They used to say that the definition of “cultured” was someone who could hear the William Tell overture without immediately thinking of the Lone Ranger. Well, for those of you who recognise the word “Quechua” as denoting more than just a camping and hiking brand owned by a major European sports retailer, this story may …
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My wife and I were sitting in front of the telly a few days ago, watching the day’s Tour de France highlights; fairly intently in my case, but with half an eye on the telly in my wife’s case while also writing up some party invitations. She asks, “How do you spell Nibali?”. I spell …
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Some 25 years ago, while still at university, I got my first break in the translation industry from my father’s company, who dubbed foreign TV programmes and films into Welsh and English for broadcast on S4C and the Beeb. Sadly, I don’t get to do much of that sort of work any more (although I’m …
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In today’s world of intense media scrutiny, it’s almost always bad news when “the medium becomes the message”; e.g. when a public figure wants to talk to you about something, but what actually happens is that you end up talking about the person him/herself, rather than the thing that person was trying to talk about. …
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