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Category Archives: Lostintranslation

German regrets

09 Thursday Jun 2022

Posted by la Clarina in Books, History, Lostintranslation

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Adelbert von Chamisso, German language, Karl Stählin, research, Sir Francis Walsingham, studying languages

Do you speak German, o Readers?

Now, Italian is my native language – and I find it beautiful. Also, as you can probably guess, I love English very much. I also like French and Spanish.

German… not so much. Continue reading →

The Rosetta Method (to say nothing of the Spanish Inquisition)

28 Thursday Oct 2021

Posted by la Clarina in Lostintranslation

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Don Carlos, languages, Opera, the rosetta stone, the spanish inquisition, translations

My favourite way of learning languages is by reading – and no, you are not surprised.

And of course it may take some time before one is proficient enough to really read – but I find that, once I have the hang of basic grammar, one great way to reach that level of proficiency is what I like to call the Rosetta Method: reading the same text in a language I know, and then in the language I’m learning. I love the way it makes me see the language in action, while at the same time forcing me to work out the different cogs-and-wheels of different languages… Continue reading →

Macbettu – or, Macbeth in Sardinia

10 Thursday Sep 2020

Posted by la Clarina in Lostintranslation, Theatre

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Alessandro Serra, macbeth, Macbettu, William Shakespeare

Back in May, when we were still locked down, and RAI, the Italian television, was making an effort, I happened to see a long interview with playwright/director Alessandro Serra about his Macbettu – a translation of Shakespeare’s Macbeth in Sardinian dialect.  Continue reading →

Malamud and the Quote Found

20 Thursday Aug 2020

Posted by la Clarina in Lostintranslation, Scribbling, Stories

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Bernard Malamud, Israel Shenker, Stories, story, storytelling, writing

Yes, yes – in the end I found it.

We talked about that quote of Bernard Malamud, didn’t we? The one about stories, stories, stories, the one I was sure I’d jotted down and never found again – not in old notebooks, not in the Web… That one.

Well, as was bound to happen, I found it in the end. Continue reading →

See-Through Languages

29 Thursday Mar 2018

Posted by la Clarina in Lostintranslation

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English, Italian, languages, reality, Translation

It has occurred to me that there is another thing that I do all the time – beside narrating and/or staging things in my head.

I translate.

Well, maybe not so much in everyday conversation – although I’ve been known to do that as well – but books, films, television, lectures… I seem to possess a special squad of neurons in my brain, on constant translating alert. Continue reading →

Clara and the Maize Sultan

22 Thursday Jun 2017

Posted by la Clarina in Lostintranslation, Theatre

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Grand Turk, Julius Caesar, Shakespeare in Words, Ugo Foscolo

I have, o Readers, a riddle for you: How is maize like an Ottoman Sultan?

Let me tell you a story. Do you remember Ugo Foscolo and his Salamini/Little Sausages? Do you remember as both I and my friend Dave in the comments wondered how on earth could he have made such a tragedy-killing blunder?

Well, it may be that I know just how… Continue reading →

Wine-Dark Sea

30 Thursday Mar 2017

Posted by la Clarina in Lostintranslation, Poetry

≈ 4 Comments

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colour perception, Homer, Iliad, Mark Bradley, Odyssey, oinops pontos, sea, Synaesthesia, Vincenzo Monti, William Gladstone, wine

I remember once being given a writing assignment in which I had to list seven meaningful colours, and write about them… How very fun, was my first reaction – only to find myself hopelessly bogged down as soon as I tried.

I could attach no particular meaning to any one colour – say orange or blue – let alone seven… Continue reading →

To brush, to skim, to graze…

02 Thursday Mar 2017

Posted by la Clarina in Lostintranslation

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Charlotte Brontë, Kidnapped, R. L. Stevenson, Translation

charlottebwI can’t remember right now whether it is in a letter or in one of the novels (Villette, maybe?) – but at some point Charlotte Brontë, either directly or through one of her French-studying heroines, bemoans the fact that English has no exact correspondence for the French word éffleurer… Continue reading →

Translation blues

12 Thursday May 2016

Posted by la Clarina in Lostintranslation, Theatre

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blank verse, Elizabethan English, English to Italian, period language, the wise peasant girl, theatre, Translation

TranslI’m working on a translation project.

Not an extremely huge one – but one I’ve been dreaming about for some time, and of a sort that makes me quake a little.  I know I’ve claimed again and again to have no faith in literary translation, but this… well, this is different.

Theatre. Elizabethan. Complicated… Continue reading →

Second Language

02 Tuesday Feb 2016

Posted by la Clarina in Lostintranslation, Scribbling

≈ 5 Comments

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Sasha A. Palmer, second language, writing

LanguageThis one I’m pilfering straight from Karavansara – where my friend Dave posted a link to Sasha A. Palmer’s article about Five benefits of writing in your second language.

Well, I write in my second language and Joseph Conrad is one of my literary heroes, and whenever I approach a new language, I can’t wait to play games with it, to use it, to tell stories: the article just beckoned – and thank you, D.

Did I find it interesting? Very. Do I agree with Palmer’s view of the matter? Not entirely. Or perhaps, not that much, considering that I can subscribe to two and a half out of her five points… Continue reading →

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