The Linguist is a languages magazine for professional linguists, translators, interpreters, language professionals, language teachers, trainers, students and academics with articles on translation, interpreting, business, government, technology
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thelinguist.uberflip.com DECEMBER 2015/JANUARY 2016 The Linguist 23 REVIEWS câuÄ|vtà|ÉÇá tÇw xäxÇàá MonTI is a bilingual series with background information and abstracts in English and Spanish, published annually by universities in Barcelona, Valencia and Alicante. The seventh offering looks at current practice, good practice in legal interpreting around the world, and training courses and materials. It also considers the problems faced in various countries. The chapter on interpreting for border patrol agents is particularly relevant at the moment. Legal interpreting has had a chequered history over a quarter of a century in Britain, and the subject has become one of supreme importance, given the worldwide flow of refugees and people driven from their home countries by circumstance or in search of a better life. The problems encountered when developing a professional MonTI 7 (Monographs in Translation and Interpreting María Jesús Blasco Mayor & Maribel del Pozo Triviño (eds) 2015, ISSN 1889-4178; Departament de Traducció i Interpretació/ Departamento de Traducción e Interpretación €18; via dti.ua.es/es/ monti-english service are well known in the UK, and legislation is way behind current needs elsewhere. There is a useful reminder here of what needs to be implemented to meet the requirements of Directive 2010/64/EU on the right to interpretation and translation in criminal proceedings. Careful thought is given to the current situation in Spain, which has recognised the need for suitable training for those involved, for proper record keeping and for an appropriate system of accreditation. The question of the social and professional status of new practitioners is also raised – an interesting indication of how new this area is. The creation in Spain of an appropriate professional body or association for people working with languages and the law might help to develop the right sort of public profile. Methodology is covered by a look at teaching and research in Hong Kong. There is also a lot of practical information from Australia with regard to the training of end users (judges and magistrates) rather than practitioners themselves, an area which has been overlooked to some extent, given the urgency of developing a quality service on the floor of the court. This is a useful series that will be of interest to those who want to familiarise themselves with contemporary issues in legal interpreting; those who have some expertise in the area; and those who are directly involved in the practice. It is encouraging to see that CIOL members crop up frequently in this volume, whether as advisers, contributors or sources in the footnotes. Professor Tim Connell FCIL, CIOL Vice-President Sheffield's Off the Shelf festival has long been a highlight for book-lovers in and around our city. From its inception in 1991, it has grown to be one of the most important book festivals in the North of England, attracting 28,400 visitors in 2014 and putting on more than 200 events in 2015. In recent years, it has offered more events that are of interest to linguists. 2013 featured two Catalan poets, while in 2014, translators Jethro Soutar and Ruth Clarke presented The Football Crónicas, a collection of short translated pieces on Latin American football, which they had co-edited and co-translated. This year promised more insights into the process and challenges of translating literary fiction in an event called 'Peirene Press and the Art of Translation'. The evening featured Hamid Ismailov, a writer from Uzbekistan writing in Russian and Uzbek, whose novella, The Dead Lake, was published by Peirene in 2014. He discussed a range of topics with Peirene's founder, editor and author Meike Ziervogel, including collaboration between author and translator, the challenge of translating dialect and the difficulties of rendering a different syntax in English. They also dealt with the particular issues in translating Ismailov's work, such as how to convey the 'otherness' of the Russian steppe – a very different landscape to any found in Western Europe – to an English- speaking audience. A second language-related event took the form of a French Reading Group, which was held, naturellement, in Café Rouge. Off the Shelf 2015: Festival of words Off the Shelf Various venues, Sheffield, 10-31 October 2015; offtheshelf. org.uk The 20 or so participants had read Voltaire's Candide and, after some general chit chat in French, we split into pairs to work through questions provided by the organisers. This was a fun way to share a text and the group will continue to meet beyond the festival on a monthly basis. Finally, Off the Shelf marked the Mexican Day of the Dead in a post-festival event on the evening of 1 November. Academics from the University of Sheffield demonstrated a traditionally decorated altar and gave short talks on related topics. There's no doubt that Off the Shelf has international authors and translation at the top of its agenda. I would recommend that linguists check out its programme in 2016. There's sure to be something for you! Mandy Wight MCIL