The previous post was rather gloomy. Sorry about that – because of my job, I spend a lot of time online and large portions of the Internet have become galleries of sociopathy. It scares me. But then sometimes I talk to actual people in my actual town who are just proceeding as normal and feeling… Continue reading Are things really that bad?
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Assorted notes
For the rest of this summer I’ll be working, tending a garden, and reading War and Peace so that if Americans are all shooting each other a few months from now, my last words won’t be “But I never read War and Peace!” Apropos how Americans feel about each other, if you try to follow… Continue reading Assorted notes
Human or MT: you decide
How to play: Have a look at this essay: https://www.bachelorandmaster.com/creationofknowledge/myth-of-sisyphus.html Try to determine whether it was produced by a human being or translation software. Tell me in the comments which one you think it was, and why.
German pet peeves
Since I wrote about English pet peeves last week, I thought it would be a good idea to highlight some German ones this week and try to explain them to readers who don’t speak German. Why? Because this blog is supposed to be about English and German, and because I deserve to suffer for my… Continue reading German pet peeves
Pet peeves
Lexicon Valley is a great podcast by the linguist John McWhorter, who manages to be fun while also being right about everything. The latest episode is about linguistic pet peeves, something linguists aren’t really supposed to have – it’s unseemly, like communists having brand preferences. But even people who know most linguistic pet peeves are… Continue reading Pet peeves
Yet more translations of Parzival
Well, that was fast. After expressing a wish that A. S. Kline would live to complete his new verse translation of Wolfram’s Parzival, (as Chrétien de Troyes failed to do with his own Perceval), I got an email from him with a link to the finished product on April 14th. And I’m enjoying it very… Continue reading Yet more translations of Parzival
Poetry in Translation
Here’s a website I can recommend very highly: A.S. Kline’s collection of poetry in translation. I perused the German section and was favorably impressed. But many languages are represented – check it out if you’re looking for more reading material to keep you busy at home. Kline is working on a new verse translation of… Continue reading Poetry in Translation
How to stay sane on Twitter
Thought I had COVID-19 the other day but it turned out I’d just messed up my nose by sauteeing a whack ton of jalapeños until they smoked. So I’m still here. Still working on some projects – a book, an exhibition catalogue (when will people start going to exhibitions again?), and a collection of essays… Continue reading How to stay sane on Twitter
COVID-19 and the end of Waldenponding
Well, for the past 4 years I’ve largely been doing what Venkatesh Rao would call “Waldenponding,” that is, retreating from the Internet the way Thoreau retreated to his cozy cottage in the woods. I’m not completely gone – I still use email, maintain this website (a de facto part of the Cozy Web due to… Continue reading COVID-19 and the end of Waldenponding
When bad translations are good
Today I ran across an example of a category most people don’t know about: extremely close translations for opera singers. I say “close” rather than “literal” because it’s not just about communicating the exact meaning, but also keeping words in mostly the same order so that you could basically nail the target sentence on top… Continue reading When bad translations are good