littleworkpage

This is a picture of a flushing toilet. A vortex of water swirls in the middle. Whenever I see the word portal, I get this mental image... Here’s an interesting thing that a colleague and I were discussing at work today. I’m not sure that it’s a ‘mistake’ really, since so far the evidence points out the writers of our source texts as being the culprits. However, today’s debate was the culmination of several years’ worth of seeing this issue occur, so I’m saying the jury’s still out until further evidence is acquired. ;) Here’s the thing: It seems to me that portal is being used far too often instead of the technically accurate website . Over the years, I’ve proofread many sentences that went something like, ‘The event is also being supported by the amazing and brilliant web portal www.badarticle.com,’ or ‘More information can be found at our portal,’ or even ‘The plebiscite was open to readers of the welovemusic.pl web portal.’ Now then, Wikipedia tells us that “A web porta...

 Oj! If it's not one thing it's another, and the last 24 hours have been the turn of the dreaded 'throwing up while simultaneously making fire from the rear end' bug, so beloved of nursery schools everywhere. You might be forgiven for thinking this is a blog about my illnesses and syndromes, but I assure you I'm only in it for the words. ;) So, here's another wordy thing for your delectation. Sorry if the picture seems a little uninspired, my head is still pounding from dehydration and - uuff, there I go again... Common Usage                                              1a) We usually eat lots of vegetables (carrots, peas, cabbage etc.). 2a) Several problems associated with Type I diseases (hair loss, dandruff etc.), are now fully treatable. 3a) …with later amen...

The Lammas Hireling by Ian Duhig was described in Poetry Ireland Review as differing from many other poems in the book of the same name because of its "sustained ambiguity and sense of (strange) reality". Poems are sometimes rather like jokes in that if you don't get them the first time then no amount of explanation will convince you that they're any good. So all I'll do here is to point out some of the poem's features and provide some background information for those who found the poem too strange. Features Form - 4 stanzas of 6 lines, each line about 10cm long! Syllable count 9/9/10/9/10/9 and 9/11/10/12/12/12 for the 1st 2 stanzas - no fixed pattern. Counting beats is no more rewarding. Stanza breaks don't quite match paragraph breaks. Genre - Dark Hardy-esque fable? Certainly it's in a mode where we need to think more in terms of narrative than of sound effects. Diction - Except perhaps for "Yields doubled" the style of...

Another week goes by, and this time it drags a month off with it too. April greets us down here in Małopolska with warm, summery days that already see the parks filled with kids and sunglasses. Meanwhile, for some of us, work goes on... But never mind, let's take a wee break and reflect a little. Here at the Article we had a pretty good week I think; only three posts since Monday, although on consideration, I think maybe three is enough. I had initially intended to do one every day. but after a week my friend pointed out that it was perhaps too much for most people to digest. I have to say he's probably right, so even after a few accidental misses recently, I'm thinking about a Monday, Wednesday, Friday format, with these informal meetings remaining on Sundays. Sound good? In other exciting news this week, a friend of mine from my university days recently had her first book published. It's called You are Beautiful , and it's about how God can mend your broken heart ...

Okay, first of all, apologies if you were expecting part two of   You and Your Proofreader . I totally can not remember what I was saying on that topic; I knew when I stopped writing the other day that this might happen, but time forced me to stay my hand at that particular point and now the thread has been lost down the dark abyss of my mid- to long-term memory. However! Today I am going to present to you the case of localise VS locate – this is one of the TOP TEN MOST COMMON MISTAKES in English translations! So pay ye attention my friends, if you nail this one down you will instantly gain +100 exp and a free, life-time supply of cheese on toast (whenever you’re ‘round my place ;).                  Common Usage         1a) The localization of the new sports arena is by the river.     2a) New housing developments are to be localised close t...

Yesterday a few of us from the office went   to a well-known language school in town and spoke for about an hour to a variety of students about the magical joy of working as a translator for our agency. Despite a slightly lower headcount than expected (bloody students! ;), it went well and lots of questions were asked at the end, which is always a sign that interest is being feigned. Err, paid. When my turn came for ten minutes on ‘You and Your Proofreader’, I was already half stoned on a heady cocktail of prescription medication for this angina (which in less than 24 hours of taking it, is already vastly improving the situation, hooray for medicine!). Still, I managed to get something together in my head and spit it out to the assembled masses, and I’d like to offer a précis of those ramblings to you today. I’ll try not include all the bits that began with ‘errr... so as I was saying... what was I saying?...’. In the beginning, there are a few different ways of checking a ...

Just a quick one today as my angina is kicking me in the dup with big, hob-nailed boots. I’ve got three or four different tabletki to try and beat this thing, but as we all know, the best medicine is a nice, relaxing translation. ;) This item at least has the virtue of being plucked fresh from the pages of a brand-new text I’m working on right now. It’s also something I’ve been seeing quite often for quite some time – the misuse and abuse of the word civilisation , including use of an invented adjectival form! Look ye here, oh civilised reader: 1a) The civilisation development brought a huge progress in science and technology. 1b) The development of civilisation brought huge progress in science and technology. 2a) Street-level Civilisational improvements include plumbing, indoor toilets, electricity, libraries and public health services. 2b) Street-level signs of civilisation include plumbing, indoor toilets, electricity, libraries and public health. OED Def. civilization (also...