The Fascinating World of Translation, Showcased by Hollywood
When translators watch movies with their fictionalized counterparts, they can’t help but chuckle. The nature of dramatization means that at first sight, Hollywood does not…
How Shakespeare Changed the English Language
It’s safe to say that William Shakespeare is one of the most headache-inducing playwrights of all time. His plays – and his language – are…
Let’s Have a Butcher’s at Some British Slang
While we may well have a few colloquialisms of our own, we can’t deny that no one does slang quite like the British. In fact,…
Paying Attention to the Translators of Great Literature
Think back to your undergraduate literature classes. When you read Dante or Tolstoy, did the professor lead any discussions about the translator and his or her…
Professional Translations by Native Speakers Work Better Than Even the Bible
A recent article talked about how the Bible could be the key to translating obscure languages. The article looked at how common languages like English…
Bellissimo! The Italian Language and European Culture
What, seriously, have the Romans ever done for us? Well, it’s no coincidence that the word “romance” looks suspiciously similar to the word “Roman”. By…
Sacagawea: Pioneer Interpreter
Imagine a USA that, as you travel west, stops abruptly at St Louis, Missouri. No Denver, in fact no Rocky Mountains at all. No Grand…
Enter The Dragoman: Interpreter at the Crossroads of East & West
For a piece of land so obviously physically continuous as Eurasia, the difference between east and west has always been remarkable. The meeting point of…
La Malinche, an ambivalent interpreter from the past
Whenever political alliances, strategies or consultation have been involved, interpreters have always played a key role all along and this was always associated with an…
What a Freelance Translator Can Learn from Mark Twain, Friedrich Nietzsche and Virginia Woolf
What are the characteristics of a good freelance translator? Do they need to have native fluency in the source and destination languages? We all know…