Reasons for Learning New Languages

I’ve long had a fascination for languages and I’m always eager to dip into new ones. But some people are quite resistant to learning languages, so here is a list of reasons why they might want to give another language a change:

50 Reasons You Should Learn a New Language

Changing Biblical Sexual References in Translation

Mentions on translation pop up in all sorts of unexpected places. I was reading Jonathan Margolis’ book O: The Intimate History of the Orgasm and was surprised to see him refer to the way Bible translators changed sexual references. For example:

“Generally speaking, when Bible translators have happened upon sexual references, they have been assiduous in seeking out neutralizing euphemisms like men with a mission to protect unborn generations of virginal Sunday School teachers. Thus is ‘penis’ changed in every instance to ‘thigh’. ‘Put, I pray thee, thy hand under my thigh,’ Abraham asks his servant in Genesis, ‘and I will make thee swear by the Lord, the God of heaven, and the God of earth.’ (This is a reference to the custom of ‘testifying’, by which anyone taking a vow places their hand on their testicles.” (138)

Of course, he doesn’t specify which translations and translators he’s talking about, but at least it’s good to see issues of translation crop up in a variety of works. And it’s important to remember that ethical issues, in terms of what translators change and why, have been around for a very long time and still are.

Translators on Translating

While convalescing from surgery a few weeks ago, I enjoyed reading Andrew Wilson’s new book Translators on Translating. Each themed chapter includes quotes, anecdotes, and extracts from practicing translators, and it makes translators and their thoughts on translation more visible.

Many of the usual suspects are included (such as Douglas Robinson, Lawrence Venuti, Martin Luther, Anthea Bell), but there are also names that are less familiar, such as Sharon M. Bell, Cathy Hirano, Eivor Martinus, Moura Budberg), and it’s very interesting to get such a wide variety of views, from different countries, languages, and time periods.

The themes include work (Samuel Johnson refers to translation as “the great pest”), technical translation, the relationship between translators and authors (Wilson points out that “[f]ew authors will ever have occasion to read a translator’s work with anything like the attention the translator puts into theirs, and fewer still are actually capable of judging the quality of the translation.”), translation theory (Andrew Chesterman and Emma Wagner say that “[m]essages from the ivory tower tend not to penetrate as far as the wordface. (The wordface is the place where we translators work – think of a miner at the coalface.)”), and more.

Wilson’s book is more than an anthology of extracts, as he explores many of the concepts and adds his own opinions and experiences. It’s a fun and fascinating book to dip into.

Translation as Manipulation

Some of you might be interested in this recently published article of mine, which is on how translation can manipulate the reader. In this particular piece, I’m looking at how this happens in children’s literature, and with regard to dialects and allusions.

Calls for Papers

I am on the editorial committee for In Other Words, which is published by the British Centre for Literary Translation. I will be guest editing the next issue and co-editing the following one, so I’d like to invite submissions of papers for those issues. Here are the calls:

Translating Queers/Queering Translations

We welcome article submissions on any aspect of 'Translating
Queers/Queering Translations', which can include but is not limited to:

- Whether lgbtq writers/subjects ought to be translated differently
than other texts and, if so, how

- How queer theory influences translation and translation theory

- Whether a queer form of translation should be developed

- What it means to queer translation or translators

Articles should be a maximum of 4000 words; style guidelines are provided in the back of each issue of In Other Words.
Further queries should be addressed to the guest editor at:
b.epstein@uea.ac.uk. Deadline for submissions is 1 October 2010.


Translation and Philosophy

We welcome article submissions on any aspect of 'Translation and Philosophy', which can include but is not limited to:

- Translating philosophical texts

- What philosophers say about translation and what philosophy can contribute to the act of translation

- Philosophies of translation

- Philosophical and ethical issues in translation

Articles should be a maximum of 4000 words; style guidelines are provided in the back of each issue of In Other Words. Further queries should be addressed to the guest editor at: b.epstein@uea.ac.uk. Deadline for submissions is 1 March 2011.

Translation Jobs

Here is a site called Get Translation Jobs. Pretty self-explanatory!