Learning by Translating

“If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language that goes to his heart.” (Nelson Mandela) – thanks JLibbey!

“If I’m selling to you, I speak your language. If I’m buying, ‘dann muessen Sie Deutsch sprechen’ [then you must speak German]“ (Willy Brandt) – thanks JLibbey!

“Translators live off the differences between languages, all the while working toward eliminating them.” (Edmond Cary) – merci Hélène!

“A mio avviso, può, chi scrive, discettare [...] intorno ai problemi dell’idioma: è bene che la materia dell’arte sia conosciuta e analizzata (oltreché tentata, sperimentata) da chi se ne vale ad esprimersi. Il legno del falegname, la lega ferrosa del siderurgista” (Carlo Emilio Gadda)

“The translator must strive to adopt the very soul of his author” (Alexander Fraser Tytler)

“I do love translating: it is the pure pleasure of writing without the misery of inventing” (Nancy Mitford)

“La traduzione di una cosa è il nostro sogno di quella cosa” (Serena Vitale)

“Paris can’t be London or New York, it must be Paris; our hero must be Pierre, not Peter; he must drink an apéritif, not a cocktail, smoke Gauloises, not Kents; and walk down the rue du Bac, not Back Street. On the other hand, when he is introduced to a lday, he’ll sound silly if he says: ‘I am enchanted, Madame’“ (Robert Adams)

And now, a little Photoshop creation made by me! It features Tytler’s quote, but I wrote it using the plural form instead of the singular one. If you want to post it in your blog, feel free to do so!

1. I speak two languages (Italian and English) fluently, and would like to become more fluent in French (it is more of a “passive” language to me… if you study interpreting, you know what I mean).
2. I wanted to learn Japanese when I was in high school.
3. I actually started learning foreign languages (English and French) when I started middle school, but I already knew how to count from 1 to 10 and some words and phrases in English (my Dad taught me). I have a short film of mine when I was 4, in which I translate cartoon character names, some words and phrases (like “How old are you?” and “What time is it?”) from Italian into English!
4. I attended a high school mostly based on languages (“Liceo linguistico” in Italian), in which I have studied English, French (both for five years) and German (for three years) language and literature. There were also Italian and Latin language and literature, besides other subjects such as maths, physics, biology, physical education, religious education, history, philosophy, chemistry and earth science.
5. For some reason, sometimes, while talking to other people in Italian, a word might first come to my mind in English, rather than in Italian!!
6. I would like to learn Spanish. Two years ago I bought a DVD course that came out every week with a newspaper, “Il Sole 24 Ore”. I haven’t watched all the DVDs yet, only the beginner level ones (there are also intermediate and advanced level ones), but I don’t remember much… if only I had more time on my hands, I would start watching them again.
7. I studied Translation and Liaison Interpreting (“Mediazione linguistica” in Italian) at university. I chose that course over a Foreign Languages and Literatures one because I’ve always liked translating and studying languages with a more practice-oriented approach even if, before attending university, I wanted to become an English teacher.
8. When I started studying Interpreting during my sophomore year at university (there was only Translation in the first year), I immediately became a fan of the subject! During the first lecture I was wondering: “How do (simultaneous) interpreters manage to speak and listen at the same time?”. I studied mostly Liaison Interpreting, but there were some lectures on Conference Interpreting as well (even if I only did consecutive interpreting and no simultaneous, because it is usually taught in MA courses).
9. I tend to speak English with an American accent but, when it comes to writing, I try to use British spelling as much as possible (even if sometimes, for example, I happen to use the simple past instead of the present perfect, like in “I just had lunch” instead of “I’ve just had lunch”).
10. If I have a dictionary (I mean, any type of dictionary) on my hands, I usually close it only after a while! I like monolingual dictionaries the most, and printed versions more than online or CD-ROM ones.
    

By the way, LBT has a new layout now! I like this theme better than the previous one because everything looks neater, since the links and the like are only on one column instead of three. I also made a new header which fits the blog name and subject. I wanted one with a notebook, and I was undecided between this image and a spiral-bound notebook one (consecutive interpreter style).