Is That a Fish in Your Ear? Translation and the Meaning of Everything
Is That a Fish in Your Ear? ranges across human experience to describe why translation sits deep within us all, and why we need it in so many situations, from the spread of religion to our appreciation of literature; indeed, Bellos claims that all writers are by definition translators. Written with joie de vivre, reveling both in misunderstanding and communication, littered with wonderful asides, it promises any reader new eyes through which to understand the world. In the words of Bellos: "The practice of translation rests on two presuppositions. The first is that we are all different: we speak different tongues, and see the world in ways that are deeply influenced by the particular features of the tongue that we speak. The second is that we are all the same—that we can share the same broad and narrow kinds of feelings, information, understandings, and so forth. Without both of these suppositions, translation could not exist. Nor could anything we would like to call social life. Translation is another name for the human condition."
David Bellos, famous for translating Life: A Users Manual and his compendious Georges Perec bio, writes a comprehensive, semi-scholarly and semi-accessible book exploring translation in its multifarious forms. Covering the complexities of literary translationfrom verbatim likenesses to humour to styleinto wider world areas such as legal and political translation (less captivating material for laymen), Bellos is a witty and super-smart writer who makes a convincing case for the importance of
Absolutely fantastic. We're going to run part of this on Read This Next (http://www.readthisnext.org) and I'll write a full review at that time. But for now, I just want to urge any and everyone interested in translation to preorder a copy. You won't be disappointed--I swear! Bellos is a translation genius, and the way he flits from topic to topic--from translating news to translating humor to the myth of literal translation--is incredibly impressive. Definitely using this in my spring class . .
It is not surprising that of all translators it is the translator of Georges Perec who is inclined to write a book about the art of translation. While I am sure that every translator loves language, and loves the puzzle of fitting one language into another, the one who has to deal with the endless wordplay of Perec might just be a little bit more devoted than average.Bellos here talks about a lot of interesting aspects and gives interesting examples, and in general defends the value of
Q:Beyond multilingualism and language unification, the third path that leads away from translation is to stop fussing about what other cultures have to say and to stick to ones own. (c)Q:C.K. Ogden, the famously eccentric co-author of The Meaning of Meaning, believed that much of the worlds troubles could be ascribed to the illusion that a thing exists just because we have a word for it. He called this phenomenon Word Magic. Candidates for the label include levitation, real existing socialism,
4.5. How do I know when a book is really interesting? If a book is really interesting, I will be compelled to read it aloud to whoever has the fortune (or misfortune, depending on your point of view) of being around at the time. Usually it's my poor, dear husband who is the witness to these readings. Let's just say with this book, he got a lot of it read to him. Guys, I'm a word nerd. What does that mean? I love the written word, I love the spoken word, I love languages among other things. I
This review sums up my problem with this book. For what it is, it's a well-written, informative and interesting book about the art of translation, its difficulties and the assumptions you have to make to translate. It reminded me of my experience in trying to translate Wulf and Eadwacer. To translate it, you have to decide what it means, to ensure that you translate it consistently. And there's four or five different readings of it, at least -- and ultimately I was left with the feeling that to
David Bellos
Hardcover | Pages: 390 pages Rating: 3.78 | 2171 Users | 311 Reviews
Identify Based On Books Is That a Fish in Your Ear? Translation and the Meaning of Everything
Title | : | Is That a Fish in Your Ear? Translation and the Meaning of Everything |
Author | : | David Bellos |
Book Format | : | Hardcover |
Book Edition | : | Special Edition |
Pages | : | Pages: 390 pages |
Published | : | October 25th 2011 by Particular Books |
Categories | : | Nonfiction. Humanities. Language. Linguistics |
Explanation During Books Is That a Fish in Your Ear? Translation and the Meaning of Everything
Funny and surprising on every page, Is That a Fish in Your Ear? offers readers new insight into the mystery of how we come to know what someone else means—whether we wish to understand Astérix cartoons or a foreign head of state. Using translation as his lens, David Bellos shows how much we can learn about ourselves by exploring the ways we use translation, from the historical roots of written language to the stylistic choices of Ingmar Bergman, from the United Nations General Assembly to the significance of James Cameron's Avatar.Is That a Fish in Your Ear? ranges across human experience to describe why translation sits deep within us all, and why we need it in so many situations, from the spread of religion to our appreciation of literature; indeed, Bellos claims that all writers are by definition translators. Written with joie de vivre, reveling both in misunderstanding and communication, littered with wonderful asides, it promises any reader new eyes through which to understand the world. In the words of Bellos: "The practice of translation rests on two presuppositions. The first is that we are all different: we speak different tongues, and see the world in ways that are deeply influenced by the particular features of the tongue that we speak. The second is that we are all the same—that we can share the same broad and narrow kinds of feelings, information, understandings, and so forth. Without both of these suppositions, translation could not exist. Nor could anything we would like to call social life. Translation is another name for the human condition."
Declare Books To Is That a Fish in Your Ear? Translation and the Meaning of Everything
Original Title: | Is That a Fish in Your Ear? Translation and the Meaning of Everything |
ISBN: | 1846144647 (ISBN13: 9781846144646) |
Edition Language: | English |
Literary Awards: | National Book Critics Circle Award Nominee for Criticism (2011), Susanne K. Langer Award for Outstanding Scholarship in the Ecology of Symbolic Form (2013) |
Rating Based On Books Is That a Fish in Your Ear? Translation and the Meaning of Everything
Ratings: 3.78 From 2171 Users | 311 ReviewsWrite Up Based On Books Is That a Fish in Your Ear? Translation and the Meaning of Everything
In chapter fifty-two of Perec's La vie, mode d'emploi, a young man finds himself staring into the window of a printer's shop in Paris. The display is filled with examples of the printer's wares fake letterheads and joke business cards. One of them reads: ADOLF HITLERFourreur A fourreur is a furrier; the joke, of course, is that it sounds like the German word Führer. As Bellos says, the gag is a metalinguistic and self-referring one, provided you know who and what Hitler was, know in additionDavid Bellos, famous for translating Life: A Users Manual and his compendious Georges Perec bio, writes a comprehensive, semi-scholarly and semi-accessible book exploring translation in its multifarious forms. Covering the complexities of literary translationfrom verbatim likenesses to humour to styleinto wider world areas such as legal and political translation (less captivating material for laymen), Bellos is a witty and super-smart writer who makes a convincing case for the importance of
Absolutely fantastic. We're going to run part of this on Read This Next (http://www.readthisnext.org) and I'll write a full review at that time. But for now, I just want to urge any and everyone interested in translation to preorder a copy. You won't be disappointed--I swear! Bellos is a translation genius, and the way he flits from topic to topic--from translating news to translating humor to the myth of literal translation--is incredibly impressive. Definitely using this in my spring class . .
It is not surprising that of all translators it is the translator of Georges Perec who is inclined to write a book about the art of translation. While I am sure that every translator loves language, and loves the puzzle of fitting one language into another, the one who has to deal with the endless wordplay of Perec might just be a little bit more devoted than average.Bellos here talks about a lot of interesting aspects and gives interesting examples, and in general defends the value of
Q:Beyond multilingualism and language unification, the third path that leads away from translation is to stop fussing about what other cultures have to say and to stick to ones own. (c)Q:C.K. Ogden, the famously eccentric co-author of The Meaning of Meaning, believed that much of the worlds troubles could be ascribed to the illusion that a thing exists just because we have a word for it. He called this phenomenon Word Magic. Candidates for the label include levitation, real existing socialism,
4.5. How do I know when a book is really interesting? If a book is really interesting, I will be compelled to read it aloud to whoever has the fortune (or misfortune, depending on your point of view) of being around at the time. Usually it's my poor, dear husband who is the witness to these readings. Let's just say with this book, he got a lot of it read to him. Guys, I'm a word nerd. What does that mean? I love the written word, I love the spoken word, I love languages among other things. I
This review sums up my problem with this book. For what it is, it's a well-written, informative and interesting book about the art of translation, its difficulties and the assumptions you have to make to translate. It reminded me of my experience in trying to translate Wulf and Eadwacer. To translate it, you have to decide what it means, to ensure that you translate it consistently. And there's four or five different readings of it, at least -- and ultimately I was left with the feeling that to
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