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In May this year, the children’s author and illustrator Judith Kerr died at the age of 95. She is probably best known for enduring classics such as “The Tiger Who Came To Tea” and the Mog books. Her books have been translated into 20 different languages and one of these…

Like many jobs today, translation work involves hours tied to your computer typing furiously. It’s hardly a recipe for a healthy brain or body. If you work exclusively from home you may have no human interaction at all except via email. This week’s blog takes a look at some ideas…

“Language poisoning” is a term used to describe a phenomenon I’m sure all translators will have experienced, namely the insidious influence the source language can have on your skills as a writer in the target language. Examples of foreign language poisoning are rife in poor-quality translations. In fact, if you…

“So, are you fluent in X?” Translators have surely all been asked that question by their non-translator friends. Personally I’ve often wriggled around these queries in a way that disappoints the questioner. Because the truth is that fluency means any number of things. And fluency in the source language isn’t…

This week’s blog post delves into the entertaining world of the grammagram (also gramogram), a group of letters which can be pronounced to form one or more words. Texting aficionados will be familiar with examples such as “CUL8R” (see you later) and “B4” (before), and the term “IOU” is so…

Most of us working in the translation industry will have long since forgotten the journey to acquiring a second (or third, or more) language. Quite honestly, learning a new language can be painfully dull. Before you become reasonably proficient, you can’t say anything particularly interesting because you lack the vocabulary…

It is probably safe to say that not many people employed in the translation industry regard Brexit as an ingenious strategy destined to be the UK’s ideal path to prosperity. At times it’s hard to see much cause for hope or humour amid the political wrangling and uncertainty. Let me…

The mining industry is a complex global sector experiencing rapid innovation, from drone-based topographical surveys, advancements in AI and ‘smart mines’ to breakthroughs in spectroscopic scanning robots. Bridging language and culture barriers is key for businesses looking to operate effectively in this evolving marketplace, in order to keep pace with…

In 1869 Russian chemist Dmitri Mendeleev published his periodic table in which elements are ordered by virtue of their atomic structure. To mark the 150th anniversary of this seminal work, the UN has declared 2019 the “international year of the periodic table”, and this week’s blog takes a look at…

I’ve been meaning to write about the translation genius behind the Astérix books for a while. Anthea Bell died in October last year aged 82, so this seems a fitting moment to revisit her extraordinary body of work, for which she was awarded an OBE for services to literature and…