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A review by thewritebooks
Is That a Fish in Your Ear? The Amazing Adventure of Translation by David Bellos
funny
informative
inspiring
slow-paced
What a fascinating book!
I found this an engaging balance between a scholar's view on such a broad topic and also an amusing introduction to big ideas for those who have never encountered them. As a linguistics student, there was a lot in here I had some knowledge or understanding of, but I found that Bellos was able to introduce a lot of theoretical/philosophical elements that had my underlining sentences going "Oh hang on I'd never considered it like that!"
There were many subjects in this that I've circled with the intention of going back and looking at in more detail - such as the first use of simultaneous translation being at the Nuremburg trials, and how translators kept having to stop because they were crying at what they heard - imagine that kind of psychological impact while doing your job, which is already considered one of the most challenging things your brain can do! Just so interesting!
If you've seen my other reviews from the last few months you'll notice that I've covered a lot of books about books/reading/libraries (I'll never get enough) and now that term is about to start again I'm seeing if i can shift some of that focus towards Non-fiction like this one, to make it benefit my uni course (alongside my romance books ofc)!
I found this an engaging balance between a scholar's view on such a broad topic and also an amusing introduction to big ideas for those who have never encountered them. As a linguistics student, there was a lot in here I had some knowledge or understanding of, but I found that Bellos was able to introduce a lot of theoretical/philosophical elements that had my underlining sentences going "Oh hang on I'd never considered it like that!"
There were many subjects in this that I've circled with the intention of going back and looking at in more detail - such as the first use of simultaneous translation being at the Nuremburg trials, and how translators kept having to stop because they were crying at what they heard - imagine that kind of psychological impact while doing your job, which is already considered one of the most challenging things your brain can do! Just so interesting!
If you've seen my other reviews from the last few months you'll notice that I've covered a lot of books about books/reading/libraries (I'll never get enough) and now that term is about to start again I'm seeing if i can shift some of that focus towards Non-fiction like this one, to make it benefit my uni course (alongside my romance books ofc)!