Babbling Barbarians: How Translators Keep Us Civilized is based on an in-depth filmed conversation between Howard Burton and Princeton University Professor David Bellos, author of the bestselling book, Is That A Fish in Your Ear? Translation and the Meaning of Everything, many fascinating features of language and translation are explored at length.
This carefully-edited book includes an introduction, Teaching a Man to Fish, and questions for discussion at the end of each chapter:
- Introductory Musings – On Perec, Chomsky, and other matters
- An Illustrative Capture – Learning from The Great Escape
- Getting the Joke – Translating Humour
- Probing the Foreign – Dickens, word order, and Anglo-Italian gibberish
- Films in Translation – Subtitles, dubbing, and “The Bergman Effect”
- The Varieties in English – In search of a middle form
- Asserting Our Individuality – Language as an expression of our identity
- Translation and Meaning – Extending the Principle of Effability
- Mathematics and Music – Pushing the boundaries of “language-like”
- Language and Thought – Plato, Hopi, and jumping mind-grooves
- Paying Respects – Valuing the translator in our midst
Available in electronic format on all major booksellers, including:
–> Also available via your library through JSTOR, ProQuest Ebook Central, and EBSCO’s GOBI.
Babbling Barbarians: How Translators Keep Us Civilized is also part of the five-part Ideas Roadshow Collection, Conversations About Language & Culture, which is available in hardcover, paperback and electronic format.
–> Also available via your library through JSTOR, ProQuest Ebook Central, and EBSCO’s GOBI.
