'Belgian French' and the intentional awkwardness of LDS Book of Mormon translation

1 August 2022 - kudos:

This week and last, I’ve been reading up on Mormons’ commitment to both the language of the King James Version (Philip Barlow’s Mormons and the Bible is a fantastic read) and what is seen as the authoritative text of the Book of Mormon. In Paul Gutjahr’s The Book of Mormon: A Biography, he quotes the official Latter-day Saint Scripture Translation Manual as including the following guidelines for translators of the Book of Mormon:

🔗 linkblog: my thoughts on 'Learn English: The Anglicization of the Church | Times & Seasons'

6 July 2022 - kudos:

Very interesting look at Anglocentrism in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. link to ‘Learn English: The Anglicization of the Church | Times & Seasons’

21 June 2022 - kudos:

Francophones, quelle est votre traduction préférée du mot « tag » dans un contexte technologique ? J’ai des applis qui disent « étiquette » et d’autres qui disent « mot-clé ».

automation, agency, and « Au service de la France »

17 June 2022 - kudos:

A few months ago, during a weekend where my family was out of town, I binge watched both seasons of « Au service de la France », a hilarious spy comedy available on Netflix. One of the running gags of the series is the (fictional) French secret service’s obsession with bureaucracy. So, for example, when the service suspects a mole in its midst, one of the responses is to make sure that every piece of paperwork is signed multiple times before being stamped twice.

3 January 2022 - kudos:

I wish Nintendo would translate the French release of Mario Kart as « chariot de Mario » because it’s very fun to say.

8 July 2021 - kudos:

I have just learned that “leapfrog” is called “leapsheep” (« saute-mouton ») in French AND that, by extension, a “sheep-leap” (« saut-de-mouton ») is the name for a particular kind of railway junction. Don’t know which delights me more.

29 April 2021 - kudos:

I learned today that “The Handmaid’s Tale” is « La servante écarlate » in French, which provokes a lot of thoughts about translation.

28 January 2021 - kudos:

Sometimes I don’t realize how ridiculous a phrase in English is until I’ve heard its literal translation into French. The first time I heard Bugs Bunny’s catchphrase as « quoi de neuf, docteur ? », it felt like my world was being turned upside down.

14 December 2020 - kudos:

TIL that Star Trek’s “warp speed” is translated as the vastly inferior “distortion” in French and that at least one French news outlet has therefore adopted the translation “Operation Lightning Speed” for the U.S. vaccine effort.

12 February 2019 - kudos:

It’s amazing how much French I’m learning translating students’ tweets to English for a research project. Language is so rich, and limiting it to 280 characters arguably makes it more so.