Is It Possible to Translate a Book a Day?
I’m not quite sure about how to link to or feature “tweet reporting,” but post-grad translation student Saqer A was at the American University in Sharjah yesterday for the First […]
On Translation
Ahdaf Soueif on ‘Truer’ Translation
The award-winning author Ahdaf Soueif was the last to appear at this year’s series of talks by translators at the American University in Cairo. And Soueif, unlike her predecessors in […]
If You’re in Cairo This Week…
I’ll see you there! Then, on Friday April 30th, at 8 p.m., come meet Suad Amiry and Randa Abdel Fattah, two of Bloomsbury-Qatar’s new authors, at Kotob Khan in New […]
Are ‘Academic’ Translators Superior to ‘Commercial’ Ones?
Such are the two designations mentioned by Philip Kennedy, director of NYU Abu Dhabi’s Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies department, as reported yesterday in The National. Kennedy is currently leading […]
Literary Translators: Rah or Bah?
M. A. Orthofer responds today, in The Literary Saloon, to Tim Parks’ Observer paean to translators. Parks: You’ll never know exactly what a translator has done. He reads with maniacal […]
What Makes a Translated Book Feel…Translated?
Yesterday, I was pestering translator Maia Tabet (Elias Khoury’s White Masks, Archipelago, 2010) about the use of contractions. I’m reading a book right now that I think is wonderful, but […]
Director of Yale University Arabic Program: Fos’ha a ‘Dead’ Language
I am not a Yalie (Yalawaya?) so generally, the issue of whether Yale’s Arabic program is or isn’t in turmoil concerns me very little. However, when the director of an […]
Mustafa Al-Slaiman on Translating ‘Metaphor-poor’ German into Arabic
Qantara has an interesting Q&A with German-to-Arabic translator Mustafa al-Slaiman in this week’s issue. Silke Lode asks: Why are so many children’s books being translated into Arabic? Al-Slaiman (and, as […]
What’s a Better Translation: Faithful, Literal, Enjoyable?
Suddenly, in certain U.S. circles, translation theory seems to be all the rage. Edith Grossman is out and about talking about her new book. Issues around machine translation have been […]