China Miéville is a socialist who hates Tolkien. He’s also a little scary looking. His books are worth reading, though, even if you’re a reactionary who loves Tolkien. I’ve read two of his novels, The City and the City and Embassytown. The former has an intriguing setting (two cities that share the same space, where residents of… Continue reading Translators in Space, part III: Embassytown
Blog
Nazi Summer Camp
In 2015 someone contacted me from Radiolab asking for help with research for the episode “Nazi Summer Camp“. This was quite a thrill because I’ve long been grateful to this fun and informative show for preventing my children from bickering on long car trips. What they wanted was a summary of one chapter of a German… Continue reading Nazi Summer Camp
The Lady in the Hymnal
I grew up in a mainline Protestant church, where my family always spent the organist’s intro to a given hymn checking on who wrote the words, who composed the music, what country they were from, and when they lived. If we spotted someone who was famous outside of church, like Haydn or Arthur Sullivan, there… Continue reading The Lady in the Hymnal
The Unbelievable Ride in a Crazy Airplane (and other films)
Sometimes translation is straightforward. Sometimes, especially in the arts and entertainment sector, translators make significant modifications to their source material. Compare the English and German versions of these titles of popular films from the eighties and nineties (back translations in italics). The funniest German film titles are those that take a simple English title and… Continue reading The Unbelievable Ride in a Crazy Airplane (and other films)
Metaphors that make you go WTF?
With regard to Goethe’s play Götz von Berlichingen, “Lessing, who had just held up his own newly published Emilia Galotti as a model of how a stage-play should be constructed, was bitter; he exclaimed angrily that Goethe had filled sausage skins with sand and sold them as rope.”
Don’t even think about it….
A friend took this photo at Karlstein Castle in the Czech Republic. It seems they don’t serve my kind in there.
Most people have a cold.
I do have a cold. I powered through it during Christmas preparations but spent the Feast of Stephen in bed. And that’s where I’d be today, as well, if there weren’t things to do. Most people have a cold in one of my favorite poems: Weltende, by Jakob van Hoddis. Good old Raymond Furness of St. Andrews… Continue reading Most people have a cold.
Translators in Space, part 2
The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell “Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground without your Father’s permission.” (Matthew 10:29) In the not-too-distant future, an observatory in Puerto Rico picks up some chorales broadcast from the Alpha Centauri system. In response, a party of Jesuits… Continue reading Translators in Space, part 2
Translators in Space
My first blog post! Went to see the film Arrival the other day and was predictably gratified by the centrality of a linguist/translator. A pretty good film, but if emotional violin music and soft-focus footage of babies make you cry, be prepared to exit the theater wiping your eyes and sniffling, to the alarm of… Continue reading Translators in Space