Run out of things to read? There’s a new book in town: “The African Svelte: Ingenious Misspellings that Make Surprising Sense” by Daniel Menaker. A seasoned author and editor himself, Menaker has spent many years collecting spelling errors that—while remaining errors—follow their own fascinating logic. The people who make these types of errors are usually those […]
Even if you think you have read enough style manuals to last you a lifetime, you should give this one a try. Good writing is worth reading about. Steven Pinker is no unknown and definitely does not need me to recommend his book. He’s a household name in linguistics and cognitive science—in part because he is […]
Introducing Rosa, our new(ish) dog Last year, we welcomed a young dog called Rosa into our home. We’ve been getting to know each other and are slowly learning how to live together. What that boils down to is creating trust, learning to speak the dog language and reinforcing desirable behavior. In the beginning, all we did […]
When you think about it, food is a living expression of history and culture. In his book The Language of Food: A Linguist Reads the Menu, Dan Jurafsky takes us on a whirlwind journey through the history of common foods and unveils their often unexpected origins and what they tell us about human psychology. What […]
It’s nice to be nice, right? I strongly believe in treating people kindly and not saying anything that I wouldn’t want someone else to tell me—especially if I never asked for their opinion. We don’t always see eye to eye and life is much more pleasant if we simply acknowledge that and move on. So, […]
Experts know everything, right? I often see translators online asking whether they should let clients know about questions or issues that arise with a translation. They fear that asking questions might make them look unprofessional. When we hire experts, we want them to take charge. It’s their job to confidently guide us through the process. […]
All work and no play makes me a bad socializer In the last 2 months, I’ve dropped the ball on my networking efforts. Reasons (or excuses) abound, but that doesn’t matter now. Unfortunately for me, if I don’t constantly give my networking and small-talk muscles a vigorous workout, they atrophy. Attending events becomes an exhausting […]
Can I supersize that? A lot has been written about different service and sales approaches and how they affect customers. Of course, I’m interested in selling my services without being pushy, without underselling myself and also without being rejected. That’s why I like to keep a close eye on how other people handle their sales […]