I just finished reading Is That a Fish in Your Ear? Translation and the Meaning of Everything by David Bellos. I was really excited to read a book about translation. Having studied (to varying levels of competency) three different languages, translation interests me. I like having better words and phrases to express myself, which I do use from time to time. (My favorite is "hygge", a Danish word that loosely translates into "cozy", but it's really a noun and a verb, not an adjective.1)
I'd always thought of translation as being difficult (I was never anywhere near fluent in the three languages I studied), but hadn't thought it through beyond "Poetry must be really hard, because it has to rhyme and have the same rhythm." Is That a Fish in Your Ear? discussed the difficulties in translating for subtitles (limited by the number of characters we can read per minute, plus the speaker must be on screen while the subtitles are up), instruction manuals (depending on what they're for, a mistranslation could kill someone), and comics (the words need to fit in the speech bubbles), just to name a few.
The book did have some interesting historical points. The Nuremberg trials had a necessity for simultaneous translating between four different languages. We still use a similar system in the UN. The skill of these translators astound me. They have to listen to a speaker while saying what that speaker is saying in another language. That just seems impossible.
Bellos spends quite a bit of time explaining different ways to translate, and demonstrating how different translators can come up with different words that express the same thing. It really drives home the point that what is important is the meaning, and not the words.
If you have an interest in how communication works (not just language), I do recommend this book. If nothing else, you'll leave with a greater appreciation for anything you read that is translated.
1 Check out this website for more information on hygge
Monday, January 30, 2012
Saturday, January 28, 2012
January Snail Mail Sent
In order to make my trip to the post office remotely interesting, without disclosing what is being mailed to whom, I'm going to pretend a dragon live in my post office. To my knowledge, my post office is dragon-free.
This morning, I found a shoebox, loaded it up, wrote a quick note, wrapped it in brown paper, then used excessive amounts of packing tape to ensure it would stay together. The amount of tape may seem insane, but, for those of you who do not know, my mom once sent me cookies, and all I received was the brown paper she had wrapped the box in. So, apologies to the package receiver.
I went into the post office, and was greeted by Claude, the dragon who lives at my post office. His kids (he has 37 of them) are now all grown up, and live a post offices all over the world. You may find it strange to learn that dragons live in post offices, but they're a great cost-saver. They heat the post office at half the cost of electric heating. It works out well for most dragons, too. They're fed through the winter, and have their summers free to do whatever they choose. They're always welcome in any post office, as they're great pest-control, so traveling is easy. Semi-domesticating them was a great advancement for people and for dragons.
Anyway, the package should be delivered on Monday. Enjoy, package recipient!
Friday, January 20, 2012
Podcast Challenge 2
Today, I finally finished Blood Work: A Tale of Medicine and Murder in the Scientific Revoluntion by Holly Tucker. Ever since I heard about this book on the Stuff You Missed in History Class podcast, one of my favorite questions has been "When do you think the first blood transfusions took place?" The answer is 1666 for animals and 1667 for people. This book walks us through the history of blood transfusions, including the scientific rivalry between England and France and the political aspects of medicine in France, as well as a history of science at that time. The main thrust of the book relates to one of the early human transfusions in France. The murder comes in when one of the first human subjects mysteriously dies within months of receiving the transfusion. With so many people anti-transfusion at the time, the death of the subject creates a reason to ban transfusions all together, while allowing the transfusionist the believe that there is a conspiracy against him, one he hopes to overcome to continue his experiments.
Monday, January 16, 2012
January Volunteering- Take 2
In honor Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, my mom and I volunteered at Valley Forge National Historic Park. We were assigned to taking down wreaths from Christmas at the National Memorial Arch. There were about 2,000 wreaths decorated the ground around the arch, commemorating the soldiers that died during the winter at Valley Forge. Nothing too exciting, but it still needed to be done. Now for a few pictures, because I finally remembered to bring my camera.
The arch with wreaths being taken down
Me, carrying wreaths from the arch (in the background behind the tree) to the dumpster
My mom, taking the stands and bows off the wreaths to save what we could for next year
Saturday, January 14, 2012
January Volunteering
Today, I volunteered with We Feed the Homeless through One Brick Philly (you can check them out on meet-up here). We Feed the Homeless set up a buffet line with sandwiches, soup, chips, fruit, and drinks, and people went through getting one of each. My job was to count people we served (166). In case you were unaware, today was pretty cold for this winter, so far. They usually serve 275-300 people, so this was pretty low, which just shows how cold it is today. They stayed in the shelters rather than venturing outside.
Today made me grateful for having a warm place. After we finished, people were talking about how cold their toes and fingers were, and I just kept reminding myself that I was outside for an hour during the warmest part of the day. Some people we served will probably sleep outside tonight.
Today made me grateful for having a warm place. After we finished, people were talking about how cold their toes and fingers were, and I just kept reminding myself that I was outside for an hour during the warmest part of the day. Some people we served will probably sleep outside tonight.
Monday, January 2, 2012
Podcast Challenge
I should probably start off by explaining the Podcast Reading Challenge. A friend and I listen to similar podcasts and NPR, and have heard of quite a few books from it. We also like to read, so we decided to try to read some of the books we've learned about through podcasts and NPR. (We include NPR because it's basically one giant podcast anymore.) Our goal is 12 books, but right now the list only has 9 books on it.
I finished before the new year (which is OK according the challenge I made up, because I didn't want to wait a month or so until I could read these books), but I wanted to add it here. I read 11/22/63 by Stephen King. It's about a man who travels back in time to stop the Kennedy assassination. You should probably stop reading now if you don't want spoilers.
All-in-all, I like reading Stephen King. I haven't read much of his stuff, but I've enjoyed everything I have read. This book was no exception, but I found it to be a little long for me. I think I found it to be too long because it was probably 300 pages longer than anything else I've read in the past year and because you know what the major climax will be, and I reached a point (around page 650) where I no longer cared about the events leading up to the assassination and I just wanted to know what happened. I've heard some people think it could've been 300 pages shorter, and I didn't think it was that bad, I think I was just getting antsy.
A brief background of the book: Al found a portal into the past. When you travel through it, you always go to the same date in September 1958. When you come back, it's 2 minutes after you left. Al wanted to see if he could change history in a huge way, and decides on the JFK assassination. He does a quick butterfly effect test by preventing a hunting accident that left a teenage girl paralyzed for the rest of her life. When he gets back, he finds that life is mostly the same, looks her up, and sees her life is different, but since everything is generally the same, he thinks preventing JFK from being killed will change the future, but it will be better (the Vietnam War will end earlier, Martin Luther King, Jr. will not be assassinated, no race riots, RFK will not be killed). While Al is waiting out the 5 years, he develops lung cancer and returns to the future for better treatment and to get someone else to go back and take care of it. His cancer is so bad, he may not make it to the assassination. He recruits Jake, gives him a new identity as George, and George starts his travels.
George does a test, too. He thinks Al's, while doing good, didn't save a life, and he wants to see that difference. He know about a father who killed nearly his entire family in 1958, so he headed there to prevent that. The world was mostly the same when he got back. He goes back again, this time for JFK.
It's at this point in the book where I think there is a disregard for the butterfly effect. While George doesn't (as far as we can tell) save lives, he does start to touch a lot of people's lives. He becomes a high school English teacher (his profession in 2011), falls in love with a divorcee, and becomes a fixture in a small town. He catches, but doesn't punish kids drinking at a dance (one of whom would've lost his scholarship to play football). He convinces a football player (in 1960s small town Texas) to start acting. I'm just saying this activity could cause some major changes in the future.
A theme throughout the book is that the past is obdurate. The bigger the change, the harder it is to change it. When Al saved the girl, he got a flat tire and a bridge was out. When Jake/George saved the family, he got sick and nearly got killed by someone else. So, the past worked against George again when trying to save JFK. (And I often wonder what little obstacles came up with the smaller changes). He got beat up and lost his memory. He spent weeks trying to remember Lee Harvey Oswald's name. In the end, he figured enough out. Then he lost a tire, a bus he was on crashed, his girlfriend almost got mugged, they stole 2 cars, but they were able to get to the book depository and prevent Oswald from shooting JFK. George initially has some trouble, but he's able to return to 2011. Before he does, he speaks to a man who lives near the portal and that man tries to convince him to go the 2011, then immediately return to 1958 to reset and go back to 2011 and leave the past alone. The butterfly effect isn't the only problem. The past does not like being change and bite back. When George returns to 2011, he immediately sees that at least his corner of Maine has not changed for the better. He gets a brief history lesson and learns that while we cut back on Vietnam, MLK was still shot, the race riots were worse, and now there are frequent massive earthquakes across the world. Undoubtedly, this world is worse for the average person than the one where JFK died.
George goes back to 1958, but, due to his love for the woman in Texas, he doesn't head immediately back for 2011. He has no plans to save any lives, but will clearly be changing the past just by staying. When people become so wrapped up with the idea that they're supposed to be with someone that they will do so with complete disregard for everyone else really bothers me. I think authors try to pass it off as romantic, but I just see it as selfish. Especially in this case where George has been told and has seen what changing the past can do. Thankfully, he returns to 2011, and life is normal.
I finished before the new year (which is OK according the challenge I made up, because I didn't want to wait a month or so until I could read these books), but I wanted to add it here. I read 11/22/63 by Stephen King. It's about a man who travels back in time to stop the Kennedy assassination. You should probably stop reading now if you don't want spoilers.
All-in-all, I like reading Stephen King. I haven't read much of his stuff, but I've enjoyed everything I have read. This book was no exception, but I found it to be a little long for me. I think I found it to be too long because it was probably 300 pages longer than anything else I've read in the past year and because you know what the major climax will be, and I reached a point (around page 650) where I no longer cared about the events leading up to the assassination and I just wanted to know what happened. I've heard some people think it could've been 300 pages shorter, and I didn't think it was that bad, I think I was just getting antsy.
A brief background of the book: Al found a portal into the past. When you travel through it, you always go to the same date in September 1958. When you come back, it's 2 minutes after you left. Al wanted to see if he could change history in a huge way, and decides on the JFK assassination. He does a quick butterfly effect test by preventing a hunting accident that left a teenage girl paralyzed for the rest of her life. When he gets back, he finds that life is mostly the same, looks her up, and sees her life is different, but since everything is generally the same, he thinks preventing JFK from being killed will change the future, but it will be better (the Vietnam War will end earlier, Martin Luther King, Jr. will not be assassinated, no race riots, RFK will not be killed). While Al is waiting out the 5 years, he develops lung cancer and returns to the future for better treatment and to get someone else to go back and take care of it. His cancer is so bad, he may not make it to the assassination. He recruits Jake, gives him a new identity as George, and George starts his travels.
George does a test, too. He thinks Al's, while doing good, didn't save a life, and he wants to see that difference. He know about a father who killed nearly his entire family in 1958, so he headed there to prevent that. The world was mostly the same when he got back. He goes back again, this time for JFK.
It's at this point in the book where I think there is a disregard for the butterfly effect. While George doesn't (as far as we can tell) save lives, he does start to touch a lot of people's lives. He becomes a high school English teacher (his profession in 2011), falls in love with a divorcee, and becomes a fixture in a small town. He catches, but doesn't punish kids drinking at a dance (one of whom would've lost his scholarship to play football). He convinces a football player (in 1960s small town Texas) to start acting. I'm just saying this activity could cause some major changes in the future.
A theme throughout the book is that the past is obdurate. The bigger the change, the harder it is to change it. When Al saved the girl, he got a flat tire and a bridge was out. When Jake/George saved the family, he got sick and nearly got killed by someone else. So, the past worked against George again when trying to save JFK. (And I often wonder what little obstacles came up with the smaller changes). He got beat up and lost his memory. He spent weeks trying to remember Lee Harvey Oswald's name. In the end, he figured enough out. Then he lost a tire, a bus he was on crashed, his girlfriend almost got mugged, they stole 2 cars, but they were able to get to the book depository and prevent Oswald from shooting JFK. George initially has some trouble, but he's able to return to 2011. Before he does, he speaks to a man who lives near the portal and that man tries to convince him to go the 2011, then immediately return to 1958 to reset and go back to 2011 and leave the past alone. The butterfly effect isn't the only problem. The past does not like being change and bite back. When George returns to 2011, he immediately sees that at least his corner of Maine has not changed for the better. He gets a brief history lesson and learns that while we cut back on Vietnam, MLK was still shot, the race riots were worse, and now there are frequent massive earthquakes across the world. Undoubtedly, this world is worse for the average person than the one where JFK died.
George goes back to 1958, but, due to his love for the woman in Texas, he doesn't head immediately back for 2011. He has no plans to save any lives, but will clearly be changing the past just by staying. When people become so wrapped up with the idea that they're supposed to be with someone that they will do so with complete disregard for everyone else really bothers me. I think authors try to pass it off as romantic, but I just see it as selfish. Especially in this case where George has been told and has seen what changing the past can do. Thankfully, he returns to 2011, and life is normal.
Sunday, January 1, 2012
Picture 1 with My Husband
So far, so good. We were with friends for New Years, and we have a photo together.
A good start to the list. I hope everyone had a great New Years Eve and is ready to have a great 2012!
Welcome 2012
Another year has gone by, and I'm ready to tackle next year! In an effort to have a great year, I've come up with a list of things I want to do before the end of 2012. Hopefully, I won't be running around in December trying to everything. I don't want this to be a 2012 bucket list. Here's my list:
1. Volunteer at least once a month.
2. Travel somewhere new.
3. Bike at least 25 miles in one day at least 3 times.
4. Grow and eat vegetables in my garden plot.
5. Visit a new (to me) museum.
6. Complete the 2012 Podcast Reading Challenge.
7. Take pictures at events.
8. Take at least 5 pictures with my husband (just one for all of 2011=fail).
9. Update this blog at least twice a month.
10. Send one piece of snail mail once a month.
11. Do the Broad Street Run.
12. Read a book written before 1900.
Happy New Year to All of You!
12. Read a book written before 1900.
Happy New Year to All of You!
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