July 31, 2019 "As unstable and ever changing as the race-nation-language triad is, it has been central in the development of the European nationalisms. When herder imagined one nation, one language, one people, the people he had in mind belonged to the race German, defined by the biology of blood. until 1999, German citizenship was predicated on the principle of jus sanguinis 'right of blood,' in contrast to jus soli 'right of soil,' which meant German citizenship was available to anyone able to prove German descent but not to immigrants and their children born in Germany" [Andresen, 2016: 79].

July 27, 2019 Martin Heidegger had some very valuable contributions into the treasure of aphorisms about the language:

1. Everyone is the other, and no one is himself. 

2. Making itself intelligible is suicide for philosophy. 

3. Man acts as though he were the shaper and master of language, while in fact language remains the master of man.  

July 23, 2019 It is unclear if Zelensky understands that the true source of his popular support is the desire for normalcy with Russia. It is unclear if he can avoid the trap of nationalism that has alienated at least half the country. Continuing along that path will lead to endless civil conflict. Dialogue requires an entirely different mindset, one that Ukrainians may be ready to embrace even if their political leaders are not.

https://nationalinterest.org/feature/will-nationalism-poison-ukraines-new-president-66897

Остается неясным, действительно ли Зеленский понимает, что истинный источник его популярности среди украинцев — это стремление к нормальным отношениям с Россией. Неясно также и то, сможет ли он избежать ловушки национализма, которая уже оттолкнула от руководства страны как минимум половину жителей страны. Если и дальше идти по этому пути, это приведет к бесконечному гражданскому конфликту. Диалог требует совершенно иного мышления — такого мышления, на которое украинцы вполне готовы настроиться, даже если их политические лидеры не готовы это сделать.

https://inosmi.ru/politic/20190715/245468070.html

Translation into Russian of the metaphoric meaning of "embrace" usually involves additions of the adverbials of manner "с радостью". "с восторгом","с воодушевлением" и др.

July 21, 2019 Three disputable correspondences to be accounted for:

If each decade has its cultural touchstones, the products of the 1980ssing out their ballads of good versus evil, their mythical vanquishers, and their naïveté that endures beyond all credibility. And so the paranoia and the ingenuousness of Stranger Things go naturally hand in hand.

https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2019/07/stranger-things-3-american-paranoia-review/593185/

У каждого десятилетия есть свои культурные ориентиры, и произведения 1980-х, этакие баллады о добре и зле, воспевают мифических победителей с наивностью, которая не лезет ни в какие ворота. Именно поэтому паранойя и изобретательность в «Очень странных делах» идут рука об руку.

https://inosmi.ru/culture/20190716/245467733.html

July 17, 2019 Some people claim that the fewer "viewpoints" a translator has the better. However, translators are always facing a choice: “Some translators prioritise the original author, others put their readers first”. [Bassnett, 2011: XIII] Does this mean that one undergoes a kind of personality change when one changes languages? Sure, it does! The great Brazilian translator Augosto de Campos sees translation as a metamorphic process whereby the translator enters into the skin of another being.

July 13, 2019 Italiens seem to talk a great deal about digestive problems: livers, for example, or kidney problems. Americans talk about allergies, whereas Russians would attribute similar symptoms to changes inpressure. What this means, of course, is that one can have different kinds of conversation about different topics in different languages. I always talk about my health in Italy; I never do likewise in England. Does this mean that one undergoes a kind of personality change when one changes languages? The evidence leads to such aconclusion. [Susan Bassnett. Reflections on Translation]

July 11, 2019 “Every time some Western observer says ‘Russians did this, Russia did that,’ I say: ‘You describe Russians like they are Germans and Americans. We are not.’ I also ask: ‘Do you know the word bardak?’ ” I did. “If you don’t know the word bardak, you are an idiot and not an analyst of Russia. Because bardak is disorder, it’s fiasco.” Pukhov’s point about bardak — which technically means “mess” but is also used colloquially to describe utter chaos — was that Russia’s political system isn’t a streamlined, top-down dictatorship. Only naïveté, paranoia or both could convince you that the system functioned efficiently enough to execute a grand global anything.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/25/magazine/russia-united-states-world-politics.html?login=email&auth=login-email

July 7, 2019 It would be appropriate for the author of the article to explain the reasons for his calling Trump’s behavior “inappropriate”. The silencing of the explanation sends signals that it is taken for granted as the only natural strategy:

The only point of dissonance was Trump’s dismissive reaction when asked during the pre-meeting press-op whether he would raise the issue of electoral interference with Putin. Trump turned toward Putin and joked, “Don’t meddle in the election, please.” Both smiled. The American media tried to make an issue of this response, and some Democratic leaders ritually denounced it. Nevertheless, even though Trump’s behavior was indeed inappropriate, this episode is unlikely to gain much traction.

https://www.russiamatters.org/analysis/osaka-meeting-tide-turning-us-russian-relations

How does the epithet “inappropriate” fit into the cognitive scenario of the following admission:

"...with special counsel Robert Mueller’s conclusion that there was no election collusion between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin, Russiagate has become a less salient issue for the American electorate, and those who spent two years hyping it have lost credibility."

July 3, 2019 David Machin and Andrea Mayr in “How To Do Critical Discourse Analysis“:
"If we assume that language has the role to deceive as well as inform, then grammar will contain forms that allow us to avoid making certain kinds of distinctions. Modals encode probabilities and certainties, but conceal time and power”. 

July 1, 2019 Studying language allows us … Ask your students to complete the sentence in such a way so as to suggest new ideas in linguistics. Only after the so called cultural turn did scholars start to produce such ideas as: “Studying language allows us to understand the way people exercise power and, in turn, ways this can be resisted” [Annabelle Mooney and Betsy Evans. Language, society and power].