Thoughts On Translation

If you haven’t yet seen Alejandro Moreno-Ramos’ latest Mox cartoon on Obsessive-compulsive grammar disorder, do not miss it! Even funnier is Alejandro’s reply to the person who pointed out a spelling error in the cartoon. Last year, I wrote a post about my personal struggle with grammar and spelling perfectionism, and I think that nearly every translator can empathize!

Still, there are moments when I wonder if this battle is worth fighting, or just takes years off our lives. Even the mighty New York Times magazine lets typos slip through: witness “You can’t just take a statement and dress is [sic] up in a question’s clothes…” in the otherwise excellent, hilarious and spot-on article How to ask a proper question at a public event (the typo is corrected in the electronic version). Mox is already in therapy, but maybe the rest of us grammar/spelling hawks are soon to follow!