Chips vs. fries: I speak English fluently and yet I am always translating
Wole Olayinka immigrated from Nigeria to Calgary four years ago. When he speaks English in Canada — a language he has spoken all his life — the very thing that should connect him becomes another layer of distance.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/first-person-english-but-always-translating-9.7168581?cmp=rss
So here's #Spring with exclusive #ShortStories from Diana Evans, Takiguchi Yūshō, translated by Jesse Kirkwood, Bruna Martini, Holly Edwards and Joel Cox, plus Lucy Caldwell on the long and short of #ShortFiction
Check them all out at https://fictionable.world
#books #reading #writing #fiction #comics #ShortStories #translation #blog #podcast #bookstodon
Translators: unsung heroes of a multilingual web
Following the launch of the ‘World Wide Web’ (which became known as ‘the web’) – in 1990, users with a native language other than English reached 5 percent by 1994, 20 percent by 1998, 50 percent by 2000 and 75 percent by 2015.
By Marie Lebert
https://ausit.org/blog/translators-unsung-heroes-of-a-multilingual-web/
One great short story to read today: Franz Kafka’s “In the Penal Colony”
By Emily Temple
https://lithub.com/one-great-short-story-to-read-today-franz-kafkas-in-the-penal-colony/
In der Strafkolonie at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/25791
Gaelic & Scots: Cultural Connections & Inspirations in the 20th Century
Talks form the FRLSU’s May 6 webinar are now online, looking at
▶️ George Campbell Hay | Deòrsa Mac Iain Dheòrsa
▶️ William Neill | Uilleam Nèill
▶️ Douglas Young
▶️ translations between Gaelic & Scots
▶️ Derick Thomson | Ruaraidh MacThòmais & GAIRM
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLvLWE-AoQoGZ7NF6Vt2oYlKn74u0_TKsW
#Scottish #literature #Gaelic #Gaidhlig #Scots #Scotslanguage #translation #minoritylanguages #20thcentury
Translating Alasdair Gray
Recorded at the Alasdair Gray Archive on 23 May: a conversation between Professor Enrico Terrinoni (translator of Gray’s work in Italian) & Dr Rodge Glass (Gray’s biographer).
https://youtu.be/fXaiJeJE33k?si=0UG58FFH5DiiMgAP
#Scottish #literature #AlasdairGray #translation #literarytranslation #Italian
Moscow is milling with watermelons.
Everything breathes a boundless freedom.
And it blows with unbridled fierceness
from the breathless melonvendors…
“Commended as a Russian translator… for his rendering of Mayakovsky into Scots, Morgan gets the muscles of the English language working with similar vigour in his treatment of Voznesensky”
—Carol Rumens on Edwin Morgan’s translation of Andrei Voznesensky
What is Hwæt? The Debate Behind Beowulf’s Opening Line
By Hana Videen
https://www.medievalists.net/2025/07/hwaet-beowulf-opening-line/
Beowulf at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/subject/12660
The latest Scots Whay Hae! podcast speaks to writer Martin MacIntyre about his novel A Summer Like No Other – a translation from the original Gaelic version, Samhradh ’78 – discussing the characters, the key role the Gaelic language plays in terms of character & plot, (even in this translated adaptation), the use of footnotes, the importance of telling & sharing stories from all parts of Scotland, & more.
Waiting for Godot Has Been Translated Afrikaans
What took so long?
By: Rick de Villiers
Hi, if you speak any of the following languages, I could really use your help translating a few words for https://jointhefediverse.net.
فارسی,العربية,Bahasa Indonesia, Български, Català, Čeština, 简体中文, 繁體中文, Deutsch (DE), Español (ES), Esperanto, Euskara, Français, Italiano, Nederlands, Polski, Português (BR), Русский, Slovenčina, Suomi, 臺灣正體中文
- https://github.com/jointhefediverse-net/jointhefediverse.net/issues/118
- https://github.com/jointhefediverse-net/jointhefediverse.net/issues/138
- https://github.com/jointhefediverse-net/jointhefediverse.net/issues/137
#translation #localization #opensource #HelpWanted #fediverse #JoinTheFediverse
Literary translation as a linguistic survival strategy | John Corbett
Technology can threaten minority languages such as Scots & Nuosu. Prof Corbett argues that literary translation can, among other things, support minority languages & sustain traditional cultures.
This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jF7nS6_C_KE
#Scottish #literature #translation #Scots #Scotslanguage #minoritylanguages
Looking for a human translator to convey your human words to a human audience? Maybe that's me!
I translate from Swedish, French, Norwegian and Danish into English (mainly UK but US possible depending on the text - I also work with a USian translator as a team where required). I'm a full Member of the Institute of Translation and Interpreting for both Swedish and French.
I'm also an Intermediate Member of the Chartered Institute of Editing and Proofreading – in other words, I offer proofreading/editing/copyediting services too.
Oh, and copywriting!
I work on everything from press releases through sustainability reports to novels. Particularly fond of archaeology/history (got to get use from my MA somehow) and personal development, but really I'm interested in almost everything and translation allows me to be a nerd about all kinds of things.
The subjects I *don't* do are legal, financial and medical.
#comissionsopen
#getfedihired
#translation
#copywriting
#proofreading
#editing
#archaeology
#PersonalDevelopment
I feel like this needs a pic, so here are two of my three cats looking comfy (if a bit warm).
The Dust of Her Bones: An Interview with Inés Bellina, Alejandra C. Quintana Arocho, and Anne Freeland on Gabriela Mistral’s Queerness
by Alton Melvar M Dapanas
Translating the Saga of the Earls of Orkney
Deep Dives into Orkneyinga saga: Notes from the Translators’ Workshop
5 March, University of Aberdeen – free, all welcome
Prof Judith Jesch is an expert on Norse Scotland & its literature, women in the Viking Age, & runology. Her new translation of Orkneyinga saga was published by Birlinn in 2025
https://www.abdn.ac.uk/dhpa/events/23477/
#Scottish #literature #saga #Orkney #medieval #Vikings #Norse #translation
Book launch:
the many days / uno dei tanti giorni
A revised and extended bilingual edition of poems by Norman MacCaig
7 June, The Waverley Bar, Edinburgh
This new publication contains an introductory appreciation of MacCaig's poetry by his translator, Marco Fazzini, & a preface by Seamus Heaney.
Marco will be joined by a number of poets reading MacCaig's work in both their original English and new Italian translations.
#Scottish #literature #poetry #NormanMacCaig #translation #Italian
“Had a fit of the scunners: heart withered up.”
—Willa Muir (1890–1970) was born #OTD, 13 March, 1890. Her translations of Kafka solidified his reputation in English, & then internationally.
Prof Michelle Woods looks at Willa Muir – a Shetland translator in Prague
1/5
https://www.thebottleimp.org.uk/2020/12/willa-muir-a-shetland-translator-in-prague/
#Scottish #literature #20thcentury #womenwriters #translation #translator #FranzKafka #Shetland #Prague
Publication alert! My essay about how ISFDB indexes translations, translator invisibility, and a straightforward fix the ISFDB admins could implement is live over at the #SFinTranslation blog!
https://www.sfintranslation.com/?p=16513
#scifi #fantasy #sciencefiction #translation #metadata #indexing
It turns out, if you want people to buy books you have translated, you have to tell people that you have translated books.
I translated the complete four-volume set of Mogador's memoirs, telling the story of her life as a courtesan in 19th c. Paris. They're all available wherever you buy books, even indie bookstores.
“When Jennie first meets the 𝑡𝑜𝑑-𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒 𝑐ℎ𝑖𝑒𝑙, she cries enquiringly 𝑄𝑢𝑎𝑖𝑐𝑘? This Scots equivalent of English 𝑞𝑢𝑎𝑐𝑘 has been used to represent duck noises since the 17th century”
—Susan Rennie on translating Beatrix Potter’s 𝐽𝑒𝑚𝑖𝑚𝑎 𝑃𝑢𝑑𝑑𝑙𝑒-𝐷𝑢𝑐𝑘 into Scots
https://scrennie.com/2026/05/16/tods-plaidies-and-fairy-thimmles/
#Scottish #literature #Scots #Scotslanguage #translation #BeatrixPotter #childrensliterature #kidlit
New translation up!
Now that Yukari is outside, she's more energetic than the kids are! But she seems a little more interested in playing rather than teaching.
https://honyaku.space/manga/azumangadaioh/1/9/4/
Just click to open the right 勉強 (study) panel, and click each sentence/word to see the translations and start learning!
New translation up!
Chiyo was able to purchase that panda book that she wanted! The girls talk about if they've ever seen a panda, and make plans to go see one together next time.
How 'bout it Fedi? Have you seen a panda? Was it a black and white panda, or a white and black panda?
https://honyaku.space/manga/azumangadaioh/1/9/8/
Just click to open the right 勉強 (study) panel, and click each sentence/word to see the translations and start learning!
Just received my contributor’s copy of “Chinese Science Fiction in Translation and Its World Impact: Connecting Futures”! This is a wide-ranging volume on the translation, adaptation, and reception of Chinese SF, with some excellent people offering their insights, so please give it a look.
My chapter is titled “Future without Tense? Time and Tense in the Translation of Chinese SF” and focuses on a comparison of the use of grammatical tense in the English and Finnish translations of three SF short stories written by Xia Jia, Chen Qiufan, and Regina Kanyu Wang. I also briefly discuss tense and estrangement more generally in English translations of Chinese SF, with reference to the theoretical conceptualizations of Brian McHale and Simon Spiegel.
#ChineseStudies #ChineseLiterature #Translation #TranslationStudies #ScienceFiction #SFStudies #SpeculativeFiction #LiteraryStudies #LiteraryScholarship #AcademicChatter #Tutkijahommat
Ian Rankin & Siân Reynolds in conversation
4 June, Edinburgh – £20
How does the pace, setting & jargon of crime fiction get carried across from one language & cultural context to another? What are the challenges of translating the genre between French & English?
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/ian-rankin-in-conversation-tickets-1987258767469
#Scottish #French #literature #CrimeFiction #IanRankin #translation #literarytranslation
New translation up!
Yukari is having a blast playing soccer! But either she doesn't know what she's doing, or she is willfully playing the game wrong. At least she's having a good time.
https://honyaku.space/manga/azumangadaioh/1/9/5/
Just click to open the right 勉強 (study) panel, and click each sentence/word to see the translations and start learning!
![The first folio of the heroic epic poem Beowulf, written primarily in the West Saxon dialect of Old English. Part of the Cotton MS Vitellius A XV manuscript currently located within the British Library. This is a digital photographic copy of the folio.
Text shown according to https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/43521/beowulf-old-english-version:
HWæT. WE GARDE na in geardagum, þeodcyninga, [129] þrym gefrunon, hu ða æþelingas ellen fremedon. Oft Scyld Scefing sceaþena þreatum,monegum mægþum, meodosetla ofteah, egsode eorlas. Syððan ærest wearð feasceaft funden, he þæs frofre gebad, weox under wolcnum, weorðmyndum þah, oðþæt him æghwylc þara ymbsittendra ofer hronrade hyran scolde, gomban gyldan. þæt wæs god cyning. ðæm eafera wæs æfter cenned, geong in geardum, þone god sende folce to frofre; fyrenðearfe on geat þe hie ær drugon aldorlease lange hwile. Him þæs liffrea, wuldres wealdend, woroldare forgeaf; Beowulf wæs breme blæd wide sprang, Scyldes eafera Scede landum in. Swa sceal geong guma gode gewyrcean, fromum feohgiftum on fæder.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beowulf#/media/File:Beowulf_Cotton_MS_Vitellius_A_XV_f._132r.jpg](/proxy/post_attachment/765473/896b1f0738.jpg "The first folio of the heroic epic poem Beowulf, written primarily in the West Saxon dialect of Old English. Part of the Cotton MS Vitellius A XV manuscript currently located within the British Library. This is a digital photographic copy of the folio.
Text shown according to https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/43521/beowulf-old-english-version:
HWæT. WE GARDE na in geardagum, þeodcyninga, [129] þrym gefrunon, hu ða æþelingas ellen fremedon. Oft Scyld Scefing sceaþena þreatum,monegum mægþum, meodosetla ofteah, egsode eorlas. Syððan ærest wearð feasceaft funden, he þæs frofre gebad, weox under wolcnum, weorðmyndum þah, oðþæt him æghwylc þara ymbsittendra ofer hronrade hyran scolde, gomban gyldan. þæt wæs god cyning. ðæm eafera wæs æfter cenned, geong in geardum, þone god sende folce to frofre; fyrenðearfe on geat þe hie ær drugon aldorlease lange hwile. Him þæs liffrea, wuldres wealdend, woroldare forgeaf; Beowulf wæs breme blæd wide sprang, Scyldes eafera Scede landum in. Swa sceal geong guma gode gewyrcean, fromum feohgiftum on fæder.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beowulf#/media/File:Beowulf_Cotton_MS_Vitellius_A_XV_f._132r.jpg")
