Swet Columns
February 2, 2004
How to Get Good
November 2003; UPDATED June 2012
Originally compiled as part of SWET’s “Over Their Shoulders” column, this article taps a variety of SWET translators to offer their advice on how to build and maintain one’s skills: how to get good. Every translator has a different niche and clientele, so these seven good translators are just a first sample, presented for your... more
January 19, 2004
Ideas into Words: Mastering the Craft of Science Writing
Reviewed by Richard Weisburd [em]Ideas into Words: Mastering the Craft of Science Writing.[/em] Elise Hancock. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2003. 176 pages, including front matter and index. ISBN 0801873304 (softcover). US$18.95.
Science is rapidly advancing in every direction. Over time, scientific writing is becoming increasingly complex, with ever growing numbers of technical words and concepts. Because of... more
January 12, 2004
The Language Instinct: The New Science of Language and Mind
Reviewed by Hugh Ashton The Language Instinct: The New Science of Language and Mind. Steven Pinker. London: Penguin, 1995. 494 pages, including preface, notes, glossary, and index. ISBN 0140175296 (softcover). £9.99.
SWET members are all professional language users; we are paid to express our thoughts, or those of others, in coherent terms. Our common professional tool is language,... more
November 15, 2003
Ghost-writing vs Over-editing
by Doreen Simmons
Ghostwriting is a special form of the writer’s craft. It often takes time for an author even to find his or her own voice; but the ghostwriter has to assume the persona of someone else. Novelists and dramatists are free to invent the characters and the content of what they say; but the ghostwriter has to take someone... more
July 15, 2003
No More than Necessary
by Doreen Simmons
Aunt Eva shows us how to work around the pitfalls of working with someone who seems bent on giving you more than you need.
Dear Aunt Eva,
There’s this translator our agency uses. He’s been with the agency a long time, since before I joined several years ago. He translates accurately, but his writing style is... more
May 16, 2003
Unwarranted Confidence
by Doreen Simmons
It may seem amazing that some people think a casual hunt in a pocket-size Japanese-English dictionary will produce the same result as informed knowledge, but they do.
Dear Aunt Eva,
I specialize in producing art catalogues. Important clients think so, anyway. I have, however, had an adverse experience: I worked on an art catalogue with a... more