Inaccurate and culturally uninformed translations have been known to cause problems, but here is a case from the annals of history that, if true, shows the consequences can be catastrophic. A recent article by historian Sam Yamashita of Pomona College...
In this installment of 7 Questions to a Linguist, the focus is on an organization that crafts metaphors for more effectively communicating social issues and scientific topics. The FrameWorks Institute, a recipient of this year’s MacArthur Award for Creative and...
In the latest installment of 7 Questions to a Linguist, ALTA Language Services had the pleasure of catching up with Vyvyan Evans. Vyv Evans, PhD, is a professor of Linguistics at Bangor University, United Kingdom. The author of more than...
More than 40 million people in the U.S. speak a language other than English in the home. This data, courtesy of the 2011 American Community Survey conducted by the Pew Research Center, should indicate a growing comfort and acceptance among...
Today’s installment of 7 Questions to a Linguist features a conversation with the popular, prolific, and Klingon-certified writer Arika Okrent, PhD. Not only is Okrent a frequent contributor to Slate, The Week, and Mental Floss, where she takes an entertaining...
One day, when I was 8 years old and still spoke with a thick Russian accent, my mother and I sat in the lobby of a dentist’s office. While we waited our turn to have modern dentistry reverse the effects...
In today’s 7 Questions to a Linguist, we hear from one of the language field’s most intriguing cultural commentators: author, linguist, and Columbia professor Dr. John McWhorter. A staple of media discussions surrounding the changing face of race relations, McWhorter...
In the latest entry of 7 Questions to a Linguist, ALTA Language Services caught up with psycholinguistics wunderkind Dr. Steven Pinker. The Harvard psychology professor, frequent TED speaker, and award-winning author staked his claim in contemporary discourse thanks to his...
In the second installment of 7 Questions to a Linguist, ALTA Language Services had the pleasure of catching up with language scholar, writer, lecturer, and broadcaster David Crystal. “Those linguistic experiences have long disappeared from my memory now, though I...
Welcome to the inaugural interview of our 7 Questions to a Linguist series! Over the next few months, we’ll be exploring some of the most fascinating, eye-opening, and unexpected insights from leading language professionals around the world. To kick things...
Michael Kandel’s humility borders on self-deprecation. The leading English-language translator of Polish science fiction writer Stanislaw Lem sees the translator’s lot as utilitarian, unromantic, invisible. His mantra is that failure is inevitable. And yet, the scope and significance of Kandel’s...
Recently a friend brought to my attention a delightful collection of William Safire’s articles from the New York Times Magazine. Many years ago, my friend wrote Safire regarding the origins of the word “trivia”, which the celebrated journalist had mistakenly...
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