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 OCTOBER/NOVEMBER The Linguist 5 Lost to Translation: How English readers miss out on foreign female writers, 31/8/17 In 2016, 33.8% of books translated into English were by women, compared with 63.8% by men… Some translators blamed the publishers; those in publishing said they didn't know about the books in the first place, so it was down to translators and agents… Every writer and translator I spoke to had the same solution: talking about it. And they are. Campaigns like #Readwomen and Women in Translation Month (each year in August) have given new energy to decades of resentment. What the papers say… The latest from the languages world New prize tackles 'sexism' in translation A new prize promoting the translation of female writers into English will be awarded for the first time in November. Launched by the University of Warwick, the Warwick Prize for Women in Translation was established to address the gender imbalance in translated literature. The issue has gained prominence in recent years, with the establishment of Women in Translation Month in August 2014. A longlist of 16 titles was announced in September, chosen from nominated works of fiction, poetry, children's fiction and literary non-fiction published in the UK or Ireland in 2016-2017. Covering 12 languages, dominated by German, Polish and Dutch, the longlist includes Bela Shayevich's translation of Second-hand Time by the Belarussian Nobel Laureate Svetlana Alexievich; award- winning translator Margaret Jull Costa's translation of The Art of Being a Tiger by Ana Luísa Amaral; and the 2017 Man Booker International Prize shortlisted work Fever Dream by Argentinian author Samanta Schweblin and translator Megan McDowell. A shortlist will be published in October, with the £1,000 prize divided equally between the winning author and her translator, and presented at a ceremony in Warwick Arts Centre on 15 November. NEWS & EDITORIAL Are YOU Guilty of these Tourist Language Gaffes? From bon appetit to mamma mia, the expressions British holidaymakers should avoid at ALL costs, 28/8/17 What are the biggest language gaffes? And why are they so offensive? Here's the top phrases which we should all avoid… Mamma mia! This clichéd Italian exclamation literally means 'my mother' and was once used to express joy, fear or shock. These days, it's barely used by younger generations across Italy, especially in the big cities. China has Banned Companies from Registering Weird and Long Names, 17/8/17 The rules of written Chinese are vastly different to those of written English, so many names seem far stranger in translation than in the original tongue. English names can seem pretty strange in Chinese too, and there's a cottage industry among branding agencies to help western companies come up with names for the Chinese market… "BMW's current Chinese name is 宝马. It's great. The first character means 'treasure' and the second character means 'horse'. The sound is 'bao ma', starting with a B and M." A collaboration between Warwick's School of Modern Languages and Cultures and Department of English and Comparative Literary Studies, the award was developed over a three-year period and is sponsored by the university's Connecting Cultures Global Research Priority. According to Chantal Wright, Associate Professor of Translation as a Literary Practice, who is coordinating the prize: "This initiative would not have come about without the efforts of the wider literary translation community. Their efforts in raising awareness of the gender imbalance in translated literature were instrumental in the creation of the prize." This year's judges are literary translator Amanda Hopkinson, Man Booker International Prize Special Adviser Boyd Tonkin and Emeritus Professor Susan Bassnett. Refering to the prize as "a rallying call to translators and publishers everywhere," Dr Bassnett said: "There are dozens of fine women writers waiting to be translated – so let's see more of them in our bookshops." GAINING RECOGNITION Samanta Schweblin and her translator Megan McDowell are on the longlist for the 2017 Warwick Prize for Women in Translation CASA DE AMÉRICA 9/4/15 VIA FLICKR (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)