After a recent trip to Budapest I decided to engage in a short survey of English translations of Twentieth Century Hungarian literature. Here is my progress so far... I started with Sándor Márai, who wrote in his diary in 1949 that "the world has no need of Hungarian...
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Localising Arabic 1: dialects
In recent blog posts we have looked at different forms of Arabic, including those used by the soon-to-be ex-leaders of Egypt, Tunisia and Libya. This post will focus on the way that different dialects of Arabic differ from Modern Standard Arabic (MSE) and each other,...
Creating translation memories
We have been blogging a lot recently about how Translation Memory (TM) saves time, money and hassle, as well as streamlining the entire translation process. The progress this field has seen in recent years have made TM an invaluable tool for translation. Put simply,...
Wheezy, Sneezy and Freezy
Wheezy, Sneezy and Freezy; Slippy, Drippy and Nippy; Showery, Flowery and Bowery; Wheaty, Heaty and Sweety. Although this list may put you in mind of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, it in fact represents the earliest rendering into English of one of the great,...
The Daily Telegraph in Cockney
I have just discovered a strange, subversive sub-genre of internet translation engines, all of which allow you to translate from 'standard' English into a range of different accents or dialects. If you have something important you should be doing, I strongly advise...
Nur wer die Sehnsucht kennt: from Goethe to Sinatra
This lovely poem by Goethe was set to music by both Schubert and Tchaikovsky: Nur wer die Sehnsucht kennt Weiß, was ich leide! Allein und abgetrennt Von aller Freude, Seh ich ans Firmament Nach jener Seite. Ach! der mich liebt und kennt, Ist in der Weite. Es...
Ways to say crazy 2: gnomes in the loft
Idiomatic turns-of-phrase often reflect the culture or country in which they are used. We have already looked at some typically British phrases, like bats in the belfry and mad as a March hare. In Australia, someone who is a little crazy is said to have a kangaroo...
QuickSilver Translate: world leaders in Fire Protection translation
QuickSilver Translate is at the forefront of Fire Safety translation and localisation; our President, Colin Whiteley, has had 30 years in international management positions in this industry. As Tyco International's former Global Director of Marketing and...
Ways to say crazy
The British love eccentrics. Perhaps it is a result of the emphasis British society has always put on individualism, or maybe it's just the weather, but there has always been a special kind of respect and admiration paid to people who follow their own idiosyncratic...
Facebook Digest 14/3/11: a meal eaten sideways
The process of translating comprises in its essence the whole secret of human understanding of the world and of social communication. Hans Georg Gadamer UNTRANSLATABLE WORDS #19: Kwarandzyey azMamweg (Korandje) - "dates that aren't quite ripe yet, but that already...