Is that a fish in your ear? : translation and the meaning of everything / David Bellos.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Bellos, David.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Translating and interpreting.

Physical Description:

viii, 373 pages : illustrations ; 22 cm

Edition:

First American edition.

Place of Publication:

New York : Faber and Faber, 2011.

Summary:

Funny and surprising on every page, Is That a Fish in Your Ear offers readers new insight into the mystery of how we come to know what someone else means whether we wish to understand Asteerix cartoons or a foreign head of state. Using translation as his lens, David Bellos shows how much we can learn about ourselves by exploring the ways we use translation, from the historical roots of written language to the stylistic choices of Ingmar Bergman, from the United Nations General Assembly to the significance of James Camerons Avatar. Is That a Fish in Your Ear ranges across human experience to describe why translation sits deep within us all, and why we need it in so many situations, from the spread of religion to our appreciation of literature; indeed, Bellos claims that all writers are by definition translators. Written with joie de vivre, reveling both in misunderstanding and communication, littered with wonderful asides, it promises any reader new eyes through which to understand the world. --amazon.com

Contents:

1 What Is a Translation? 7

2 Is Translation Avoidable? 11

3 Why Do We Call It "Translation"? 24

4 Things People Say About Translation 37

5 Fictions of the Foreign: The Paradox of "Foreign-Soundingness" 44

6 Native Command: Is Your Language Really Yours? 60

7 Meaning Is No Simple Thing 69

8 Words Are Even Worse 82

9 Understanding Dictionaries 94

10 The Myth of Literal Translation 102

11 The Issue of Trust: The Long Shadow of Oral Translation 117

12 Custom Cuts: Making Forms Fit 131

13 What Can't Be Said Can't Be Translated: The Axiom of Effability 146

14 How Many Words Do We Have for Coffee? 157

15 Bibles and Bananas: The Vertical Axis of Translation Relations 167

16 Translation Impacts 182

17 The Third Code: Translation as a Dialect 190

18 No Language Is an Island: The Awkward Issue of L3 196

19 Global Flows: Center and Periphery in the Translation of Books 202

20 A Question of Human Rights: Translation and the Spread of International Law 217

21 Ceci n'est pas une traduction': Language Parity in the European Union 229

22 Translating News 241

23 The Adventure of Automated Language-Translation Machines 247

24 A Fish in Your Ear: The Short History of Simultaneous Interpreting 259

25 Match Me If You Can: Translating Humor 273

26 Style and Translation 281

27 Translating Literary Texts 291

28 What Translators Do 300

29 Beating the Bounds: What Translation Is Not 310

30 Under Fire: Sniping at Translation 315

31 Sameness, Likeness, and Match: Truths About Translation 319

32 Avatar: A Parable of Translation 323

Afterbabble: In Lieu of an Epilogue 325.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780865478572

0865478570

OCLC:

706020960