Free download: how to write clearly

Readers may be interested in the European Commission's publication 'How to Write Clearly'. This guide is available in all official languages of the European Community. It's part of their campaign for more straightforward, readable documentation (the same campaign which used to be called 'Fight the Fog'). 

It can be downloaded free in any of the official languages from the EU institutional bookshop.

Recently advertised internships

Two translation internships seen recently:

STAR in Dublin is offering internships for translation project management, beginning September for a period of 5-6 months. No details about remuneration.

Remote internship offered by Coalition for International Initiatives for a French or Spanish native speaker to translate their materials out of English. Minimum 10 hour a week commitment. Seems pro bono.

As always, disclaimer: all information provided in good faith, but I don't know these organisations personally and make no claims or guarantees.

jobs, internships, PhD funding etc.

A few translation opportunities, seen recently around the web:

An advertisement in the Guardian for an experienced Project Manager in London. Posted today. No deadline given.

The company Synonyme in Madrid is advertising for a multitasking English native speaker with French, German or Spanish as interpreter, translator and project manager. Also looking for conference interpreters. Contact a.edwards at synonyme.net. Found on the website of the Chartered Institute of Linguists; other positions also advertised.

The pharmaceutical company Roche is looking for an English Sprachexperte for their language service in Basel (German-English translation, translation revision, etc.). Found via the ITI website. Further details here.

Seen on the BDÜE website (job postings can be found under Aktuelles):

The company Comlogos is looking for a project manager based in Stuttgart. The company also seems from their website to offer internships. Other posts also regularly advertised.

In Europe, the EPSO competitions for Estonian, Irish, Latvian and Portuguese translators close on 14 August. The link is here. The deadline for translation traineeships in the European institutions beginning in March 2013 is 31 August. There are two rounds of these a year; more information here.

Two PhD studentships at the School of Applied Language and Intercultural Studies at Dublin City University for the academic year 2012-13. The scholarships cover fees and maintenance for the first year of study; may be extended subject to suitable progress, etc. 

There's a PhD studentship offered in Denmark in the field of intercultural business encounters which may interest translation researchers. Deadline is imminent: 15 August.

As always, the writer of this blog makes no guarantees about, and has no vested interest in, any of these opportunities. Good luck to any of our readers who apply.

Poems about translation 11: Guillaume Colletet contre la traduction

I figure there are two excellent reasons for another Poem About Translation: 

1) It's been nearly a year (!?!) since I posted the last one

2) I have just arrived in Paris for a brief break to catch up with friends, films, the French language, etc.

As it happens, serendipitously, we have never had a Poem About Translation in French. So here is Guillaume Colletet, an early Academician and poet (1598-1659).* He has strong feelings about translation: 

Discours contre la Traduction

C'est trop m'assujetir, je suis las d'imiter, 
La version déplaist à qui peut inventer,
Je suis plus amoureux d'un Vers que je comp[o]se, 
Que des Livres entiers que j'ay traduites en Prose. 
Suivre comme un esclave un Autheur pas à pas 
Chercher de la raison où l'on n'en trouve pas, 
Distiler son Esprit sur chaque periode,
Faire d'un vieux Latin du François à la mode, 
Eplucher chaque mot comme un Grammairien, 
Voir ce qui le rend mal, ou ce qui le rend bien; 
Faire d'un sens confus une raison subtile,
Joindre au discours qui sert un langage inutile, 
Parler asseurement de ce qu'on sçait le moins, 
Rendre de ses erreurs tous les Doctes tesmoins, 
Et vouloir bien souvent par un caprice extréme 
Entendre qui jamais ne s'entendit soy mesme; 
Certes, c'est un travail dont je suis si lassé,
Que j'en ay le corps foible, & l'esprit émoussé. 
[...]

(I hasten to say that this does not reflect how I feel today about translation, though having got up at oh-dark-thirty this morning to get the 9.21 Eurostar the corps is feeling pretty foible.)

Colletet's full rant, sorry, Discours is available via UMass here. This is also the source of the text above - I thought I might find a facsimile copy on Gallica but have had no luck. There is a wonderful translation into Italian by Valerio Magrelli here. 

I haven't come across a translation into English but if any reader would like to undertake one and pop it in a comment, that would be excellent! :)

[UPDATE 13 October 2013: There is an English translation by Anthony Molino of Valerio Magrelli's Italian translation of the poem in the collection The Contagion of Matter published in 2000.]

* (Pleasingly, one of his books is entitled Le trébuchement de l’yvrongne [The staggering of the drunk])