Ebook: Is That a Fish in Your Ear?: Translation and the Meaning of Everything

What is a translation? -- Is translation avoidable? -- Why do we call it "translation"? -- Things people say about translation -- Fictions of the foreign : the paradox of "foreign-soundingness" -- Native command : is your language really yours? -- Meaning is no simple thing -- Words are even worse -- Understanding dictionaries -- The myth of literal translation -- The issue of trust : the long shadow of oral translation -- Custom cuts : making forms fit -- What can't be said can't be translated : the axion of effability -- How many words do we have for coffee? -- Bibles and bananas : the vertical axis of translation relations -- Translation impacts -- The third code : translation as a dialect -- No language is an island : the awkward issue of L3 -- Global flows : center and periphery in the translation of books -- A question of human rights : translation and the spread of international law -- Ceci n'est pas une traduction : language parity in the European Union -- Translating news -- The adventure of automated language-translation machines -- A fish in your ear : the short history of simultaneous interpreting -- Match me if you can : translating humor -- Style and translation -- Translating literary texts -- What translators do -- Beating the bounds : what translation is not -- Under fire : sniping at translation -- Sameness, likeness, and match : truths about translation -- Avatar : a parable of translation -- Afterbabble : in lieu of an epilogue.;Funny and surprising on every page, Is That a Fish in Your Ear offers readers new insight into the mystery of how we come to know what someone else means whether we wish to understand Asteerix cartoons or a foreign head of state. Using translation as his lens, David Bellos shows how much we can learn about ourselves by exploring the ways we use translation, from the historical roots of written language to the stylistic choices of Ingmar Bergman, from the United Nations General Assembly to the significance of James Camerons Avatar. Is That a Fish in Your Ear ranges across human experience to describe why translation sits deep within us all, and why we need it in so many situations, from the spread of religion to our appreciation of literature; indeed, Bellos claims that all writers are by definition translators. Written with joie de vivre, reveling both in misunderstanding and communication, littered with wonderful asides, it promises any reader new eyes through which to understand the world. --amazon.com.