A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens We all know the story of ‘Scrooge’, a mean and bitter man, the protagonist in the novella “A Christmas Carol”. The story is set on Christmas Eve in London, 7 years after the death of Ebeneezer Scrooge’s business partner, Jacob Marley. That night, Scrooge, who passionately hates Christmas, is […]
Today we take a look at Harry Potter and the translation of these books. This collection of 7 novels (known as a “heptalogy”, which sounds a lot like hepatology, which is what liver doctors do) chronicles the adventures of three young wizards at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Harry Potter and his friends Hermione […]
Pippi Longstocking (full name: Pippilotta Comestibles Windowshade Curlymint Ephraimsdaughter Longstocking) tells the story of a 9 yr old orphaned girl. Her mother is an angel and her father washed overboard and is now the king of a distant island. Despite her compromised start in life, Pippi proves to be independent and confident. She has […]
Language and translation in Anne Frank: the diary of a young girl Reading Anne Frank as someone working in the translation industry one notices how central language is to Anne and the others living in the annex. What stood out reading the book is how multi-lingual the Franks all were and what a role language […]
In the summer we had the wonderful Alice with us on a work experience placement. While here, Alice took a look at Greek myths and the impact these have had on language and translation. After having spent my summer holidays in Crete, supposedly the island of Zeus the God of the skies’ birth, I decided […]
The Little Prince (Le Petit Prince) is a novella written by French author and aviator Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. It was originally published in 1943 in the author’s native tongue, French. Since the original publication, it has been translated into over 250 different languages and has become one of the best-selling books of all time. It […]
Les Misérables is perhaps best known as a stage musical and a film from 2012 starring Hugh Jackman, but the moving story was originally a novel written by Victor Hugo, which at 1,900 pages in its original French is approximately four times longer than the average Harry Potter book. First published in 1862, it is […]
Don Quixote is widely regarded as one of the greatest novels ever written, and a huge influence on modern fiction. The Ingenious Nobleman Mister Quixote of La Mancha (El Ingenioso Hidalgo Don Quijote de la Mancha), to give the book it’s full title, was written in Spanish by Miguel de Cervantes. It was first published as […]
1984 by George Orwell occupies sixth place on The Editor’s ‘Modern Library 100 Best Novels’ and came eighth in the BBC’s survey The Big Read. This hugely acclaimed dystopian fantasy was published in 1949. It has been translated into at least 65 languages. Set in the future in “Airstrip One” (formerly Great Britain), a province […]
In its 150 year history Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland has been translated into 174 languages (in varying dialects). This includes every major language, a number of minor ones, some languages that are extinct and at least one that is invented. From Japanese, Korean, Arabic, to Emoji. Yes, really. We have arrived at a place where […]
