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We tend to assume that books aimed at the pre-school age group are written in simplified language to make sure the target audience can follow the narrative. A recent article in the TES suggests that these texts are, in fact, more complex than you might think both in terms of…

Having previously worked in the IT industry as a software developer, I do a fair amount of translation involving information technology documents. My assignments regularly include software and hardware requirement specifications, database specifications, systems architecture designs and data protection policies. Across these documents, perhaps the most common item of vocabulary…

The decline in numbers of UK students taking modern languages at GCSE, through to A-level and at university is well documented. This blog has touched on the issue on several occasions, in particular in March of last year when we asked “Are modern languages an endangered species in British schools?”.…

This week’s blog may well be overtaken by events as it looks at a translation-related story which has been rumbling in the news for some time and a final decision is still pending. The case in question involves Afghan interpreters who served alongside the British army during their engagement in…

Wes Anderson’s latest movie, Isle of Dogs is a fabulous stop-motion animation set in a dystopian near-future Japan where the authoritarian regime has banished all dogs to Trash Island in a bid to contain an epidemic of dog flu. A linguistically interesting quirk in the movie is that the dogs…

With a teenager in the house currently deep into GCSE revision, the concept of time looms large in our lives. On the one hand, X days till exam time – cue panic. On the other hand, Y days till total freedom and a 10 week summer holiday – jubilation. The…

The BBC Radio 4 series “Keywords for our time” examines key phrases currently in use in public debate and political culture. In a recent programme, Helen Lewis, deputy editor of the New Statesman, took a look at the “MeToo” hashtag which really hit public consciousness in October 2017 following the…

Are you looking for a gift for a translator friend or acquaintance? Then look no further, because David Bellos has written a wonderful book which explores the challenges and joy of translation. He doesn’t shy away from thorny academic issues around translation and some of the content is pretty weighty…

It is over a year now since the Northern Ireland power-sharing agreement collapsed in January 2017 with Sinn Fein’s withdrawal from cooperation with the DUP. The original source of the disagreement was the alleged involvement of DUP leader Arlene Foster in the ‘cash for ash scandal’, the botched renewable heat…

A recent trip to see family in Wales took me first into Shropshire (still in England) and then into Clwyd (over the border into the north eastern corner of Wales). As we drove, the road signs reflected the mixed linguistic heritage of this region and prompted lots of queries from…