The AIIC Webzine

Are you fed up with finding the hackneyed headline "Lost in Translation" atop every media report vaguely related to language? I am. How far has this plague spread? I googled the catchphrase and came up with 3.8 million references. Food for thought.

What you need to know to make your first steps into the profession.

Conference Interpreters are professional voice users who face enormous challenges. Like actors and television presenters they must carry someone else's story convincingly enough to achieve the intended impact. Yet unlike other performers they have no preparation time and they must deliver to the audience while a large area of their attention is focused on interpreting the message and making appropriate linguistic choices.

At a popular bar in Tainan (Taiwan), a Polish-Canadian girl was celebrating her graduation from the International MBA program. She spoke English at near native level, with only an occasional hint of her Polish origin. Two new IMBA students had been invited to the party; they had just arrived from Poland and were happy to have found one of the few people on the island who spoke their language.

La crise financière est arrivée, avec ses métaphores de gros temps sur la planète, balayant les images du frivole et de l'éphémère pour laisser la place au sérieux, à la gravité, au marasme et à la déprime. Une partie du vocabulaire de l'actualité d'hier a été emportée dans la tempête, mais des mots, des personnages et des concepts récents se sont installés dans le langage courant. Voici un petit glossaire de français branché pour vous aider à décrypter les infos.

Radio, press, films and books are on display in this tour of the Internet. Borges and translation, an interview with a former interpreter in Iraq, and a recent documentary on two scientists traveling in search of disappearing languages are just some of the offerings.