Friday, December 21, 2012

Found in Translation


by Jost Zetsche and Nataly Kelly

Something I love almost as much as I love languages is reading about them. However, many books on languages suffer from what I like to call the "Goldilocks and the three Bears" syndrome: often they are too close to either end of the difficulty spectrum. In other words, they are either too simplified or too dry and academic. I don't know about you, but after a long day of translating, the last thing I want to do is glance over tidbits that sound nice but mean little or wade through page after page of metalanguage which, though well researched, puts me to sleep.

Thankfully, I believe that Goldilocks herself, had she been a translator or interpreter, would have said that Found in Translation read "just right". Indeed, you will not find anything remotely close to velar fricatives nor will you be serenaded by a half-explained language concept that you might see on the last five minutes of the evening news. A case in point is the explanation of the Chevy Nova (I could give it away, but I want you to read the book yourself).

In a nutshell, Found in Translation explains what translators and interpreters do and why they are important. Some key areas of translation and interpreting that the book covers are religion, politics, commerce, the Internet and, ehem, pornography. I had never stopped to think that there was a need for translating pornography, but that just goes to show the broad spectrum of the applications of translating and interpreting. Even if you are an experienced translator or interpreter, you will benefit from reading this book because I guarantee that it will shed new light on the profession, and when you finish reading the book, you will come away with new knowledge.If you are not a translator interpreter, this book will be an eye-opener for you because it will expand your conception of what it means to translate and interpret.

There is only one point that I am not as zealous about as the authors of this book. Along with debunking myths about translating and interpreting and showing that the entire world owes a great deal of its success to translation, I sensed an undercurrent of seeking more recognition for translators and interpreters. On a personal note, though I would not mind earning more money for translating (Who wouldn't want to earn more money from their job?), I see an advantage in being anonymous, in people not really knowing what I do for a living. True, it is always nice to be appreciated, but there is something to be said about not being in the line of fire--to be able to fade into the background.

If you'd like to pick up a copy, you can buy it either as an e-book or hard copy here.

Tuesday, October 16, 2012

The Kindle Versus Paper Books


For the majority of my life, I have only read paper books. In fact, I didn't even use computers until I was age 16, and most of my time in front of the screen was devoted to typing and other tasks, not reading novel-length books. It was only until two or three years ago that I started reading on my laptop. I used the Mobipocket e-book reader. This system satisfied me for short spurts only. I had to fiddle with the laptop, load the book, find a spot away from bright sunshine. It ended up being my lunch hour activity since I usually eat lunch alone.

Then the Kindle came out and I did buy a few books like dictionaries to consult on my computer – but not to read them. As a translator, is quite handy to have digital information that you can search, copy and paste anywhere. Getting out of my office chair and leafing through paper books is becoming increasingly less frequent occurrence for me. It is much faster and more convenient to have all of my information either online or on screen and ready to go.

However, it must admit that what is handy and convenient when working is not always so when I am reading for pleasure. Paper books are far more enchanting to me because I can heft them and feel the pages tickle my fingertip when I turn them. The very physical quality of paper books means that they belong on the shelf, in a drawer, on a nightstand–somewhere where you know they will be when you wake up in the morning. I have very fond memories of books at the Green Lake Library in Seattle, and I know right where they are (or at least where they were 20 or 30 years ago).

Another aspect of paper books is that, at least for me, there is a certain undefinable holiness about them. I would feel terrible if I saw a book burning. It wouldn't matter if I had read it or if I was interested in reading it, just the fact that it was being destroyed would pain me. With an e-book, I couldn't say the same thing. If someone were to delete an e-book from a computer, it just wouldn't have the same effect. After all, what is an e-book when it's "closed"? Where are the words? In what form are they represented? I'm sure someone has an explanation, but it's not the same as knowing that a printed book continues to have the same printed words in it when it is closed. You can't even really "close" an e-book.

Now that I own a Kindle, I use it often, especially with books that I do not have in paper format and that I do not wish to acquire at a hefty price. It is a device of convenience. Since I live far away from where English-language books are sold in mass quantities, I'm overbowled by the Kindle and what I can shop for at the Kindle store. No longer do I have to pay high prices for books and shipping in order to get them to Chile. Just as the Kindle store advertises, I am able to receive any book in the catalog in under a minute on my Kindle.

When I read books in Spanish, I almost always like to read them in print form. Living in Chile, a Spanish-speaking country, books and Spanish are readily available, and though not all of them are cheap, if they are worth reading, I sometimes buy them. It is interesting, but the Spanish language selection at the Kindle store is nowhere near the size of the English language selection. In fact, there are many books in Chile that cannot be found in e-book format. I think that people here and in the rest of Latin America are more interested in reading physical books than they are e-books.

The good news is that for the time being, there is no need to decide which method to stick to. When I want to read a paper book, I read a paper book and when I want to read on the Kindle, I read on the Kindle. It's that simple.

Wednesday, October 3, 2012

Booknizer, the official book cataloging software for Reed's Reads

Up until now, I have only discussed books on this blog. However, you should know that I am using book cataloging software called Booknizer. I downloaded it because it was offered for free on Giveaway of the Day. It might not be the first software program I've used to catalog books, and it may not be the last, but it is definitely the best one.

Booknizer allows you to catalog print books, e-books and audio books–all in the same database. It has all of the features I've seen in other book cataloging programs such as downloading a book's cover and other information from Amazon.com. However, I like the interface better than other programs, and it seems to give the user many ways to enter books into the database: by typing in the ISBN, capturing the barcode with a WebCam or simply entering the title of the book in question. You can also mass-input your books by typing multiple titles. Another feature I like is listing the book's location. This means that you can tell the program that a certain book is located on a certain shelf in a certain room of your house. Although the categories listed for this program are complete, if there is one that you would like to add, you have the space to do so via custom fields.

Though paying for software, entering records and keeping track of a catalog has its tedious side to it, there are many surprises to be discovered once you have all of your books identified. You will end up realizing that there are books in your collection you had completely forgotten about and want to reread. Additionally, in being in closer contact with Amazon reviews and descriptions, you’ll learn about similar authors that you might later read.

Wednesday, July 25, 2012

The Lower River by Paul Theroux


The reader should not be fooled by how this book starts out. We are presented with an aging shop owner in Medford, Massachusetts. One day he wakes up to find fears no longer satisfied with his life. Perhaps he was never satisfied with his life except for his time in Africa. After divorcing his wife, he finds he has no more business in his hometown and makes the adventuresome and perhaps foolhardy decision to return to Malawi, Africa where he had been the happiest.

Once there, in the hot, dusty village on the Mozambique border, he was greeted by all the memories, all the warmth he had yearned for back in Massachusetts. He also realized that 40 years makes a big difference, even in Africa, and things were not the same as they used to be, to put it mildly. But then again, is a return to a far-off place where you once lived or visited long ago ever as good as the first few steps you took there?

Hotch strikes me as quixotic in both senses of the word: He is quirky and bizarre in his endeavor, and he is much akin to Don Quixote, because he is seeking improbable adventures at an age when most men are contemplating retirement or at least a comfortable and mild existence. It is interesting to note that Paul Theroux himself is very much present in this novel. He was in the Peace Corps in Nyasaland, now Malawi, back in the 60s. He is also a Massachusetts native and approximately the same age as this book's main character.

I would like to share a quote from the book that kept me pondering (and agreeing) four days: "Being illiterate, not speaking a language well, out of your element and perhaps feeling insecure, unnerved, and suspicious — all of these made a person much more observant". I have seen these qualities in action. This is just one example of Theroux's poignancy and simple yet effective powers of observation. I wish more the people viewed the world as he does.

Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Pershing

by John Perry


I am thankful that I read this book because before I did, the only thing I knew about General Pershing was that he was a general (obviously), and that the Pershing missile, at least I surmised, was named after him. I didn't even know his first name or what wars he fought in. It just goes to show that what I learned in school was but a brief summary of American history.

Now war is a dirty word. With it, thousands of people die. And much to my dismay, humankind cannot seem to live without it. Therefore, the military is in a strange position. When war is imminent, the Armed Forces are built up and soldiers and sailors are sent to do their duty. At the time, they are rewarded and often glorified. However, when America is at peace, her citizens often forget the relevance and importance of her men and women in uniform.

This book is not only about the military career of John Pershing, it is also about the making of the United States of America in the late 19th century and early 20th century. It is also heartening to catch more than a glimpse of Pershing's private life. Pershing's most conspicuous attainment was to be named General of the Armies, a rank only achieved by George Washington, and posthumously at that. He was a decisive factor in winning World War I and was steadfast in not allowing the French Army to use US soldiers in a joint effort, but rather stuck to his guns and fought as a separate, distinct American army.

To show you how times change, I am going to quote a passage from the book that would be outlandish and grounds for court marshaling if it happened in Afghanistan today: "Lieutenant Patton led a squad of ten men who killed two Mexicans leaders including Julio Cárdenas, commander of Villa's personal bodyguard. Patton delivered the bodies to Pershing's headquarters lashed to a car fender like deer, which brought him wide renown in the American press". I can just see the photo plastered all over the Internet and evening news and people up in arms about it.

I was very sad about the death of Pershing's wife and children except for one. It was a tragedy that occurred because the newly varnished floor of the Pershing residence caught fire. I cannot see how anyone could live, much less rise to greatness after such an event. I would give him an extra star just for sticking in there.

I would definitely recommend this book to any reader wishing to become familiar with Pershing's life as well as the US military. It is written in a very readable style and does not dwell too long on the actual battles themselves. You will be delighted by the tidbits of US history you probably didn't know, either because of classroom curriculum restraints or political correctness. I am sure that it is not desirable to teach how the United States colonized the Philippines with its military might and treated the natives with condescension. Yet it happened, and it deserves to be known.
 I was given this book by Boooksneeze in exchange for an honest review, good or bad, of this book.

Thursday, May 3, 2012

Memory Wall by Anthony Doerr


If I finish a book, it is usually because there is at least one salient feature that strikes my fancy. I may have to endure more dreary parts to reach that nugget. Not so with Anthony Doerr's works. I find myself delighting in his use of the English language alone; that would be enough to keep my interest even if the content were trivial. I find myself stopping in mid-sentence to regale in the sounds of Doerr's prose. Try saying this out loud: "Rust colonizing the tumblers in a lock". It just rolls off of your tongue. I love how he writes short, crisp and meaning-packed sentences. He is also a wizard of the semicolon as you will notice.

Even if Doerr's style weren't as mesmerizing as it is, I would still be enthralled with the content of his stories. Memory Wall deals with the human memory and how fragile and important it is at the same time. Who are we without our memory? It is akin to a car without gas in it. The reader is introduced to several scenarios ranging from South Africa to China where there are elderly characters who have a fading or nearly non-existent memory, and I can't help but to contemplate how fragile we all are; not only how short our lives are, but how short our productive lives are and how some of us end up later in life. I am in no way averse to experiencing the sadness these stories evoke or contemplating what may befall me. Instead I cherish my memory (physical part of my brain) and memories (individual snapshots and sound bytes floating around in my memory) because the stories in Memory Wall reinforce how precious and fragile it truly is.

In the story entitled Afterworld, a Holocaust survivor with epilepsy says: "Maybe, she tells Robert, during her clearest moments, a person can experience an illness as a kind of health." To read and digest this monumental concept was a shock indeed. I am still mulling over it. I feel that in accepting this statement, I, the reader take a step further into Anthony Doerr's fictional world.

I have already read Doerr's The Shell Collector twice, and there is no doubt in my mind that I will be revisiting the stories in Memory Wall for many years to come for the simple reason that one reading is but a glimpse into the whole picture portrayed in each story. I would love to go on with this review and explore every nook and cranny of Anthony Doerr's literary prowess, but I would end up attempting to rewrite his work (and do a lousy job at that). So I urge you to pick up a copy. You can even read it on your Kindle as it's available at the Amazon Kindle Store.