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isabeltranslates.bsky.social
isabeltranslates
@isabeltranslates.bsky.social
Translator of Czech, Slovak, German & French into English. Literary translator of genre & other fiction, & occasional non-fiction. European, wordsmith, word nerd, foodie, reader, yogi & chocoholic. Childless not by choice. New Glaswegian. She/her. 🦔
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A year in reading, 2026!

The Signature of All Things, by Elizabeth Gilbert.

Alma Whittaker thirsts for knowledge. She has the money & social position to pursue it, & this desire takes her from Pennsylvania to Tahiti, then Amsterdam. An incredible book that may be my book of the year already!

💙📚
Reading, writing and learning languages help to protect against dementia.

So, obviously, does being rich. Hey ho.

#langsky #xl8

www.theguardian.com/society/2026...
Reading and writing can lower dementia risk by almost 40%, study finds
Cognitive health in later life is ‘strongly influenced’ by lifelong exposure to intellectually stimulating environments, say researchers
www.theguardian.com
February 12, 2026 at 3:40 PM
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On LinkedIn, some of my #translator pals have started sharing photos of themselves with a book, to counteract the awful AI-caricature thing that's also going round now. So, here I am, with the book that won the English PEN award, as I'm going to eat, sleep & breath it for the next few months!
#xl8💙📚
February 12, 2026 at 9:08 AM
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February 12, 2026 at 12:48 AM
On LinkedIn, some of my #translator pals have started sharing photos of themselves with a book, to counteract the awful AI-caricature thing that's also going round now. So, here I am, with the book that won the English PEN award, as I'm going to eat, sleep & breath it for the next few months!
#xl8💙📚
February 12, 2026 at 9:08 AM
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1) What's in a Prague 4 Street Name, day 307: Na dubině, built in 1925.
February 11, 2026 at 7:52 PM
Leicester Cathedral held a wedding ceremony in sign language. In 1576.

I'm not crying, you're crying.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Leicester Cathedral reveals sign language wedding held in 1576
Cathedral bosses believe the signed service could have been one of the first in England.
www.bbc.co.uk
February 11, 2026 at 11:15 AM
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Alexandra Roesch for a translation from German of Boy With a Black Rooster by Stefanie vor Schulte (The Indigo Press)
February 11, 2026 at 9:30 AM
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Antonella Lettieri and editor Richard Village for a translation from Italian of Your Little Matter by Maria Grazia Calandrone (Foundry Editions)
February 11, 2026 at 10:00 AM
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Congratulations to the winner of the Saif Ghobash Banipal Prize for published translations from Arabic of full-length works of literary merit and general interest:

Marilyn Booth for a translation of Honey Hunger: A Novel by Zahran Alqasmi (Hoopoe, American University in Cairo Press)
February 11, 2026 at 10:30 AM
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February 10, 2026 at 11:55 PM
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1) What's in a Prague 4 Street Name, day 306: U Zátiší, built in 2007.
February 10, 2026 at 8:34 PM
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Buy your hard copies online from publishers or @bookshop-org-uk.bsky.social
Audio books from your library app or @libro.fm
Ebooks from your library app or Kobo or direct from publishers
2nd hand from Biblio, Oxfam or World of Books
February 10, 2026 at 11:48 AM
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Everybody knows that Pupper just won Downhill Gold
February 10, 2026 at 1:27 PM
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February 10, 2026 at 2:54 PM
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Something compelled me to make this
February 10, 2026 at 10:57 AM
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Don't buy books on Amazon
Don't publish through Amazon
Amazon is reportedly preparing to launch a marketplace for publishers to sell their content to firms offering AI products www.reuters.com/business/ret...
February 10, 2026 at 11:30 AM
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February 10, 2026 at 12:43 PM
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London Book Fair starts in a month's time, and I'm getting ready for it. I already have a few appointments, and I'm waiting for a number of #publishers to come back to me and say, yes, they'd love to meet me and to publish every book I want to #translate.

+
February 9, 2026 at 4:34 PM
Post a banger not in English:

(If you want to get your Czech friends onto the dancefloor, this will do it!)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=gaMq...
February 10, 2026 at 10:25 AM
I might have just lost a client forever by telling them that EUR 0.06 per word was "way too low".

I provide a professional service and I expect to be paid professional rates. This is not unreasonable.

Some clients aren't worth keeping!

#xl8 🌐
February 10, 2026 at 9:20 AM
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1) What's in a Prague 4 Street Name, day 305: V Zátiší, built in 1925.

It was looking a bit slippery when I was round here, so here you can see the street at the end, rather than a street sign.
February 9, 2026 at 4:39 PM
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Budapest was created out of the cities of Buda and Pest (and the oft-forgotten Óbuda). The place-name Pest likely comes from a Slavic word meaning 'oven, furnace' – compare Slovak pec.

I find it strange that one of the cities had the alternative German name Ofen (literally 'oven'), but it was Buda!
February 9, 2026 at 6:57 PM
London Book Fair starts in a month's time, and I'm getting ready for it. I already have a few appointments, and I'm waiting for a number of #publishers to come back to me and say, yes, they'd love to meet me and to publish every book I want to #translate.

+
February 9, 2026 at 4:34 PM
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imagine being alive in this world and only wanting to know one language, what the fuck, boring
February 9, 2026 at 3:59 AM
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1) What's in a Prague 4 Street Name, day 304: Československého exilu, built in 1979.
February 8, 2026 at 8:04 PM