The Invisible Complexities of Translation

FromSlate Debates

Start listening View podcast show

The Invisible Complexities of Translation

FromSlate Debates

ratings:

Length:

47 minutes

Released:

Apr 13, 2021

Format:

Podcast episode

Description

A single word—take "self," for example—reveals the thorny nature of literary translation.
Slate Plus members get a bonus segment on Lexicon Valley each week, and no ads. Sign up now to listen and support our show.
Twitter: @lexiconvalley
Facebook: facebook.com/LexiconValley
Email: lexiconvalley@slate.com
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Released:

Apr 13, 2021

Format:

Podcast episode

Titles in the series (100)

Lexicon Valley is a show about language, from pet peeves, syntax, and etymology to neurolinguistics and the death of languages. Hosted by linguist John McWhorter.

Skip carousel

Lexicon Valley #24: Get Your Creak On: Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo discuss creaky voice. by Slate Debates
29 min listen
Special Announcement from Lexicon Valley: Mike announces a batch of brand new episodes. by Slate Debates
3 min listen
Lexicon Valley #3: Consider the Lamppost: Lexicon Valley #3: Consider the Lamppost by Slate Debates
30 min listen
Lexicon Valley No. 33: The End of Ambiguity: Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo talk to linguist Arika Okrent about the most logical language ever invented. by Slate Debates
27 min listen
Lexicon Valley #4: Jumpin' Salty in The O: Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo discuss the vernacular wrapped in a dialect inside a language that some call Ebonics. by Slate Debates
41 min listen
Lexicon Valley #6: A Meditation on Scrabble: Mike Vuolo talks to "Word Freak" author Stefan Fatsis about the nature of language in Scrabble. by Slate Debates
36 min listen
Lexicon Valley #13: Capturing the Past: Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo talk about how Mad Men and Downton Abbey can teach us about language change. by Slate Debates
40 min listen
Lexicon Valley #8: When Nouns Grew Genitals: Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo discuss what it means for language to have gender. by Slate Debates
31 min listen
Lexicon Valley #7: A Needle Pulling Thread: Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo discuss the big ambitions of the word "so." by Slate Debates
30 min listen
Special Announcement: Lexicon Valley will be back with a run of all-new episodes in the spring. by Slate Debates
4 min listen
Lexicon Valley #5: Untuning the String: Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo talk to author David Skinner about his book, The Story of Ain't, which will be published in the fall of 2012. by Slate Debates
37 min listen
Lexicon Valley #11: When Being Done Replaced Doing: Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo discuss the most significant change to the English language that you've never heard of. by Slate Debates
29 min listen
Lexicon Valley #1: A Sin of Which None Is Guilty: Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo discuss the longstanding English language proscription against ending a sentence with a preposition. by Slate Debates
25 min listen
Lexicon Valley #15: Then Is Now, Now and Then: Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo discuss the historical present. by Slate Debates
32 min listen
Special Announcement from Lexicon Valley: Mike announces a run of all new episodes beginning later in the summer. by Slate Debates
4 min listen
Lexicon Valley #21: Undocumented Illegals: Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo discuss the debate over "illegal" versus "undocumented" at the heart of U.S. immigration policy. by Slate Debates
35 min listen
Lexicon Valley #9: And May He Be a Masculine Bridge: Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo discuss how a simple quirk of grammar may affect the way we think. by Slate Debates
32 min listen
Lexicon Valley #23: Good Is Up: Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo discuss metaphor and the "fiscal cliff." by Slate Debates
30 min listen
Lexicon Valley #14: By Their Words You Shall Know Them: Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo discuss stylometry. by Slate Debates
33 min listen
Lexicon Valley #27: Accentuate the Positive: Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo discuss the seemingly paradoxical phrase "yeah-no." by Slate Debates
28 min listen
Lexicon Valley #12: The Eloquence of Plain English: Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo discuss the Gettysburg Address. by Slate Debates
33 min listen
Lexicon Valley #10: One Giant Leap for Humanity: Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo discuss the he said/she said of the epicene pronoun. by Slate Debates
40 min listen
Lexicon Valley #2: A Bundle of Faggots: Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo discuss the evolution of the word "faggot." by Slate Debates
33 min listen
Lexicon Valley #22: Talking Leaves and Lightning Paper: Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo discuss the Cherokee syllabary. by Slate Debates
31 min listen
Lexicon Valley #25: The Fawth Flaw: Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo discuss a defining feature of the classic New York accent. by Slate Debates
25 min listen
Lexicon Valley #16: Our Dying Words: Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo discuss what we lose when a language goes extinct. by Slate Debates
24 min listen
The Manic Pixie and the Magical Negro: Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo talk to arts critic Nathan Rabin and journalist Christopher John Farley about the phrases they coined to identify two of Hollywood's most pernicious tropes. by Slate Debates
33 min listen
Lexicon Valley #18: The Rate of Exchange: Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo discuss the commonly held belief that some languages are spoken faster than others. by Slate Debates
27 min listen
Lexicon Valley #19: Here's to You Mrs. Malaprop: Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo discuss what malapropisms might reveal about the way we organize our mental dictionary. by Slate Debates
33 min listen
Lexicon Valley #17: Ascent of the A-word: Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo talk to linguist Geoffrey Nunberg about his book Ascent of the A-word: A**holism, the First Sixty Years. by Slate Debates
28 min listen

More Episodes from Slate Debates

Skip carousel

Well, Now: Psychedelics' Long Strange Trip to the Doctor's Office: Some psychiatrists and patients are begging the FDA to approve psychedelics for certain mental health treatments. What’s the hold-up? by Slate Debates
42 min listen
Hear Me Out: Tradwives Show Us Feminism’s Failures: Don’t we all sort of want a soft life? by Slate Debates
43 min listen
Hear Me Out: Pride Is For Everyone (Except Cops and Politicians): All the colors of the rainbow, except for the ones diametrically opposed to said rainbow. by Slate Debates
39 min listen
Hear Me Out: Biden Is Courting Voters Who Don’t Exist: Don’t assume the base will vote blue no matter who. by Slate Debates
48 min listen
Hear Me Out: Election Betting Should Be Legal: Devils roll the dice, voters roll their eyes? by Slate Debates
37 min listen
Hear Me Out: Term Limits Could Ruin Congress: The time they serve isn’t the reason we all hate Congress. by Slate Debates
40 min listen
Well, Now | “As Little Regulation as Guns”: How Social Media Hurts Youth Mental Health: Minors are facing a mental health crisis, and data supports social media as a culprit. One city health commissioner is helping fight back in the courts. by Slate Debates
41 min listen
Hear Me Out: Colonialism Never Ended: …And other ideas Florida doesn’t want to teach you. by Slate Debates
39 min listen
Hear Me Out: Trump Isn’t a Bug. He's a Feature.: The founders weren’t exactly anti-authoritarian. by Slate Debates
45 min listen
Hear Me Out: Punishing A Shooter’s Parents Misses The Point: Justice is a bigger picture. by Slate Debates
39 min listen
Hear Me Out: Student Protests Can Backfire (Badly): It’s the law of unintended consequences. by Slate Debates
44 min listen
What Next: The Jewish Case for Protest: How views of Israel have changed—and how some Jewish Americans are grappling with the dissonance. by Slate Debates
32 min listen
What Next: Columbia Calls the Cops: How student protests have intensified and spread. by Slate Debates
30 min listen
Hear Me Out: Third Parties Are Saving Democracy: It’s just that their job isn’t winning (yet). by Slate Debates
35 min listen
Hear Me Out: Legalize Weed, But Not Like This: Smoke and mirrors. by Slate Debates
37 min listen
A Word: Candace Owens: Back to Black?: What’s next for the conservative provocateur’s redemption tour on Black media. by Slate Debates
43 min listen
Hear Me Out: Interracial Marriages Can Still Be Racist: And their children could pay the price. by Slate Debates
37 min listen
Hear Me Out: Don’t Blame Capitalism For The Housing Crisis: For-profit developers could be the solution. by Slate Debates
37 min listen
Hear Me Out: Anti-Vaxers Aren’t Just Extremists: They’re often responding to real problems with American healthcare. by Slate Debates
36 min listen
Hear Me Out: You Probably Don’t Need Therapy Forever: The point of therapy is to equip you for success on your own. by Slate Debates
45 min listen
Hear Me Out: Purity Is Poisoning the Progressive Movement: Incrementalism isn’t a dirty word. by Slate Debates
37 min listen
Hear Me Out: The House Should Elect The President: Not we the people… at least, not directly. by Slate Debates
45 min listen
Hear Me Out: Horse Race Journalism Is Good, Actually: Giddy up, voters. by Slate Debates
45 min listen
Hear Me Out: Un-Cancel Woodrow Wilson: It’s time to reassess what a great president looks like. by Slate Debates
45 min listen
Care & Feeding (After Dark): Couples’ Therapy: Our spouses have entered the group chat. by Slate Debates
33 min listen
Hear Me Out: The Constitution Can’t Save Us: And we should stop pretending like it can. by Slate Debates
38 min listen
What Next: A Mass Shooter’s Mom Found Guilty: Two years after Jennifer Crumbley’s son shot up Oxford High School, she’s been convicted of manslaughter. by Slate Debates
24 min listen
Hear Me Out: Campus Assault Hearings Are A Disaster: Restorative justice might be the solution. by Slate Debates
37 min listen
Hear Me Out: Actually, Trump Supporters Are Delusional: “Death cult” may sound hyperbolic, but it also might be true. by Slate Debates
38 min listen
Hear Me Out: Feminism Is Dying (But It Can Be Saved): When we say all women, we need to mean it. by Slate Debates
36 min listen

Related podcast episodes

Skip carousel

Russian Is My Mt. Everest by Slate Debates
40 min listen
RE-AIR: If We're Talking Euripidean Women, Can't Forget Alcestis by Let's Talk About Myths, Baby! Greek & Roman Mythology Retold
81 min listen
Ep 073 - Portnoy's Complaint, by Philip Roth by Overdue
63 min listen
Gender Identity w/ Jes Tom – Ep. 6: We welcome stand-up comedian Jes Tom and dyke out about gender identity! Do gender roles exist in queer relationships? How do people react to different identities and what privileges come with them? But first, with so much to cover in current events, by Dyking Out - a Lesbian and LGBTQIA Podcast for Everyone!
90 min listen
Capital Language From Kyiv to Washington, D.C.: How the capital of Ukraine has become a linguistic hot take. by Slate Debates
34 min listen
Anthropology, Ethnomusicology, the Anthropology of Dance: Same Difference?: Andrée Grau (University of Roehampton) discusses the anthropology of dance and its development as a discipline of anthropology. The talk also reflects on the discipline's neglected figures (27 February 2015) by Anthropology
48 min listen
Singing Sand (Rebroadcast) - 30 August 2021: Happy as a boardinghouse pup. by A Way with Words - language, linguistics, and callers from all over
54 min listen
Anatoly Liberman, "Take My Word for It: A Dictionary of English Idioms" (U Minnesota Press, 2023): An interview with Anatoly Liberman by New Books in Literary Studies
49 min listen
Kate Sawyer and The Stranding • 108: Join us as we talk all things books, apocalypses, whales and the Costa Prize shortlist with Kate Sawyer, author of The Stranding. It's a novel about a woman who survives the end-of-the-world by hiding inside the belly of a whale. Find out why we loved... by The Book Club Review
45 min listen
How Merriam-Webster Lexicographer and Author Kory Stamper Writes: Part Two: In Part Two of this file the associate editor and lexicographer at Merriam-Webster, and acclaimed author of the book Word by Word: The Secret Life of Dictionaries, Kory Stamper, paid me a visit to talk about being a celebrity word nerd, how she... by The Writer Files: Writing, Productivity, Creativity, and Neuroscience
27 min listen
Episode 36: Literature: This week's podcast focuses on Charlotte Mason's ideas for the study of literature. Wait, isn't every subject literature with her use of living books? How does the study of literature fit into her curriculum from the earliest age? Listen Now: If you are by A Delectable Education Charlotte Mason Podcast
35 min listen
Episode 9 - Pax Tokugawa: This week we will be covering the social and political structure of Edo Japan. There's a lot of interesting material to go through, ranging from the social system (hint: it's good to be a samurai [but not as good as you might think]) to the foreign... by History of Japan
23 min listen
Mostafa Minawi on Arab-Ottoman imperialists at the end of empire: Mostafa Minawi on “Losing Istanbul: Arab-Ottoman Imperialists and the End of Empire” (Stanford University Press). The book follows the rise and fall of a generation of Arab-origin figures who flourished in the Ottoman capital in the final years befor... by Turkey Book Talk
44 min listen
When Pigs Fly - 23 May 2022: Ole Ole Olson all in free! by A Way with Words - language, linguistics, and callers from all over
54 min listen
The Library: A Fragile History: In the first episode of 2023, Kate Whiting speaks to academics and authors Professor Andrew Pettegree and Dr Arthur der Weduwen about their book The Library: A Fragile History. They discuss why, despite our love of collecting books, they have often... by The World Economic Forum Book Club Podcast
33 min listen
Hannah Turner, "Cataloguing Culture: Legacies of Colonialism in Museum Documentation" (UBC Press, 2020): An interview with Hannah Turner by New Books in Critical Theory
44 min listen
Episode 419 - A Tale as Old as Time: For our final episode of 2021, we're looking at the origin of one of Japan's most famous pieces of literature: the war epic known as the Heike Monogatari, or Tale of Heike. How did a story about a single conflict in Japanese history become one of the... by History of Japan
36 min listen
LXVII: Woman, Survivor, Murderer, Euripides’ Medea: Where all Medea's fame lasting relevancy comes from: Euripides. Plus a beautiful song about Medea written/performed by listener Alison Rush (alisonrush.com, Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/3CcXbd6MSK0XikfdOmwZ7I?si=9Cy4EX6hSMeVQLTRimmcHA).... by Let's Talk About Myths, Baby! Greek & Roman Mythology Retold
54 min listen
I Think it’s Best Picked Off (S2 E10, "The Bracebridge Dinner") by I Am All In with Scott Patterson
79 min listen
Episode 355 - Tales of Moonlight and Rain: This week, we're talking about one of Japan's most famous collections of supernatural tales, the fantastic Ugetsu Monogatari (Tales of Moonlight and Rain) from 1776. Show notes . by History of Japan
35 min listen
Taking Home the Gold in Language: How language made an appearance in the opening ceremony of the Tokyo Olympics. by Slate Debates
30 min listen
Lesson 1. 건망증 (Forgetfulness): Talk To Me In 100% Korean by Talk To Me In 100% Korean
12 min listen
Trouble in Tunisia: Zack, Jenn, and Jen Kirby discuss the political crisis gripping Tunisia. by Worldly
42 min listen
ReLIT: Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid: This Thursday, we're getting reLIT with a throwback to one of our favorite shows from season one! Such a Fun Age is a story contrasting who we are as individuals against the role society has cast us to play. It follows Emira Tucker, a black 25-year-old w... by Lit Society: Books and Drama
93 min listen
No port, still a storm: Lebanon a year after the blast: The explosion at Beirut’s port was a symptom, not a cause, of the country’s malaise. We find more questions than answers about the blast and a political class unshaken by it. For half a century, one Beirut resident has, from the same apartment, witness... by The Intelligence from The Economist
22 min listen
Why Do Languages Have Gender? by Slate Debates
57 min listen
Getting Got by Slate Debates
43 min listen
Forgetting Your Roots by Slate Debates
59 min listen
Sergeant, Corporal, Colonel!: Peculiar linguistic tales of America's soldiers. by Slate Debates
40 min listen
Does English Have a Future? by Slate Debates
53 min listen

Discover this podcast and so much more

The Invisible Complexities of Translation

The Invisible Complexities of Translation

Description

Titles in the series (100)

More Episodes from Slate Debates

Related podcast episodes