Category Archives: Idle musing

On Reviewing – Translations and Other Things

Posted on March 26, 2018 by forwardtranslations

There are several controversies/discussions/debates swirling around my Twitter at the moment which are at least partly related. There are issues about how to review translations, what to do if you think a translation is flawed or poor, and about whether … Continue reading →

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The Orenda Roadshow – Nordic Authors and the Beast from the East

Posted on March 4, 2018 by forwardtranslations

It’s been a bit nippy in the last week, if you hadn’t noticed… Obviously, this had to be the week of the Orenda Roadshow – a large gaggle of brilliant authors from the UK and Europe travelling from Aberdeen to … Continue reading →

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BCLT Summer School, Part 2: creative writing?!

Posted on July 30, 2016 by forwardtranslations

The BCLT summer school now has a creative writing focus as well as the main emphasis on translation, and I was awaiting the writing workshops with a certain trepidation – the whole point of being a translator is that you … Continue reading →

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Learning from the big firms’ mistakes… or what good freelancers can teach BT.

Posted on November 10, 2015 by forwardtranslations

As I may have mentioned a couple of times, we have recently moved house. It’s a cliche that this is one of the most stressful things you can do, but it’s certainly been true in our case. As a freelancer, … Continue reading →

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On being more than a dictionary: translators as poets

Posted on October 4, 2015 by forwardtranslations

I’ve just got back from a weekend of translation events, socialising, networking. There was the annual International Translation Day conference at the British Library, and then there was the ITI German network workshop. They were both great events and I … Continue reading →

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Ramblings around Wolf Hall

Posted on May 14, 2015 by forwardtranslations

There are many reasons why I haven’t been keeping up with the blogging as much as I’d like lately, to do with work, life and one thing and another, but one big one is that it has taken me a … Continue reading →

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London Book Fair Musings

Posted on April 21, 2015 by forwardtranslations

The London Book Fair has been and gone again. It was exhausting, but fun, and I’ll write up some of the individual sessions in the next little while, but first I wanted to put down a few impressions and share … Continue reading →

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Round-up of Random Recent Reads

Posted on July 7, 2014 by forwardtranslations

Just a few musings on books I’ve read but been too distracted to review properly: The Detour by Gerbrand Bakker, tr. David Colmer (Vintage). This won the 2013 Independent Foreign Fiction Prize. It’s about a Dutch woman living in Wales … Continue reading →

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Shoulda, woulda, coulda: On oughts and wants and my taste in books and translation

Posted on May 13, 2014 by forwardtranslations

My note-taking at this year’s London Book Fair wasn’t all that it might have been, so I’m not sure who it was who said there are too many “shoulds” and “oughts” around literature in general, and in translation in particular … Continue reading →

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Tips on Networking for Introverts

Posted on October 2, 2013 by forwardtranslations

My write-up of Monday’s International Translation Day conference will follow when I can get my thoughts together about it but it was noticeable that I was far from the only person there who felt awkward about networking. Translators are often … Continue reading →

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