Språkrådet (the Language Council of Sweden) recently updated their language guidelines to include usage of hen. According to Språkrådet hen may be used by people who wish to avoid using traditional gender designations about themselves or others. Some people use hen to avoid wordier locutions such as han eller hon (he or she), although the Language Council does not agree with this usage.

It will be interesting to see whether hen gains any traction in the mainsteam media or culture. The Swedish newspaper Sydsvenskan has adopted a cautious policy, using the pronoun for interview subjects who prefer to use it about themselves, but not in other cases. I have no idea whether a conscious introduction of the pronoun by preschool teachers, parents or children’s book authors will make any difference in the living language. The English gender-neutral pronoun thon never caught on, and I had never seen the modern equivalents ze and co until I looked into the pronoun issue. Perhaps the furor will die down as quickly as it blew up once the difficulty of reforming something as basic to a language as the pronoun system becomes apparent, but in the meantime it is fascinating to watch this linguistic experiment in action.

Further reading (in Swedish):
Newsmill
Språkrådet

Call for Papers

The second Nordic Translation Conference will take place on 4, 5, and 6 April 2013 at the University of East Anglia, in Norwich, England.

This quinquennial event is solely dedicated to the particular challenges and pleasures of translating between and among the Nordic countries, which are often closely related culturally, if not always linguistically. It is open to academics, students, translators, publishers, and others who work with the Nordic languages. The first such conference took place in London at the Institute of Germanic and Romance Studies in 2008 and it resulted in the book Northern Lights: Translation in the Nordic Countries (Peter Lang, 2009).

The keynote speakers in 2013 will include Andrew Chesterman, Riitta Oittinen, and Anna Mauranen. As in 2008, there will be workshops, talks, panels, and dual-language readings. Both academics and practising translators are encouraged to attend and present at the conference.

The conference will look at literary and non-literary translation of all kinds, including interpreting and subtitling, both between various Nordic languages and also between English and the Nordic languages. Nordic here includes Danish, Faroese, Finnish, Greenlandic, Icelandic, Norwegian, any of the Sámi dialects, and Swedish. Topics can include, but are not limited to, specific linguistic issues involved in translation/interpretation between two or more languages, analysis of particular texts/genres, professional issues, translating texts by or about minority groups, the translator/interpreter’s role, and the effect of cultural similarities/differences among Nordic countries.

In addition, the conference will include several workshops on relevant topics, such as working with specific languages or kinds of texts, using computer tools, finding reference materials, and so on. Those interested in running workshops are also invited to submit proposals.

Please send proposals (250-400 words) for workshops by 1 June 2012 and for conference papers by 15 August 2012 to B.J. Epstein and Gudrun Rawoens by e-mail at conference@nordictranslation.net or by regular mail to B.J. Epstein at the School of Literature, Drama and Creative Writing, University of East Anglia, Norwich Research Park, Norwich, England, NR4 7TJ. Along with the proposal, please include a brief biographical note.

Conference details are available at http://www.nordictranslation.net. For ease of communication, English should be the primary conference language.

Borgen is a smart political drama about a female prime minister. The show has been a hit in the UK, which may come as no surprise since it comes from the same people who made The Killing.

I won’t have much time for sightseeing but am enjoying the scene on Avenyn, Gothenburg’s lively major thoroughfare where the conference is located. Avenyn is a great place for people watching at any time, but on the Swedish All Saints holiday weekend some partygoers are dressed for Halloween. I definitely won’t lack for entertainment until the conference kicks off on Monday.

I also just caught up with Corinne McKay’s excellent list of theories about direct clients. I actually wouldn’t call them theories, as the piece is a series of observations learned over time. The point that struck me and has also provoked the most discussion is “Many direct clients will find you, rather than the other way around.” This has caused me to rethink what I am doing and to make sure that I am putting my energy into the right areas.

Feskekôrka (the "fish church") in Gothenburg

The Swedish business newspaper Dagens Industri reports that the Swedish city of Gothenburg has given up its attempt to go by its Swedish name (Göteborg) internationally, and has returned to using the name Gothenburg in English.

The English name is nothing new: according to the city’s web site, the official name Gothenburg dates from at least 1621, when it was specified on the city’s charter. Many European cities have names in languages not their own, also known as exonyms (think Copenhagen or Vienna), but Gothenburg is reportedly the only Swedish city to have one.

Why switch back? Apparently the city elders finally realized that English speakers have trouble with the name Göteborg. I could have told them that: my grandfather came from Gothenburg, and I have a “Göteborg” sticker with the city seal on the dashboard of my car. I’ve listened to many perplexed passengers tackle the name, and can report that it’s a world of trouble down to the last letter. (Try explaining the pronunciation of the final -rg in Björn Borg or Göteborg to an English speaker some time.)

As a translator I vastly prefer to use the familiar (indeed, ancient) English moniker in my translations, and I have in fact had this discussion with at least one agency which wanted to conform to the city’s policy. So I am glad that they have returned to using Gothenburg on an official basis.

The purpose of the Nordic Division blog is to serve as a means of communication among its members, provide information and service to its members in specific fields of interest related to translation and/or interpretation into or from the languages and dialects spoken in the countries of Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden (including, but not necessarily limited to Danish, Estonian, Faeroese, Finnish, Greenlandic, Icelandic, Norwegian, Sami, and Swedish), to further cooperation and information exchanges among members, and promote the policies and objectives of the American Translators Association.

There are already several useful posts, including updates on the division agenda at the 2009 Annual Conference in October.

Thank you Division volunteers for making this blog possible.

The book is scheduled to be released in English on September 15, and the US publisher is apparently reluctant to release the manuscript before then due to fears that it could turn up on file-sharing sites. So, the Swedish publisher is enlisting a team in order to get the book onto Swedish store shelves by October 21.

Perhaps this extreme measure was necessary from a business standpoint given the unusual circumstances, but I wonder if other publishers around the world are following suit? And one can only hope that this translation process does not become the “new normal” for literature.

Imagine being challenged to turn tired literal translations into sparkling prose, or to transform a choppy text into a piece that flows. Imagine sharing fascinating conversations with other translators and hearing terrific tips for achieving and maintaining the level of quality that top clients are looking for.

While we spent a lot of time on business and government prose (which can in fact sparkle — who knew?), we also got to learn more about the challenges of literary translation. I spent a wonderful evening hearing Ros Schwartz share her experiences translating mysteries and other types of literature.

I made some new friends and came back with lots of new ideas, an enormous bagful of translation books from InTrans Book Service, and a firm resolve to be the best writer and translator I can be.