I created this facsimile of an advice column in response to the WordPress metaphor and/or simile challenge. Allison
Sofa karma
Unless we are blessed with the gift of special sight, we do not know what tomorrow will bring. When today was yesterday, I did not know that I would be purchasing an L-shaped sofa based on the telephonic suggestion of a friend who spotted it at half-price during a casual perusal of a catalogue in... Continue Reading →
Aha! Nataly Kelly: 10 Ways Translation Shapes Your Life
Nataly Kelly: 10 Ways Translation Shapes Your Life. So many have shared this article one way or other today. I am simply joining the crowd by reblogging this excellent article. So much of the time, translators remain invisible. We are the unnamed writers of press articles, we are the ones who fixed the clause numbering... Continue Reading →
Saint Jerome, freelance translator
This post has been written to mark International Translation Day (30 September each year), also known as Saint Jerome's Day. It is endorsed by the Fédération Internationale des Traducteurs/International Federation of Translators to which all national translator, interpreter and terminologist associations and institutions are affiliated. Fittingly, for the purposes of what follows below, this year's theme is... Continue Reading →
The girl out of Africa
Forget the convent; the real saying is You can take the girl out of Africa, but you cannot take Africa out of the girl. Another quotation which only half-sprung to mind and strangely attributed in my internal workings to Heinrich Böll, but which it seems really belongs to Søren Kierkegaard, the Danish theologian and philosopher (1813-1855),... Continue Reading →
What a lovely surprise! I am still trying to cope with the severely skewed statistics. 😉 Allison
Two-minute edit, referenced.
After immersing myself in the hundreds of opinions and articles which stemmed from my reading Fiona McQuarrie's (Freshly Pressed) blog entitled, "Imagine: How Did This Happen?", and hastily checking whether I still believed what I have written about plagiarism on my website, I thought that perhaps I should snap out of the daze thus induced and... Continue Reading →
I ♥ Adobe Reader X
A few days ago, patenttranslator admitted that his new best dictionary-friend is Google Translate in a well-balanced and well-reasoned post. —Yes, there is a relatively small population of Earthlings who have dictionaries for friends. Weird, possibly, but true. Some have had relationships with dictionaries since earliest childhood. Most adherents to this subculture conduct relationships with multiple dictionaries... Continue Reading →
…little talk awhile of me and thee…
I came across one of those sentimental "quotations" so prevalent these days. I have done a quick translation into English, and must emphasise now that I do not identify with the sentiment conveyed! And if I were to die? Imagine what it would be like, you sending me an SMS knowing that I would never answer... Continue Reading →
Revise that!
WARNING: THIS ARTICLE IS DEFINITELY ABOUT THE REVISION OF TRANSLATIONS. THERE ARE NO PICTURES. JUST WORDS. YES, I USED CAPITAL LETTERS. I must have been feeling upbeat yesterday. Why else would I accept a couple of assignments involving the revision of translations from German into English? There is nothing unusual about this. The last revision I... Continue Reading →
That elusive pair of jeans 