June 12, 2025

That’s me clattering about… when I lift the lid to see if the characters have come to the boil

Behind every translation there is a translator, a place where translation happens, a dictionary (possibly several), a lived experience of translation or working in and between different languages. We want...

N’Djamena: Searching for gas in the Chadian capital

This morning like every morning I wake up early with a single, burning thought in my mind: I must find butane gas. It might seem a trivial thing, but here...

Mbabane: A cow for a king in Eswatini

Each year, emaSwati brace themselves for the ritual known as Tetfulo, a state-sanctioned display of reverence toward King Mswati III, performed under the banner of culture. On the surface, it...

English Only

As America narrows its linguistic identity by executive order, the fight over who gets to be heard —and in what language—returns with new urgency In 1780, one of America’s founding...

On the life-art of Translation

An interview with Jen Calleja—one of Britain’s leading translators—and Gregor Hens—one of Germany’s leading writers—about their new books, and their career-long collaboration Norman R Shapiro famously likened a good translation...

Massacre of the penguins

I t’s hard to find the right words to describe the extraordinariness that occurs each year in Patagonia, on Argentina’s Atlantic coast. Hyperbole could only begin to capture what happened there...

Bamburu Awith (The wasps are here)

The film that still resonates in contemporary Sri Lanka, half a century after it was made Bambaru Awith is making waves again. This piece is an attempt to critically revisit...

An unexpected tale from a no-longer-forgotten city

A photo essay from Khartoum and Berber April 2023-ongoing We knew we had to leaveعلمنا أنه يجب أن نغادرر The war began not with a warning but with the sound...

The rescue that never came

A harrowing investigation into how young people are trafficked into scam compoundsn in Southeast Asia, and the journey of one Chinese family seeking justice for their son The plane taxied...

Russia’s War on minority languages

Translator speaks to four representatives on the linguistic frontline Much has been written in recent years about Vladimir Putin’s imperial ambitions in Ukraine. What this sometimes obscures is the fact...

The Hunter

Sex, education and the Special Period in Cuba I t was a rainy afternoon in Viñales, and Ernesto had the Italian woman naked on the kitchen counter in her rental house...

The Egyptian circus and its victims

Living and dying with lions (and tigers) on the Nile On April 2, Egyptian father Ibrahim Abdel Fattah, dressed in his worn-out jilbab, stood next to a representative of the...