Author: Norman W. Schur, Eugene H. Ehrlich
Publisher: Facts On File, Inc., 2007, 3rd edition
ISBN: 0816064555

British English A to Zed is a comprehensive guide to everyday English spoken on the other side of the Atlantic. General readers and language lovers alike will have immediate access to an alphabetical listing of more than 5,500 “Briticisms” and their correlating “Americanisms” in this fully revised and updated volume. Featured in this edition are several hundred new entries; lively discussions of British language, pronunciation, punctuation, style, usage, and culture; and special sections on units of measure, automotive terms, cricket terms, and more. For readers, travelers, and Anglophiles everywhere, this entertaining and authoritative resource is a cultural delight.

New entries include:

• Bang on
• Chav
• Chinless wonder
• Gastropub
• Gutted
• Happy as Larry
• Jack the lad
• Lager lout
• Nanny state
• New Labour
• Pie and mash
• Throw a wobbly
• Voddy
• Wheelie bin
• and more.

About the Author(s)

The late Norman W. Schur wrote several books on language and divided his time between England and the United States.

Eugene Ehrlich is coeditor of the Oxford American Dictionary and the author of numerous books on language, including You’ve Got Ketchup on Your Muumuu: An A to Z Guide to English Words from Around the World; The Highly Selective Dictionary for the Extraordinarily Literate; and Veni, Vidi, Vici: Conquer Your Enemies, Impress Your Friends with Everyday Latin. A former senior lecturer of English at Columbia University, he lives in Mamaroneck, NY.

Richard Ehrlich is an American writer living in London. He has written regular columns for some of Britain’s best-known national newspapers, including The Guardian, The Independent on Sunday, and the Financial Times. He has also published work in numerous magazines, written five books, and appeared on BBC Radio.

Now the study is over and a report is issued.

The study report gives an ample picture of the various activities involved in this dynamic industry with a high growth and innovation potential. Data have been collected and analysed by subsectors, such as translation and interpreting, localising and globalising, subtitling and dubbing, language technology tools, and language teaching as well as by Member State, thus highlighting best practices and/or gaps in relevant information.

Here is an executive summary of this report.

In this regard, the Directorate-General for Translation is now organising a conference to present the results of the study, which it will later publish in full on its website. The conference will take place on 27 November 2009 in Brussels.

Here you can find a draft programme of the conference.

For those who cannot participate, the conference will be fully webstreamed on this website.

Authors: Cyril Goutte, Nicola Cancedda, Marc Dymetman, George Foster
Publisher: The MIT Press, 2009
ISBN: 0262072971

The Internet gives us access to a wealth of information in languages we don’t understand. The investigation of automated or semi-automated approaches to translation has become a thriving research field with enormous commercial potential. This volume investigates how machine learning techniques can improve statistical machine translation, currently at the forefront of research in the field.

The book looks first at enabling technologies—technologies that solve problems that are not machine translation proper but are linked closely to the development of a machine translation system. These include the acquisition of bilingual sentence-aligned data from comparable corpora, automatic construction of multilingual name dictionaries, and word alignment. The book then presents new or improved statistical machine translation techniques, including a discriminative training framework for leveraging syntactic information, the use of semi-supervised and kernel-based learning methods, and the combination of multiple machine translation outputs in order to improve overall translation quality.

Author: L. Venuti
Publisher: Routledge
Publication date: 2000
ISBN: 0415187478

This definitive collection is the first comprehensive reader on the fast-growing field of translation studies. Concentrating on the twentieth century, with a particular focus on the past thirty years, Lawrence Venuti has chosen a wide range of readings on translation, placing each selection within its social, thematic, and historical context. The Reader is divided into five chronological sections, with each section prefaced by an introductory essay, a detailed bibliography and suggestions for further reading. The Reader also features a new essay by Lawrence Venuti on the future of Translation Studies.

Editors: Delia Chiaro, Christine Heiss and Chiara Bucaria
Publisher: John Benjamins, 2008
ISBN: 9027216878

Over the past decade interest in research on screen translation has increased sharply while at the same time fast moving technological breakthroughs are continually modifying and renewing both products and well-established methods of linguistic mediation. Thus, as more scholars choose to devote their energies to investigating this multi-faceted field, there is an ever-growing need to map out where the discipline stands and where it is going in terms of research.

This book sets out to establish the state of the art of this ever expanding field and at the same time to underscore the work of scholars following new paths of investigation both in terms of innovative linguistic mediations being examined and pioneering experimental design.

The volume includes descriptions of sophisticated electronic databases and corpora of audiovisual products for the big and small screen, and the rationale behind them, e.g. how they are created and programmed for querying; technical limitations; homogeneity in querying languages. Furthermore, Between Text and Image also includes a number of cutting edge studies in audience perception of audiovisual products, i.e. empirically based viewer centred studies which are still rare yet essential if we wish to gain a thorough understanding of the field.

Finally, the volume does not fail to ignore examples of original research carried out from both a traditional linguistic viewpoint and from a more cultural perspective.

Author: Robert Wechsler
Publisher: Catbird Press (May 1, 1998)
ISBN: 0945774389

A lively and comprehensive introduction to the art of literary translation for readers of foreign fiction and poetry who wonder what it takes to translate, how the art of literary translation has changed over the centuries, what problems translators face in bringing foreign works into English, and how they go about solving these problems. It is based on extensive reading, on dozens of interviews with translators, and on the author’s ten years of experience editing literary translations.

The Commission’s initiative has been warmly welcomed by the academic community. No fewer than 93 Master’s level translation programmes from 24 Member States and three non-EU countries participated in the call, and 34 of these have been selected to be members of the EMT network for an initial period of four years.

A further call will be launched in 2010. The network will help promote the exchange of best practice between participating universities and, ultimately, enhance teaching standards and foster the creation of a truly European market for skilled translators.

“Europe needs high-quality university training for translators in all languages to secure a supply of skilled professionals. Multilingual communication, in a broader sense, needs them to blossom ”, said Leonard Orban, the European Commissioner for Multilingualism. He added “The EMT network will contribute to raising the standards of translator training in the EU and fostering cooperation and exchanges between universities offering translation courses ”.

The call to join the EMT network was open to all EU higher education institutions offering translation programmes at Master’s level. It was published in March this year with a 31 May deadline. All proposals were assessed by a group of academic experts. Initial membership is limited to four years during which time, the successful programmes will be entitled to use the label “member of the EMT Network ”. A second call for applications is scheduled for the end of 2010.

EMT is intended to become a quality label for translator training by higher education institutions.

The EMT project was launched in 2005 at the initiative of the Directorate-General for Translation of the European Commission, and has been developed in close co-operation with recognised translation experts from the academic world. In order to foster the exchange of teaching methods and experiences, all those who participated in the call, whether successful or not, will be invited to a first meeting of the EMT network in Brussels in December 2009. This event will constitute the inaugural meeting of the network.

The list of the successful translation programmes is available here.

For Bulgaria, it is Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”, Faculty of Classical and Modern Philology.

Author: Myriam Salama-Carr
Publisher: Rodopi, 2007
ISBN: 9042022000

The relationship between translation and conflict is highly relevant in today’s globalised and fragmented world, and this is attracting increased academic interest. This collection of essays was inspired by the first international conference to directly address the translator and interpreter s involvement in situations of military and ideological conflict, and its representation in fiction. The collection adopts an interdisciplinary approach, and the contributors to the volume bring to bear a variety of perspectives informed by media studies, historiography, literary scholarship and self-reflective interpreting and translation practice. The reader is presented with compelling case studies of the embeddedness of translators and interpreters, either on the ground or as portrayed in fiction, and of their roles in mediating, memorizing or rewriting conflict. The theoretical reflection which the essays generate regarding mediation and neutrality, ethical involvement and responsibility, and the implications for translator and interpreter training, will be of interest to researchers in translation, interpreting, media, intercultural and postcolonial studies.

Author: Alison Pohl, Nick Brieger
Publisher: Summertown Publishing Ltd.
ISBN: 1902741765

“Technical English, Vocabulary and Grammar” aims to help you increase your knowledge of technical English and develop your vocabulary and grammar. By working through the materials you should become more accurate and more appropriate in a range of key technical contexts. The book can be used on your own (self-access) or in class (as part of a course). A reference and practice book for learners of technical English at intermediate level and above, it includes: 30 units covering key technical vocabulary drawn from professional activities; company profiles - automotive, pharmaceutical, mining and telecoms; 20 units reviewing core grammar in technical contexts; and a 1500 key technical terms glossary.

Review: Excellent intermediate reference for ESL teacher. Each double page spread consists of a page introducing technical vocabulary and a page of exercises.

20+ topics include IT, production, quality control, chemical, cars, health & safety. At the back there is a section of grammar exercises, a glossary and the answer key. Perfect for a teacher teaching in different types of companies.

Author: William R. McKay
Publisher: Longman Publishing Group, 2005
ISBN: 0582894360

More and more law students seeking a legal qualification find that their English language skills let them down. Legal English will enable students to confidently write on and discuss legal topics as well as conduct legal work — such as drafting legal documentation, negotiating, litigating, advising, presenting, writing and acting as an advocate.

“This is a much needed text on legal English.”

“This book deserves a place on the shelf of every law teacher in the subject, and should at least be on the reading list of all first year students who need to get to grips with language issues.”

“It has an appeal not only to AS/A2 law but also to access and first year undergraduate on part time, distance learning and full time courses.” Sharon Hanson, Lecturer in Law and Religion, The School of Continuing Education, Birkbeck University of London ‘This book fills a very important gap and will be gratefully appreciated by both students and teachers of legal English. It is an authoritative introduction to a field which is becoming more and more significant internationally.” David Rowson MBE, Head of English, Bellerbys College London