March 27, 2020 Often online English language dictionaries will define fernweh simply as “wanderlust” and then explain that it means a “desire to travel”. But these bland definitions are way off the mark. Plus, there’s a big difference. Fernweh actually grew out of wanderlust, a popular word in the 19th-Century German romantic movement which valued a love of nature that stemmed from a sudden Teutonic interest in exploring Central Europe’s forests and untrammelled landscapes.

http://www.bbc.com/travel/story/20200323-the-travel-ache-you-cant-translate

March 23, 2020 A typical piece of Western narrative involves the device of representing well-known facts as a Russian interpretation of them:

Putin is a master of gaslighting. He has persuaded many of his Western colleagues that bad relations are the fault of the West; NATO and the EU, for instance, expanded towards Russia’s borders, the West interfered in Russia’s neighbourhood, and did not respect Russia’s views on Libya or Syria. 

https://www.euronews.com/2020/03/17/a-word-of-advice-to-western-leaders-talk-to-putin-but-don-t-let-him-gaslight-you-view

March 21, 2020 Baylor University marketing professors Meredith David and Jim Roberts are scholars of consumer behaviour. They’ve examined the impact of smartphone use in romantic relationships and friendships. To describe the act of ignoring someone in favour of a phone, they use the term “phubbing” – an apt if somewhat awkward portmanteau of “snub” and “phone”.

https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20200316-how-your-phone-damages-trust-with-your-colleagues

March 17, 2020 Not only Trump resorts to ambivalent messages in his tweets! If you try to back-translate you will always miss the target! 

Парень понимает, насколько родителям важно всегда быть первыми, — так не будем же лишать их этой возможности

«Когда завтра мама напишет вам, что Том Хэнкс заразился коронавирусом, не расстраивайте ее, что вы уже читали. Пусть ей будет приятно».

Tomorrow when your mom texts you that Tom Hanks has the Coronavirus. Don’t tell her you already know. Let her have this one.

https://inosmi.ru/social/20200317/247064935.html

https://twitter.com/tommyjohnagin/status/1237957894273814528

March 13, 2020 Did Russia impede the investigation? 

Although Russia argues it has long offered to co-operate with the inquiry, it has also presented several versions of what brought down MH17.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-51725417

There are two normal sequences:

1. Although Russia has long offered to co-operate with the inquiry, it has not.  The contrast required by the subordinate clause maintains its logic.

2. Russia has long offered to co-operate with the inquiry, and it has presented several versions of what brought down MH17. The conjunction "and" eliminates the ambivalence of the original  that Steve Rosenberg prefers to keep as dog whistling implicating Russia in some malicious designs.

March 11, 2020 Donald Trump’s Dog Whistles

The stock defense among embattled politicians in general — and Mr. Trump in particular — is a story of “us” harassed by “them.” For Mr. Trump, this often means painting his antagonists in racist and anti-Semitic hues.

Donald Trump’s bombast boils down to this: “If you hate minority groups, you’ll love me, ’cause I’m gonna Make America White Again.”

To understand the power of the racial rhetoric frequently used by Republican Party candidates, we cobbled together and solicited reactions to this statement:

Taking a second look at people coming from terrorist countries who wish us harm or at people from places overrun with drugs and criminal gangs is just common sense. And so is curbing illegal immigration, so our communities are no longer flooded with people who refuse to follow our laws.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/15/opinion/debate-dog-whistle.html

March 7, 2020 Güey, ¿me haces un paro?' 

Translation: "Do a favor for me?" "Güey" can be an in-group solidarity marker, usually associated with certain regions of Mexico; literally meaning 'ox', it can be used to belittle someone and/or their intelligence. Therefore, you could only use it with friends without running the risk of a confrontation. To use it in-group, however, is an indication of friendship/solidarity, depending on intonation.

March 3, 2020 Every translator knows the name of Grice.

The general principles Grice proposed are what he called the Cooperative principle and the Maxims of Conversation. According to Grice, the cooperative principle is a norm governing all cooperative interactions among humans.

Cooperative Principle: "Make your contribution such as it is required, at the stage at which it occurs, by the accepted purpose or direction of the talk exchange in which you are engaged." (Grice 1989: 26).

The conversational maxims can be thought of as precisifications of the cooperative principle that deal specifically with communication.

March 1, 2020 For many people New York was, quite literally, the gateway to the New World, and the city’s unique identity has been formed by the generations of immigrants who have flowed through, or settled in, the city. And clearly even for Americans from other parts of the US, it has always represented a new world, a place where one comes to start afresh, create a new identity, and, perhaps, achieve success. Above all, it seems, New York’s culture is testament to the reinvigorating effects of a diverse, multi-cultural population.

http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20200127-three-artworks-that-define-new-york