A review by kamila79
Is That a Fish in Your Ear? Translation and the Meaning of Everything by David Bellos

4.0

There are a lot of things I liked about David Bellos’s “Is That a Fish in Your Ear? Translation and the Meaning of Everything”. He succeeded in reminding me of what I have always found so fascinating in the art of translation and been amazed by while studying applied linguistics and anthropological linguistics, learning various languages, living in seven countries around the world and (mis)communicating with others. Namely, this realisation that translation is what we all do all the time, through various means: language, gestures, facial expressions, and what betrays some of our identities. This book is as much about cultures, identities, philosophy, values and societies as it is about, among other issues, simultaneous interpreting, translation of poetry, other literary texts and jokes, translation in business and law, the importance of contextualisation, and the traps of, e.g. thinking that native speakers know their own language better than those for whom it is not a mother tongue. I liked the global approach (with, however, most space devoted to English and French) with which Bellos tackled the subjects. Translation is, and has always been, the core of our cultures and our existence, and therefore I believe “Is That a Fish in Your Ear?” is a book for everyone who is at least slightly interested in the history of humanity and human communication.