There is one thing I vowed and declared I would never intentionally do: say something vacuous to a child. This is made easier by the fact that I never had any children of my own. My vow kicked into full gear when my sister produced the first of three - need I say it, wonderful -... 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 →
Simon, Garfunkel and Yoda
It all started when a fellow translator posted an image of Yoda, of Star Wars fame, on her Facebook wall. The speech balloon said, "OOYL", which, of course, is short for "Only once, you live". Despite obvious pronunciation difficulties, I prefer Yoda's rendition to the now ubiquitous YOLO. "My favourite, he is", I commented. "Ha!",... 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 →
Words, phonemes and Wordle
One great use of words is to hide our thoughts.Thus spake Voltaire.One great use of quotations in translation is to hide the original. That is what I say. My web search skills must still be in need of improvement. I have not found the original French yet. Any light anyone can shed on the matter... Continue Reading →
Incurably curious. Curiously incurable.
I might as well get it out of my system now; confess, if you will. I love words. I love reading dictionaries. [If I were making a speech at a golf club, say, I would have lost about ninety per cent of my audience already. It is possible to love words and golf, or books and... Continue Reading →
That elusive pair of jeans 