From Dancing on Ropes: Translators and the Balance of History by Anna Aslanyan: The question of multilingual communication became especially poignant when Britain voted to leave Europe. The 2018 Brexit white paper, published in twenty-two EU languages, was in parts translated spectacularly badly — or appeared ‘very mythical’, as one German-speaker politely put it. AnotherContinue reading “What does Fischergemeinden even mean?”
Tag Archives: Anna Aslanyan
Fighting words
Once accusations, justified or not, are made against someone’s language skills by someone who has none, respect is hard to regain. Anna Aslanyan, Dancing on Ropes: Translators & the Balance of History
Attento allo scalino
Excerpted from Dancing on Ropes: Translators & the Balance of History by Anna Aslanyan: Umberto Eco asks what would happen if ‘Bonne journée’ at the end of a conversation was translated as ‘I hope you will have good and enjoyable experiences for the rest of the day’, or if the exclamation ‘Attento allo scalino’ was turned intoContinue reading “Attento allo scalino”
Canals on Mars
Excerpted from Dancing on Ropes: Translators & the Balance of History by Anna Aslanyan: In August of 1877, the Italian astronomer Giovanni Virginio Schiaparelli turned his telescope towards Mars. The director of the Brera Observatory in Milan had installed an eight-inch Merz refractor on the roof of the Brera Palace, initially to observe double stars. Continue reading “Canals on Mars”