I’ve been perusing LinkedIn a lot lately, connecting with colleagues and finding new clients around the world. In the U.S., I trained in writing resumes and LinkedIn profiles. It is striking how many translators could do so much more with the free chance to succinctly and convincingly tell their stories and expand their clientele and […]
“Sometimes I lie.” — Arabic interpreter for Trump “I’m Trump for the moment while I’m interpreting his words.” — American Sign Language interpreter for Trump I don’t interpret professionally, and when I do informally for visiting friends and family, I often flub it. I speak the wrong language to the wrong person. I can’t stand […]
Translating into English has a lot of advantages due to English’s status as an international lingua franca. Resources are abundant. You can find texts written originally in English on nearly any subject, which I assume is less true for those translating into, say, Icelandic. For academic texts, the author likely did much reading in English […]
I am pleased to have been on the editorial board and wrote an article for the relaunched newsletter for the Italian Language Division of the American Translators Association. Read the whole newsletter here: Tradurre, Italian Language Division newsletter. Here’s my article. Faraway, so close – Drawing on our virtual community By and large, we translators […]
I was delighted to be a guest blogger on one of Florence’s top blogs: Girl in Florence. I wrote about my experience in Florence, especially with meeting new people, and about Speakeasy Multilingual Happy Hours, language exchange events I organize in Florence. Read my post here: Bursting out of our social bubbles Speakeasy Multilingual Firenze […]
Language and culture are ingredients baked into the bread of communication — an inconvenient fact but one that sure keeps translation ever-challenging. A few examples from totally disparate worlds: Food Though the old saw about Eskimos having 500 words for snow is actually just a myth, I can assure you that Italians do have many […]
September 30th is International Translation Day, celebrated since 1953 on the Feast of St. Jerome, the Bible-translating saint and, hence, the patron saint of translation. Last year the UN even officially declared it such, recognizing “the role of language professionals in connecting nations and fostering peace, understanding and development.” Recognition is nice but I think […]
Information abounds. In translation, as in lay life, the immense volume of it means that the trick is to find accurate information quickly without sinking into the morass of its excess. Back in the day, dictionaries and libraries were a translator’s best friends. Now our best (though often treacherous) friend is Google. To put it […]
I often have cause to think of the paradox that this Danish study explored in depth: Though translators complain long and loud about many aspects of our profession, particularly about our effort being underappreciated, we generally rate very high on job satisfaction. I don’t know if the satisfaction expressed in the Danish study applies cross-culturally […]
For 20 years, my friend Jun and I have disagreed about language. A one-time copyeditor, she rigorously responds to “How are you?” with “I’m well” and not “Good.” I think she’s never met a split infinitive she liked. I, on the other hand, am a follower of Steven Pinker, who says of Jun (or William Safire, […]