Twice in the last couple of weeks, I have gone out Latin dancing. As many of you will know, I love to dance, but I hate going out when it is cold and dark so, except when it’s summer, I mostly just dance around the living room. However, after talking about it since the start of the year, I finally went out with some folks (well, one person) from my church missional community (read: house group) and we had a fab time! Muscle memory is a wonderful thing, and even though I may not have danced salsa or bachata in about a year, my feet still remember what they are supposed to do.
Kicking off my autumn (ok, late summer, but it doesn’t feel like it) season of book talks and walks, I’ll be appearing at Bridgeton Library on Thursday 24th August from 6pm to talk about Hugh MacDonald (who was born only a few minutes’ walk from the library) and the process of annotating the 21st Century edition of his classic Rambles Round Glasgow.
There was rather a funny moment at church this week when the man giving the sermon was talking about how his Bolton accent makes it hard to articulate the place-names Ur and Ayr, at least so that anyone can understand him. Ur was easy enough from the context (Abraham’s home) but he did have to specify that Ayr was on the west coast before we got it, because frankly both names just sounded like vocalisations of uncertainty – “er?”
I am wrecked! It is now 5.30pm, the time of day for chilling before the evening starts, so a good time to lie around in my hotel room and tell you about my strenuous day.
The “hopefully” is because the information on the internet about buses to Alexandroupoli is a bit vague (“every four hours”) and I won’t be able to get more details until I reach Thessaloniki (or Thessalonica, or Selanik, according to your preference).
I say “sort of” because while I’ll be setting off this evening, I won’t get to Greece until tomorrow. So I’m spending today in the village of Sannicandro, just outside Bari, because that is where Ida and Genti live.
Or, more informatively, Zurich to Ferrara through the Alps. This is one of the bits of my trip that I have been most looking forward to. There’s a special, scenic, narrow-gauge train through the mountains called the Bernina Express that is reputed to be one of the most spectacular train routes in the world. And it’s included in my Interrail pass!
Many of you will know that as well as being a writer and editor, I also interpret and translate Albanian to English. Since the war in Ukraine began, I’ve already been asked how someone can become an interpreter, and I expect there are a lot of people asking the same question. As more Ukrainians arrive, there is a greater need for Ukrainian interpreters, and there are Ukrainians with good English who would like to plug that gap.
But although non-linguists assume that to be an interpreter you just need to speak both languages, there’s actually a bit more to it than that. Obviously, speaking both languages very well is the baseline, but this post is about all the other stuff that professional interpreting involves. Please share it with anyone who might find it helpful.
K C Murdarasi 