June 2007
How to organise your emails - update
June 29, 2007
Remember the very brilliant system to organise email that I mentioned just under a year ago? There was a tiny problem with it: although it meant that I managed my inbox much more efficiently, my "Action" folder has kept growing...
Translators and networking
June 27, 2007
Up until December 12th, 2006, this website attracted a lot of visits and consequently, a fair amount of enquiries from new prospective clients. It was either on the first of second Google page for searches such as "English to...
Nimby and banana
June 26, 2007
I do quite a lot of work with local authorities desperately trying to solve the waste crisis in the area, so I knew the term "nimby" (Not In My Back Yard), which describes people who refuse to have anything new...
To play gooseberry
June 21, 2007
My recent entry on berries reminded me of an email I received from a friend, quite a while back, following a conversation where we debated the origin of "playing gooseberry": I did a quick Google search on "playing gooseberry"...
Gelid
June 18, 2007
The morning grey had given way, in the sudden English fashion, to a brilliant, gelid afternoon. Zoë Heller, Notes on a scandal Gelid, adjective Very cold; icy. From Latin gelidus, icy cold, from gel(um), frost, cold. I love being surprised...
Shrugs, pouts and chopped fingers
June 15, 2007
It’s great being from a country whose inhabitants are perceived as being inherently rude. It means that you can occasionally be bad-mannered and get away with it: people will just attribute your rudeness to the fact that you were brought...
More translators' blogs
June 13, 2007
Here are a few newish translators' blogs I've recently become aware of. Algo más que traducir (Spanish) Talqualmente (Portuguese) Translator power (English) Masked Translator (English) There's something about translation... (English) Se habla English? (English) L’arte Nella Traduzione (Italian) The progressive...
Words ending in -berry
June 11, 2007
I was interpreting last week and I got really stuck at one point. What was it? When our host mentioned photovoltaic solar systems? Was it when he pointed out the groundsource heat pump or went into great detail in...
Diary of a fledgling translator, Part 1
June 6, 2007
Céline invited me to share on her blog my journey as I start a career as a freelance translator. She thinks it will be informative and educational for others planning on doing the same thing. For me, the thought process...
North-East of England
June 4, 2007
I’ve brought you a present back from the North-East and it gave me an idea. I’m starting a new category called Regional Accents, in which I’ll try and collect, as you might have already guessed, regional accents of native speakers...
Mystery castle
June 1, 2007
This castle appears in a famous film, which features an English Queen and a French King who both conquered England 400 years apart. What's the name of the castle? For maximum points, if you're feeling very clever, you can...