April | 2017 | Steve Woods

Grauniad terminology failure

13/04/2017 Steve WoodsLanguage, Media, Politics, Social Media, Uncategorized

On Twitter, the ITI has kindly pointed out a terminological error in last week’s Guardian. I appeared in the text of the article shown below, taken on the occasion of the UK’s not at all unelected prime minister Theresa May’s visit to those nice people in Saudi Arabia who are kind enough to buy lots of weapons off the British for use in Yemen.

The person identified as Person 2 is described as “the most important person in the room, the translator”.

I’m afraid you are wrong there, Grauniad. He may be the most important person in the room, but alas he is no translator.

The error of the Grauniad’s ways was helpfully pointed out in a letter on Tuesday by fellow linguist Jane Straker and her letter is reproduced in full below.

The big picture (5 April) was good and the numbered captions helpful. It was a boost for our profession to have the man below the late King Abdullah’s portrait described as “perhaps the most important person in the room”. However, translators are not normally people who listen and speak (sometimes simultaneously) in meetings: that is the job of interpreters. Some translators are trained to interpret, but they usually excel at writing, keyboard skills and carefully honing text. Speech is not writing; transfer of meaning between languages and cultures requires not only accuracy, speed and clarity, but impartiality. Interpreters should have no vested interest in the outcome of a meeting. It would be useful to know whether Theresa May had a British Arabic-English interpreter in her delegation.

To avoid future blunders and save interpreters from putting pen to paper – or fingers to keyboard – passing Grauniad (& other) journalists are advised to consult my handy illustrated guide to translators and interpreters.

Some linguists have remarked that the two sides of the profession should stop being so pedantic about terminology. However, I believe terminological exactitude is a crucial skill for both translators and interpreters. Give your thoughts in the comments below.
Beating the Bounds

12/04/2017 Steve WoodsBristol, Politics

On Sunday 6th May, Tidy BS5 is organising a Beating the Bounds event from 11.00 a.m. to 1.30 p.m. This will be a 5 km jaunt around parts of BS5, starting at Lawrence Hill roundabout, finishing at by the library at Junction 3 in Baptist Mills, tidying up places as we go.

We’ll be joined on the walk by Bristol’s elected mayor, Marvin Rees, who spent part of his childhood in Easton and whose mum still lives here.

The publicity materials giving route details and rough timings are posted below.

Hope to see you there!
Post exclusive: broadcaster now runs Bristol hospital

12/04/2017 Steve WoodsBristol, Media, Oddities, Tech

The Bristol Post, the city’s newspaper of warped record, has recently revamped its website, which now uses the standard template for Mirror Group titles.

In addition, the standard of what passed in recent decades for journalism from the title seems to have taken a dive too. Whether this is related to the change of template cannot be corroborated.

One thing that has not changed is the inability of the Post’s reporters to concentrate on the most relevant facts of a story.

An example from today is shown in the screenshot below.

The story itself relates that the Bristol Royal Infirmary (BRI) suffered 3 cyber attacks involving ransomware last year.

This is only to be expected if major organisations continue to base their IT infrastructure on Microsoft’s insecure operating systems.

For me, the important point was on the front page as shown in the screenshot, according which the BRI now comes under the aegis of the National Health Service, although for some unfathomable reason, there is no mention whatsoever in the article itself of the British Broadcasting Corporation.

To echo the purported words of a proper, old-school journalist, the late Bill Deedes, “Shome mishtake shurely?” 🙂
Recognition

12/04/2017 Steve WoodsBristol, Media, Oddities, Politics

On Tuesday March 21st, your correspondent had a special appointment to keep up at the Mansion House in Clifton, the official residence of the Lord Mayor of Bristol.

The occasion was the presentation of Lord Mayor’s Medals to what Jeff Lovell, the current Lord Mayor, described in his opening remarks as “community champions”.

Only some 20 medals are awarded each year and your ‘umble scribe was a recipient this year.

Receiving the medal from the Lord Mayor. Picture courtesy of Up Our Street

According to the citation, I was commended for my work in the voluntary and community sector in East Bristol, including all the Tidy BS5 efforts to make Easton and Lawrence Hill a cleaner, more pleasant environment.

However, I was not the only recipient with a BS5 postcode. Three other locals received recognition.

Hannah Crudgington was recognised for her work for Tidy BS5 (particularly her videos. Ed.) and her efforts to show a more positive side to Easton than is generally given by the local media.

Bruce Yates was commended for his work in turning around local youth organisation Baggator at The Pickle Factory in All Hallows Road, as well as his work for RADE Bristol, which campaigns for inner-city clean air and against efforts to install polluting standby electricity generating plant in the city.

Last but not least, Amy Harrison received a medal for her work for Up Our Street.

All four of us are shown in the photograph below.

The BS5 recipients of the Lord Mayor’s Medal. Picture courtesy of Up Our Street.

It was, all told, a lovely afternoon, which was made even more special by a surprise visit by my eldest niece Katherine and boyfriend Martyn, who were subsequently treated to a night on the tiles in Easton.

Grauniad terminology failure

Beating the Bounds

Post exclusive: broadcaster now runs Bristol hospital

Recognition

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