• Welcome to my blog

    Most people will make the assumption that, because I am a translator, this blog will be about language. It will be, but with a few qualifications. In a certain sense, language will be only one thing this blog will be about. Frankly, I’m not interested in writing about when and how we should use commas or
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  • On Putting Away Childish Things

    One of Robin Hood’s merry men—that’s who I was for a period in my life after my sister Nelly gave me a children’s version of Howard Pyle’s The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood as a birthday present one year. It was a very romanticized version of the Robin Hood material and a children’s version to
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  • In Praise of Literal Translations

    Many years ago, when we had just moved to the Netherlands, I said something—can’t remember what it was anymore—to my cousin, and he replied, “Zo zeggen wij het niet in het Nederlands” (that’s not how we say it in Dutch). I do remember that what I said was, of course, a very literal translation of
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  • Terrorism and Western Values

    The attack on the Charlie Hebdo offices in Paris that left twelve people dead led almost immediately to a discussion on what was touted as fundamental Western rights and values – the freedom of the press and the freedom to express one’s opinion. The magazine’s offices were allegedly attacked because of its publication of cartoons
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