July 2016 - European Language and Cultural Events

1 July

First World War Centenary – Battle of the Somme

Commonwealth War Graves Commission Thiepval Memorial, Thiepval, Northern France

1-3 July

22nd Anglophoner Tag 
Chartered Institute of Linguists’ 
German Society 
Düsseldorf, Germany
Theme: Reaching your Audience

2 July

2016 Big Dance Festival

Trafalgar Square

London, UK

2-3 July 11am-9pm (each day)

Tafwyl Fair

Cardiff’s Welsh Language, Arts and Culture Festival

Cardiff Castle, Cardiff, Wales

2 July-2 October

David Hockney RA: 82 Portraits and 1 Still-life

Exhibition at Royal Academy of Arts,

London, UK

4-6 July

SFT Court/Legal Translation and Interpreting Course

University of Lille 3

Lille, France

5 July 6-9pm

From scratch to success: Business stories

French Chamber of Great Britain

Ciné Lumière, French Institute

London, UK

5-10 July

RHS Hampton Court Palace Flower Show

Hampton Court Palace

Surrey, UK

6-8 July

UETF16 
SFT’s Summer School for Financial Translators 

(in French/English) 
Paris, France

7 July opening

Beyond the Lab: The DIY Science Revolution

Science Museum

London, UK

9 July

City Lit Deaf Day 2016
City Lit, London, UK
Find out more about deaf education, BSL, etc

9 July 10.30am-3.30pm

Languages: MK – Free Language Event

The Open University

Milton Keynes

UK

9 July 12-6pm

Eid Festival

Trafalgar Square

London
UK

9 July

Hermeto Pascoal at Barbican

Brazilian composer and bandleader

Barbican

London

UK

11-15 July

International Terminology Summer School

Vienna
Austria

11-15 July

Translate in the City

City University, London, UK 

11-15 July

AIIC Spanish Judicial System for Interpreters 

(in Spanish)
Madrid, Spain

11-16 July

AIIC French Language and Culture Workshop

(in French)
Paris, France

11-22 July

AIIC– Portuguese C-Language Refresher Course for Interpreters

University of Lisbon

Lisbon, Portugal

13 July

Brexit: Legal & Constitutional Requirements

UCL, Beveridge Hal, Senate House, Malet Street

London, UK

14 July

BP Big Screen of the Royal Opera’s Il Trovatore

Venues: London’s Trafalgar Square, Aberdeen, Portsmouth, Southend, Warwick University, Leeds, Bristol, Bradford, Plymouth, Hammersmith, Canary Wharf, Waltham Forest, Woolwich

15-17 July

Bristol Harbour Festival

Bristol, UK

15 July-6 November

Colour and Vision – Through the Eyes of Nature

Natural History Museum
London, UK

15 July

Our Lives in Data

Science Museum

London, UK

16 July

LRG Kenwood House guided tour

London Regional Group, ITI, 

London, UK

16 July

7th AIIC Workshop on Interpreters for Interpreters

(in German)
Berlin, Germany

17 July
ITI Western Regional Group
Family Bike Ride
Bristol to Bath, UK

23 July 2-3pm

Summer Exhibition Tour in BSL 

(British Sign Language)

Royal Academy of Arts

London, UK

23 July

European Conference of Science Journalists
Manchester Central, Manchester, UK

23-30 July

5^th AIIC Workshop on Spanish Language and Culture

For active Conference Interpreters
Barcelona, Spain

25 July-20 August

Italian course for B2-C1 Interpreters and Translators

AIIC Course
Malcesine, Italy

25-31 July

World Youth Day 2016 

Krakow, Poland

27-29 July

AIIC Upgrade Course: 
Interpreting into English as a B Language

Tallinn, Estonia

28 July 9-11am

Summer Exhibition 2016 

Tour for Mobility Impaired Visitors

Royal Academy of Arts

London, UK

31 July-6 August

World Shakespeare Congress 2016

Stratford-upon-Avon and London, UK
Theme: Creating and recreating Shakespeare 
on 400th Anniversary of his death

NB: Inclusion in this list does not constitute endorsement of any conference, event or third party by Anglicity Ltd. This list is for information purposes only. All details should be checked on the organisers' websites, as they may be subject to change.

Painting the Modern Garden

Painting the Modern Garden at the Royal Academy of Arts

A growing interest in art and an interest in growing. The Royal Academy of Arts killed two birds with one stone* for me by staging its exhibition Painting the Modern Garden: Monet to Matisse. A day of gardening and art rolled into one. 

Popular Exhibition
This exhibition is so popular that nearly every available time slot was booked. Thank goodness for being a freelancer. I worked at the weekend and went on a Monday instead. I also had opportunity to attend a lunchtime talk by Professor Clare Willsdon of the University of Glasgow on The Art of Horticulture - painting and planting the "modern garden".

Early Love revisited
My love of Impressionism started at the University of Birmingham. In the first year of my French course, I had the opportunity to study French art. Monet and Manet were my favourites then. My interest deepened by seeing some of the actual paintings at the Musée d’Orsay in Paris. 

Up close
Monet's work was at the centre of this exhibition. I was amazed at how many excellent and famous paintings the Royal Academy had managed to bring together. I was thrilled to get up close to the paintings. I could admire the brush strokes and technique, then stand back to get the full impression. 

Monet the Gardener
I had no idea beforehand that Monet was anything more than an amateur gardener. I loved the way the Royal Academy captured the extent of his enthusiasm and botanical knowledge by sharing his books.

It was great to read his faded letters in French. The famous water lily paintings might have been denied to the world if he had not succeeded in his appeal to build his pond. His enthusiasm for gardening strayed into obsession:

"He reads more catalogues and horticultural price lists 

than articles on aesthetics"  

 (Journalist of Monet in 1897)

In advance, I had expected to see an exhibition of paintings that I would love. I had no inkling beforehand that this exhibition would capture what gardening means to me. In the words of Paul Klee:

"My mind is clearest and freshest 

and I often experience the most captivating moods, 

even moments of great joy, 

when I am tending the plants in my garden...".

This is a feeling I can now describe with the German word "Gartengluck" - a feeling of happiness that overcomes you in the garden.

Old Boots
It was a great touch to include Nicholson's painting of Gertrude Jekyll's gardening boots. Seeing one sole falling apart brought a smile to my face. There is no need to get dressed up in the garden. You can get lost in reverie with no one to judge your muddy fingers, dishevelled hair or clothes that have seen a better day.

Historical Context
Professor Willsdon presentation gave the exhibition historical and botanical context. The 19th and early 20th centuries were a very special time in gardening. The flowers in the paintings were exotic. Monet's blue water lilies required great care to overwinter.

Flowers were seen as "decoration". Some scoffed that these painter gardeners should grow more useful plants like potatoes. Another was ridiculed as the painter of cabbages. 

Clare Willsdon explained that the three key developments of the time were:

• Hybridisation - illustrated by the paintings of chrysanthemums, dahlias, peonies and exotic water lilies in the exhibition
• Cases with sealed glass to import exotic plants 
• Advent of greenhouses to look after exotic plants 

A Passion shared
Gardening was very much a passion that Monet shared with other friends and painters. Monet's friends described him as a different person in his garden than the bad-tempered man encountered in Paris. 

Monet's Garden at Giverny with its famous bridge and pond

Clare Willsdon explained Monet's passion for irises and their connection to his late wife. The profusion of irises under the trees in The Artist's Garden at Giverny (detail) of 1900 takes on greater meaning in this context. They speak of his love.

Iris 

So while few people appear in the various exhibition paintings, much emotion is conveyed in them nonetheless. Monet's weeping willows portray the anguish at the loss of life from the guns he could hear in the distance during the First World War.

It wasn't all about Monet or even French artists. The exhibition introduced me to a number of new artists. Max Liebermann, Emil Nolde and Santiago Rusiñol particularly caught my eye. I loved Rusiñol's extraordinary Glorieta II.

How do you end such an exhibition on a high? The Royal Academy succeeded by bringing together Monet's triptych of water lilies from 3 different American museums. It had the wow factor.

Now, I simply have to find a way to see Giverny, Monet's living work of art in person. It will complete my journey from gardening to art and from art to a very special garden.



For my international readers, a link to the meaning of the English idiom used above:
*killing two birds with one stone

Karen Andrews runs
Anglicity Ltd. She is a 

French to English
translator and 
transcreator.  She is

also an English 
copywriter and

multilingual digital 
marketer.

For further information see
Anglicity's website

Ordinary Europeans for Nobel Peace Prize?

Ordinary Europeans have shown extraordinary courage and selflessness towards the many refugees who have arrived in their lands. When others turned them away with barbed wire and troops, the Greeks and Germans welcomed them with true humanity.

Greece is not a rich country. We are all aware that the Greek people have suffered the most in the economic crisis under Austerity. Still they remind us of what is important in life: our common humanity.

A nomination is currently doing the rounds for the Greek islanders to be nominated for a Nobel Peace prize. They helped those in need and mortal danger without any expectation of reward. A smile was enough.

The German people also extended an extraordinary hand of welcome. Integration will not be easy. There are already and will be many problems. A Nobel Peace Prize will be a source of inspiration. When the difficulties ahead cause some to doubt, it will continue to encourage.

The Greeks and Germans do not have the easiest relationship in Europe. Shouldn't both peoples be recognised for their part in handling the refugee crisis?

The nomination is in our hands. Yes, we could nominate a high profile figure. Doesn't it give a better message to the world when ordinary people are nominated? Together the Greek and German peoples showed us the more compassionate Europe and World that we would all like to live in.

For such leadership, without hope of recognition, the Greek and German peoples should be recognised together.


Link to the Greek Islanders nomination:
Avaaz


Related stories:

Common dreams on Greece

Guardian on Greece

Germany welcomes refugees

German bilingual translation efforts to make families feel welcome and settle more easily

On London's German Christmas Trees and Markets

Christmas Trees outside London offices

Christmas trees were first introduced to Britain from Germany. Queen Victoria’s husband Prince Albert recreated the Christmas trees of his childhood at Windsor Castle. A drawing of the decorated tree featured in Illustrated London News in 1848.

There was no looking back. The Victorians copied the Royal Family and decorated trees in their homes too. The German custom became a British one.

Christmas Tree outside Houses of Parliament

While there is no doubt that the custom came to Britain from Germany, both Latvia and Estonia claim to be the origin of the first Christmas tree. Some sources suggest that the first Christmas tree appeared in both Riga and Tallinn in 1510. Accounts passed down through oral history means that we may never be able to determine the exact truth.

Northern Europe is undoubtedly the origin of the Christmas tree. It was Germany that spread its decoration customs throughout the world. 

Decorated Christmas Tree at Somerset House

Although Christmas trees are associated with the Christian festival today, their origins are in pagan celebrations of the Winter Solstice.

Christmas in Trafalgar Square

Trafalgar Square is at London’s heart. It is central to British democracy and the right to freedom of expression. In 2015, it witnessed British solidarity with the French over the tragic events in Paris. 

Norway's 2015 Christmas Tree Gift in Trafalgar Square

Every year the people of Norway give a Christmas tree to the people of Britain in recognition of British support for their nation during the Second World War. It is therefore fitting that this annual gift is displayed in Trafalgar Square. This year’s tree appears in the photo above.

There are also numerous brightly-lit Christmas trees throughout the capital.

It is not just the German Christmas tree tradition that Britain has taken to heart. The number of German Christmas markets seem to increase throughout the capital and the rest of the United Kingdom with every passing year. 

German Christmas Market Banner on London's South Bank

Winter Wonderland is a fabulous annual Christmas market in Hyde Park. 

 

Hyde Park's Winter Wonderland Christmas Market

This year, I visited the German Christmas market outside the Tate Modern on the South Bank. One stall there even had a Christmas tree on top.

Tree on top of German Christmas Market

Outside or inside, real or artificial, big or small… Christmas today is unthinkable without the custom brought to Britain by a German Prince. 

Frohe Weihnachten! Merry Christmas!

Where is the best decorated Christmas tree that you have seen this year?

Overcoming the "curse" of technical knowledge

An origami swan - not as simple as it looks © M. Gove

An expert is very close to the technical details of his field on a daily basis. The terms become so familiar. He forgets how unfamiliar those same terms once were. This is known as the curse of knowledge.

Different target audiences

Many experts are unable to explain their subject simply. "Doing simple" feels very uncomfortable. It feels like you are "dumbing down" years of hard-earned education and painstaking research. Yet, there are many times when an expert needs to persuade or communicate with target audiences outside his field - for example:

·      to access funding and support

·      to maintain or renew existing funding

·      to influence policy-makers

·      to access the Media - both trade and non-trade press

·      to debate ethical and other issues with university management, etc

·      to work with the private sector

·      to launch and market a prototype or product

·      to seek advice from experts in other fields

·      to report on research progress

·      to present findings at international/multicultural conferences

·      to publish online, newsletters, emails, short videos, etc

·      to take advantage of the growing trend for MOOCs

·      to engage with the general public.

Academic writing

Academic writing often encourages an intellectual approach. It is seen as good to sound clever and obscure. You are supposed to sound like an expert. However, it is also said that you do not know your subject well enough if you cannot explain it simply. 

Cultural differences

There are also cultural differences in approach to academic writing. When studying in France, I remember English students being berated for a meandering style. Our writing was likened to that of the great French Renaissance philosopher Montaigne. As I loved Montaigne's essays, it felt like a compliment. However, if you wish your writing to be accepted in another culture, you have to conform to their current expectations and norms.

Rewriting

German academic writing expects the reader to find his own way. English academic writing requires clear guidance for the reader. English is the language of science. You need to publish in English if you wish to reach the widest possible audience. Rewriting can improve readability for target audiences outside the academic world. Machine translation will not convert academic German into academic English. Nor will it create material fit for 21st Century digital consumption. Greater attention needs to be paid to presentation and formatting as well as technical content.

Readability

Improving the readability of a text does not mean lowering the research's value or content. The simplest way to improve readability is to talk your subject through with someone outside your field. Explain your story and aims to them. A technical writer or professional translator is the perfect choice as they work with different target audiences on a daily basis. Their questions will help you fine-tune your material for your new audience. Your message is much more likely to be heard and understood.

Choose an expert

Simplicity may look simple. It takes time and thought. It is easy to underestimate the skill involved. It requires the hard-earned education and painstaking effort of an expert to make technical translation and writing look simple. 

If you would appreciate some expert help with your technical communications, email karen@anglicity.com or call Karen on +44 (0)20 8581 9369.

Karen Andrews runs
Anglicity Ltd. She is a

technical writer and 

translator with over

15 years' marketing

experience. Anglicity offers

marketing consultancy and

content marketing with a 

particular focus on innovation.