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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inherent structural complication by the very nature of the two languages? Is there likely to be resistance to the concept from politicians and/or the public? Mike Fulton FCIL Editor replies: Liron Lavi, the script designer, explained that additional letters in Arabic appear only on the top, and those in Hebrew only on the bottom. The name Aravrit comes from 'Arabī' ( ; Arabic for 'Arabic') and 'Ivrit' ( ; Hebrew for 'Hebrew'). Liron is currently working with municipalities in Israel on ways to use the script in public life. For further information, see www.lironlavi.com. Aravrit, an interesting and genial idea indeed ('The Big Idea', TL56,5). I am in no way an Arabic specialist and have only toyed with it in the past, however it occurs to me that the article might, perhaps, have clarified whether any extra letters are only on the top in Arabic or the bottom in Hebrew, with a couple of images to demonstrate the use of the extra letters in the two languages. This is due to the fact that, regarding the characters concerned, Arabic largely has ascenders and not descenders, and Hebrew largely has descenders and not ascenders. I suspect I can see Arabic in the 'Arav' part of 'Aravrit' and, if I'm right, what might the 'rit' portion signify? Is it felt that this idea might indeed fly, or is there rather a lot of I completely agree with David Wilson's article. In Japan, we are fortunate enough to choose between English or Japanese for most major films on TV. However, when it comes to documentaries produced by our domestic TV stations, most of them are dubbed. For example, a travel programme featuring Scotland, which I saw recently, had many Scottish people being interviewed and they were all dubbed. Although they used professional voiceover artists, the dubbed Japanese sounded very artificial. Japanese is a gendered language but some of the phrases have become outdated, making the dubbed version sound awkward. On the other hand, I have seen news about Japan being aired on BBC news channels and the interviews had English dubbing. Whether intentional or not, the translation had a very strong Japanese accent. Would not this lead to people having a stereotype of how non-English speakers speak English? Sanae Shibahar MCIL 28 The Linguist Vol/56 No/6 2017 www.ciol.org.uk OPINION & COMMENT Email linguist.editor@ciol.org.uk with your views More on Aravrit, a big idea To dub or not to dub? David Wilson argues convincingly for the benefits to English speakers of subtitling, as against dubbing ('Dubbing: An unnecessary evil?', TL56,5). Dubbing from English into a target language can also, however, be beneficial and even amusing: I once saw Gordon Ramsay dubbed into Italian, complete with appropriate expletives. Paul Guest ACIL Of elephants and bishops On the subject of chess pieces, Clifford Marcus wrote "I think you will find that in India the 'rook' is called an elephant. To add to the confusion, the French for 'bishop' is fou ('madman')" ('Letters', TL56,5). To add even more to the confusion, one might add that in Russian it is the bishop that is the 'elephant'. Stuart C Poole FCIL STAR LETTER Thumbs up for the latest issue! The Linguist has gone from strength to strength, gradually adapting to modern times, needs and technology. The contribution from its members, covering education in languages at all levels, as well as worldwide issues, often of a political nature, makes it a must-read. In the 1980s and 1990s, articles tended to concentrate more on philological aspects of language. Soon the Institute, and so The Linguist, turned their attention to practical matters, offering qualifications aimed at helping to create jobs for many people in the areas of translation, interpreting, research and education. There has been no stopping the Institute on its indefatigable march of progress, and the same goes for The Linguist. Maria F Allen FCIL From strength to strength ÿ