“One thing led to another, and that was only the beginning. I am referring to the head resting on the plate of cannelloni. Heavy and still and deaf, and attached to Pedro Akira’s stocky body by a strong, manly neck.” When the opposition presidential candidate is brutally assassinated in the fictional Latin American country of more »
Author archives: Tim
Christmas Day in the convent: the ethics of translation criticism
Although I was pleasantly surprised by the overwhelmingly positive reaction to my last blogpost, it wasn’t universally liked. (No bad thing: if nobody disagrees with you, what you’ve said probably wasn’t worth saying.) The most substantial criticism was a remark on Twitter to the effect that it was unethical of me to criticise a fellow more »
Translate meanings, not words
I’m not a fan of Translation Theory. Translation is a very practical activity: it involves making judgements about the meanings and connotations of a text and deciding on the best way to convey these into another language. A good solution for one problem in one situation may well be a terrible solution when applied to more »
Time for literary translators to stop using the c-word
I’ve been a professional translator for 20 years. In my time, I’ve translated academic texts, marketing texts, legal texts and medical texts, to name just a few. However, it was only about a year ago that I decided to try my hand at literary translation. Since making that decision, I have translated four stage plays, more »
Translator queries: more than just questions
I’ve just been helping a fellow translator to submit queries about her translation to a direct client, and it made me think about why we send queries to our clients. Maybe the question seems stupid. Surely, we send queries when there is something we haven’t understood in the source text or if we are unsure more »
Collaborative professional development
The following post is based on an article I co-authored for the ITI Bulletin with my colleagues Victoria Patience and Simon Berrill. Peer pressure: how collaborating with colleagues can be a great source of professional development Amid all the talk of continuing professional development, translation technology, marketing skills and subject specialisation, it’s easy for us more »
George Orwell’s six rules of writing: adapted for translators
In his essay, Politics and the English Language, George Orwell railed against confusing and unclear writing. He summarised his advice in six rules, which have been the mainstay of English style guides ever since: Never use a metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print. Never use a more »