isabeltranslates

@isabeltranslates

Translator of Czech, Slovak, German & French into English. Literary translator of genre & other fiction, & occasional non-fiction. European, wordsmith, word nerd, foodie, reader, yogi & chocoholic. Childless not by choice. New Glaswegian. She/her. 🦔

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isabeltranslates@isabeltranslates· 20d

The Tangled Lands, by @glendalarke.bsky.social A re-read! bsky.app/profile/isab... 💙📚🪐

The front cover of the novel The Tangled Lands, by Glenda Larke, showing a city silhouetted against a red sky, and a golden, jewel-studded griffin.

isabeltranslates@isabeltranslates· 21d

You know you're a translator when you take photos of nice examples of localisation... no matter where they are! 🤦‍♀️ #xl8 🌐

Photo taken in the toilet of a German train showing a bilingual request for cleanliness.
In German, it reads:
Ihre Mitreisenden möchten sich wohl fühlen. Sie auch?
Bitte helfen Sie mit, dieses WC sauber zu halten.
In English, it reads:
You like a clean WC. So do other passengers.
Please help us to keep things neat and tidy.

isabeltranslates@isabeltranslates· 22d

St Jerome in Cologne Cathedral – labelled, fortunately, otherwise I might not have recognised him without his lion(an early CAT tool) and wyvern (the prototype of Dragon). Representations of Jerome never show him looking happy; that's what unreasonable client expectations will do to you! #xl8 🌐

Photo of a stained glass window, in Cologne Cathedral, depicting St Jerome (Hieronymus). He is wearing long, red robes, and is holding a green book, spine facing forward, under his left arm. His right hand is lying on his chest. He is bald, with a long beard, and has a halo. He is looking up, to the right, with an expression halfway between annoyance and resignation.

isabeltranslates@isabeltranslates· 24d

Conversations With Friends, by Sally Rooney. My first Sally Rooney. I wanted to see what all the fuss is about, and I do. Gorgeously written with a highly relatable protagonist. Does Frances love Bobbi, her ex and best friend, or the older married man she’s sleeping with? Does it matter? 📚💙

Photo of the front cover of the novel Conversations With Friends, by Sally Rooney. The cover is mustard-yellow with the title and author’s name in white, and two images of women at the bottom. One woman is looking to the left edge, the other is looking down, they both have a streak of colour over their eyes.

isabeltranslates@isabeltranslates· 26d

Memory Burn, by Marek Torčík, translated by Graeme and Suzanne Dibble. An autofictional account of growing up gay in small-town, post-communist Moravia. Beautifully done but so depressing. 💙📚 🌐 #translatedlit

Photo of the front cover of Memory Burn, by Marek Torčík, translated by Graeme and Suzanne Dibble. The cover is black, with dark-grey horizontal lines running across it; they are close together and give the effect of water.

isabeltranslates@isabeltranslates· Jul 12

Homemade icecream season is here! 🍜 #foodsky 🍨

Photo of a bowl of homemade chocolate icecream, loaded with blueberries and raspberries. There is also a spoon at the edge of the bowl.

isabeltranslates@isabeltranslates· Jul 5

Leonard and Hungry Paul, by Rónán Hession. This book contains two of the most delightful and most adorable men you will ever meet in literature. Seriously, you won't be able to decide which of them you love more, even if you're not usually into men! Sweet and funny. 💙📚

Photo of the front cover of the novel Leonard and Hungry Paul, by Rónán Hession. The cover is mustard yellow, with a dark blue frame and text, and the image of sunfish.

isabeltranslates@isabeltranslates· Jun 23

The Annual Banquet of the Gravediggers' Guild, by Mathias Enard, trs. @terribleman.com An anthropology student moves from Paris to a small village in the west of France with dreams of academic glory – but gets sucked into rural life (& indeed, death). Weird and great fun! 💙📚 #translatedlit

Photo of the front cover of the novel The Annual Banquet of the Gravediggers' Guild, by Mathias Enard. Published by Fitzcarraldo, so the cover is blue with white text. The translator's name does not appear on the front cover, but it is mentioned on the back. Hat-tip to Frank Wynne, who clearly had enormous fun working on this!

isabeltranslates@isabeltranslates· Jun 18

Sometimes I despair. The very sad thing about this is that another "vendor" probably accepted it. #xl8 #amtranslating #amdefinitelynottranslatingthis

Screenshot of an email; the sender has been redacted.

The subject line reads: Project Offer - DE>EN (UK) Revision (bilingual).

The email reads:
Dear Isabel Stainsby,
I hope you are well. Would you be available for a new Revision (bilingual) project in Trados, from DE into EN (UK)?
There are 240 net words, in the Technical - Engineering industry, with a fixed budget of 3.00 euros for Revision.
Please let us know if you would like to claim this task and when is the soonest you could deliver.
This is into EN US!
PS: Please note this is a request for availability, and not yet an assignment. Due to time constraints we have contacted multiple vendors.
Kind regards,

isabeltranslates@isabeltranslates· Jun 16

The Best Enemy, by Sergio Olguín, translated by Miranda France. Verónica's old boss has been murdered. Burglary gone wrong, say the police. But he was investigating high-level corruption... Verónica gets on the case as her personal life falls apart. 💙📚 #translatedlit bsky.app/profile/isab...

Photo of the front cover of the Argentinian crime novel The Best Enemy, by Sergio Olguín, translated into English by Miranda France. The cover image, in black and white, shows three-quarters of two faces, merging into each other. One looks male and the other female, but the faces are otherwise similar. The book title and blurb (Verónica Rosenthal's former boss has just been shot. The Buenos Aires authorities claim a botched robbery. But investigative journalist Verónica suspects otherwise. There's only one way to find out...) are in white, the author's name at the bottom and the words "Verónica Rosenthal is back in an international murder mystery" at the top are in red. The translator's name does not appear on the front cover but is mentioned on the back cover.

isabeltranslates@isabeltranslates· Jun 13

Anninarra: Die Zukunft als Möglichkeit, by Christian Buske. It's 2104. All the world's weapons have been sent to Anninarra, in the Australian desert, and Julia Avalux and Pathein U Tin have been chosen to safeguard them from being used. What could possibly go wrong? 💙📚🇩🇪

Photo of the front cover of the German novel Anninarra: Die Zukunft als Möglichkeit (Anninarra: The Future as a Possibility), by Christian Buske.
The cover image, in beige, black, and red, shows some hills, a tree on top of one of them, a few houses, and two tiny figures in the foreground.

isabeltranslates@isabeltranslates· Jun 7

Some people buy strawberries and wonder what to do with them; other people get distracted by etymologies. I do both, and get the best of both worlds! #bakingsky 🧁🍜

Photo of a strawberry tart on a white plate with a grey leaf pattern. The pastry and the custard are home-made and the strawberries are fresh.

isabeltranslates@isabeltranslates· Jun 1

Poslední život: Bildungspoema z minulosti a budoucnosti (trans. in alt text), by Jan Musil. Still digesting this one – a collection of strange, playful poems about childhood, growing up and I'm not quite sure what. Sad and funny. Note to self: read more poetry – and definitely read this again! 💙📚

Photo of the front cover of the poetry collection Poslední život: Bildungspoema z minulosti a budoucnosti [Last Life: Bildungspoem from the past and the future], by Jan Musil. The cover, of unbleached card, is printed in maroon; a frame goes almost all the way round the edge and there is a stylised image, maybe of a windmill on its side (the publisher is called Větrené mlýny, or windmills) in the centre.

isabeltranslates@isabeltranslates· May 31

#langsky #linguistics

Screenshot of the answer to yesterday's Lingule puzzle. The word was úmgxóbhozo – there should be an acute accent above the m but I can't figure out how to put that in, and I can't reproduce the IPA transcription either – which means marsh. My first guess was Zulu, and this was a complete guess, but it was very close. My second guess, which turned out to be correct, was Xhosa.

isabeltranslates@isabeltranslates· May 29

The Murderbot Diaries, Vol.1, by Martha Wells. A self-aware – and secretly autonomous – SecUnit is responsible for the safety of scientists on an uninhabited, hostile planet. The bot is scornful of humans and wants to be left to watch its favourite shows in peace. I empathise. So good. 💙📚🪐

Photo of the front cover of the book The Murderbot Diaries, Vol. 1 – All Systems Red and Artificial Condition, by Martha Wells. The cover image shows a humanoid figure in armour, and a helmet with an opaque visor, standing against the backdrop of an alien planet.The figure's body is in shades of green from the chest down, while the head and shoulders, plus the background, are in shades of pale red and purple. The text is yellow.

isabeltranslates@isabeltranslates· May 27

Chocolate in my case, but yes, no lies detected! #xl8 #translation 🌐

Meme.
A photo of a full coffee cup held in mittened hands. The text reads:
My body is just a filter: coffee goes in. Translation comes out.

isabeltranslates@isabeltranslates· May 25

Screenshot of the answer to Lingule of two days ago, which I got on my first guess. I cannot reproduce the Cherokee script, which is very cool, or the IPA transcription, but the word was 'atsvja', meaning rooster.

isabeltranslates@isabeltranslates· May 21

Fáze jedné ženy (One Woman's Phases), by Magdaléna Platzová. One of the books I brought home from Prague... & I must have cried over half the stories. Utterly gorgeous. Sample translation here: www.czechlit.cz/en/excerpt/t... – I dare you to read the 2nd without tearing up. Go on. Try it. 💙📚 🇨🇿

Photo of the front cover of the short story collection Fáze jedné ženy (One Woman's Phases), by Magdaléna Platzová. The top half of the cover is red, the bottom green; a line drawing of a female figure fills most of the bottom half, with her hed extending into the top. The title and author's name appear in white on the red background.

isabeltranslates@isabeltranslates· May 19

I appear to have returned home from Prague in the possession of only three books more than I had when I left. I'm wondering who I am and what I have done with me. OTOH, I have already read one of them! 📚💙🇨🇿

Photo of three books in Czech. Left to right:
Pepřové pocity (Peppery Feelings), by Iva Pekárkova;
Fáze jedné ženy (One Woman's Phases), by Magdaléna Platzová;
Rudý bohatýr (The Red Bogatyr), by Markéta Platzová.

isabeltranslates@isabeltranslates· May 11

There Are No Happy Loves, Sergio Olguín, trs. Miranda France. Darío survives an accident, but his wife&daughter do not. Or do they? He asks Verónica to investigate. What is the connection with the truck of human bodies intercepted at port? So good. 3rd in this series: bsky.app/profile/isab... 💙📚🌐

Photo of the front cover of the novel There Are No Happy Loves, by Sergio Olguín, translated by Miranda France. The cover image, in black and white, shows a nun in the centre, her face partly obscured, and the hand and part of the habit of another nun to the right. The nun on the right is holding a rope, the other end of which must be held by someone else off the edge of the image. The title is in white on the central nun's habit, the author's name appears in red below the title, and above the title, also in red, are the words: Verónica is back in Buenos Aires, uncovering a shocking story of church and state corruption. To the top right of the cover, the words: A Verónica Rosenthal Mystery appear in black.

isabeltranslates@isabeltranslates· May 7

The Book of Bratislava, edited by Radislav Passoa and @juliasherwood.bsky.social, published by @commapress.bsky.social Ten stories about Bratislava, and yes, I translated one of them. But I'd describe this as a very good read even if I hadn't been involved. #literarytranslation #xl8 🌐 💙📚🇸🇰

Photo of the front cover of the short story collection The Book of Bratislava. The cover, in blues and greys, shows stylised depictions of some of the most striking buildings on Bratislava's skyline, including the SNP Bridge and the inverted-pyramid Slovak Radio building.

isabeltranslates@isabeltranslates· May 7

Prague & Prague-adjacent pals: a week today I will be on a panel at book fair Svět knihy! Jan Kotouč & I will talk about translating his novels into English, particularly the most recent, The Strnad Effect, due out later this year. That's 14 May at 12:00 – please come! #literarytranslation #xl8 💙📚🇨🇿

Screenshot in Czech; a loose English translation can be found in the main post.
The Czech reads:
Sál Karla Čapka:
Jak se překládá český román do angličtiny.
Spisovatel Jan Kotouč a překladatelka Isabel Stainsby budou mluvit o tom. jak probíhá překlad českého románu do angličtiny. Stainsby přeložila šest Kotoučových knih. Na besedě se zaměří hlavně na nejnovéjší překlad: román Strnadův efekt.
Nazca Press.

isabeltranslates@isabeltranslates· May 5

Saw this, thought of you!

Meme, created by someecards.com.
A pale blue background with a black and white line drawing showing a woman in an armchair, resting her head on one of the arms. A book lies on the floor at her feet. The text, top left, reads: Nothing messes up your Friday like realizing it's only Tuesday.

isabeltranslates@isabeltranslates· May 5

The Owl is so upset with me. And I don't care! 🤣

Somewhat blurry screenshot (because cropped) of the Duolingo ipad icon. The background is dark brown, the streak counter has reset to 0 and the owl (green, large eyes full of tears) appears to be melting in the embrace of something yellow/orange, possibly meant to be a flame. The words ISABEL NOOOOO! appear between the streak counter at the top and the owl at the bottom.

isabeltranslates@isabeltranslates· May 4

This weekend's baking. Marbled chocolate and vanilla Topfkuchen / Gugelhupf / bábovka / kuglóf / kouglof – #sourcelanguageprocrastibaking in all its delicious glory. #bakingsky 🧁🍜

Photo of a chocolate and vanilla bundt cake on a plate, dusted with icing sugar. Side view showing the detailed pattern from the tin.

Photo of a chocolate and vanilla bundt cake on a plate, dusted with icing sugar. Top view showing the marbling inside the hole.

isabeltranslates@isabeltranslates· May 4

Exordia, by Seth Dickinson. Sometimes a book can't be quickly summarised. This is one of them. Anna meets an alien in Central Park and together they save the world. Or do they? Sometimes a book just blows your mind. This is one of them. I finished it two days ago and I'm still reeling. 💙📚🪐

Photo of the front cover of the novel Exordia, by Seth Dickinson. The cover image, in yellows and oranges, shows a completely circular eye surrounded by snakes. The author's name appears above the eye in dark burgundy, the title below it in dark blue.

isabeltranslates@isabeltranslates· May 4

*waves in Scotland*

Screenshot of the BBC weather forecast for Glasgow, Scotland, for the next few days. The warmest it will get is 14 degrees.

isabeltranslates@isabeltranslates· May 1

I received my copy of The Book of Bratislava last week! It contains my translation of a story by Barbora Hrínová, plus the work of 9 other authors and translators. Published by and available from @commapress.bsky.social ! #translatedlit #xl8 🌐 🇸🇰 💙📚

Photo of Isabel, a middle-aged white woman, with long hair and glasses. She is standing in the sun in front of a stone wall, wearing a green v-necked top, a black skirt and a pendant. The stone in the pendant is a Slovak opal. In her hands she is holding a copy of The Book of Bratislava. The cover shows stylised depictions of the most significant buildings in Bratislava's skyline in various shades of blue.

isabeltranslates@isabeltranslates· Apr 25

Orlanda, by Jacqueline Harpmann, translated into English by Ros Schwartz. Aline's alter-ego has had enough of being Aline, so looks for a new body – & finds a young man. He has to adjust to his new life, & Aline has to adjust to life without him... but will this even be possible? 💙📚 #translatedlit

Photo of the front cover of the novel Orlanda, by Jacqueline Harpmann, translated into English by Ros Schwartz. The cover has a cream rim, with a turquoise centre; there is a stylised human figure in reddish orange to the left, with a disembodied brown head pressing to its head, part of a brown torso over its chest and a brown hand on the left. The title is in cream and spreads across the cover image to touch the border on each side; the author's name is in black below it. The top right corner contains the text 'Author of I Who Have Never Known Men' (who authorised that design?!). No space has been found on the front cover for the translator's name, even though it would easily fit beneath the author's name. Ros Schwartz is, however, credited on the back cover.

isabeltranslates@isabeltranslates· Apr 24

Words. Fail. Me! #xl8 🌐