Category Archives: Languages/Linguistic curiosities

by Pisana Ferrari – cApStAn Ambassador to the Global Village A new translation of the internationally acclaimed anti-totalitarian novel “Darkness at Noon” will allow the English reading public to read it for the first time as Arthur Koestler wrote it. A recent article in for “The Literary Hub” recounts the circumstances under which the original …

“The recovered original of Koestler’s “Darkness at noon”, lost in 1940, now out in a new English translation”

by Pisana Ferrari – cApStAn Ambassador to the Global Village In an article for the NYR Daily, author/translator Tim Parks explores what he calls a “perplexing” dilemma. Most readers are only familiar with texts translated in their own languages, and if they enjoy the translation they will rightly thank the translator, he says, and will …

“Can a fine translation be as important and unique as the original work?”

by Pisana Ferrari – cApStAn Ambassador to the Global Village Not new, but just discovered, a very entertaining guide to English grammar by Mary Norris, who was copy editor at “The New Yorker” for 30 years (the book was first published in 2015). A passionate advocate for correct spelling (“a misspelling undermines your authority”!) she …

“Confessions of a Comma Queen: “a sharply sparkling grammar guide” (Oprah Magazine)”

by Pisana Ferrari – cApStAn Ambassador to the Global Village Yes, according to Yuval Noah Harari-a bestselling author whose books have been translated into over 60 languages and sold over 20m copies-if there is a risk that the book will be banned in a specific country. Harari has recently come under fire for amending the …

“Should local adaptation of a book include replacing potentially sensitive content?”

by Pisana Ferrari – cApStAn Ambassador to the Global Village “Nuntii Latini”, Finland’s weekly radio news bulletin in Latin, was, for 30 years, a familiar fixture in the country, with a regular audience of 50.000 (not insignificant in a country of 5.5 m), and keen listeners from all over the world. The three founding academics …

“Finland’s longstanding contribution to the contemporary study and use of Latin”

by Pisana Ferrari – cApStAn Ambassador to the Global Village In a tweet to celebrate the 25 years of the 1994 “Loi Toubon”, the French Minister of Culture reminded the French people that “the language of the Republic is French” and that they should “say things in French”. The tweet reignited a debate over encroachment of other …

“Celebrations for the 25 years of France’s “language purity law” spark controversy”

by Pisana Ferrari – cApStAn Ambassador to the Global Village Social acronyms, abbreviations, emphatic capitals, expressive word lengthening, creative respellings, keysmashing, hashtags, emoji, and a subtle use of punctuation are just some of the innovative ways to convey nuances of tone of voice that are changing the way we communicate online. With the explosion of …

““Because Internet”, by linguist Gretchen McCulloch: a must read”

by Pisana Ferrari – cApStAn Ambassador to the Global Village “We use them everyday to say how we’re feeling, what we’re up to, and as extensions of our personality. An emoji can be a convenient addition to a message, or even a primary method of communication”, say the authors  of the illustrated “History of Emojis” …

“A charming tribute to “World Emoji Day 2019” by the AppInstitute”

by Pisana Ferrari – cApStAn Ambassador to the Global Village The ampersand replaces the word and “without pretension or pomp”, says the author of a recent article for “Quartz”. It goes virtually unnoticed, “but adds pizzaz to the written word”. Maybe that is why it is so popular as a mark of style with logos …

“The rise and fall of the ampersand”

by Pisana Ferrari – cApStAn Ambassador to the Global Village An increasing number of translators are, in the words of the author of this article for World Literature Today, “working through a coded world of censorship and trying to bring an island to light”. That island is Cuba, which, she adds, which has, for so …

“Translation and its role in the Cuban people’s “diaspora””

by Pisana Ferrari – cApStAn Ambassador to the Global Village High quality translation is vital in order to avoid a widening of social strata between those who can afford language education and those who can’t, says the author of a recent article for the Irish Times. As not all language combinations are easily available, indirect …

“The risk of cultural meaning being diluted when translating translations”

by Pisana Ferrari – cApStAn Ambassador to the Global Village Some foreign words imported into English have “diacritical marks”, better known as “accents”. Most of these words are from French but there are many also from Spanish, Portuguese, German and other languages. Just how important to the English language are accented characters? And will they …

“Foreign loanwords in English and the “exotic charm” of accents”