I once heard this anecdote about a Russian teacher, who shall remain nameless. He was in a cafeteria and wanted to ask whether they had a tray, поднос (podnos). What he actually ended up asking was whether they had понос (ponos), or “diarrhoea”. One major...

Read more

A translator’s work is seldom easy. It is time-consuming when performed properly, and it requires a solid understanding of the original language as well as the target language. Translations must reflect the original text, but to what degree? A literal...

Read more

Every once in a while, I stop by the flea markets to look for books to add to my literature collection. There’s only so much space I have to store them, let alone time to read them, so I try to restrain myself. This usually works out well since I have...

Read more