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Looming large on the horizon are post-Brexit changes to the UK border regime that you may have forgotten about with the current focus on Covid-19 travel rules. From October 1 this year, new passport and visa regulations come into effect, including the requirement that all EU travellers have a full…

Whenever I stumble across something quirky and interesting about language or translation, I make a little note so I can include it in a blog post. This is a great system but, to be honest, most of the bits and bobs I collect are not worth a whole post and…

Campaigns for changes to vocabulary to help drive socio-political change are nothing new (see previous blog on requests to modify “sexist” dictionary definitions). As Professor Sally McConnell-Ginet puts it: “Linguistic and social change go hand in hand because linguistic practices are fundamental to social practices more generally.” Campaigners for greater…

Here we delve into the charming world of the contranym, a word that has two distinct meanings that are contradictory or opposite. These words are also referred to as auto-antonyms or Janus words (after the god with two faces). Classic examples in English include cleave, which can mean to adhere…

Fictional portrayals of translators are not particularly common (although this blog previously reviewed films featuring translators and interpreters - see sources), so it was with great excitement that I stumbled upon the character Gen Watanabe in the novel Bel Canto by Ann Patchett. Gen is the multilingual interpreter for Japanese…

It is always slightly risky to write a blog about current events, never more so than during the unpredictable Covid era. But hopefully, as you read this, the UEFA European Football Championship will be underway. One year late, and with some tweaks to the hosting venues and possible limits on…

Everyone makes mistakes. Even translators. I will admit there is a certain pleasure in seeing how a translation error can take on a life of its own, sometimes even becoming the preferred phrasing or vocabulary choice. The use of shared glossaries can exacerbate this problem – the client will emphasise…

We are all familiar with references to cybersecurity and different forms of encryption to ensure digital information can be exchanged without being intercepted by a third party. But the desire for secure methods of communication has its roots many centuries before the first computer was even dreamed of. Letterlocking is…

These days I rarely manage to stay awake long enough to watch BBC’s Match of the Day live on a Saturday night. Instead, we tend to record it, and this has the bonus that you can fast-forward if the post-match interviews and analysis gets a bit dull. But this season,…

I recently noticed journalist Oliver Burkeman questioning the subtitling of the Netflix Series “Call my Agent”, (original French title Dix pour cent; "ten percent"). Burkeman asked “Is it a much-commented-on thing already that Call My Agent seems to switch subtitle translators halfway through season three? That's where we are, and…