The Linguist

thelinguist.uberflip.com FEATURES teaching. An excellent relationship with the long-standing client (a communications firm, not the actual airline) means the texts of varying lengths (from 150 to 1,500 words) arrive in manageable batches, and I have gradually learnt to predict the most intensive parts of the cycle. Virtually the only aspect set in stone is the obligation to be available for half a day at the end of each month to check proofs before printing. Apart from the obvious wage benefit, translating an inflight magazine provides insider access to enticing locations such as Pamplona and Granada in Spain, Madeira and the Azores in Portugal, and Marrakesh, Tangier and Fez in Morocco. These are destinations which I feel I now know inside out – every palace, museum, art gallery, walk and beach, not to mention the local food – although this wealth of knowledge would probably make me tiresome company on an actual visit. To borrow from Forrest Gump, an inflight magazine is like a box of chocolates: you never know what you're going to get. That is what makes it a great way to hone your translation skills. The varied content from general tourism information to more specialised knowledge is guaranteed to keep you on your toes, even if some pieces become a little predictable and the output starts to flow more easily than it did at the beginning. Feliz vuelo! So how did you come up with the game? As I was home schooling my two boys during lockdown I was deeply depressed by what they were doing in English at school. It was so joyless – endless comprehension exercises that nobody enjoys. I wanted them to discover how extraordinary language is, to inspire a sense of curiosity. So I came up with little games for them. I started by looking at a whole pile of games and identifying the things that made them successful. I really liked games that had a narrative, a face or personality to them. I wanted it to have a story behind it. So that's how I came up with League of the Lexicon. But what started as a game for kids quickly grew into something much more grown up. It was important that the game remained inclusive, which is why the question cards come in two levels of difficulty, but even knowledgeable word lovers should be prepared for some tough questions! Why did you decide to call it League of the Lexicon? I had this idea of character cards based on famous lexicographers competing to collect artefacts associated with great writers and languages throughout history. I liked the idea that they were part of some mysterious 'league', as in The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, and the name evolved from that. It felt quirky and mysterious. Do you think you would have invented the game if Covid hadn't happened? Well, I am a sort of 'serial maker'; I like making stuff. I felt that there was a huge interest in words and languages – just look at a game Joshua, you're a game publisher, a marketing specialist, a photographer and designer, you've co-founded an art gallery and written a book on climate change. That's a fascinating career… You forgot about the book I made about launderettes! Even though it looks like there is no coherence whatsoever about my work, what all of this reflects is a sense of curiosity. I am a curious person. I ran a design agency for 14 years, specialising in ethical and social organisations. After 14 years I started feeling a bit restless so I decided to do something different. My wife was working in photography at the time and had been looking into setting up a photography gallery, so I set that up with her as it sounded like a fun thing to do. I started doing more and more photography myself and worked on this project photographing launderettes for a year. It may sound silly but I have always been fascinated by London launderettes, and photographing these vanishing businesses became an obsession. The leap from launderettes to League of the Lexicon might seem odd, but it reflects my spirit of curiosity. I am not a lexicographer or a linguist myself, but I love words as they are inherently democratic. Words are there for everyone. Do you have a similar curiosity for vanishing or revived languages as you do for vanishing businesses? Absolutely. On the one hand you can look at languages as simply a tool for communication, and on the other, you can look at language in the sense of the people who are speaking the language, the region in which it is spoken, the culture it is embodying and expressing. The inventor of the languages game League of discusses his passion for words and why it is all JOSHUA BLACK ANITA VAN ADELSBERGEN SITES OF INTEREST Inflight magazines often feature hiking trails – e.g. in the Anaga Hills of Tenerife – which present their own linguistic challenges

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