Private and Personal I freely admit that up until very recently I answered all translator forum polls regarding Facebook with the comment that I reserve Facebook for friends and family, and use ProZ, LinkedIn and Google+ and, to a certain extent, my blog, for interaction on a professional level. I had this idea that I... Continue Reading →
A difficult balance
I do have a good laugh when I choose to write on a subject about which I know so very little. When I was still at school, we had to read a novel by George Duhamel entitled Le Notaire du Havre which, as now expected with so much of modern literature, had nothing - and... Continue Reading →
Incidental lyricism
Some poets find poetry in the most surprising places. Translators can also find lyrical bits in dry texts. When I come across them, I sometimes scribble these fragments down. These are gleanings from a few target texts I have produced in the last week, which bear no relation to the general import of the text... Continue Reading →
Tired old soap operas do it
As I have already indicated, tired old soap operas do it, so I am going to. I am giving you a recap. I am drawing your attention to some bits of my blog you may have missed. I am astounded that my previous post, published in the wee hours three days ago has attracted so... Continue Reading →
New typewriter required
There are not too many translators who readily accept scanned copies of documents for translation. Even translators who were touch typists before the introduction of function keys on computer keyboards (such as I) become lazy. We love our computers. We love our CAT tools which obviate the necessity for (a) typing and (b) formatting. These... Continue Reading →
Oh, fadista!
Imagine you have one tape cassette which you play over and over on a portable tape deck. The tape was recorded on this same tape deck while sitting as close to the gramophone as possible as a borrowed long-playing record of Amália Rodrigues singing the fado filled the air. At the end of Side 1,... Continue Reading →
Trumpets and translation
Even though we strive for – and frequently achieve – excellence, we translators are normally quite a modest lot. Except today, I received such wonderful feedback from an agency, I could not contain myself. I blew my own trumpet on Facebook, which I reserve for interaction with family and friends. In typical translator fashion, I quoted the... Continue Reading →
Old translators never die
The cadence of one of my translated sentences yesterday reminded me about the fate of old golfers, and I could not remember whether real men eat quiche or not. If the truth be told, I was not entirely sure if Kisch was involved. That advice about sounding out the word in your head in order... Continue Reading →
FlumMoxed
Of course, "flum" does not mean anything, but quite a few of us have been "Moxed". The purpose of this post is to get as many people Moxed as possible. The next mass Moxing will occur at the forthcoming TriKonf 2013 in Freiburg, Germany, 18-20 Ocober 2013, where in addition to attending some excellent workshops,... Continue Reading →
Your laundry is calling you
The other day, the poll on a translator forum asked how long we worked before taking a break. You will note that the question was not how often we take breaks. That would imply that most freelance translators stick to a rigid timetable. I, for one, cannot imagine that there are too many translators who... Continue Reading →
That elusive pair of jeans 