Andrew Malcovsky, the self-described 'Slavicist on spec' (I wonder if this is a conscious bilingual pun for špek) found a great new way to exploit the medium of the blog. For translating Karel Čapek's famous whimsical short pieces Bajky a podpovídky (as Fables and understories). It's certainly a great services to the student of Czech culture. read more »
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Translating Prime Minister's profanity
Author: Dominik Lukeš Posted: January 13th, 2008
Now, the prime minister Topolánek is getting sued for saying this: "Češi obvykle ale vidí všechno negativně a když k něčemu dojde, podělají se". read more »
Hyponyms and hyperonyms
Author: Melvyn Clarke Posted: July 31st, 2007
One of the differences I find between Czech and English in the lexical sphere is that of the greater or lesser degree of specificity used in referring to certain objects, i.e. the use of hyponyms and hyperonyms. read more »
Overuse of Participle Forms
Author: Melvyn Clarke Posted: July 31st, 2007
English often prefers prepositional phrases to straight participles.
It is being reconstructed - it is under reconstruction
The observed team - the team under observation
The considered design - the design in question
The disputed matter - the matter in dispute read more »
The explicative genitive
Author: Melvyn Clarke Posted: July 31st, 2007
Sometimes you get the feeling that a subject is being explained to death, with a dozen words being used where none would do. In his The Noun in Translation, Aleš Klégr gives one reason as: "an interesting difference between Czech and English: the much-favoured construction in Czech, termed the expicative genitive, read more »
Post-position adjectives
Author: Melvyn Clarke Posted: July 31st, 2007
The position of an adjective before or after a noun can
occasionally change its entire meaning in English. As you drive into
Prague, why do the numerous roadside hoardings offering "free rooms"
strike you as not quite right? Because an adjective before a noun can
denote a permanent state and after a noun a temporary state. In this
read more »
Possessive Pronouns
Author: Melvyn Clarke Posted: July 31st, 2007
There are many cases where a possessive pronoun needs to be recast
in some other form, particularly where it acts as direct object of a
verb:
Tento výčet deseti doporučení není jistě vyčerpávající, ale jejich důsledné uplatnění vždy výrazně změnilo průběh a především výsledky pravidelných porad sledovaných manažerských týmů. read more »
