It has been a while since my last reading list, and this time there are a couple of podcasts that I have added. This winter I felt exhausted and struggled to even pick up a book or my Kindle. The stack of papers and publications to read grew on my desk. I stopped watching TV due to tinnitus problems and retreated back into my shell. I am still feeling very tired, but a lot of the sources of tiredness and pressure are now behind me. On the positive side, I did manage quite a bit of CPDWorking as a translator isn’t only about translating. Training and seminars making up continuing professional development are also important parts of the job. More and am now writing my presentation and a background paper for the ASTTI Financial Translation Summer Conference in Spiez feeling refreshed for having listened to myself and taken it slightly easier.
So, it is time for a new reading list – some of which I have already made considerable inroads into. I am also very grateful to friends and contacts who have carried on suggesting books to read frequently through LinkedIn posts and goodreads lists – the stack has got longer thanks to your efforts.
Here are the books that I am hoping to get through this Spring.
- Jamie Bartlett, How to Talk to AI (and how not to)
- David Bellos, Is that a fish in your ear?
- Daniel Kahnemann, Thinking Fast and Slow
- Vic Marks, The Cricket Captains of England
- Lucian Randall, Disgusting Bliss (a biography about satirist Chris Morris)
- Mark Sands, Stars on Sunday
- Manuela Schauer, Autismus. Ich spüre was, was Du nicht siehst
Here are two versions of the same original book that I read in the winter.
- Michiko Aoyama, What you are looking for is in the library (translation by Alison Watts)
- Michiko Aoyama, Frau Komachi empfiehlt ein Buch (translation by Sabine Mangold)
The reason for reading two versions was as an idea to illustrate translation decisions in literary translation. I took a look at this in a LinkedIn post – as mentioned below.
Podcasts:
Given that I suffer from tinnitus, you might wonder why I mention podcasts. I actually have to put on podcasts from time to time to help me adjust gradually from quiet surroundings to the overly noisy surroundings of say a school playground, or to help get me used to encountering more sound, after having a focused session translating. Good podcasts also boil down to good storytelling.
This was one of the reasons I was very happy when the BBC Sounds podcast announced the return of some fresh episodes of Jamie Bartlett’s Missing Cryptoqueen podcast. Hie latest podcast, “Everything is Fake” was one I subsequently binged.
- Cyber Hack, BBC World Service
- Everything is Fake, Jamie Bartlett, BBC Sounds
- Nicht zu fassen. Der profil-Investigativpodcast
- Reden wir über Geld, FMA
- Share Inspire Explore, Chris Wilson, Where I’m At
- The Europeans,
- The Sweeper, Lee Wingate and Paul Watson
- The Missing Cryptoqueen, Jamie Bartlett, BBC Sounds
- Today in Focus, The Guardian
Finally, I have also started moving to Substack to consume written content. I can be found over there at: https://humantranslator.substack.com – I am looking into exploring it as another channel to write on.
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