Worried about bits of Franglish/Deutschlish ending up in your translation?
I work with translators to polish their final drafts so everything ends up in perfect, idiomatic English.
The eye-opening tale of the mum treated like a shoplifter has received a lot of internet attention since she posted it yesterday. For those who haven’t read it: woman is grabbed by a Tesco security guard who accuses her of stealing shampoo and won’t listen to her protestations of innocence, then released without apology when the accusation turns out to be complete rubbish.
Jeremy Hunt has now announced plans to give out licences for local television stations. Ofcom has identified 65 towns and cities where local terrestrial TV is technically possible and these places will be invited to bid for licences.
I recently wrote about data protection, arguing that organisations don’t grasp the idea that adults can live together and make shared decisions. The default assumption is that you do not consent to any third party ringing up about your account, and it’s usually impossible to prove your consent without putting in more effort than it would take to make the call yourself in the first place.
Today I was having problems with the home internet connection. Not only am I a member of the over-privileged web generation, I’m also a freelancer who works from home a lot. So this was a big deal. I rang O2 to find out what was going on.
I’m impressed with how quickly I got through to their British-based call centre. Yes, there was the usual automated phone-answering system, but this one wasn’t too bad, and I got through to the correct human within minutes.
Funny how talking about security tends to make us feel less secure. Raising a security issue without causing unnecessary worry is difficult. You need empathy, tact and excellent communication skills. A bit of charm wouldn’t go amiss either.
I recently received an email from Travelodge demonstrating the total lack of any of these qualities. It’s an email which I thought was worth a detailed reply.
Back in March, I wrote a post about the Dyscalculia Forum and their rude response to me when I asked too many questions.
The current government promised to be the “greenest government ever”, but the UK’s carbon emissions are still too high, risking catastrophic climate change. However, many people don’t realise that 80% of emissions are as a result of local activity. We talk a lot about government action, but it’s time to bring the discussion closer to home.
Alexa Raisbeck remembers shop assistants laughing at her because she couldn’t work out the correct change. It took her five years of searching to find out that her problems had a name: dyscalculia. Now she’s a successful artist.
Her current exhibition, Hidden, runs for three days next week in London and explores what it’s like to have an undetected non-verbal learning disability (NvLD).
By now, EPCs (Energy Performance Certificates) are a familiar part of the rental process. They were introduced by the Labour government as part of HIPs (Home Information Packs), which were criticised for introducing unnecessary bureaucracy to the property sector. Since EPCs came into force in 2008, we’ve become used to arranging energy performance assessments and adding them to the particulars of rental properties.
29th March 2011
Dear Mr Cameron,
I understand that you have recently sought the independent advice of the Committee on Climate Change and I congratulate you for doing so. I am now writing to urge you to accept the advice they give you and set serious targets for reducing the UK’s carbon emissions.