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American life had changed him. Now he loved hand tools–oh, the infinite varieties of American tools, each designed for one purpose, just like the vast English vocabulary, each word denoting precisely one thing or one idea.
-Ha Jin,* A Free Life
I’ve started writing in English about ten years ago, when I found that English was the […]
One of the few bright spots in Chris Weitz’s screenplay for the Golden Compass were the lines spoken by the villainous Tatars. Just before the final battle begins, Lyra walks up to the line of armed men with their daemon wolves and spits. The ringleader answers by saying to another man, “Дай волчонку полакомиться.” “Set your wolf on that child,” go the subtitles and that’s probably what Weitz wrote for someone to translate. The actual Russian: “Treat your cub to a snack.”…
Brian Kiteley, who teaches creative writing at Denver University and has written a writing manual called 3 AM Epiphany, has some fascinating notes about the way English speakers relate to the logic and culture manifested in the very syntax and style of foreign languages. Here’s an example:
If conceptual concreteness may be measured by the density […]
23D. Seven letters. Tight-bodiced dresses
“Dirndls,” Mrs. Cohen and Shortz? Really?
One of the most common ways to tease an Eastern European in America is to mention the number of consonants languages like Polish and Ukrainian string in a row. “How do you pronounce those names, anyway?” I’ll tell you how: say “dirndls” twenty times, then try […]
Today, I’ve unearthed this new journal of works in translation being published at BU. It’s currently composed largely of student work but seems to aspire towards increasing in professionalism. In any case, all of its “Issue 0″ is on-line in its 142-page glory of short essaylets on literatures and translations for your skimming pleasure.
Of particular […]
Robert Pinsky in his introduction to The Literary Review’s Fall 2006 translation issue writes:
Translation is the only art that is like writing. All of writing’s difficulties, obsessions, challenges, thrills, impulses and second thoughts apply—everything but what to say next. That free sample of content can make working on translation seem like heaven: an appealing illusion […]
Sholom Aleichem (Шалом-Алейкум) is my newest discovery. He was a Jewish writer born in Ukraine who wrote in Yiddish. His stories are making me consider learning the language.
His real name was Solomon Naumovich Rabinovich. Then he changed it to something even more Jewish for his nom de plume. Something tells me this guy was […]