A collection of posts about my specialist translation subjects, and the remarkable world of languages and translation.
In the early hours of Monday 29 February I travelled to London to attend the NGO industry’s largest event, BOND Conference 2016. BOND is the UK international development network, and this was the first time I had attended their annual conference. Was the £395 price tag worth it? Most definitely. I’d decided to attend because [...]
As promised, here’s a brief look at the past eight weeks of my “The Age of Sustainable Development” course. Rather than a detailed breakdown of what I’ve learned, I’m going to share what has had the most impact on me so far. But first of all, here’s a brief reminder of the course itself and why [...]
I recently began a 14-week online course delivered via the Coursera online learning website. The course is taught by senior UN advisor and Director of the Earth Institute, Jeffrey Sachs. The course is delivered via a series of two hour online lectures, on average four to five each week. These are interspersed with questions and [...]
Although I specialise in translating tourism, wine-related texts and corporate communications, I sometimes translate contracts too. This may seem an odd choice for someone who works on more creative topics. But the truth is I enjoy a change every now and then. And translating contracts is certainly a different beast. Gone is my ability to [...]
I’ve interpreted lots of difficult speeches as an interpreter, some packed full of statistics, others read out at speed. And sometimes all in the same speech. Definitely one of those days when you reach for an extra coffee during the break. I’ve also coped with background noise from coughing colleagues or creaky booth doors. But [...]
Another day, another idiom. This time we’re entering Greek mythology as we tackle: tomber de Charybde en Scylla / from the frying pan into the fire. Some French idioms are either very similar to their English equivalent or easy to guess by their meaning. Think of “let bygones be bygones” (“passer l’éponge sur”) or “birds [...]
Today’s idiom: à couteau(x) tiré(s) / to be at loggerheads This phrase stems from the days when dispute resolution consisted of drawing your dagger (le poignard or la dague) and hoping you were quicker than your opponent. Nowadays we’re more likely to take someone to court, or if the relationship is beyond repair, delete the [...]
Today we say hello and what on earth do you mean to a new idiom. This time we have: se mettre sur son trente et un / to put on your Sunday best; dressing up to the nines To be perfectly honest I shouldn’t have picked this idiom because I already know what it means. [...]
Today’s journey into the world of idioms tackles: s’emporter (or “monter”) comme une soupe au lait / to have a short fuse First things first, it has to be said that today’s choice of idiom in no way reflects either my current mood or general temperament. Having said that I have been known to lose [...]
Welcome idiom lovers (or haters, for the masochists out there). Today we’re analysing: faire sauter la grenouille, manger la grenouille / make off with the kitty First things first: this idiom hasn’t been chosen because it includes the word frog. In fact I’ve never really understood why we still think of the French as frogs. [...]