'Full of lively stories ... leaves the reader with an awed respect for the translator's task' Economist
Would Hiroshima have been bombed if Japanese contained a phrase meaning 'no comment'? Is it alright for missionaries to replace the Bible's 'white as snow' with 'white as fungus' in places where snow never falls? Who, or what, is Kuzma's mother, and why was Nikita Khrushchev so threateningly obsessed with her (or it)?
The course of diplomacy rarely runs smooth; without an invisible army of translators and interpreters, it could hardly run at all. Join veteran translator Anna Aslanyan to explore hidden histories of cunning and ambition, heroism and incompetence. Meet the figures behind the notable events of history, from the Great Game to Brexit, and discover just how far a simple misunderstanding can go.
- English
- ePUB (mobile friendly)
- Available on iOS & Android
eBook - ePub
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Table of contents
- Cover
- Title Page
- Copyright Page
- Contents
- Introduction
- 1 Shaking the World
- 2 Comic Effects
- 3 The Arts of Flattery
- 4 Observation and Analysis
- 5 Treasures of the Tongue
- 6 The Sublime Porte
- 7 Infidelities
- 8 Precision Was Not a Strong Point of Hitler’s
- 9 Little Nothing
- 10 The Last Two Dragomans
- 11 As Oriental as Possible
- 12 Fifty Per Cent of Borges
- 13 Word-worship
- 14 Journalation
- 15 Dealing with the Natives
- 16 Rectify the Names
- 17 The Obligation of the Competent Authorities
- 18 Alogical Elements
- Notes on Sources
- Acknowledgements
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Yes, you can access Dancing on Ropes by Anna Aslanyan in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in History & Social History. We have over 1.5 million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.