Swet Columns
July 21, 2014
A Grammar Book with Personality and Pizzazz
Reviewed by Jay Revelle It was the best of sentences, it was the worst of sentences, by June Casagrande. New York: Ten Speed Press, 2010. 207 pages. ISBN: 978-1-58008-740-7.
“Great writing isn’t born, it’s built—sentence by sentence.” Thus begins grammar maven June Casagrande’s wonderfully witty and practical writer’s guide to the good writing of that most basic structural element: the sentence. After... more
April 7, 2014
A Delectable Assortment: Translators Showcase Advice, Writing Skills
By Rachael Ragalye
Translator Perspectives (Hon’yakusha no mesen). Tokyo: Japan Association of Translators, 2013. 97 pages. ISBN 978-4-906408-09-2.
Of all the things I expected to see in a volume titled Translator Perspectives, advice about what makes for a good udon noodle shop was not one of them. In his essay Oishii kake-udon o mezashite, Kunieda Shirō tells us that the true test... more
May 14, 2013
Hi-ho! Silver Linings
Tales of Old Japanese, by Hugh Ashton, with illustrations by Nikki McBroom. Published by Inknbeans Press 2012. E-book version in different formats from Smashwords, Kindle Store, Kobo, etc. Printed version from Amazon, etc. 79pp, ISBN 978-1-524-3028-7
Reviewed by Mark Smith
Hugh Ashton is well known to SWET members as a successful technical writer and author.... more
November 14, 2012
Bracing Good Sense, Balm for the Tired Translator’s Soul
Reviewed by Anna Husson Isozaki
Translator Perspectives (Honyakusha no mesen). Tokyo: Japan Association of Translators, 2012. 72 pages. ISBN 978-4-906408-06-1.
This slim, concise volume recently out from the Japan Association of Translators (JAT) belongs in the collection of anyone remotely intrigued by what translation really is, and certainly in every professional's—first to savor, and then to show clients and everyone... more
June 1, 2012
Effective Onscreen Editing: New tools for an old profession, 2nd edition
Reviewed by Kay Vreeland
Effective onscreen editing: new tools for an old profession. 2nd edition. 2010. By Geoff Hart. Diaskeuasis Publishing, Pointe-Claire, Quebec. Printed version: 507 p. US$34 + shipping from Lulu ISBN 978-0-9783227-4-8; PDF version: 723 p. US$20 outside Canada ISBN 978-0-9783227-5-5
Originally reviewed for the SWET Newsletter at publication of the 1st edition... more
December 15, 2011
Tidbits among the Triumphalism
Globish: How the English Language Became the World’s Language, by Robert McCrum. (New York: Penguin Books, 2010). ISBN 978-0-141-02710-4.
Reviewed by Charles De Wolf
Globish: How the English Language Became the World’s LanguageBack in the early 1980s, when the weekly magazines here in Japan were publishing stories on the often acrimonious debate concerning the origins of the Japanese language,... more