Steven Capsuto (translation and languages account)
@linguacaps.bsky.social
I post about language geekery and translation. I've been a full-time translator since 2003, providing human translations from Spanish, French, Catalan, Portuguese, and Ladino into English. Web: linguacaps.com. YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@linguacap.
Hello from the American Literary Translators Association conference in Arizona!
Tonight was the annual theater-translation event: "Cold Beers and Cold Readings," including part of my translation of "Women on Radio" by Cristina Clemente. Some people are so good at unrehearsed performances! #ALTA48
Tonight was the annual theater-translation event: "Cold Beers and Cold Readings," including part of my translation of "Women on Radio" by Cristina Clemente. Some people are so good at unrehearsed performances! #ALTA48
November 6, 2025 at 4:53 AM
Hello from the American Literary Translators Association conference in Arizona!
Tonight was the annual theater-translation event: "Cold Beers and Cold Readings," including part of my translation of "Women on Radio" by Cristina Clemente. Some people are so good at unrehearsed performances! #ALTA48
Tonight was the annual theater-translation event: "Cold Beers and Cold Readings," including part of my translation of "Women on Radio" by Cristina Clemente. Some people are so good at unrehearsed performances! #ALTA48
Today's grammar lesson...
September 18, 2025 at 10:35 PM
Today's grammar lesson...
What better place to work on translating a stage play into English than in the Drama Book Shop in New York? Soaking up the creative energy...
#TranslatorsLife #translation #theater #theatre
#TranslatorsLife #translation #theater #theatre
September 17, 2025 at 6:26 PM
What better place to work on translating a stage play into English than in the Drama Book Shop in New York? Soaking up the creative energy...
#TranslatorsLife #translation #theater #theatre
#TranslatorsLife #translation #theater #theatre
My ego as a #translator is having an unusually good day. A publisher just referred to me as "the great Steven Capsuto" in a LinkedIn post, and I just read an interview with an author who thanked me for helping him make his book better. 😊 For a profession that usually gets ignored, that's all lovely.
September 16, 2025 at 10:03 PM
My ego as a #translator is having an unusually good day. A publisher just referred to me as "the great Steven Capsuto" in a LinkedIn post, and I just read an interview with an author who thanked me for helping him make his book better. 😊 For a profession that usually gets ignored, that's all lovely.
In the past, when I gave lectures based on a book, it was always one I had written and I knew the content inside out. But now, in the US, I'm the public face of a 600-page book written by someone else, which I translated into English.
#TranslatorsLife #translation #PublicSpeaking
#TranslatorsLife #translation #PublicSpeaking
September 14, 2025 at 9:23 PM
In the past, when I gave lectures based on a book, it was always one I had written and I knew the content inside out. But now, in the US, I'm the public face of a 600-page book written by someone else, which I translated into English.
#TranslatorsLife #translation #PublicSpeaking
#TranslatorsLife #translation #PublicSpeaking
In the days after Charlie Kirk's death, half the internet sounds like that awful guy at the office who keeps going up to women coworkers and saying, "What are you talking about? Bob's a great guy! *I've* never heard him harass anyone!" #CreepyAssholes
September 13, 2025 at 5:06 PM
In the days after Charlie Kirk's death, half the internet sounds like that awful guy at the office who keeps going up to women coworkers and saying, "What are you talking about? Bob's a great guy! *I've* never heard him harass anyone!" #CreepyAssholes
I'm now translating a wonderful new realist-drama play from Catalonia for a client: "Hands" by Llàtzer Garcia is a two-hander about a husband and wife, about recovery from mental illness, and about being caught between personal and professional needs. #theater #theatre #teatre #translation #català
September 12, 2025 at 1:33 AM
I'm now translating a wonderful new realist-drama play from Catalonia for a client: "Hands" by Llàtzer Garcia is a two-hander about a husband and wife, about recovery from mental illness, and about being caught between personal and professional needs. #theater #theatre #teatre #translation #català
Reposted by Steven Capsuto (translation and languages account)
This is such a funny element to the Kirk eulogizing: they can’t describe him the way they’re describing him *and* show clips of anything he actually said or did
I haven’t seen one news channel show a clip of him speaking in the last 4 hours
September 11, 2025 at 1:59 PM
This is such a funny element to the Kirk eulogizing: they can’t describe him the way they’re describing him *and* show clips of anything he actually said or did
Just got advance copies of a book I translated into English: "When Einstein Met Kafka: Jewish Contributions to the Modern World" by the Spanish cultural historian @diegomoldes.bsky.social.
The English edition comes out next week from Mandel Vilar Press. 😀 #translation #JewishBooks #JewishHistory
The English edition comes out next week from Mandel Vilar Press. 😀 #translation #JewishBooks #JewishHistory
"When Einstein Met Kafka": A book I translated comes out on Sept. 15!
YouTube video by Steven Capsuto - Translation & Language Services
www.youtube.com
September 12, 2025 at 1:08 AM
Just got advance copies of a book I translated into English: "When Einstein Met Kafka: Jewish Contributions to the Modern World" by the Spanish cultural historian @diegomoldes.bsky.social.
The English edition comes out next week from Mandel Vilar Press. 😀 #translation #JewishBooks #JewishHistory
The English edition comes out next week from Mandel Vilar Press. 😀 #translation #JewishBooks #JewishHistory
Reposted by Steven Capsuto (translation and languages account)
Live your life such that everyone doesn’t spend ten solid years planning the rager they’re going to throw when you die.
August 30, 2025 at 1:37 AM
Live your life such that everyone doesn’t spend ten solid years planning the rager they’re going to throw when you die.
I wake up troubled by deep political concerns, like...
The week Margaret Thatcher died, the song "Ding, Dong! The Witch is Dead!" charted in the UK. What song will chart in the US if the rumors about Trump are true?
The week Margaret Thatcher died, the song "Ding, Dong! The Witch is Dead!" charted in the UK. What song will chart in the US if the rumors about Trump are true?
August 30, 2025 at 2:02 PM
I wake up troubled by deep political concerns, like...
The week Margaret Thatcher died, the song "Ding, Dong! The Witch is Dead!" charted in the UK. What song will chart in the US if the rumors about Trump are true?
The week Margaret Thatcher died, the song "Ding, Dong! The Witch is Dead!" charted in the UK. What song will chart in the US if the rumors about Trump are true?
I'm excited about next week's Evolving Linguist Conference (Sept. 6, New Brunswick, NJ) organized by the Delaware Valley Translators Association and Rutgers (my alma mater), among others. I'll arrive on 9/5, probably humming On the Banks of the Old Raritan." 😃
#translation #translators #DVTA #NYCT
#translation #translators #DVTA #NYCT
Annual Conference - The Delaware Valley Translators Association
dvta.org
August 29, 2025 at 5:32 PM
I'm excited about next week's Evolving Linguist Conference (Sept. 6, New Brunswick, NJ) organized by the Delaware Valley Translators Association and Rutgers (my alma mater), among others. I'll arrive on 9/5, probably humming On the Banks of the Old Raritan." 😃
#translation #translators #DVTA #NYCT
#translation #translators #DVTA #NYCT
A lovely expression I wasn't previously familiar with: "Your booing means nothing to me, because I've seen what makes you cheer."
August 26, 2025 at 4:31 PM
A lovely expression I wasn't previously familiar with: "Your booing means nothing to me, because I've seen what makes you cheer."
As Lily Tomlin said decades ago: "Ninety-eight percent of the adults in this country are decent, hard-working, honest Americans. It's the other lousy two percent that get all the publicity. But then, we elected them."
August 15, 2025 at 5:07 AM
As Lily Tomlin said decades ago: "Ninety-eight percent of the adults in this country are decent, hard-working, honest Americans. It's the other lousy two percent that get all the publicity. But then, we elected them."
This week's fun mix of translation-into-English projects: two TV scripts, a private client's academic record, and then back to the stage play I've been translating. 😎 #translation #TranslatorsLife
August 4, 2025 at 3:52 PM
This week's fun mix of translation-into-English projects: two TV scripts, a private client's academic record, and then back to the stage play I've been translating. 😎 #translation #TranslatorsLife
Reposted by Steven Capsuto (translation and languages account)
“I've done almost every other kind of translation possible, but literature was out for me because of how much I love books,” Tejima says. “It was an untouchable thing. I was too scared to do it.”
ICYMI: At The Japan Times, don't miss this feature on past ALTA mentee Yuki Tejima!
ICYMI: At The Japan Times, don't miss this feature on past ALTA mentee Yuki Tejima!
Yuki Tejima's metamorphosis from bookworm to literary translator
An Instagram “bookfluencer” and professional translator for over 10 years, Tejima’s love of books was, strangely enough, a hurdle to working in literary translation.
www.japantimes.co.jp
August 4, 2025 at 2:30 PM
“I've done almost every other kind of translation possible, but literature was out for me because of how much I love books,” Tejima says. “It was an untouchable thing. I was too scared to do it.”
ICYMI: At The Japan Times, don't miss this feature on past ALTA mentee Yuki Tejima!
ICYMI: At The Japan Times, don't miss this feature on past ALTA mentee Yuki Tejima!
Reposted by Steven Capsuto (translation and languages account)
Same here. In the language pairs I translate most often (Spanish-English and Catalan-English), I can work from scratch much faster than I can edit a machine translation. If I had a special " #MTPE rate," it would be higher than my base rate. But instead, I only take #translation gigs.
August 1, 2025 at 7:00 PM
Same here. In the language pairs I translate most often (Spanish-English and Catalan-English), I can work from scratch much faster than I can edit a machine translation. If I had a special " #MTPE rate," it would be higher than my base rate. But instead, I only take #translation gigs.
Reposted by Steven Capsuto (translation and languages account)
I really want us to sit and consider that the Department of Justice is using their time and resources to read faculty senate statements that support having a diverse faculty.
www.insidehighered.com/news/quick-t...
www.insidehighered.com/news/quick-t...
Report: DOJ Investigating George Mason Faculty Senate
The Justice Department is now investigating the Faculty Senate at George Mason University after the panel backed the university president and affirmed that “diversity is our strength,” The New York Ti...
www.insidehighered.com
July 29, 2025 at 1:36 PM
I really want us to sit and consider that the Department of Justice is using their time and resources to read faculty senate statements that support having a diverse faculty.
www.insidehighered.com/news/quick-t...
www.insidehighered.com/news/quick-t...
In 99 degree weather, I'm pretty sure ice cream counts as "health food."
July 29, 2025 at 9:57 PM
In 99 degree weather, I'm pretty sure ice cream counts as "health food."
I don't know of this is an aftereffect of lockdown or what, but it seems people are so used to watching entertainment at home that they think it's okay and normal to have extensive conversations with each other at live #theater performances and take out their phones and text their friends. Rude.
July 28, 2025 at 1:44 AM
I don't know of this is an aftereffect of lockdown or what, but it seems people are so used to watching entertainment at home that they think it's okay and normal to have extensive conversations with each other at live #theater performances and take out their phones and text their friends. Rude.
Reposted by Steven Capsuto (translation and languages account)
RIP Tom Lehrer, truly one of the greatest to ever do it, a satirist beyond compare, a brilliant wordsmith, a cheeky fellow, I loved him and his work beyond reason.
Tom Lehrer, Musical Satirist With a Dark Streak, Dies at 97
www.nytimes.com
July 27, 2025 at 5:07 PM
RIP Tom Lehrer, truly one of the greatest to ever do it, a satirist beyond compare, a brilliant wordsmith, a cheeky fellow, I loved him and his work beyond reason.
I'm currently reading Joachim Lépine's new book aimed at freelancers and especially at translators: "AI Resilient." I'm not far into it (and so can't say much about the book), but I'm struck by his take on the inadequacy of a lot of translation education...
July 26, 2025 at 6:44 AM
I'm currently reading Joachim Lépine's new book aimed at freelancers and especially at translators: "AI Resilient." I'm not far into it (and so can't say much about the book), but I'm struck by his take on the inadequacy of a lot of translation education...
I just booked my tickets for the American Literary Translators Association conference, which will take place this November in Tucson. I look forward to seeing and learning from the smart, interesting, creative people who attend ALTA! #ALTA48 #translation #LiteraryTranslation #WorldLiterature
July 23, 2025 at 11:01 PM
I just booked my tickets for the American Literary Translators Association conference, which will take place this November in Tucson. I look forward to seeing and learning from the smart, interesting, creative people who attend ALTA! #ALTA48 #translation #LiteraryTranslation #WorldLiterature
Whoever invented televisions that you can't turn off and on without a working TV remote is very naughty and needs to be punished.
July 23, 2025 at 3:32 PM
Whoever invented televisions that you can't turn off and on without a working TV remote is very naughty and needs to be punished.
In the #translation of #theater scripts, the biggest change I've noticed over the last 15 years is that, unless there's something very culturally specific about a play, many contemporary playwrights now want their scripts adapted so they take place in the country where it's being performed.
July 23, 2025 at 2:40 PM
In the #translation of #theater scripts, the biggest change I've noticed over the last 15 years is that, unless there's something very culturally specific about a play, many contemporary playwrights now want their scripts adapted so they take place in the country where it's being performed.