Tuesday 30 July 2024
Athens: a mermaid, a monster
Sunday 7 February 2021
Is it a bad translation or a difficult author?
- That, where appropriate, they have made the source text easier to understand, and
- When the author's style and/or purposes mean that the text is difficult on purpose, the translator has abstained from facilitating the text for the target audience.
Wednesday 23 September 2020
Language mythologies: variation is the norm
And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech.— Genesis 11:1
The moment we accept the complex linguistic realities of everyday life, it's easier to make decisions. We can see that there is no ideal native speaker. No ideal grammar book.
Besides, we see clearly that no native person can be an ideal language teacher or translator.
Indeed, there has to be a formal education to become either a language teacher or a translator. Sometimes, even a native person can use grammar in an incorrect way while it's possible for a trained non-native individual to speak and write in a grammatically coherent way.
NATIVES, BEWARE
Again, we must accept that variation is the norm.
Even in the same person, there can be times when their linguistic performance is low or high, according to certain circumstances.
Besides, there is always room for improvement, when one has a growth mindset. Even a native speaker can improve their linguistic skills, even their accent. There is no clear-cut line that separates native speakers from non-native speakers.
So, if you work with language, make sure that:
- You maintain a high level of knowledge regarding language
- You check everything, even if it sounds okay to you as a native speaker
- You are aware of the variations within the same linguistic system