In English there is a clear distinction between “industry” – a non-countable noun referring to all industrial activities, contrasting for example with “government” – and “an industry”, which is a particular activity. “Government and industry met to discuss the...
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Manifold Chinese
I’m often asked what I mean when I refer to the Chinese language. Which Chinese? Do you mean Mandarin?, they say. Well, yes, the standard language of the People’s Republic of China is what has been referred to in the west for centuries as “Mandarin”. These days...
Numbers: get them right!
There is an unwritten consensus in the business translation community that you should, wherever possible, “improve” the original when it is unclear or inconsistent. (You can argue that you have some responsibility for pointing out factual errors too, if you happen to...
Metric inches
Is the inch a metric unit? Yes it is. The inch is defined as 25.4 millimeters. That’s right; this is not a mere metric equivalent, but the definition of the inch (long gone are the days when it was defined as 1/36 of a the standard golden yard held in London). Many...
Robinsoe Crusoe in words of one syllable
One interesting way to consider the art of the translator is to compare it to that of a poet. Both attempt to express ideas in writing within some very specific constraints. The poet constrains his own work by setting rules such as metre and rhyme within which to...
Eliot Weinberger on a new translation of the Psalms
The full article is more than worth reading, but I just wanted to share an extract from Eliot Weinberger's review of Robert Alter's 2007 translation of the Psalms. Alter puportedly wanted to strip away the anachronous Christian-isms of the King James version, and go...
The -ize have it
Most translators and editors work on the basis that the -ise suffix is British and -ize is American. So we have realise/realize, advertise/advertize, analyse/analyze, as well as the derived forms realisation/realization and so on. As usual, the reality is more...
Translating acronyms
RACI, also known as ARCI, is an acronym for a business technique for defining roles in which the letters stand – in English for: Responsible Accountable Consulted Informed The idea is that in any project each person involved will fall into one of these categories. The...
Should you translate into your native language?
Some people will wonder why I have asked this question. Isn’t it pretty much given that translations should always be done by native speakers translating into their own language? Yes, but… The orthodox view is that only a native speaker can find just the right...
Chinese: simplified or traditional?
We are often asked what the difference is between Traditional and Simplified Chinese and when each should be used. The short answer is: use Simplified for mainland China (PRC) and Singapore, and use Traditional for Taiwan. However, it gets much more interesting than...