October 2009

Guest post: An interpreter's dilemma

October 30, 2009

The verb “to interpret” has two common meanings, which in a sense are somewhat contradictory. The first relates to the act of interpreting written documents or oral statements, in the sense of giving one’s “take” on them. The use of...

Loire valley castles

October 22, 2009

I visited many stunning castles during my recent holiday in the Loire Valley. Guess what these are called in the comments and if you're the first to give all the right answers, you'll win a month of free French podcasts...

Crowdsourcing and translation

October 12, 2009

Crowdsourcing is the act of using the general public to take on, generally for free, work that would normally be assigned to contractors. Some companies have decided to use crowdsourcing to translate their website, relying on thousands of volunteers to...

National Poetry Day

October 8, 2009

Today is National Poetry Day. I do like reading the odd poem now and then and I thought I’d share one that particularly touched me, from Marion Sharville, whose blog, A carrot in the toaster, I enjoy very much. CHILD...

Gourmand

October 6, 2009

I’m not sure when or by whom the café gourmand was invented, but it might be the best thing to come out of France since Thierry Henry. I had the pleasure of ordering my first one during a visit...