Melvyn Clarke
@zehrovak.bsky.social
The Czech-English translator – not the Carshalton ironmonger's. Latest translations include books on Cz Legions in Siberia and Cz astronomers worldwide. Getting down to the nuts and bolts of translation theory. Thingy/doodah.
Reposted by Melvyn Clarke
Happy publication day! 🌟 "Translation and Infrastructure: Concepts and Applications", co-authored by Anne O'Connor and myself in Translation Studies, is now available in #OpenAccess. #translation #infrastructuralthinking www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Translation and infrastructure: concepts and applications
Engagement with infrastructural thinking, prominent in the humanities, social sciences, and science and technology, has received little attention in translation studies. This article argues that tr...
www.tandfonline.com
November 18, 2025 at 3:58 PM
Happy publication day! 🌟 "Translation and Infrastructure: Concepts and Applications", co-authored by Anne O'Connor and myself in Translation Studies, is now available in #OpenAccess. #translation #infrastructuralthinking www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Autumn in the Giant Mountains
October 22, 2025 at 9:33 PM
Autumn in the Giant Mountains
Reposted by Melvyn Clarke
The art of literary translation is a source of fascination and amazement to me now-- I will never skim over another translator's name again--Charlotte Mandell @avecsesdoigts.bsky.social brought a book I had read 3 times into miraculous new realms on a 4th read.
“Charlotte Mandell had written the English words I was reading, whose power and beauty left me gasping and stunned.”
Bryan Alistair Charles discusses Proust in translation with translator and ALTA member Charlotte Mandell at Lit Hub: @literaryhub.bsky.social
Bryan Alistair Charles discusses Proust in translation with translator and ALTA member Charlotte Mandell at Lit Hub: @literaryhub.bsky.social
On Translating Proust and the Art of Not Reading Ahead
Le devoir et la tâche d’un écrivain sont ceux d’un traducteur. –Marcel Proust, Le Temps retrouvé * The duty and the task of a writer are those of a translator. –The Past Recaptured, tra…
lithub.com
October 10, 2025 at 3:33 PM
The art of literary translation is a source of fascination and amazement to me now-- I will never skim over another translator's name again--Charlotte Mandell @avecsesdoigts.bsky.social brought a book I had read 3 times into miraculous new realms on a 4th read.
Reposted by Melvyn Clarke
New at PB: Jed Kudrick & @sdileonardi.bsky.social use data from the NYT bestseller list to map 3 popular waves of literature in translation in the US: the postwar popularity of European titles, the "Latin American boom," & the more recent explosion of Nordic noir.
How Translations Sell: Three U.S. Eras of International Bestsellers
A translation renaissance in US publishing just ended. And you probably missed it.
www.publicbooks.org
September 20, 2025 at 1:35 PM
Reposted by Melvyn Clarke
🤓 From my blog archives: #Translators, are you guilty of nerd view?
asmarttranslatorsreunion.wordpress.com/2020/09/15/t...
asmarttranslatorsreunion.wordpress.com/2020/09/15/t...
Translators, are you guilty of nerdview?
Nerdview. What’s that then? A term first coined by Geoff Pullum of Language Log in 2008, it can be defined as taking the perspective of an insider when attempting to communicat…
asmarttranslatorsreunion.wordpress.com
August 28, 2025 at 2:34 PM
🤓 From my blog archives: #Translators, are you guilty of nerd view?
asmarttranslatorsreunion.wordpress.com/2020/09/15/t...
asmarttranslatorsreunion.wordpress.com/2020/09/15/t...
Reposted by Melvyn Clarke
smoothly
➡️
comme une lettre à la poste
Ex.:
🇬🇧 The rollout of the new guidelines will not go smoothly this time around.
🇫🇷 La mise en œuvre des nouvelles directives ne passera pas comme une lettre à la poste cette fois.
#xl8
➡️
comme une lettre à la poste
Ex.:
🇬🇧 The rollout of the new guidelines will not go smoothly this time around.
🇫🇷 La mise en œuvre des nouvelles directives ne passera pas comme une lettre à la poste cette fois.
#xl8
August 18, 2025 at 6:58 PM
smoothly
➡️
comme une lettre à la poste
Ex.:
🇬🇧 The rollout of the new guidelines will not go smoothly this time around.
🇫🇷 La mise en œuvre des nouvelles directives ne passera pas comme une lettre à la poste cette fois.
#xl8
➡️
comme une lettre à la poste
Ex.:
🇬🇧 The rollout of the new guidelines will not go smoothly this time around.
🇫🇷 La mise en œuvre des nouvelles directives ne passera pas comme une lettre à la poste cette fois.
#xl8
Reposted by Melvyn Clarke
Oh, Lara, I hear you!
#literarytranslation #pitchingtranslations
wordswithoutborders.org/read/article...
#literarytranslation #pitchingtranslations
wordswithoutborders.org/read/article...
A Primer on Pitching Translations - Words Without Borders
Award-winning translator Lara Vergnaud offers a tongue-in-cheek guide for translators in search of a publisher.
wordswithoutborders.org
August 19, 2025 at 4:57 PM
Oh, Lara, I hear you!
#literarytranslation #pitchingtranslations
wordswithoutborders.org/read/article...
#literarytranslation #pitchingtranslations
wordswithoutborders.org/read/article...
Reposted by Melvyn Clarke
to be inspired to
➡️
avoir le déclic pour
Ex.:
🇬🇧 When we settled in Spain, we were inspired to become vegetarians.
🇫🇷 En posant nos valises en Espagne, nous avons eu ce déclic pour devenir végétariens.
#xl8 #translation
➡️
avoir le déclic pour
Ex.:
🇬🇧 When we settled in Spain, we were inspired to become vegetarians.
🇫🇷 En posant nos valises en Espagne, nous avons eu ce déclic pour devenir végétariens.
#xl8 #translation
August 6, 2025 at 12:04 PM
to be inspired to
➡️
avoir le déclic pour
Ex.:
🇬🇧 When we settled in Spain, we were inspired to become vegetarians.
🇫🇷 En posant nos valises en Espagne, nous avons eu ce déclic pour devenir végétariens.
#xl8 #translation
➡️
avoir le déclic pour
Ex.:
🇬🇧 When we settled in Spain, we were inspired to become vegetarians.
🇫🇷 En posant nos valises en Espagne, nous avons eu ce déclic pour devenir végétariens.
#xl8 #translation
Reposted by Melvyn Clarke
next to nothing
➡️
trois fois rien
Ex.:
This dish cost me next to nothing.
Ce plat m'a coûté trois fois rien.
#xl8 #translation
➡️
trois fois rien
Ex.:
This dish cost me next to nothing.
Ce plat m'a coûté trois fois rien.
#xl8 #translation
July 11, 2025 at 11:59 AM
next to nothing
➡️
trois fois rien
Ex.:
This dish cost me next to nothing.
Ce plat m'a coûté trois fois rien.
#xl8 #translation
➡️
trois fois rien
Ex.:
This dish cost me next to nothing.
Ce plat m'a coûté trois fois rien.
#xl8 #translation
Reposted by Melvyn Clarke
#xl8 🌐
“Would we get a different view of translation, one that is both more illuminating and more appreciative, if we turned to translators themselves?”
The Translator’s Dilemma: Thinking Versus Doing?
Would we get a different view of translation if we turned to translators themselves?
www.publicbooks.org
May 13, 2025 at 7:37 PM
#xl8 🌐
My latest book review:
Translation and genre by B. J. Woodstein
Translation and genre by B. J. Woodstein
Melvyn's review of Translation and Genre
4/5: A useful summary of the ways in which some genre conventions can affect translation decision-making. Genres and text types covered include women's writing, drama, LGBTQ+, crime fiction, children'...
www.goodreads.com
April 21, 2025 at 7:17 PM
My latest book review:
Translation and genre by B. J. Woodstein
Translation and genre by B. J. Woodstein
Reposted by Melvyn Clarke
This valuable discussion of how literary translation works raises points often missed in discussions of genealogical translation. #genealogy #translation
How to read like a translator — Harvard Gazette
Damion Searls ’92 talks process, sentence structure, and what makes a chair a chair.
news.harvard.edu
March 31, 2025 at 4:58 PM
This valuable discussion of how literary translation works raises points often missed in discussions of genealogical translation. #genealogy #translation
What do you think of Wittgenstein's assertion (re family resemblances) that all games have common features, but no one feature is found in all of them? Surely not. I think competition is the common element even in a game like ring-a-ring-a-roses. At least the way I used to play it when I was five.
March 20, 2025 at 3:40 PM
What do you think of Wittgenstein's assertion (re family resemblances) that all games have common features, but no one feature is found in all of them? Surely not. I think competition is the common element even in a game like ring-a-ring-a-roses. At least the way I used to play it when I was five.
I find some academic writers insist on avoiding any and all repetition in their texts with the same grim determination as someone of lesser years superstitiously avoiding nicks in the pavement (cracks in the sidewalk to you). So I have collected a few notes on the subject to allay their fears.
Repetition in academic texts
Various notes on repetition in academic texts: Knittlova notes: Opakování lexikalní jednotky v nezměněné podobě považuje česká stylistic...
zehrovak.blogspot.com
March 14, 2025 at 7:29 PM
I find some academic writers insist on avoiding any and all repetition in their texts with the same grim determination as someone of lesser years superstitiously avoiding nicks in the pavement (cracks in the sidewalk to you). So I have collected a few notes on the subject to allay their fears.
When I were a lad it took me under four minutes to boil an egg to optimum viscosity, i.e. what the Czechs call "na hniličku", i.e. overripe-pear consistency, not too runny but not too hard to dunk your soldiers in. Now it takes almost twice as long. Makes you wonder what is going on. :-)
January 18, 2025 at 5:43 PM
When I were a lad it took me under four minutes to boil an egg to optimum viscosity, i.e. what the Czechs call "na hniličku", i.e. overripe-pear consistency, not too runny but not too hard to dunk your soldiers in. Now it takes almost twice as long. Makes you wonder what is going on. :-)
Reposted by Melvyn Clarke
Looking things up in an old-fashioned paper dictionary (and finding things that I couldn't online). Feels very odd!
#xl8 #amtranslating #amediting
#xl8 #amtranslating #amediting
December 13, 2024 at 1:10 PM
Looking things up in an old-fashioned paper dictionary (and finding things that I couldn't online). Feels very odd!
#xl8 #amtranslating #amediting
#xl8 #amtranslating #amediting
Reposted by Melvyn Clarke
@irinadumitrescu.bsky.social reviews three novels featuring translators as their protagonists.
#xl8 #translation
#xl8 #translation
Thanks @lawrenceschimel.bsky.social for bringing this article to our attention! 🙂
www.thedial.world/articles/new...
www.thedial.world/articles/new...
The Treachery of Translation — The Dial
Three novels explore the power of translation.
www.thedial.world
November 29, 2024 at 12:50 PM
@irinadumitrescu.bsky.social reviews three novels featuring translators as their protagonists.
#xl8 #translation
#xl8 #translation
Reposted by Melvyn Clarke
Wow! Just watched S6 E13 of Deep Space Nine, Far Beyond the Stars. It’s a tour de force from all involved. Simply one of finest episodes of storytelling in the entire Trek canon.
#bydhttmwfi
#bydhttmwfi
November 20, 2024 at 7:10 AM
Wow! Just watched S6 E13 of Deep Space Nine, Far Beyond the Stars. It’s a tour de force from all involved. Simply one of finest episodes of storytelling in the entire Trek canon.
#bydhttmwfi
#bydhttmwfi
Reposted by Melvyn Clarke
I love this definition of translation by Daniel Hahn, from his book Catching Fire - A Translation Diary:
"Writing someone else's book, but backwards and in high heels"
I highly recommend this book to all translators (and to anyone who thinks AI can replace translators).
#translation #xl8
"Writing someone else's book, but backwards and in high heels"
I highly recommend this book to all translators (and to anyone who thinks AI can replace translators).
#translation #xl8
November 16, 2024 at 1:13 PM
I love this definition of translation by Daniel Hahn, from his book Catching Fire - A Translation Diary:
"Writing someone else's book, but backwards and in high heels"
I highly recommend this book to all translators (and to anyone who thinks AI can replace translators).
#translation #xl8
"Writing someone else's book, but backwards and in high heels"
I highly recommend this book to all translators (and to anyone who thinks AI can replace translators).
#translation #xl8
Message just in from #translator colleague Carleton Bulkin: "Thanks again for the suggestion to translate Marťané, and for your review of an early draft!"
The Martians: A groundbreaking 1922 #decopunk novella—the first work of #sci-fi by a #Czech woman (Emilie Procházková).
#WomenInTranslation
The Martians: A groundbreaking 1922 #decopunk novella—the first work of #sci-fi by a #Czech woman (Emilie Procházková).
#WomenInTranslation
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www.facebook.com
November 14, 2024 at 6:27 PM
Message just in from #translator colleague Carleton Bulkin: "Thanks again for the suggestion to translate Marťané, and for your review of an early draft!"
The Martians: A groundbreaking 1922 #decopunk novella—the first work of #sci-fi by a #Czech woman (Emilie Procházková).
#WomenInTranslation
The Martians: A groundbreaking 1922 #decopunk novella—the first work of #sci-fi by a #Czech woman (Emilie Procházková).
#WomenInTranslation
Reposted by Melvyn Clarke
- digression is highly praised in literature in some cultures. Western obsession with every word having to progress things is not universal.
- Sherlock Holmes in Chinese translation: Chinese title often gives away the twist "The gem found in the goose's stomach." Focus on the process not answer.
- Sherlock Holmes in Chinese translation: Chinese title often gives away the twist "The gem found in the goose's stomach." Focus on the process not answer.
November 9, 2024 at 11:36 PM
- digression is highly praised in literature in some cultures. Western obsession with every word having to progress things is not universal.
- Sherlock Holmes in Chinese translation: Chinese title often gives away the twist "The gem found in the goose's stomach." Focus on the process not answer.
- Sherlock Holmes in Chinese translation: Chinese title often gives away the twist "The gem found in the goose's stomach." Focus on the process not answer.
I keep bumping into the Grimm Brothers in my Czech-English literary #translation work, in which Central European fairy tales sometimes pop up quite unexpectedly. For example, a trip through the Bohemian forests echoes with allusions to Little Red Riding Hood. Intrigued, I investigated further...
Review: The Brothers Grimm: From Enchanted Forests to the Modern World
From my latest Goodreads review : The role of magic in the Grimm Brothers' fairy tales "The critique of unjust social and political condit...
zehrovak.blogspot.com
November 9, 2024 at 10:56 PM
I keep bumping into the Grimm Brothers in my Czech-English literary #translation work, in which Central European fairy tales sometimes pop up quite unexpectedly. For example, a trip through the Bohemian forests echoes with allusions to Little Red Riding Hood. Intrigued, I investigated further...
Reposted by Melvyn Clarke
Hey, translator friends!
I just created a translation feed for us all!
To be included, use any hashtag starting with #transla (such as #translate, #translator, #translating, or #translation), starting with #LiteraryTransla (such as #LiteraryTranslator), or #AmTranslating.
bsky.app/profile/did:...
I just created a translation feed for us all!
To be included, use any hashtag starting with #transla (such as #translate, #translator, #translating, or #translation), starting with #LiteraryTransla (such as #LiteraryTranslator), or #AmTranslating.
bsky.app/profile/did:...
November 4, 2023 at 4:26 PM
Hey, translator friends!
I just created a translation feed for us all!
To be included, use any hashtag starting with #transla (such as #translate, #translator, #translating, or #translation), starting with #LiteraryTransla (such as #LiteraryTranslator), or #AmTranslating.
bsky.app/profile/did:...
I just created a translation feed for us all!
To be included, use any hashtag starting with #transla (such as #translate, #translator, #translating, or #translation), starting with #LiteraryTransla (such as #LiteraryTranslator), or #AmTranslating.
bsky.app/profile/did:...
A Czech classic #LGBTQIA novel written by Jiří Karásek ze Lvovic in 1907 now available in English #translation by Carleton Bulkin as a free e-book. www.facebook.com/share/p/MCHb...
Redirecting...
www.facebook.com
October 16, 2024 at 7:57 PM
A Czech classic #LGBTQIA novel written by Jiří Karásek ze Lvovic in 1907 now available in English #translation by Carleton Bulkin as a free e-book. www.facebook.com/share/p/MCHb...
Reposted by Melvyn Clarke
Yay! Let's always #NameTheTranslator #xl8
Behold! The Chicago Manual of Style, 18th Edition agrees:
#NameTheTranslator on the cover.
#TranslatorsOnTheCover #Translation #LiteraryTranslation #WorldLit #WorldKidLit #KidLit #xl8
#NameTheTranslator on the cover.
#TranslatorsOnTheCover #Translation #LiteraryTranslation #WorldLit #WorldKidLit #KidLit #xl8
October 11, 2024 at 7:11 PM
Yay! Let's always #NameTheTranslator #xl8