1

What do you
want to be
when you
grow up?
Surfing, Sinking
and Swimming

A
in Mexico
TheNovember
Magazine for
2019, Issue #18Language Lovers : IssueThe#18
Silly Linguistics: : for
Magazine November
Language Lovers19
2

3 S is for ...Surfing, Sinking, and Swimming

By Chris Davy

Featured Topic: Translation

C
6 Interview: Paul Kaye – EU Translator
By Paula Zamorano Osorio

10 Lost In Translation

O
By Gil Cohen

13 Translation – Meeting of Cultures

By Aleksandra Kowalczyk

16 Translation in Turkey
By Valentin Pradelou

18 Linear B
N
By Emma Tolmie

21 Linguistics Actually 2: When I Grow Up...

By Molly Cooke
T
23 Narrative Abilities
By Camille Masson E
N
24 Russian In Mexico
By Lida Bakhova

T
S
November 2019, Issue #18 Silly Linguistics: The Magazine for Language Lovers
 three 3

By Chris Davy
I can’t surf. I mean, I’m pre�y confident that I could.
I’m pre�y good at sport. I’ve always been fairly
athle�c. I even grew up by the coast; not in a town
where you could really ‘surf surf’, but in one where
you can windsurf, and kiteboard. My point being,
those things aren’t en�rely alien to me like some of
you city dweller or deep in the countryside folk. I had
the surroundings to be able to prac�se and perfect
these things if I wanted to. For the record, that town
is Exmouth, Devon. But windsurfing and
kiteboarding never took my fancy enough to bother
trying it. One reason being that, as a kid I developed
a bit of a phobia of water. These days I would call it
developed my self-awareness, rather than a fear. But
yeah, at the �me, the experience was something

S is for…
that put me off really being bothered about water
sports.

Basically, I was at a fun swim with a mate. We were

climbing on the big massive inflatable and all that

Surfing, stuff. I was trying to climb on to it, but the kid in front
of me slipped and kicked me smack bang in the face.
I black out momentarily and fall under the water.

Sinking, and This kid by the way, he probably had no idea what
was going on. So, it’s ok we can let him off for not
checking to see if I was ok. Hell, I don’t even know if
it was a boy. Anyway, a bit dazed and confused I
Swimming came to the surface. I was a bit freaked out, so I got
out and then decided I wanted to go home; much to
my friend’s dismay. But, like a lot of things, it was just
a bit of a psychological wake up call. I was about,
let’s say 10. At the �me, I didn’t really know what
had happened. But basically, I didn’t feel safe. No
one saw me, and in my li�le head, worst case
scenario was I could have drowned. Bit drama�c
perhaps, but that’s the reality of it. You’ll be pleased
to know; I have been swimming a bunch of �mes
since that day. Yay me! But in general, I never swim
that much. Given the choice, I’ve always been fairly
content on land. But I totally should, swimming is
awesome.

CHRIS, WHAT ON EARTH HAS THIS GOT TO DO WITH

LEARNING LANGUAGE?!!? Well…for a lot of us,

November 2019, Issue #18 Silly Linguistics: The Magazine for Language Lovers
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unless we’ve had a fantas�c teacher, or bilingual

family member or friend perhaps, we are going to
have to teach ourselves how to learn and use
language; especially a foreign one. Ul�mately, that’s
what we are going to have to do even a�er we’ve
been ‘taught how to use language’, anyway. Give
yourself some �me to process that.

Let me try and elaborate. Amongst other things, I

failed to become a driving instructor; I never
qualified, but I did all the training. One of the main
things that I took away from my training however,
was that you basically come to accept the fact that
once you’ve taught someone up to a standard, it’s
then up to them, and well within their rights for
them to drive however they want to. Everyone is
going to develop their own style. Obviously, that
said, when it comes to driving, I’m a pre�y big fan of
the concept of the Highway Code; pre�y good idea
that.

But the point is the same goes for language.

Everyone is going to develop their own style. The key
word here being develop.

So, in an a�empt to try and bring this all together. On

the day that I got kicked in the face. I could ‘swim’. I
had been taught well enough to ‘swim on my own’. I
wasn’t in an S is for…Sink or Swim Situa�on. I was
most definitely in an S is for…Swim Situa�on. I had
been ‘swimming’ a bunch of �mes. But then BLAM,
I got kicked in the face!!! And I didn’t have the tools
to be able to cope with it; as in shoulder the moment
and get back in the pool. So, the ques�on really is,
had I actually been taught how to swim?

Like, have you actually been taught how to learn and

how to use language? Have any of us for that
ma�er? Or is it just something that we con�nually
learn?

We’ve all had moments I’m sure when we’ve said or

wri�en something, someone has called us out on it,
or we know that ‘technically’ we were incorrect in
our use of language. Then we might get angry,

November 2019, Issue #18 Silly Linguistics: The Magazine for Language Lovers
 five 5

frustrated or embarrassed and then shy away from doing what we were actually doing. Or something to
that effect.

I learnt a lot of lessons about the English language the ‘hard way’. I was born in Wolverhampton and grew
up in Exmouth, then I studied in Kingston in Surrey. It’s fair to say that I have a pre�y crazy and unique
way of speaking some�mes. My intui�ve understanding of communica�on, accents, dialects and
colloquialisms has been as much a necessity of survival as it has been out of genuine interest. I don’t
always know from a scholas�c point of view what I’m talking about. But I do know, that I don’t need to
know. In part, I definitely had to learn how to communicate using the old S is for…Sink or swim method.
Which is why I feel like I’m en�tled to say I am somewhat of a self-professed expert on it. Because, I
haven’t just grown up in one place and then go on to study it, mate. I’ve lived it. I’m talking from
experience. And I can tell you, yes, yes, yes, language and people’s use of it is absolutely 10 million
percent bonkers. So, my advice is, if you are trying to learn how to use language I can almost guarantee
that you will benefit from understanding a school of thought that says it is about surfing both the waves
of prescrip�vism and descrip�vism. Pssssst, I’ve just made that up by the way.

You will fail. You will mess up. You will say the wrong thing, at the wrong �me. You will be speechless. You
will put your foot in it. You will mix your words. You will slurr your speech. You will bite your tongue –
figura�vely and literally. You will be at a loss for words. You will sound like an idiot. You will pronounce
things wrong. And so on, and so on and so on.
BUT…S is for….SO WHAT!?

Because…you will get ‘be�er’ at it; whatever that means. Just get back on the proverbial language
sur�oard, get back in the pool and keep on swimming and surfing those waves.

S is for…S�cks and stones will break my bones, ahem, and yeah words can’t hurt too, but so what. I’d
rather get hit with some words than get kicked in the face whilst I’m trying to go bloody swimming!!!

November 2019, Issue #18 Silly Linguistics: The Magazine for Language Lovers
6 six

A Chat with Paul Kaye:

An Insider’s Experience of
Translating for the EU

By Paula Zamorano Osorio immersion course in Hungary. But I’d learned

A�er five years of working as a translator for the Hungarian working for the European
European Commission, Paul Kaye is currently on Commission.
secondment doing outreach work in the UK, to
inspire young people to take up new languages,
before he returns to his transla�on post in You mean they do classes?
January. Here he tells me about his interest in
language learning, his experience of working as Yes, we have really good internal language
an official translator for the Commission Service, training. So when you work for the European
and about his explora�on of literary transla�on. Commission, anyone can have language training;
but in par�cular working for the Language
Service and I think for the Interpre�ng Service as
Let’s jump straight in: which languages can you well, we’ve got an extra level of training. So I
translate? Does that mean that you know them learned Hungarian several years ago in a two-
to the level of a fluent or na�ve speaker? year course. It was all part of working �me.
Well, I'm monolingual, Bri�sh, essen�ally, from a When I started transla�ng Hungarian a�er doing
scien�fic background, but there are some this two-year course, I was taking short length
languages I’m very confident transla�ng. It also jobs with rela�vely simple language and in
depends on the material. But when I go back to subject areas that I knew very well. You work
transla�ng in January, from day one I expect to with colleagues who know the language be�er
be transla�ng from Polish, Slovak, Czech and than you, and you ask them to check your
French into English. transla�on. All our transla�ons are revised and
checked by colleagues, it’s a peer review system.
And that is an extension of the learning process.
I understand that you can also translate from In fact, that’s how I learned to translate Polish. I
Hungarian and Estonian as well? agreed with my boss that I’d teach myself Polish
So, yes, Hungarian I do translate, and this with books at my desk. I started doing
summer and last summer I did a language transla�ons fairly quickly, and a colleague who

November 2019, Issue #18 Silly Linguistics: The Magazine for Language Lovers
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was par�cularly good at Polish would check it another language, but you can also consolidate
and was making sure I was ge�ng it right. knowledge with a dic�onary.
Estonian I learned also on an accelerated course,
and so we had a teacher coming into the
classroom in Brussels where I worked. So at the With technological influences, you might use
end of this ten-month more intensive period of transla�on tools over a paper dic�onary. I was
learning, I did an immersion for three weeks, and wondering how technology has changed the
then I started transla�ng from Estonian. transla�on prac�ce over the years?
I wouldn't put dic�onaries in opposi�on to the
transla�on tools. We use dic�onaries all the �me
Is there a lot of �me pressure on transla�ons? - online or paper. By transla�on tools, do you
mean things like transla�on memory?
Occasionally, but I’d say generally internally in the
European Commission system, the �me pressure
is lower than it would be in the commercial
sector. Certainly when I arrived [at the European Yep.
Commission] there was s�ll this idea of take your
Ok, so when I first started transla�ng, over 20
�me, do a good job, quality over quan�ty. There
years ago when I was living in Slovakia, I was
are some of the more senior translators in
transla�ng on a computer. When, many years
Brussels and Luxembourg who say that �me
later, I joined the Commission Service, there were
pressure is a lot higher than it used to be when
s�ll a handful of people who were dicta�ng their
they started off.
transla�ons into a dictaphone and ge�ng people
Because we have this self-service system, you to type it up. There are s�ll people there who
take on jobs that you know that you’re going to remember the pre-computer age where it was all
have �me to finish. You know how long the being done on typewriters.
document is, you know when the deadline is, and
I became a journalist for ten years, then when I
if you know you’ve got �me to do that in that
joined the European Commission, I discovered
period, then you do it.
transla�on tools, so CAT - computer assisted
transla�on - tools and computer transla�on
memory. These are programmes that break down
Would you say that knowing a subject area each sentence of a text you are transla�ng and it
really well is more important than having a solid glues the source and the target languages
grip of another language? together. Each sentence goes into a database and
into a translated segment pair. That's kept, and
Well that's not to say one thing is more when in the future you have a new document to
important than another, but I suppose if there is be translated, you send that to the database, and
a hierarchy, then I'd say the most important thing you see if the database has any similar sentences
is knowing the language that you're wri�ng in that exist from previous transla�ons. This
well and being able to manipulate your own memory of transla�on pops up and with a click of
language so that you can express yourself a bu�on you can put it into your rendi�on. That
fluently, and ar�culately, using rich, precise means that it saves you work and saves you
vocabulary. typing, and it ensures consistency of transla�on.
So when I first arrived and was shown this, I
I wouldn't say it's secondary to be able to
thought, “Wow, this is amazing!” And of course,
understand another language. But if you don't
we've got thousands of translators who have
have that first thing, you're never going to be a
been working for years and years on transla�ons,
good translator. The second thing is, you've got

November 2019, Issue #18 Silly Linguistics: The Magazine for Language Lovers
8 eight

so we have a vast, vast internal database because Where might a budding translator gain
of a huge internal transla�on memory. experience in using suitable assisted transla�on
so�ware?
I’d say go and see what a professional body for
It's like sharing one big brain! One big transla�on has, so for [the UK] it's the Ins�tute
transla�on brain…across �me and space... for Transla�on and Interpre�ng, and the
Chartered Ins�tute of Linguists. They've both got
Yeah, exactly. That's one main tool. The second
a lot of informa�on on their site. There are
main tool we've developed is a machine
probably online tutorials but you're taking me
transla�on tool, using that database as raw
outside my level of knowledge, really, so I can't
material, which is called E-Transla�on. We train
quite say.
the machine transla�on engine on the massive
store of our own transla�ons. In other words, we
train it on our own kind of material. It's ge�ng
be�er and be�er at transla�ng our own kind of Ok, no worries. I’ve got one final area that I'd
stuff. like to ask you about - literary transla�on. I
understand that it is quite a difficult or niche
So those are the machine transla�on tools but form of transla�on to get into.
also on top of that we've got the terminology
databases, we have a big library of paper Well, kind of, in the sense that there is not as
dic�onaries but also we've got access to a lot of much demand for that as there is in the
online dic�onaries. But things like Google and commercial transla�on world, and it's not as well
Wikipedia are just good research tools as well. paid, because a lot of people want to do it. Those
whose names get well known and are able to
make a living from it are few and far between.
Yes, I remember using Wikipedia for my uni
transla�ons. But clearly you're using a lot of
technology now. Do you have an idea of what I saw you yourself won a prize earlier this year -
transla�on might be like in the future, with the Wales Pen Cymru Transla�on Challenge, so
regards to machine transla�ons ge�ng be�er congratula�ons for that!
and being used more and more?
Yeah! Well, that was a very pleasant surprise!
Well, certainly in our context, the documents
that we're going to be transla�ng are precise,
legal documents with big legal consequences if a
How did you end up deciding that you wanted
transla�on is incorrect. I think it would be a long
to try your hand at literary transla�on?
�me before the human is removed from the
process. This is just my view. Internally it's s�ll Well, I don't have a literary background, but
not compulsory for translators to use machine when I got this job that brought me to London, it
learning transla�ons if they're not comfortable brought me into contact with the literary
using it. But there is more and more training transla�on world and then naturally you start
available to help them understand what it thinking, "Oooh I could give that a go".
involves and how it can help them. When the
younger ones are being recruited, I sense that So I did! And this might be useful for prospec�ve
they're taking to it more easily and absorbing it literary translators: I did two week-long summer
and using it to do their work more efficiently. schools for literary transla�on, one in Norwich,
and one which used to be in London but is now
in Warwick. I did the one that was in London at
that �me, and they had different language

November 2019, Issue #18 Silly Linguistics: The Magazine for Language Lovers
 nine 9

streams, so you choose a language, and so you which is hopefully not too personal: do you
spend a week with the tutor and with other learn languages and translate out of pure
people in that language, transla�ng literary enjoyment, or is there something more
texts. Then two years later I did the one in beneficial, emo�onally or mentally, perhaps,
Norwich. That got me thinking about doing it. that language learning brings to you?
Gosh, that is a big ques�on, isn't it! Well,
learning and using languages brings massive
Is literary transla�on something that you see benefits all round. I love the intellectual
yourself con�nuing in the future, alongside challenge of learning a new language, new
your EU work or separately? sets of rules and pu�ng it all together to be
able to communicate with a new set of people
Well, there are rules on what we're allowed to
in their language. And then on top of that,
do outside of our work as civil servants. We
using languages and learning other languages
have to remain within those rules, or if I leave
brings a deeper apprecia�on of the lives and
the EU, either permanently or on career break
situa�ons of others. It opens up new windows
which we're also allowed to do, then I could
of experience, and a new percep�on of the
do more with the literary transla�on. At the
world. There's not many other ac�vi�es that
moment I'm a bit constrained about how and
can do that.
which I would want to do.

So you're s�ll keen to con�nue your work in

the EU next year?
Yeah, it's a different kind of work, but I enjoy
that too.

Ok. I'd be�er wrap it up there, Paul, but as a

yapa as we say in Chile - or “a li�le bonus”, I
suppose - I've got a different sort of ques�on

November 2019, Issue #18 Silly Linguistics: The Magazine for Language Lovers
10 ten

By Gil Cohen
Transla�on is an uphill ba�le, even for those who know
both the source and target languages very well. But
why is it so hard? If I look up words in the dic�onary
and find their meaning, why can’t I just replace each
word with its direct transla�on and call it a day?
Obviously, this isn’t how translators do their work, for
various reasons, which I will address in this piece.
I’ve been a translator for a long �me, and therefore, I
have gained a lot of experience and I got to know the
minute intricacies of transla�on.

Ever since I’d learned enough English to understand the

�tles of movies and TV series, I kept ge�ng mad at the
unknown translators, because to me, they o�en
seemed to do such a bad job. For example, the movie
Lost in Transla�on, which gives this piece its name, has
been translated to Hebrew, most ironically, as
something that translates back to English as “Lost in
Tokyo”. This is an example that in my book should have
been straigh�orward and easy, and the translators
simply missed it. The movie does in fact take place in
Tokyo, but why couldn’t they s�ck to the original �tle
and meaning and translate the �tle as it should have
been?
There are cases in which the translator must choose
between a rock and hard place: should they choose to
“stray away” from the original �tle and meaning, and

November 2019, Issue #18 Silly Linguistics: The Magazine for Language Lovers
 eleven 11

not translate directly, or should they choose to transla�on sound really, really bad?
s�ck close to the original, and consequently,
risk how well their transla�on would sound? When you translate anything, be it a word, a
Either way, something will be lost in �tle or a sentence, you “betray” the source,
transla�on! I am referring to �tles that contain because no ma�er what you would do and
a word (or more) with several meanings or a how well you would translate it, your
meaning that is closely �ed to the culture of transla�on will never be as good as the
the original language. For example, the source. I know it sounds harsh and conclusive,
meaning of the successful TV series’ �tle but language is so intricate, expressive and
“Breaking Bad”, is “To go bad; to turn toward damn complex, that it makes translators’ job
immorality or crime”. So, what would you have so difficult. On the one hand, you want to
done, if you had to translate its �tle to your convey every single idea and concept in the
language? Would you choose to translate it source, but on the other hand, you want your
directly and literally, and lose the deeper transla�on to sound well, as if this u�erance
meaning (that could actually be somewhat of has been actually u�ered by a na�ve speaker.
a spoiler), or would you find some other �tle
that conveys the original meaning, but sounds During my work, I’ve come upon so many
u�erly different? sentences, of which I’ve said “Oh no, this is
such a beau�ful sentence, and here I am,
You see, this isn’t black or white, you don’t going to violate it with my transla�on”,
simply choose one or the other, it’s more of a because more o�en than not, I was going to
spectrum. A�er learning the meaning behind take a construct that exists in the source
the �tle, I realized that the transla�on the language, and doesn’t exist in mine, and
translator chose is somewhere in the middle conveying it would force me to bend over
of the spectrum: they chose to translate it into backwards. Ever since I started my work, I
something like “line breaker”, which sounds can’t read transla�ons, because I can sense it’s
bad in English (and kind of in Hebrew, too), translated, which means that it’s not
although it keeps the “breaking” part of translated well, and it annoys me too much,
“Breaking Bad”, but also conveys “breaking out especially since I know what a good
of the line”, which is conveyed by the original transla�on should look like.
�tle. Another possible reason for choosing the
word “line” is because crystal meth, the drug I’m sure many of you have read the Harry
produced by the main character of the series, Po�er book series (If not, I sincerely
can be snorted in lines, like cocaine. encourage you to do so), and if you have
So far, I’ve only addressed short �tles, but now indeed read it, you’ve probably read the
I want to address the handling of more transla�on of some of the books. I’ve read the
complex construc�ons, like sentences. One of first 4 in their translated version, and ever
my favorite quotes is Roman Jakobson’s: since the fi�h my English level has been high
“Languages differ essen�ally in what they enough to read the original English version. As
must convey and not in what they may I’ve men�oned before, transla�on is difficult,
convey”. What do you do if you happen to but it becomes even more so since Harry
translate a syntac�cal construct that the Po�er contains names that use allitera�on,
source language must convey, but the target puns or even made up names! How would you
language does not? What do you do if have translated “Blast-Ended Skrewt”, or
conveying said construct will make your “Parseltounge/Parselmouth” for that ma�er?

November 2019, Issue #18 Silly Linguistics: The Magazine for Language Lovers
12 twelve

Would you have kept “Slytherin” as it is, or would

you have chosen a name that sounds similar (or
not), but s�ll conveys the meaning of “slithering”,
the way snakes move (A snake is the symbol of
the Slytherin house)?

Here are some examples of the difficul�es of

transla�ng Harry Po�er: in the first book, a
character named “Blaise Zabini” is men�oned,
with no addi�onal informa�on. Since Hebrew
has 2 gramma�cal genders, masculine and
feminine, the translator had to choose whether
to refer to them as a boy or a girl, but she
couldn’t know from the book which gender she
should choose. She chose to refer to them as a
girl, but funnily enough, he (yes, he) appears
again in the sixth book, and is described as a
“tall, dark skinned boy”.

In the second book, the original name of

antagonist of the series, Lord Voldemort, is
revealed to be “Tom Marvolo Riddle”, and its
le�ers can be rearranged to form the sentence “I
am Lord Voldemort”. In this case, the translator
has encountered another problem: if she
chooses to transliterate the name, the le�ers
can’t be rearranged to the transla�on of “I am
Lord Voldemort”. Therefore, she chose to “stray
away” from the original name, because, and I am
guessing here, she thought that the
rearrangement of the le�ers was more important
than the original middle name of Lord
Voldemort.

In conclusion, I would like you to appreciate the

hard work of translators and the difficul�es they
encounter, and if you ever have to translate
something, think what you can do to betray the
source as least as you can.

November 2019, Issue #18 Silly Linguistics: The Magazine for Language Lovers
 13

Translation as
Meeting of
Two Languages and
Two Cultures
November 2019, Issue #18 Silly Linguistics: The Magazine for Language Lovers
14 fourteen

''S�ll it seems to me that transla�on from one language into another, if it be not from
the queens of languages, the Greek and the La�n, is like looking at Flemish tapestries
on the wrong side; for though the figures are visible, they are full of threads that make
them indis�nct, and they do not show with the smoothness and brightness of the right
side; and transla�on from easy languages argues neither ingenuity nor command of
words, any more than transcribing or copying out one document from another. But I do
not mean by this to draw the inference that no credit is to be allowed for the work of
transla�ng, for a man may employ himself in ways worse and less profitable to
himself.''
Miguel de Cervantes, 'The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha'

By Aleksandra Kowalczyk A�er this small personal introduc�on, let me

show you some of the challenges translators
Transla�ons are everywhere. We may not may face in their daily work.
realise or think about this but that how it is.
Next �me we read Fyodor Dostoevsky or Franz First of, transla�ons is not like mathema�cs. The
Ka�a, it's good to think that they didn't write simple ques�on ''How would you say x in y
language?'' doesn't always have a simple
their books in English but there was someone
answer because everything depends on the
who made it possible for us to read them.
context.
As we can see in the passage taken from 'Don For example, the Polish word zamek has
Quixote', this profession is not the easiest or different meanings, depending on the context.
most appreciated. S�ll, it is worth taking a It can mean either castle, lock, or zip.
closer look at how translators work. Considering
what kind of problems and challenges they have As I men�oned in the �tle, transla�on is the
in their work. Let me tell you a li�le about this mee�ng of two languages and cultures. What
from my own perspec�ve exists in one country does not necessary have
to be in an other one. Also, a thing which is
For five years, I used to work as a translator and supposed to be the same, doesn't have to be
interpreter of Spanish. During this �me I was the same in another language. Languages do
able to learn Spanish in probably the best way not always have an equivalent concept to other
ever, and gain fluency and proficiency. But it languages.
was not just my knowledge of Spanish that got
be�er. I used to work in construc�on For example, in Spain there is an enforcement
companies, so now I know, more or less, how agency, Guardia Civil, which doesn't have an
the construc�on process goes in the case of equivalent in Polish. That is why in Polish we
roads, railways, etc. This is one of the greatest use the Spanish term, as it is, and don't
things I learnt working as a translator. You learn translate it.
not only the language but you also learn In many ci�es all over the world, like London,
something new about some part of reality. As New York, or Madrid, you can find local police
some people say, the more you can name, the forces which work only in the city and are
more you see. Even today, when I travel separate from na�onal police corps. There is no
somewhere and see a construc�on side I always such a thing in Poland so any transla�ons in this
wonder ''What they might be doing right cases are descrip�ve and instead of using a one
now?''. word expression, they give an explana�on of
what the term consists.

November 2019, Issue #18 Silly Linguistics: The Magazine for Language Lovers
 fifteen 15

Trying to translate the there are expressions which saying this are quite similar
administra�ve organiza�on are strongly related with to each other as in both
of Spain is also an example of some culture that they cases we can see alike
this. One of the levels of this maintain the same reference references. Both languages
kind of structure is the in different languages, most use the term which describes
autonomous community. of them uses different ones. a big water container and
This concept does not exist in For example, the Spanish maintain the verb for rain (in
Polish reality so while there expression ''luchar con los Polish leje jak z cebra; in
is a literal transla�on for this, molinos'' has the same form Spanish llueve a cántaros).
there is no equivalent for this in both English and Polish.
element in Polish reality and They both use the literal The other example for the
so a literal transla�on is not transla�ons “�lt at windmill” above men�oned, might be
helpful. and “walczyć z wiatrakami''. the case of expressions, not
Also, these two languages necessary idioma�c, related
The level below this, in the keep the word ''windmill'' as to daily life. In English, to say
Spanish administra�ve a reference and a verb that you want to send an
system, is the province. email to someone and
This also can be a that no one can see that
challenge for translators. this person will receive
Not only is there no such this message, you would
a thing in Polish say that you are pu�ng
governmental system, but that person's address as a
also “province” can be an blind copy. The same
example of a so called expression in Spanish and
'false friend'. The literal Polish is ''copia oculta''
transla�on of word ''ukryta kopia''
''province'' into Polish respec�vely, which
means ''place which is far literally means ''hidden
away from big cites''. It copy''.
can also have a nega�ve
connota�ons and This is one of the many
describe ''areas lagging fascina�ng things about
behind in civilisa�on and languages. The same
cultural development” concept may be seen or
and can refer to described in a different
inhabitants of such areas. way. These are only a few
examples of challenges
One of the greatest that translators may face
challenges for translators in their work.
are idioma�c expressions
or sayings. Their literal related with fight. I hope that a�er reading this
meaning converted from one On the other hand, when it is ar�cle you'll see translators
language to an other have no raining a lot, in English, you and their work in a slightly
sense and trying to find an say ''it is raining cats and different way. And maybe,
equivalent in the other dogs''. The literal transla�on a�er reading this, you'll think
language is not always that into any language would about if this is a profession
easy. This is also an example make no sense, as this is an that is no longer needed as
of the mee�ng of cultures as example of idiom. For Polish we have machine
previously men�oned. While and Spanish the ways of transla�ons.

November 2019, Issue #18 Silly Linguistics: The Magazine for Language Lovers
16 sixteen

Lost in a foreign country?

Google translate may not be your friend

By Valentin Pradelou It sounds like a �dy amount of known

I would like to tell a story in order to prove languages, right? However, whenever we had
that using an online translator could not to face a situa�on with a local non-sharing a
replace a fluent speaker’s skills. I had the language with us, it had been somewhat
chance to go for a road trip over Europe, from tough to handle. We were, in a way, blinded
France to Turkey, and we faced a peculiar by the amount of languages we (even barely)
linguis�c situa�on. First of all, I would like to knew, and wrongly confident.
talk about the languages we knew, and From France to Romania, the road trip went
thought they would be useful, then telling the goodly though, on a linguis�c plan. Bearing in
core of the story. mind both of us knew how to talk English it
made the things easier. We had some
When I started my linguis�cs degree, I had to difficul�es in Romania with none of “our”
choose a language to learn (considered as languages known by some locals. We handled
exo�c to French people’s minds) and I chose situa�ons by poin�ng and using gestures. We
Hungarian, a choice I do not regret at all. I only faced these situa�ons in restaurants, so
have been studying English since school, and poin�ng helped to clear the comprehension
went several �mes in English speaking problems.
countries. I used to talk with na�ve speakers
for hours as well. I also had (and s�ll have) Our trip to Turkey
basics in Spanish, Albanian, Russian and Here comes the core of the story.
Esperanto.
We booked a room in a hotel in Istanbul for a
My friend, who I got to Turkey with, spent one couple of days, situated downtown of the
year in Canada and spoke as a na�ve, also capital city. We did it by talking to the director
mastered Spanish, and had good basics in of the hotel, who spoke a very well English.
Russian. Everything went goodly during the sojourn.

November 2019, Issue #18 Silly Linguistics: The Magazine for Language Lovers
 seventeen 17

However, the day we had to Then, we “controlled” the

leave, the director was not in situa�on by using a non-
the hotel. Thus, we had to problema�c expression: “We
check out with a Turkish would like to leave the hotel
employee. We actually wanted and pay”. The employee was
to tell him that we wanted to actually very nice. Thinking we
“checkout”. Do you see it were trying to play tricks on
coming? him, he acted very friendly
when he became aware of our
Because the employee did not embarrassment. It must be
know a sole word of English. said that anybody could have
He told us something in reacted in this way. We finally
Turkish, and we understood he paid and le�, as planned.
knew how to talk Turkish and
Romanian. Nonetheless, we We (wrongly) thought that our
did not know a word of both linguis�c insecurity situa�on
languages… could be handled by google
translate.
As in Romania, we tried to use
gestures to make him I wanted to prove, within this
understand we wanted to pay story, that online translators
and leave. Unfortunately, he can be very useful and very
happened to not understand effec�ve in case of simple
what we wanted, at all. Then, words or sentences. In
my friend took the decision to addi�on, the story I told only
use google translate, to say, concerned google translate,
“We want to checkout”. We even if there are numerous
actually did it, we ac�vated the translators.
vocal command, and we said
“we want to checkout”. It gave However, na�ve speakers
a Turkish transla�on to the alone may be able to iden�fy
employee, but we didn’t even all pragma�c u�erances and
know if it was correct or not. un�e their contextual
A�erwards, by hearing the meanings. Maybe it will
transla�on, he stared at us, change, but un�l then, if you
with an irritated, wary face and happen to be in a situa�on of
said something back to the linguis�c insecurity, google
translator, in Turkish. translate may not be your
Something was actually not friend.
right, and we felt it, seeing his
face. In English, it gave “What
do you want to control?”.
Google Translate did not
understand “checkout” (or
check out) as a phrasal verb
and treated “out” as not
directly related to “check”!

Here, the translator must have

given the transla�on of “check
out” by something close to “to
control something outside”.
Hence, the misunderstanding
and the wary reac�on was
perfectly understandable.

November 2019, Issue #18 Silly Linguistics: The Magazine for Language Lovers
18 eighteen

By Emma Tolmie
While most people will have heard of the Rose�a
stone and are at least somewhat aware of the
impact it had in enabling us to decipher ancient
Egyp�an hieroglyphs, the story of Linear A & B is
more obscure. These are the names given to two
scripts found primarily in inscrip�ons on clay
tablets on Crete, and they are part of the legacy
of the Minoan civilisa�on. Linear B was
deciphered through the work of classicists during
the 19 and 20 centuries. Despite sharing many
th th

similar characters with Linear B, the mystery of

Linear A remains, as yet, unsolved.

History and discovery of the clay tablets

The Minoan civilisa�on lasted from roughly 2600
BCE un�l 1150 BCE, and its centre was the Palace
of Knossos, on Crete. Throughout the Minoan era
the palace had to be rebuilt several �mes
supposedly following fires and the erup�on of
Nea Kameni, a volcano on the nearby island
Santorini. In the 1100s BCE the palace was
abandoned for reasons which are unknown,
although natural disasters such as a tsunami are
o�en cited as the reason for its sudden
deser�on. The site of the palace was excavated
in 1900 CE by the team of English archaeologist

Deciphering
Linear B

November 2019, Issue #18 Silly Linguistics: The Magazine for Language Lovers
 nineteen 19

Arthur Evans, whose expecta�ons of the size of the palace were dras�cally surpassed. Among the
finds were countless clay tablets perfectly preserved as if they had been fired in a kiln; ironically
the destruc�on of the buildings through fire led to the preserva�on of these tablets, and with
them the scripts Linear A & B.

Cracking the code

The wri�ng system Linear B is made up of 87 characters, and Evans ini�ally believed that they
represented an unknown Cretan language. However, in the 1930s Alice Kober, an American
classicist who spoke many modern and ancient languages, began to privately study and analyse
the tablets which she could access. Based on the number of characters, she knew that Linear B
must have been a syllabic script – each character represented one syllable. There are two other
main types of wri�ng systems: alphabe�c, in which each character represents a phoneme, such as
the Cyrillic or Roman alphabets; and logographic, in which each character represents a whole
word, such as Mandarin Chinese. Alphabets typically have far fewer characters than Linear B
appeared to (for instance the Cyrillic alphabet has 33 le�ers and the Roman has a mere 26) and
logographic languages have many more, as almost every single word has its own character. This
meant that each of Linear B’s 87 symbols had to represent a syllable.

While this discovery was important, it was not a unique breakthrough for Kober. However, she was
also, crucially, able to determine that the language Linear B represented was inflec�onal through
close analysis of pa�erns in the characters and numerous databases. An inflec�onal language is
one in which a word is changed in some way to show tense, plurality, case, aspect etc. Examples
include French conjuga�ons – the stem of the verb jouer (to play) has different endings in the
words jouais (I used to play), joue (I play), and jouerai (I will play) – and La�n declensions – the
word girl can be puella, puellam, or puellae depending on if it is nomina�ve, accusa�ve, or da�ve.
She also assigned a number to each symbol to make for easier analysis and discussion.

Kober spo�ed pa�erns of characters which o�en appeared together and noted their posi�ons in
words, then was able to make the intellectual leap to begin assigning sounds to each character.
She did not a�empt to determine the exact sound each character represented, but rather
classified the sounds in terms of their rela�on to each other as far as vowels and consonants were
concerned. She used the example of a word from the Akkadian language to propose that
inflec�ons didn’t necessarily line up with syllables:

sadanu ? sa-da-nu sadani à sa-da-ni sadu à sa-du

While the first syllable of all these words is the same (sa), the second syllables vary but s�ll share
an opening consonant (d), meaning the stem of the word is split across syllables. Kober used this
principle to suggest rela�onships between Linear B characters:

November 2019, Issue #18 Silly Linguistics: The Magazine for Language Lovers
20 twenty

Using the apparent declensions of these two words as an example, she decided that the first
consonant of the 3 syllable in word A must be the same in all cases, just as in the Akkadian word
rd

above the second syllable always starts with d. This meant that the first consonant of the characters
37 and 05 must be the same, as is reflected in the table above. The same was true for word B, so 41
and 12 both began with a shared consonant. Since Kober assumed regular pa�erns of inflec�on,
which is the case for most, if not all, inflec�onal languages, the endings of words A & B must be the
same, meaning that characters 37 and 41 ended with the same vowel, and 05 and 12 did too.

Tragically, Kober was unable to finish this work as she died aged just 43. Michael Ventris, an English
architect and classicist carried on with Kober’s a�empt to organise the characters into tables, and
was able to take the step she was unable to reach; he began to assign sounds to the hypothe�cal
vowels and consonants in the table, using frequently appearing words and guessing at local place
names in order to work out which syllables were represented by these characters. Along with John
Chadwick, a lecturer in Ancient Greek philology, he was able to determine not only the sounds of
each of the 87 characters, but to translate the tablets, which turned out to be Greek.

The discovery that this wri�ng system was used to transcribe Greek was quite important in
determining the power and poli�cs of the life in the ancient Mediterranean, as they predated what
had been considered the oldest evidence of the Greek language by about 500 years. The informa�on
contained in the tablets also helped to link sites of Greek myths with places in the modern world,
revealing stories that had been sealed in a ruined palace for millennia.

November 2019, Issue #18 Silly Linguistics: The Magazine for Language Lovers
 twenty one 21

By Molly Cooke
When I was li�le, I used to watch a World Music program
on TV. Taking in the foreign beats and chords, which were so
pleasantly dissonant from my own country’s culture, I
would let the “sound of the world” wash over me. I don’t
Linguistics quite remember when I started trying to figure out what
they were singing in the songs, but I know that it was early.

Actually: Some�mes the videos would provide me with context, but

usually they centered on showcasing what seemed to be
the wildest costumes and dancing li�le me had ever seen. I
would get distracted for a while, trying to mimic a bhangra
or a haka. But when the video concluded, a text box would
appear in the bo�om corner of the screen, lis�ng the song’s
�tle, ar�st, and country of origin, and I would set back to
When I Grow my mission: pulling a heavy transla�on dic�onary that
seemed larger than myself from a shelf and beginning to
Up… research.

In this way, I learned and became fascinated with

untranslatable words like yakamoz and kilig. Looking back,
it’s strange to me that it took me so long to learn what
linguis�cs was, or that I wanted to do it, when it seems that
I’ve been so naturally inclined to it for as long as I can
remember. Like any other kid, I would say that I wanted to
be an astronaut when I grew up, or, when suggested due to
my ap�tude for math, an architect. But I certainly also
showed a proclivity for language, which was compara�vely
under-appreciated during the early years of my life.

“You’ll probably end up doing a job that you haven’t ever

heard of, that you don’t even know exists,” my mom would
tell me, when I would anxiously confess that I didn’t think I
could be a structural engineer a�er all, and that, in fact, I
was not quite sure what I wanted to be. She was quite right.

I entered college with a vague familiarity with what

linguis�cs actually was a�er spending the previous summer
in Italy. A large propor�on of the friends I had made abroad
studied at linguis�cs colleges (this was likely correlated with
the fact that they could speak English, wanted to prac�ce
with a genuine American speaker, and had the pa�ence to
tolerate my nascent Italian).

I was finally thrust into the field for the first �me during the
spring semester of my freshman year. A frustrated French
professor had referred me to the department a�er one too
many office hours, sugges�ng that perhaps I “like grammar
more than French.”

It was in that introductory class that I began to connect how

so much of my life and behavior up un�l then pointed
toward linguis�cs. I flashed back to the �mes I sat with a
transla�on bible, or a dual language edi�on Seamus Heaney
transla�on of Beowulf, trying to teach myself Aramaic or
Old English, and gave those experiences a name.

November 2019, Issue #18 Silly Linguistics: The Magazine for Language Lovers
22 twenty two

acquisi�on of languages for transla�on

A professor’s comment on one of my early without a holis�c study of language itself, but
papers reads, “Rogue linguis�cs! This is a what I really want to emphasize is the
concept in our field, you just haven’t learned importance of increased exposure for
about it yet.” linguis�cs and other fields like it. Why is it that
when a child sits at a piano and plays a melody
“Rogue linguis�cs” covered everything from for the first �me, we wonder if she is the next
my prac�ce of perfec�ng phone�c Mozart, but we’re hardly ever on the lookout
pronuncia�ons of non-English words to my for a baby Chomsky?
philosophies on how many ‘ha’s one of my
friends should include in a “hahaha” text to a Not every kid wants to grow up to be a lawyer
boy she liked. Many �mes I felt like an or a surgeon. In fact, a li�le girl who recently
industrious farmer in some remote village came in for tes�ng at the research lab where I
hearing that my wheel had already been work burst into tears because our wai�ng
invented. room reminded her of a doctor’s office (it sort
of is; we’re housed in an ambulatory campus
I have since begun to master my explora�on of of a medical center). She was not totally
the discipline, and now work doing research in convinced when I told her that, despite my
the field, but I s�ll marvel at how, only a few badge and paperwork, I was no doctor, un�l it
years ago, I was so unfamiliar with what is now was �me to go home.
my life’s work.
“I watched videos and played games and
It’s not uncommon to never take a linguis�cs colored!” she reported to her mother.
class un�l college, at least not in the States.
This is true for some other academic “Do you s�ll think this is the doctor’s?” her
disciplines as well, but I would argue that most mom asked.
people have heard of economics and
psychology before they graduate high school “No,” she shook her head, “this is— this is her
even if their schools did not provide the job!” she answered, poin�ng at me. “Her job is
opportunity to take elec�ve courses in those not a doctor. It’s—”
subjects.
“It’s playing with words,” I finished for her.
I could speculate about why this is, and
whether it correlates with our country’s “Yeah! And that’s funner than a doctor. I
compara�ve lack of mul�lingualism or our wanna do that when I grow up. I wanna play
culture’s emphasis on the academic with words.”

November 2019, Issue #18 Silly Linguistics: The Magazine for Language Lovers
 23

Narrative Abilities
By Camille Masson
For preschool age children, engaging in ac�vi�es
What are narra�ve abili�es? that involve the concepts of “beginning”, “middle”
Narra�on is used in various social contexts, like and “end” are interes�ng. Those concepts will be
talking about your day, retelling the plot of a used at school as well. For example, read an
movie you watched, etc. Therefore it is a album and having a conversa�on about how the
communica�on tool very useful to maintain story started, what happened, what part they
conversa�ons. It is also an important part of liked best… Just remember that preserving the
mechanisms which allows individuals to make pleasure of the ac�vity is also important. Another
sense of experiences and rela�onships. Narra�ve great ac�vity to do is to draw with the child and to
skills can also be observed when describing ask them what story their drawing tells or why
something, telling events in chronological order they chose these colors, etc.
and in giving instruc�ons. Those abili�es are made
of different features, such as cohesion, story For school age children, books are of course an
grammar, fluency, and narra�ve structure. Those amazing tool to develop narra�ve related abili�es.
skills will be useful in learning to read later on in Before reading the story, explore the cover of the
the child’s life. album and try to guess what the story will talk
about. While reading, you can stop a few �mes to
Storytelling is an ability that usually develops ask the child what they think will happen next and
between 2-10 years of age. It is an important part why they are making these hypothesis. A�er the
of our society’s social rou�nes. However, narra�ve book is finished, you can use the same strategies
abili�es development is subject to varia�ons from as for preschool age children or you can try to
one child to another, as for any aspect of language create another ending!
acquisi�on. Varia�ons may be caused by personal I hope these strategies will help you support your
differences such as disabili�es or neurological child’s language development! And to wrap-up
par�culari�es (for example, Specific language this ar�cle, here are some �ps on how to choose
impairment). a good album.

As with many aspects of language development, When choosing a good book, no ma�er what age
narra�ve skills development par�ally depend on is the reader, it is essen�al to choose a story that
early age s�mula�on. Here are some ideas on aligns with the reader’s curiosity. That will ensure
how to s�mulate a child’s narra�ve abili�es. a greater engagement in the reading ac�vi�es and
consequently in the narra�ve skills ac�vi�es. The
For babies, naming pictures in a book and singing baby enjoys textures and sounds? A tac�le book is
helps to expose the child to narra�ve content. It is all indicated. If your child as a thousand “why”
also helpful to do so by ac�vely interac�ng with and “how” ques�ons, a documentary album
the baby. Rou�nes are in their own way a story. As would be perfect! Choosing books with big
the rou�ne happens, talking about the steps pictures and colors is also great to cap�vate the
happening is another appealing tool. child a�en�on. Pop-up books are a wonderful
investment to create a sensa�onal reading
For toddlers, narra�ng your day-to-day ac�vi�es moment. Finally, the complexity of the story line
is a great way to have a “conversa�on” with your will depend on the age and reading abili�es of the
child, while se�ng the founda�on of �me child. Simpler plots are easier to begin with when
consistency. Recalling events with the toddler is applying strategies such as extrapola�ng
another way to do so. ques�ons.

November 2019, Issue #18 Silly Linguistics: The Magazine for Language Lovers
24 twenty four

A Russian Living in Mexico

November 2019, Issue #18 Silly Linguistics: The Magazine for Language Lovers
 twenty five 25

By Lida Bakhova
Living abroad brings lots of opportuni�es: ge�ng acquainted with people of different cultures,
prac�sing a target language with na�ve speakers, going through the challenge of being alone
thousands of kilometres away from your homeland. For me, it was a test of my limits, the first
serious journey to the country that differs enormously from my own to Mexico.

The choice was determined by several reasons: it’s a Spanish speaking country with sublime
culture, tasty food and picturesque views. A mysterious one with plenty of things to find out,
grand amount of emo�ons to feel and experience to live. The trip and stance there brought some
challenges. I got stuck using a language because I had a fear of talking to people. I think each
person who learns a language has it and later with �me one stops being frightened and gains
some sort of security. I have no idea how it happens but I’m sure this moment comes when we use
a language a lot, with mistakes and pauses. Here the secret is just to use it despite the fear of
being misunderstood or laughed at. Back then I was desperate about speaking Spanish and
frightened of doing it at the same �me. I thought something weird could happen, everyone would
understand I was a foreigner. Of course, they did, not with making laugh of me, but with support
and rave cheers, being proud of someone to learn their na�ve language.

I started speaking Spanish when I had no other choice, my friends knew English, but they talked to
me only in Spanish, when I was alone wandering the streets of Mexico City and Monterrey. If I
wanted to eat and had to order something, ask for a bill or do any of the ordinary things that
everyone does in daily life, I had to use Spanish. Things went easier when I was forced to speak a
language, step by step I started feeling proud to be able to do it, I had a feeling that days with
textbooks and sleepless nights studying for endless Spanish exams didn’t pass in vain.

Nevertheless, there were some other problems with a language; I had difficul�es with
understanding slang and words that differ from Cas�lian Spanish.
Glasses: las lentes (Lat.Am.) – las gafas (Spain)
A car: el carro (Lat.Am.) – el coche (Spain)
To drive: manejar (Lat.Am.) – conducir (Spain)

Going into detail, I should men�on the wide-spread usage of English words: rentar (to rent); el
bife (a beef, a steak); and the existence of words from Indian languages (indichenisms) and Aztec
languages (especially Nahuatl): la canoa (a canoe, a boat); el jitomate (a tomato), etc.
As for morphosyntax, Mexicans tend to use ustedes for 'you' not, not vosotros like in Spain, so the
verbs forms are different. For example: “¿A dónde van? ¡Espérenme!” instead of “¿A dónde vais?
¡Espéradme!” Furthermore, in Mexico the diminu�ve-hypocoris�c suffix “-ita” is used a lot:
Ahorita voy (I’m coming)
El pueblo lindito (a nice village)
Jovencita (a young lady); hijito/-a (li�le son/daughter), etc.
There also were some grammar differences, for instance, they prefer to use Past tenses instead of
Perfect ones: E.g. “Hoy estuvimos en casa” instead of “Hoy hemos estado en casa”.

A�er this swi� grammar overview, I would like to share some observa�ons I’ve made during my
visit, these are just things that back then seemed strange to me. Everyone knows Mexicans adore

November 2019, Issue #18 Silly Linguistics: The Magazine for Language Lovers
26 twenty six

dogs, coffee, na�onal food and drinks. But not everyone knows they
have a unique culture and a very peculiar way of solving problems: here
I refer to the government decision to prohibit car use once a week to
prevent greenhouse gas emissions. The owner of the house I rented
said she couldn’t use the car on Tuesday, other people have different
ban days and the exact day depend on their license plate number. Not
only was this fact was unusual to me, but I also remember some
products that blew my mind. For instance Egg whites in a separate
package because some people don’t like yolks or fried grasshoppers
that Mexicans eat like sunflower seeds. When first saw it, I wanted to
cry out like: “Hello, people, do you see the same? They sell insects.
INSECTS. And eat them. And say it’s tasty. And buy more”. Now with
�me passed, I’m calmer and can assure you, it was yummy. While in
Mexico, you should try it.

To sum up, I’ve visited extremely diver�ng sights, met new people, tried
extraordinary food and learned a language. If someone asks me if they
should visit Mexico, my reply will be hundred per cent yes, without any
doubts. It’s worth it because it’s different. La�n America, in general, is a
piece of art that not everyone can understand. But everyone has at
least to try.

November 2019, Issue #18 Silly Linguistics: The Magazine for Language Lovers
 27

photo
credits...
Cover Joshua Ness
3 Jeremy Bishop
9 Tim Fuzail
10 James Wheeler
13 Avnish Choudhary
Stefan Vladimirov
15 Pixabay
16 Şinasi Müldür
17 Fa�h Yürür
20 Source Unknown
21 Igor Son
22 Source Unknown
23 Vitaly Vlasov
24 Julius Silver
Anthony Leong
Alina Grubnyak
Aus�n Distel
26 Logan Lambert
27 Johannes Rapprich

Page number language: English

November 2019, Issue #18 Silly Linguistics: The Magazine for Language Lovers
28

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Silly Linguistics Issue #18
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November 2019, Issue #18 Silly Linguistics: The Magazine for Language Lovers