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katrinepoetry's review against another edition
4.0
A great read for anyone wanting an informal introduction to translation.
monikasreadingadventures's review against another edition
informative
4.0
Is That a Fish in Your Ear is a somewhat interesting read, with some parts more interesting then others. I haven't ever thought about the act of translation as deeply as Bellos has, which made this for an interesting reading choice!
I enjoyed most of the book but some of it was a slog to get through as Bellos would sometimes take 8 pages to say the same thing over and over again but in other parts of the book, he would introduce an idea and quickly dismiss it. At some points, Bellos would also quickly change between different ideas and not spend enough time expanding on them. In short, you can easily sense where Bellos' interests and opinion lies in the way that he structures the chapters and arguments of the book.
I have to say that this book was a bit of a slog to get through so, if you have a slight interest in translation then I would probably recommend a YouTube video as the book is a bit too much, especially with Bellos' writing style.
I enjoyed most of the book but some of it was a slog to get through as Bellos would sometimes take 8 pages to say the same thing over and over again but in other parts of the book, he would introduce an idea and quickly dismiss it. At some points, Bellos would also quickly change between different ideas and not spend enough time expanding on them. In short, you can easily sense where Bellos' interests and opinion lies in the way that he structures the chapters and arguments of the book.
I have to say that this book was a bit of a slog to get through so, if you have a slight interest in translation then I would probably recommend a YouTube video as the book is a bit too much, especially with Bellos' writing style.
jaclynhyde's review against another edition
4.0
Fascinating book on the practice and meaning of translation. I didn't care for some of the more philosophical chapters (but do words really exist?), but the rest of it was really interesting.
lou1sb's review against another edition
5.0
It's funny/ironic that the amount of page space dedicated to different words for 'translation' in Japanese, formed by adding a prefix to 訳, is roughly the same as the amount of page space dedicated to debunking the Great Eskimo Vocabulary Hoax, on the grounds that Inuit language qualifies words by adding prefixes and suffixes. On a side note, I'm going to call my post-rock band of linguistic pedants "Eskimo Word For Snow"
famel's review against another edition
3.0
Definitely a good read about translation, which teaches what the whole thing is really about.