Watercooler for Translators

Fellow Swedish-to-English translator Andy Bell has started a sort of joint blog, which he terms "watercooler," for translators. You have to sign in, but it's free and there's some good information and networking possibilities there.

New Translators' Association

I received the following email about a new association for translators. The organization seems to be free, but I don't know enough about it to be able to comment on it. If anyone has more information, I'd be interested. Here is the message:

I’m pleased to present the new translator organisation “Global Internet Translators Association (GITA)”, founded at the beginning of 2009.

GITA (http://www.gita-online.org) aims to incorporate modern media into the translation industry and has set itself the target of building an optimal framework for translation to be carried out online.

GITA advocates further research and training in the field of online translation, and represents a central point of contact for translators, customers and other interested parties. GITA works alongside various institutions from the translation and new media sectors to put the vision of enabling translators to use the internet as a working platform into practice.

The function of the organization is to represent the interests of its members. GITA is open to the revision and expansion its aims to encompass new translation issues as long as they are appropriate and conducive to its purpose.

GITA welcomes translators and translation agencies who identify with its aim and would like to work with GITA to realize and develop this concept. Membership is free for freelance translators. Approved GITA members can download the official organisation emblem (http://www.gita-online.org/index.php?conditions) and profit from the positive implications.

A Round-Up

Here's another round-up of blog posts and articles for your reading pleasure.

Here is an article, unfortunately only in Swedish, on the need for new translations. It's an interesting topic. Do translated books need to be updated? How often? Why?

Here is a blog post on protolanguage. The rest of the blog is good reading, too.

On to a guest post by me on crime fiction.

Next is a guest post by me, based on a post I had here on BNW.

And finally, another guest post, this one on the nice new Macmillian dictionary blog. The new Macmillian dictionary website is also worth spending time on.

Translation Book Launch

In case you are near Swansea (in southern Wales) and are free on Monday, feel free to come to this event. There will be food, wine, and, best of all, translated books and books on translation! See the following information:

You are warmly invited to a Swansea University translation studies book launch and showcase, with light refreshments, to be hosted by Waterstone’s and the School of Arts on campus next Monday (15 June) from 1.00.

Last year a very successful Nordic Translation Conference was organised by PhD student BJ Epstein at the Institute for Germanic and Romance Studies in London. BJ has now edited the proceedings and they have been published by Peter Lang with the title:

Northern Lights: Translation in the Nordic Countries
see http://www.peterlang.com/Index.cfm?vLang=E&vSiteID=1&vSiteName=BookDetail.cfm&VID=11849)

The book launch is to celebrate the publication, as well as the recent award of BJ's doctorate.

It will also be an opportunity to come and see some of the wealth of work in translation studies published in recent years by Swansea academics, mostly from the School of Arts. Literary translations from a range of languages and research publications in different areas of this fast-evolving field will be on display.

Shameless Bragging

As I posted not long ago, I have spent the last two and a half years in a translation studies program. I am happy to say that after submitting my dissertation and passing the defense (also known as the viva voce), I have now completed my PhD in translation studies.

A Good Quote

"To all parents who ask me what my advice is to their boys' education, I always say: 'Let them learn foreign languages: French, Italian, German, Spanish, as many more as they can. The other things – the length of rivers, the accession of kings, the names of battles, even multiplication and subtraction – are negligible; but conversation with foreigners is vital.'"
–E.V. Lucas

However, I would add that this is important for girls as well as for boys!