CommentaryEssays & Perspectives

On translation, literature, language, and culture.

Google Translate: Friend or Foe?

Recently I put a Farsi-language ad in a Facebook group that said: If anyone needs any type of translation to and from Farsi, Please...

Scam Alert: Fraudsters Target Interpreters and Clients

Perpetrators of business fraud are getting more sophisticated everyday, and the translating and interpreting field is no exception. All the familiar scams involving everything...

Ethical Considerations for Interpreters

Today, I wanted to address ethics and ethical considerations in my practice. It’s a very important part of our practice, mainly because I work...

Four Things to Know About Our Practice

I’m lucky to be a translator and an interpreter. My work is an intellectual exercise that reveals to me the common concepts that underlie...

What’s in a Name?

In Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, Juliet famously sums up her exasperation with the war between the Capulets and the Montagues by lamenting, “…a rose...

The Human Cost of Bad Translation

My mother is not fluent in English and this fact counted heavily against her on a call to an insurance company recently. The call...

The Importance of ATA Certification

The American Translators Association (ATA), a well known international organization, offers a translator certification—a distinction that puts all translators, regardless of work status, in...

Invitation to Cooperate With the American Translators Association (ATA) to Formally Establish a Language Combination In Farsi To And From English

Dear Farsi Translators and Colleagues: Respectfully, the translation of Farsi to and from English in the United-States has become questionable. Due to a lack...

To ‘D’ or not to ‘D’, that’s the question.

Even though English is not my first language, I always thought the English speaking world is not speaking correct English. When it comes to...