Everywhere on the Internet (and outside it) you can find advice, workshops, and courses about how to write. “Words in Ideas” is not about that, but about words and how they are used to create texts.
Words have meaning and sound. If you get it right, you don’t simply read the text, the text will sing to you. It’s a question of rhythm, flow, and imagination. Here’s a great example: the lecture of the Nobel Prize in Literature 2023, Jon Fosse [external link]. And speaking about Jon Fosse, read here how it is to translate his texts in different languages [external link].
With the necessary adjustments, this can be applied to technical texts. Of course, the aim is not telling a tale, but it doesn’t have to be boring (as they usually are). Sometimes it is necessary to get into details, naturally, but there are ways to make it more lively.
Words in Ideas is divided into 4 newsletters:
- IDEAS IN BOOKS: exploring specific books and the work of certain writers
- MEANING OF WORDS: exploring the meaning of words
- FOREIGN WORDS [for paid subscribers]: exploring words and expressions in different languages
- COOKING WORDS: exploring food in a cultural point of view
The 10 best articles:
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01. James Joyce
02. Lawns, cherries, cows and chickens
03. Empire
04. “I, Claudius”, by Robert Graves
05. Nomad
06. “The Lost Pianos of Siberia”, by Sophy Roberts
07. Pasta
08. Deceit
09. “A Room with a View”, by E. M. Forster
10. Le Croissant
My name is Ana Catarina Palma Neves (ACPN) and I’ve been a freelance translator since 2013. My specialisms are academic translation and literary translation. If you wish to contact me, please fill in the form on the right. Thank you.