Pablo Neruda

Jun 8, 2012 by

Pablo Neruda

We don’t read a lot of translated books around these parts–these parts being the US. Only around 3% of what we read here is translated text; mostly, US readers either read books in their original language, which is often English, but not always. We’re not savages, many US citizens are indeed bilingual (yes, including me – I speak Hebrew, though I learned it against my will. It was required of any Jewish child in my family). We’ll get into why I don’t call us Americans at a later date. That is not a rant for today. Today I am sharing a fascinating article about book translation and how amazing a job it is. When you translate a book, you dig deep into the meaning of the author, you almost delve into their mind. I...

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Expressionless

Jun 6, 2012 by

Expressionless

There are more expressions than frowning, smiling, laughing and crying. One eyebrow can loft quizzically. The side of her mouth could quirk upwards. His brow can furrow dangerously. Her lips could twitch as she tries to control her laughter. He looks towards the ceiling at the stupid thing she said, she worries at her bottom lip. The thing about expressions is that there are very few just alike. Practicing in the mirror is good, yes, but so is people-watching. Real people, not movies – the actors in movies are highly over-played, even when it doesn’t seem so. Turn off the sound sometime, leave off the captions. Really watch a sitcom that way. Who actually puts up both hands, shrugs both shoulders, widens their eyes and shakes their head too? Have you ever actually seen someone...

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