17971156460371741334noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18849019.post-21123967368907523792007-05-23T16:43:00.000+01:002007-05-23T15:56:33.287+01:00

Is what I would call this:The Floyd Landis doping arbitration hearing stalled and ran aground for much of the day Tuesday on a language barrier -- an embarrassing episode for a high-profile international proceeding. An interpreter brought in to translate the first of what could be a parade of French-speaking witnesses from the lab where Landis' samples were tested was let go after it became clear

CMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17971156460371741334noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18849019.post-17438317581613229722007-05-19T16:49:00.000+01:002007-05-20T03:01:01.818+01:00

So many native speakers find this word an abomination it comes as no surprise that it was coined by the Dutch (as an English word, of course, mode oblige), although the concept behind it is most commonly associated with the Danes and their 'model' of easy hiring and firing coupled with generous unemployment benefits and back-to-work schemes. Since Denmark has managed to combine the low

CMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17971156460371741334noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18849019.post-85072130276507937552007-05-19T01:00:00.000+01:002007-05-19T01:02:00.136+01:00

I have been reading Wars of Words – The Politics of Language in Ireland 1537-2004, by Tony Crowley, Chair of Language, Literature and Cultural Theory at the University of Manchester.In it, he relates an episode that took place in the late nineteenth century involving the Gaelic League, an organisation that had recently been set up to promote the Irish language:The league’s battle with various

CMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17971156460371741334noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18849019.post-91913501805213278902007-05-03T12:10:00.001+01:002007-05-03T12:12:54.099+01:00

These are districts in Dresden, where I was working last week (it's the German EU presidency).Like so many place-names in Germany's eastern states - all those -ow, -itz and -in endings - they are of Slavic origin, as is the name Dresden itself. But what catches the eye is that initial consonant cluster, which appears to be quite common in those parts: Zschepen, Zschortau, Zscheplin, Zschettgau,

CMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17971156460371741334noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18849019.post-33648852907461556182007-04-20T16:00:00.000+01:002007-04-20T18:45:50.877+01:00

The recent Berlin Declaration marking the 50th anniversary of the EU was 'politically translated' according to a story that seems to have originated here (for the Danish-enabled). This is the BBC's version:Sharp-eyed professors have spotted what they say is evidence of "political translation" of the EU's Berlin Declaration, agreed at the weekend. Both the Danish and English versions downplay the

CMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17971156460371741334noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18849019.post-41256985468531515362007-03-16T22:28:00.000Z2007-03-16T22:38:13.539Z

When Wales are playing in the Six Nations rugby tournament it can be difficult keeping up with all the Joneses, Williamses etc. There are actually six players called Jones in the current Welsh squad. What a contrast with France. Its players' identifiers are never less than unique. In fact it is rare to come across the same French surname twice in any circumstances.And this is not just because

CMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17971156460371741334noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18849019.post-25923719584827096402007-03-10T23:18:00.000Z2007-03-11T02:15:36.528Z

On the subject of the previous post, the EUObserver report (no longer available apparently but echoed by the TimesOnline) contains this:Officials said that currently, the language having ultimate legal primacy is the text in which the legal act was originally draftedEurActiv has the same impression:At present, standard practice dictates that any anomalies or confusions be checked against the

CMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17971156460371741334noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18849019.post-84579416342872645542007-03-06T13:56:00.000Z2007-03-06T14:02:34.048Z

Considerable coverage was given recently to efforts by the Committee for the Language of European Law to promote French as the primary language of EU law. Here, for example.On the one hand, it's a daft campaign and the proposal itself a non-starter. Purely in the interests of credibility, the committee should surely have chosen as its frontman some one other than Maurice Druon, described as the

CMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17971156460371741334noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18849019.post-53184011188371580522007-03-02T00:56:00.000Z2007-03-02T01:12:47.215Z

In an earlier post, I discussed the difficulties of several recently joined EU member states with the official spelling of the word ‘euro’.Now two of the new member states that are set to join the eurozone itself have complained of a difficulty of a carto- rather than an ortho-graphical nature with the notes and coins their citizens will soon be using.The FT’s Observer column explains:The bid by

CMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17971156460371741334noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18849019.post-1171367619479956532007-02-13T11:51:00.000Z2007-02-18T23:43:59.982Z

Can't say I thought much of the movie but what about this for a review:To play up the issues, carry them as subjects and bring into the limelight has been a forte of the Hollywood film makers ....Judi Dench is playing a character of Barbara Covett, a veteran history teacher. She's known for being uncompromising and commanding in the school. In contrast, Cate Blanchett is performing a character of

CMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17971156460371741334noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18849019.post-1171143485381782122007-02-10T21:13:00.000Z2007-02-10T21:38:05.393Z

Margaret's comment puts me in mind that 'court of appeal' is in fact not the literal/word-for-word translation of 'cour d'appel', as defined by Weston, i.e. one whichdisregards the collocation of the words, the syntagmatic relations between them which normally determine how the individual words will be rendered (if at all) in a given contextGoing by the first entry in the dictionary (Oxford

CMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17971156460371741334noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18849019.post-1170077200437508992007-01-29T12:03:00.000Z2007-01-29T15:24:10.446Z

EUObserver, like EurActiv, is a site dedicated to EU news stories. And like EurActiv, the Economist, and so many others it too seems incapable of getting the facts straight on the EU's working languages (see recent posts):On the website of the commission's External Relations directorate-general, an explanatory text on the March anniversary celebrations is available in the three working languages

CMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17971156460371741334noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18849019.post-1167748058674919752007-01-03T00:25:00.000Z2007-01-03T13:18:56.906Z

The Language Log does a great job taking the likes of the BBC to task for their lazy and ill-informed reporting on language-related matters. It is disappointing, therefore, to find Language Log itself displaying the same lackadaisical approach to fact-finding and checking in a post entitled Happy New Year unless you're an EU bureaucrat.For one thing, it repeats, without citing a source, the

CMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17971156460371741334noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18849019.post-1167262331335596102006-12-27T23:19:00.000Z2006-12-28T12:41:39.000Z

It is widely misbelieved that the European Union has three working languages only: English, French and German. Even EurActiv, for example, which specializes in EU news stories, falls for it:EurActiv.com is now CrossLingual(tm)! This means that the site can be browsed in the three working languages of the EU: English, French and GermanAs discussed in the previous post (and as demonstrated by the

CMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17971156460371741334noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18849019.post-1165424726620250782006-12-06T17:03:00.000Z2006-12-06T17:05:26.623Z

I was back working at the European Parliament last week after a long break. Last time I was there they were getting by with nine languages. Now it's up to twenty, and rising.But the dire predictions (hopes?) of language chaos have not been borne out. The new expanded regime seems to be working just fine and the interpreters are taking it all in their stride.Observe for yourself at the EP's

CMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17971156460371741334noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18849019.post-1163519898698043592006-11-14T15:57:00.000Z2006-11-14T15:58:59.483Z

From its inception, the spelling of the common European currency has been attended by controversy.The s-free plural, for example, caused uproar among defenders of pure English. Rioting in the streets was averted, though, possibly due to the fact that the UK isn't actually in the euro-zone.Some Irish-speaker(s) objected that e-u-r-o was not a valid sequence of letters under the rules of Gaelic

CMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17971156460371741334noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18849019.post-1163000788897690792006-11-08T15:29:00.000Z2006-11-08T16:01:07.696Z

A trawl around the web reveals that the practice of back-translation, far from being the aberration that might be supposed, is widely regarded as a serious tool by what seem like serious people. Here for example:Requirements for the Translation of Consent Documents (02/03)It is now a requirement of the IRB that all consent document translations be back-translated. A back translation allows the

CMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17971156460371741334noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18849019.post-1160750197330056222006-10-13T15:33:00.000+01:002006-10-15T01:22:13.510+01:00

Interpreting was in the news recently (or conspicuously not in the news in the case of the BBC, see below) when President Hugo Chávez of Venezuela was reported by the New York Times and others as having regretted not being able to meet Noam Chomsky before he died (Chomsky is in fact alive).It subsequently emerged that Chávez had said no such thing and the NYT issued a correction:An article on

CMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17971156460371741334noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18849019.post-1160141690471496402006-10-06T09:55:00.000+01:002006-10-06T14:34:50.576+01:00

It is well known that different professions can have vocabulary all their own but can they have their own grammar too?I have long been struck by the strange use of the present perfect (“has done”) instead of the preterite (“did”) by football and racing folk in Britain, particularly in the context of post-match/post-race comments and reaction.Example 1"Their goal is not legitimate. He's neither

CMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17971156460371741334noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18849019.post-1159312330181095312006-09-26T23:34:00.001+01:002006-09-27T00:12:10.223+01:00

Still on the subject of indigenous Australians and their depleted heritage, Language Log reports thatthe Federal Court of Australia has just ruled ... that an aboriginal people, the Noongar, hold 'native title' to portions of the Perth Metropolitan Area. This appears to be roughly equivalent to usufruct in Anglo-American lawThis illustrates nicely the shortcomings of the term ‘Anglo-American law’

CMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17971156460371741334noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18849019.post-1159030387835794642006-09-23T17:29:00.000+01:002006-09-24T15:56:25.926+01:00

A European Court judgment during the week, as reported here, has been commented on here. The case was brought by an English lawyer wishing to continue to practise in Luxembourg without passing a test in that country's (three!) languages:The European Court of Justice (ECJ) yesterday (19 September) threw out the requirement for a lawyer to speak the language of the country he wants to practise

CMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17971156460371741334noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18849019.post-1158743673142230302006-09-20T09:58:00.000+01:002006-09-20T10:17:11.636+01:00

The big idea dominating EU affairs in the late eighties, when I took part in a recruitment test for European Parliament interpreters, was the so-called ‘1992 programme’ to dismantle all remaining barriers to internal trade by the end of 1992. In languages other than English, in particular Spanish, I suspect it may have been the (more sensible) practice to refer to the target as 1993 rather than

CMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17971156460371741334noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18849019.post-1158497103188931432006-09-17T13:05:00.000+01:002006-09-17T16:11:59.986+01:00

From last week’s Guardian:In a scene of Felliniesque surrealism, the actress Nicole Kidman was barred from filming inside an historic Roman apartment building at the weekend by angry residents who wanted a higher fee for their cooperation.The 280 families living in 41 via Vespucci in the Testaccio area claimed they had not been forewarned that the actress would be filming an advertisement in

CMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17971156460371741334noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18849019.post-1157458044798897762006-09-05T12:38:00.000+01:002006-09-05T13:07:24.833+01:00

A bitter reality for translators, most acutely felt when it comes to negotiating prices with customers, is the yawning gap that exists between their own perception of the dignity of their calling and the view others have of it. While translators like to regard themselves as birds of a feather with the members of the prestige professions - doctors, lawyers etc. - the wider world, alas, sees us as

CMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17971156460371741334noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18849019.post-1153966154417698702006-07-27T02:36:00.000+01:002006-07-27T03:09:14.556+01:00

A couple of streets away from here is the house where 150 years ago yesterday George Bernard Shaw was born.Shaw was a man of many parts. A crusading vegetarian, socialist and pacifist, he also devoted considerable time and energy to matters orthographical and campaigned for a reform of English spelling whereby the Latin alphabet would be replaced by a phonetic writing system. He put up a prize of

CMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17971156460371741334noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18849019.post-1152890036625943252006-07-14T15:46:00.000+01:002006-07-14T16:13:56.666+01:00

Wednesday’s much anticipated interview with Zinedine Zidane on Canal Plus seems to have proved something of a damp squib for those commentators who had been promising themselves a verbatim account of the taunts that earned Zizou’s violent ire in Sunday’s World Cup final.One thing he did say, in explaining his headbutt on Marco Materazzi, was reported on the BBC (and in relevant part on SkyNews,

CMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17971156460371741334noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18849019.post-1152743773496030502006-07-12T23:12:00.000+01:002006-07-12T23:36:13.533+01:00

The Financial Times Europe edition of 6 July leads with a story entitled “EU tax on offshore savings falls flat” (still available here and elsewhere).Europe's 14-year struggle to tax its citizens' offshore savings has flopped, after investors in countries such as Switzerland and Luxembourg exploited loopholes in a controversial savings law(The "savings law" referred to is Directive 2003/48.)The

CMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17971156460371741334noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18849019.post-1152668293750764232006-07-12T02:19:00.000+01:002006-07-12T02:38:13.763+01:00

The BBC reports on two different attempts to sort out exactly what it was that provoked the red-card incident in Sunday’s World Cup Final.BBC Radio Five Live asked for help from a deaf lip reader, Jessica Rees, who read the words phonetically to an Italian translator.She deciphered the insult as being "you're the son of a terrorist whore" - a translation also carried by many national newspapers

CMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17971156460371741334noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18849019.post-1150644501684572192006-06-18T16:18:00.000+01:002006-06-18T16:28:21.696+01:00

Seen on board Lufthansa:Dear Passenger,For the duration of the World Championship, Lufthansa will be offering you a fitting culinary experience and you can look forward to delicacies created by selected “football chefs”...From 31st May until the World Championship Final, Lufthansa passengers can savour the specialities created by football fans among the top chefs ...But what is this World

CMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17971156460371741334noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18849019.post-1150073568765335752006-06-12T01:23:00.000+01:002006-06-12T01:52:48.776+01:00

Onze Taal and others report on a New York Times article about a revival of Maine French.I suspect that revivals such as this, of previously depised languages or cultures, are a pretty sure sign that the object of the revival is now safely dead. But no matter. What struck me most was the statement:And Gov. John E. Baldacci … led a trade delegation to France last fall, one of the first since

CMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17971156460371741334noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18849019.post-1149153936175991122006-06-01T09:47:00.000+01:002006-06-02T00:47:39.936+01:00

There is a widely-held view that translations of legal texts should ‘stick close to the original’, in other words transpose the source-text as nearly word-for-word as the rules of grammar will permit. For adepts of this school of thought, the Civil Code of Lower Canada, latterly revised as the Civil Code of Quebec, must represent something of a holy book. The cryptic nature of many of its

CMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17971156460371741334noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18849019.post-1147051712428959122006-05-08T02:18:00.000+01:002006-05-08T02:28:32.450+01:00

Recent silence here is largely due to the latest in a series of retinal detachments, necessitating another visit to the operating theatre. When the surgeon mentioned that the operation had a failure rate of 1 in 20 and since my other eye is pretty much wrecked as a result of past misfortunes, I had cause to reflect on the prospect of blindness.Happily, it didn’t come to that but even if it had I

CMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17971156460371741334noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18849019.post-1145058325796321962006-04-15T00:45:00.000+01:002006-04-15T00:45:25.796+01:00

Relay interpreting means interpreting from language A into language B via language C. For example, if the English booth has nobody who works out of Danish but the French booth does, then when Danish is being spoken the English interpreter will interpret what's coming out of the French booth rather than what's coming direct from the floor.Interpreters aren't normally too keen on working from relay

CMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17971156460371741334noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18849019.post-1144945634683053312006-04-13T12:33:00.000+01:002006-04-13T23:06:13.586+01:00

There seems to be something of a vogue in Hollywood these days for movie dialogue in the authentic language of the characters: Aramaic and Latin in 'The Passion of the Christ', Maya in a forthcoming film by the same director, Algonquian in 'The New World' and Punic, no less, in a planned epic about the exploits of Hannibal.So whatever happened to the great American aversion to subtitles?In

CMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17971156460371741334noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18849019.post-1144415046912632592006-04-07T13:49:00.000+01:002006-04-13T02:36:42.066+01:00

IATE - Interactive Terminology for Europe - is the new(ish) EU terminological database, replacing Eurodicautom. I'm not sure to what extent the translation community is still up in arms about this, but I recall great outcry some years ago when word went around that a charge was to be introduced for using Eurodicautom. The international translators federation FIT went so far as to publish a

CMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17971156460371741334noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18849019.post-1143398760466279082006-03-26T19:27:00.000+01:002006-03-29T16:40:18.523+01:00

TripAdvisor advertises itself as offering "unbiased reviews of hotels, resorts and vacations". Its trademark is "get the truth, then go". Here is one unbiased hotel review, posted on the TripAdvisor website by "a TripAdvisor Member, London".we are just back from Paris and we had such a nice stay at " le vignon hotel"- rue Vignon 75008 Paris.a 28 bedroms 4 hotel in the middler of Paris perfect to

CMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17971156460371741334noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18849019.post-1143305863651794872006-03-25T16:35:00.000Z2006-03-27T13:08:36.846+01:00

Onze Taal links to a Reuters story concerning the use of English terms in Japanese:A question in Japan's parliament on Wednesday peppered with English financial terms had Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi warning a lawmaker to mind his language. "Who understands (English) words like 'compliance' and 'governance'?" Koizumi asked the embarrassed opposition questioner. "Use words that ordinary people

CMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17971156460371741334noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18849019.post-1142775896193065522006-03-19T13:31:00.000Z2006-03-24T09:50:44.716Z

Alexander Chancellor in the Guardian laments the quality of 'English translations on Italian menus, signs and packages'. A pesto sauce purchased in Tuscany serves as the example:It's an dexcellent handmade with no conservant and very tasty mode of use: to spread it on the toast, bread, roast and every where it is wanted to become tastySame old story, then. But the explanation he offers is rather

CMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17971156460371741334noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18849019.post-1142268891907812912006-03-13T16:36:00.000Z2006-03-15T17:03:21.036Z

Media reports (noted at Transblawg and elsewhere) of Chelsea manager José Mourinho being derided by Barcelona fans as a 'translator' (i.e. interpreter) put the taunts down to his having been Bobby Robson's 'assistant at press conferences' when they were both employed at Barcelona. This hardly does justice to the Special One's career in translation/interpretation. At Sporting Lisbon and then at

CMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17971156460371741334noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18849019.post-1141855061571470522006-03-08T21:57:00.000Z2006-03-10T12:38:24.573Z

At meetings at the EU's Food and Veterinary Office, there is frequent reference to feed and food law. Frequent as in several times a minute. And why not? It's a phrase that fairly trips off the tongue in English. But pity the French interpreters next door who have to chew through this mouthful every time:la législation sur les aliments pour animaux et les denrées alimentairesThat's 22 syllables.

CMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17971156460371741334noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18849019.post-1141691007081907932006-03-05T18:01:00.000Z2006-03-10T12:40:02.990Z

An Associated Press story, written by one Jenny Barchfield and appearing in various media, not least the Washington Post, tells of a ruling by a French court requiring the French subsidiary of a US multinational to communicate with its French employees in French:English may have been good enough for Shakespeare, but in linguistically defensive France, it is just not up to snuff - even for

CMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17971156460371741334noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18849019.post-1140542068691052112006-02-21T16:53:00.000Z2006-02-22T17:49:51.866Z

The Island at the Centre of the World, by Russell Shorto, is described as 'the untold story of the founding of New York'. It is based on the work of Dr Charles Gehring who, in 1974, undertook the mammoth task of translating the official records of New Amsterdam, twelve thousand 'charred, mould-stippled' sheets of paper 'covered with the crabbed, loopy script of seventeenth-century Dutch ...

CMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17971156460371741334noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18849019.post-1139758351884533952006-02-12T15:14:00.000Z2006-02-15T15:30:40.916Z

A comment on the previous post brings to light the fact that several US states have a provision in their law expressly prohibiting the literal translation of 'notary public' as 'notario (publico)' - a measure introduced to stop unscrupulous notaries (who are not authorized to give legal advice etc.) ripping off Spanish-speaking immigants by representing themselves as civil-law notaries (who are).

CMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17971156460371741334noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18849019.post-1139160742637643392006-02-05T13:03:00.000Z2006-02-09T12:16:41.743Z

The Swiss have a rule of contract construction known as the 'Verbot der Buchstabenauslegung'.Literally: 'prohibition of literal interpretation', but since this is about avoiding the literal, I will call it the 'rule against literal construction'. It means that in working out what the parties to a contract intended, the court must eschew a 'formalistic or purely grammatical'

CMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17971156460371741334noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18849019.post-1138817305636358222006-02-01T13:13:00.000Z2006-02-01T18:10:36.200Z

The phony war refers to a period at the beginning of World War II when there was little or no actual fighting. In French, it is rendered as 'le drôle de guerre'.A tax haven is a jurisdiction with low or zero taxes. In French, it translates as 'paradis fiscal'.'Drôle', of course, means 'funny', not 'phony'. And 'paradis' means 'heaven' rather than 'haven'.In each case, it seems, an unfamiliar word

CMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17971156460371741334noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18849019.post-1138585474336485862006-01-30T01:31:00.000Z2006-01-30T01:44:34.356Z

Re the previous post, the Index Translationum itself is worth a visit. It has some interesting links, for example. But it doesn't exactly walk the talk:A good translator must not only have a good competence in his working languages but also a fair mastership of the actual domains involved in translation.This knowledge, quite often extremely specific, requires a considerable amount of

CMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17971156460371741334noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18849019.post-1138551626239924652006-01-29T16:14:00.000Z2006-01-30T01:46:51.773Z

A piece entitled Strong Language in a recent FT Weekend section (still available here) notes the overwhelming dominance of English language writers, and of British ones in particular in the league table of most-translated authors (Index Translationum).The writer sees two reasons for this. One is: by jingo, we’re better than them.The other, as flagged by the title of the article, is that the

CMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17971156460371741334noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18849019.post-1137589666644964462006-01-18T12:57:00.000Z2006-01-18T13:07:46.663Z

Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi in an interview this morning:"il presidente del consiglio non può per definizione mentire".Direct translation: "the prime minister, by definition, cannot lie".Contextual translation: "the king can do no wrong".

CMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17971156460371741334noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18849019.post-1137417873688702732006-01-16T13:06:00.000Z2006-01-18T13:15:50.550Z

Here is an article about the dodgy English of Jean-Claude Trichet, head of the European Central Bank, whose pronouncements can move markets and whose every word is parsed accordingly.As usual in this field, the reporter seems to miss the point of her own story:This means the ECB faces extra hurdles when using key phrases to signal its plans, a common central banking practice. Things can misfire

CMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17971156460371741334noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18849019.post-1137369765022916022006-01-15T23:49:00.000Z2006-01-18T13:16:44.466Z

The following are examples not of translation but of original English from an English-speaking country, found on a website devoted to local events.On rugby:In the 21st century, women are not considered to stand at a step rear from men....Special "Women Rugby teams" are prepared in various countries and special tournaments and World Cups are organised particularly to cater this twig of women

CMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17971156460371741334noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18849019.post-1137265836714676812006-01-14T13:24:00.000Z2006-01-18T13:09:01.730Z

At the European Court of Justice this week, I worked on a case concerning the proper interpretation of a phrase used in the legislation governing proprietary plant varieties. Farmers are allowed to save seed from their crops for sowing on their own farms provided they pay a fair fee to the breeder of the plant variety in question. What that fee should be is not specified, only that it must be '

CMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17971156460371741334noreply@blogger.com0