What is duang (pronounced dwong), you may ask? Well, at present the meaning is quite ambiguous; however, that hasnt stopped it from becoming the most popular word on Chinese social media platform Sina Weibo. According the Foreign Policy Blog it has been used more than 8.4 million times.
It is always refreshing to find somewhat of an unorthodox request for translation services land in your inbox. A few weeks ago, a client asked us to translate a tattoo they had recently had done in Khmer script, fearing he may have been victim to an embarrassing mistranslation such as a restaurant menu rather than a sage proverb.
Googles newest attempt at Star Trek style instant translation incorporates something a lot of us have had our eyes on for some time, the Word Lens instant text translation app. While some are ecstatic to have this power at their fingertips, others worry that this is another step in the dumbing-down of western civilisation.
The Courts Minister calls it a significant improvement whilst the Law Society deems it to be shocking. These are two polar opposite views about the latest figures from the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) that show the outsourcing of courtroom interpreting to a single supplier has consistently fallen short of hitting its 98% performance target but who's right?
In the second of his Today Translations audio interviews, Roger James Elsgood talks to Aleksandar Gatalica about literary translation and his recent book The Great War. Aleksandar Gatalica is a Serbian writer, editor, music critic and broadcaster. He is also a translator specialising in works written in ancient Greek. Aleksandar Gatalicas own work has been translated into more than ten languages.
Earlier this year I reported on French televisions decision to cut back on the high costs associated with dubbing UK and American film soundtracks into French and using French language subtitles instead. One translator with a shooting script and a subtitle machine compared to a dozen actors in a studio for several days is a no-brainer for any accountant, even if it does slightly chip away at the Francophone integrity.
If you were a teenager in London in the early 1960s and had a black polo neck pullover and a … Read More
Today Translations presents the first in a series of audio interviews with international writers about their experience of translation. We begin with a conversation between Roger James Elsgood, Today Translations creative advisor, and Indian writer, critic and acclaimed musician Amit Chaudhuri. Amit Chaudhuri, amongst much else, is Professor of Contemporary Literature at the University of East Anglia.
How much damage can some lazy translation work to a film franchise. For Marvel, whose summer blockbuster Guardians of the Galaxy opened in China earlier this month, the damage levels may be, well, intergalactic. When it opened in the United States in August, Guardians of the Galaxy had critics raving and made just under $70 million in its opening weekend, shattering previous August records.
Its not often I can find any goodness in budget airlines, their only uplift is technical, but, I reckon its mostly down to Ryanair and EasyJet, that European literature is on the rise in the UK. Fifteen years ago the change in UK eating habits was laid at the door of low-cost foreign travel.
