Metaglossia: The Translation World

‘Orwell had me convinced that clear speech was an auxiliary to truth, until Trump came along’ SIMON KUPER Add to myFT © Harry Haysom Share on Twitter (opens new window) Share on Facebook (opens new window) Share on LinkedIn (opens new window) Save Simon Kuper YESTERDAYPrint this page26 The last person to see George Orwell alive was probably the poet Paul Potts. Finding his friend asleep in his sickroom in University College Hospital, London, Potts left a packet of tea for him. Orwell was planning to take it on a restorative trip to Switzerland. That night, January 21 1950, an artery burst in Orwell’s lungs and killed him. Seventy years after an author dies, the copyright on their fiction expires. Expect an explosion now of rights-free versions of Nineteen Eighty-Four. When the novel first appeared, it was read as an anatomy of totalitarianism; after Edward Snowden’s revelations about the US government’s spying programme in 2013, it was reread as a prophecy of digital surveillance; and in the Trumpian era of “alternative facts”, it has returned to the bestseller lists as a defence of truth. I’m an Orwell nut — aged 18 I could quote verbatim from, say, a 1935 letter to Rayner Heppenstall — and the work of his that I think about most nowadays isn’t Nineteen Eighty-Four but his 1946 essay “Politics and the English Language”. I’m forever pressing it on people as a primer for how to write. The essay expresses one of Orwell’s main ideas: clear speech enables clear thought and prevents lies. But I have come to think that he was wrong. What Donald Trump has shown is that clear speech can enable lies. Recommended FT MagazineSimon Kuper The simple truths of language Orwell’s essay attacks debased 1940s political language. Demagogues of all shades were using euphemisms, fancy Greek and Latin words, and the passive voice to “make lies sound truthful and murder respectable”. Instead of saying, “We have massacred people,” they’d say, “Opposition elements were liquidated.” Marxists favoured awkward jargon translated from foreign languages: “hyena”, “petty bourgeois”, “flunkey” etc. None of these people were funny; Hitler’s go-to insult was “joker”. Orwell ends his argument with his famous rules for writing: avoid clichés, foreign, scientific or jargon words; cut words whenever possible; use short words and the active voice; and, finally, “Break any of these rules sooner than say anything outright barbarous.” He had me convinced that clear speech was an auxiliary to truth, until Trump came along. In both speech and tweets, Trump adheres to all Orwell’s rules except the one against barbarism. He prefers one-syllable words (“Build the wall”), can keep it snappy (140 characters) and avoids lapses into Greek. His tweets approach Orwell’s ideal of prose that sounds like speech; in fact, social media blur the very distinction. Trump has even mastered a rhetorical genre that Orwell didn’t have: huckster’s utopianism. Like Orwell, Trump understands the rules of communication: the audience is bored before you’ve even said anything; style trumps substance; and facts don’t persuade people (there’s a reason Orwell wrote Nineteen Eighty-Four as a story, not an essay). If you say something important and true in wooden prose while wearing the wrong clothes, nobody will listen. Like Orwell in Nineteen Eighty-Four, Trump also knows that the most powerful story is a nightmare with a hero: immigrants are coming to kill you, but I will protect you. And Trump dispenses with euphemisms for violence. He promises to “totally destroy” North Korea, encourages police officers to bump suspects’ heads, muses publicly about murdering 10 million Afghans and tweets that 52 Iranian cultural sites “and Iran itself, WILL BE HIT VERY FAST AND VERY HARD”. He enjoys describing graphic violence, perhaps because in his mind it evokes TV shows and films rather than reality. Above all, Trump demonstrates a chilling truth: politics today is communications. Speaking persuasively is no longer just a tool. It’s the whole game. Just as you win the high jump by jumping highest, you win elections nowadays by communicating best: “Get Brexit done.” I admire the professionalism of today’s politicians who have emerged from television, journalism or comedy, because I’m in the communications business myself. I do what they do, just much less well. Orwell believed that clear language enables clear thought. But Trump demonstrates something quite different: simple language can encourage simple thought. Unburdened by complex ideology, he can take a multifaceted policy with endless trade-offs and paint it as unequivocally good or bad: “The Iran deal is a disaster”, “insane”, “terrible”. Simple language also makes lies more persuasive: if you can sound like a human being rather than a script written by committee, you’ll be better able to deceive people, especially if you use Trumpian repetition. Orwell, for all his faith in clarity, intuited that. That’s why he equipped the regimes in Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-Four with homely phrases: “Four legs good, two legs better” and “Big Brother is watching you”. Just as Trump has made me suspicious of clear language, Boris Johnson has weaponised something else I used to revere: British humour. I had always vaguely assumed that humour could pierce high-blown lies. (Orwell himself could be pretty funny.) Since Brexit, I’ve realised that, especially in Britain, humour can allow a politician to pose as a harmless jokester and distract people from boring, painful truths. Demagogues used to rely on force. But in a democracy, language is more effective. Follow Simon on @KuperSimon or email him at simon.kuper@ft.com Follow @FTMag on Twitter to find out about our latest stories first. Listen to Culture Call, the FT’s transatlantic culture podcast, which interviews people shifting culture in London and New York. Subscribe at ft.com/culture-call, Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts.

Early pioneers grossly underestimated the challenge of machine translation but nowadays the size of the task is widely acknowledged, as a leading algorithm developer at China’s Alibaba did recently with the comment that even just for text, never mind speech, it is still not even close to the level of professional humans in the field. This seems to denigrate unfairly recent advances that have been made since the addition of machine learning based on deep neural networks has been added to the armory. Indeed, recent progress made on the various underlying components has enthused the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) sufficiently to tackle the final frontier, full speech-to-speech translation with its ongoing project called EuroVOX (not to be confused with the…

She’s a VSCO girl, who uses Marco Polo to post a meme while catfishing.

I don’t blame you if you’re confused at this point. I’d be lost, too, if it wasn’t for an email that caught my attention.

I’ve learned to steer clear of emails with the names of known acquaintances, even good friends, with subject lines like “urgent” or “could you help?” Seemingly, they are from people I know, but when opened they relate a tale of woe that ends with a plea to send money. Conveniently they tell you exactly how to do that. How thoughtful.

In this instance the subject line read, “Eboy? TikTok? See which internet trends Americans are dying to understand.”

There was no plea for money, so I opened it.

“What does your state doesn’t get about the internet,” read the opening sentence. I was curious. Under the heading “trending internet phrases” I learned more Rhode Islanders Google the meaning of “gif” than any other word spawned by the internet.

To satiate your curiosity without having to read any further, the definition is “an animated or static image typically paired with related words or phrases that play off the image or video. Similar to emojis, people use gifs to convey emotions or feelings without actually spelling out words.”

Rhode Islanders are not alone when it comes to questioning words commonly found on the internet. The data analysis team at Viasat Savings that conducted a state-by-state search found New Hampshire got hung up on “meme,” Connecticut on “Hinge” and Massachusetts on “Bitcoin.”

So you can get the answer from the Beacon rather than browsing the internet: a meme is a digital photograph embellished with commentary meant to emphasize an idea or play on a cultural symbol or current trends.

Hinge – normally what you’d expect to find on a door or a way of indicating things that are linked – is a “dating app that veers away from the traditional quantity over quality approach. Instead of committing to a full swipe right (in traditional dating apps, users swipe their fingers across their phone to the right indicating if they’re interested in dating someone), users can simply “like” someone’s picture or bio. Hinge is more specific than most dating apps, and it’s meant to help you zero in on people that share similar interests.”

As for Bitcoin the definition is: “Virtual currency or cryptocurrency intended for peer-to-peer online interactions. In a nutshell, it’s a way to exchange money online. One important factoid: people that invested in Bitcoin in its early stages are now making bank (a lot of money).”

Here are a few more trending words on the internet and how the Viasat team defined them:

Catfishing: The art of duping someone online by looking significantly different or less attractive in person. Intentional catfishers will exaggerate or lie about their physical features and post fake or overly-edited photos.

eBoy: Someone who frequents the internet often, and who is stereotyped as an online gamer and anime fan. The feminine version of an eBoy is an eGirl.

Fake news: Falsified information used to promote an idea or slander an industry, company or person. Fake news also encompasses outdated information.

Finsta: A secondary Instagram account shared with only a small handful of people, or a fake Instagram account (the “f” standing for fake). People will use finstas to rant about their day, share personal things, or post embarrassing photos of themselves. Most of the time, they’re hilariously entertaining.

Ghosting: The act of abruptly cutting off ties with someone you’re dating or talking to without providing any explanation. The term was coined after ghosts since ghosts are known for disappearing without any warning.

While I was at it, I Googled “Viasat” to learn it is a global communications company that provides broadband services for businesses, airlines, militaries and governments around the world.

And so you know the meaning of the sentence that opens this column a VSCO girl is a girl who posts model-inspired, amateur pictures of herself on VSCO, a free photography site. Marco Polo is a smartphone app where people can send video messages back and forth. And you have the definitions for meme and catfishing.

Ready to cope with the internet, or should I do a TikTok to help you out? And TikTok? A smartphone app that lets you upload 15-second videos – really a selfie video.

A tasty new dessert released by McDonald’s Japan has gone viral – for all the wrong reasons.

The fast food giant recently launched its “Otona no Kuriimu Pai”, a sweet treat with a Belgian chocolate or cream cheese filling.

But in English, the dessert translates to “adult cream pie” – a term with an unfortunate sexual connotation.

McDonald’s Japan began spruiking the new menu item on social media this month, with the website describing it as a “cream pie that fills the hearts of adults”.

But it didn’t take long before Twitter users began mocking the business over its awkward translation fail, with social media users describing the name as “naughty” and others joking it should be “censored”.

“I know a few people that will be lined up for these,” one Twitter user posted, while another said: “I know what I’m ordering when I’m in Japan later this year.”

“This is why I love Japan,” another person wrote, while another cracked: “Population declining is a real issue here in Japan, so …”

But others were intrigued despite the X-rated name.

“Even with the name gaffe, I want one. Send some to the US,” another Twitter user demanded.

But while many have dismissed the hilarious name as a “lost in translation” moment, others are convinced it might have been an intentional double-entendre due to an innuendo-laden advertisement for the menu item.

iGFM-(Dakar) Le chef de l’Etat a demandé au gouvernement de travailler à la vulgarisation, au niveau national, de la loi criminalisant le viol et la pédophilie, en recourant aux langues nationales et à des « mécanismes de communication sociale adaptés », a-t-on appris de source officielle.
Macky Sall, présidant mercredi la réunion du conseil des ministres, a « salué la promulgation de la loi n° 2020 – 05 modifiant la loi n° 65 – 60 du 21 juillet 1965 portant Code pénal [et] criminalisant le viol et la pédophilie, en présence de toutes les parties prenantes nationales et internationales ».
Le président de la République, considérant que cette loi votée fin décembre dernier par l’Assemblée nationale contribue au « renforcement de la politique de protection des femmes et des enfants », a « demandé au gouvernement de vulgariser, au niveau national, les contenus et objectifs du texte de loi à travers nos langues nationales et les mécanismes de communication sociale adaptés ».
Selon le communiqué du conseil des ministres, Macky Sall a en outre « invité la ministre chargée des Femmes et de l’Enfance à procéder à l’évaluation, d’une part, de la stratégie nationale de l’équité et de l’égalité de genre et, d’autre part, de la stratégie nationale de protection des enfants afin de favoriser davantage l’épanouissement des femmes et des enfants ».
Les députés ont voté à l’unanimité et par acclamation, fin décembre dernier, le projet de loi criminalisant les actes de viol et de pédophilie.
Ce projet de loi avait d’abord été adopté en conseil des ministres, le 27 novembre dernier.
Il s’agit d’une loi du Code pénal modifiant celle du 21 juillet 1965, relative notamment aux chapitres visant à durcir la répression du viol et de la pédophilie avec des peines pouvant aller jusqu’à la réclusion criminelle à perpétuité.
Jusque-là, le viol était passible de cinq à dix ans de prison.
La criminalisation du viol était une demande des organisations de défense des droits des femmes, à la suite d’une série d’agressions sexuelles survenues en 2019 notamment.
Un cas emblématique concerne Bineta Camara, une fille de vingt-trois, qui a été tuée en mai dernier lors d’une tentative de viol à Tambacounda (est), une affaire qui avait ému le Sénégal.
Au lendemain de ce drame, une manifestation avait rassemblé à Dakar des centaines de personnes, qui avaient dénoncé les « violences faites aux femmes ».
Macky Sall avait alors demandé au ministre de la Justice de préparer un projet de loi criminalisant le viol et la pédophilie.
Le projet de loi criminalisant les actes de viol et de pédophilie prévoit un durcissement des condamnations, lesquelles pourront aller jusqu’à l’emprisonnement à perpétuité à l’encontre d’éventuels coupables, selon le ministre de la Justice, Malick Sall.

We often hear people use the term ‘lost in translation’ when referring to mishaps or mistakes in translating from language to another. Some languages are simply unable to capture the true essence of a word when it has been translated from another language. These are known as untranslatable words. Over the past few months, we have been doing some research into untranslatable words and their meanings from around the world. Each week our recruitment team have been sharing these with you as part of our ‘Translation Tuesday‘ series. Here we have a few of our favourite untranslatable words that we would like to share with you: Abbiocco – Italian We’ve all experienced the feeling of drowsiness after eating too much at one time or another. Often described as a ‘Food Coma’ and summed up into one word in the Italian language, ‘Abbiocco’ refers to the sleepy feeling you get after a big meal. Komorebi – Japanese The poetic and beautiful Japanese word ‘Komorebi’ describes the sunlight that filters through the trees. A compound of four characters, three kanji and the hiragana particle. The first kanji character means ‘tree’, the second refers to ‘escape’ and the third represents ‘sun’ or ‘light’. Pochemuchka – Russian Ever met someone who asks a lot of questions? Whether that be at work or through a movie, the Russian language perfectly describes a person who does just that. The untranslatable word ‘Pochemuchka’ refers to someone who asks too many questions. Psithurism – Greek Many people love to hear the whistling of the wind as it hits the autumn trees. We have found the perfect word to describe this. A word with Ancient Greek origins, ‘Psithurism’ refers to the sound of leaves rustling in the wind. Mångata – Swedish Literally translated to ‘moon-road’, the Swedish noun ‘Mångata’ poetically describes the picture-perfect glistening road-like reflection of the moon on the water. Similarly in Turkish, they use the word ‘Yakamoz’ to describe any kind of light reflecting onto water. Schilderwald – German Taken from the German language, the word ‘Schilderwald’ refers to a street where you can get lost because of so many road signs. Made up of two components, the term directly translates to ‘signs forest’ or forest of traffic signs. Vedriti – Slovenian Getting caught in a rainstorm, sheltering and waiting for it to finish is something we are all too familiar with in the rainy UK. The Slovenian verb ‘Vedriti’ defines just that. The term can often be used metaphorically as well, to describe a person waiting for a bad mood to pass. Luftmensch – Yiddish Literally translated to ‘air person’, the Yiddish noun ‘Luftmensch’ refers to someone who is a bit of a dreamer. So if you often find yourself drifting off to dreamland and thinking about puppies or unicorns then this one is for you! Yugen – Japanese The Japanese noun, ‘Yugen’ describes an awareness of the universe that triggers an emotional response one feels when they consider things too big to comprehend. Like how many stars are in the universe or the mysteries of creation. Tretår – Swedish Taken from the Swedish language, ‘Tretår’ refers to a second refill of a cup of coffee or more literally a threefill. A term that could often be used on a Monday morning to help many get back into the working week. Gökotta – Swedish ‘Gökotta’ is used in the Swedish language to refer to the act of waking up early, often as the sun is rising to hear the first birds sing. It is an act that has been long known to impact a person’s physical and mental wellbeing and promote a productive and peaceful day. So there you have it, our favourite untranslatable words as part of our weekly Translation Tuesday series. Which is your favourite untranslatable word, or do you have some more from your language that we should know about?