Comments for Brian Steel’s Soapbox

Comment on Please Watch This Space for Basic Changes by amybovairdauthor

amybovairdauthor — Thu, 08 Jul 2021 19:36:04 +0000

Hi Brian,
Sounds like you’ve set up some terrific goals for yourself!
Some ebooks in Spanish and Hindi, did you say? Well, that’s certainly interesting! While I can’t read Hindi, I can certainly read Spanish. I’ll have to check them out. I did travel to Southern India a few times so I have heard Hindi or even Malayalam. Unfortunately, the script looks so different in writing!
All the best to you in these endeavors.
Amy

Comment on Julia Owen and bee stings in Bromley by Brian Steel

Brian Steel — Thu, 14 Jan 2021 10:43:04 +0000

In reply to Carol Reed.

That is fine, Carol!
That is quite normal in orthodox apitherapy. Mrs Owen made claims on OTHER cures (eyes) which are not supported in Apitherapy!
Good luck to you in your relieved state, I am happy for you.
Best wishes, Brian

Comment on Julia Owen and bee stings in Bromley by Carol Reed

Carol Reed — Fri, 18 Oct 2019 22:33:49 +0000

That’s too bad because I have Rheumatoid arthritis and bee venom therapy has saved my life.

Comment on Blindness for Beginners, by Maribel Steel by chrisdokter

chrisdokter — Wed, 09 Jan 2019 06:31:07 +0000

An amazing achievement. Having been a buddy for the first blind student to insist on getting a University degree, here in the Netherlands, some 40 years ago, prior to computers and other digital aids, and see her succes succeed, I have been involved in all kinds of ways to help people with visual impairments. A book like this will go a long way to empower people with similar challenges all across the world to turn personal and societal stumbling blocks into stepping stones.

Chris Dokter, psychologist, former audioboek reader and student counselor.

Comment on Please dress up the Em dash by CarolDru

CarolDru — Sun, 05 Jul 2015 13:58:15 +0000

At last, someone who agrees with me on breathing space either side of the EN and EM dash. The crowded dash offends my sensibility, except where it indicates an abrupt interruption, which – visually – it is.

Comment on Please dress up the Em dash by Brian Steel

Brian Steel — Mon, 05 May 2014 05:26:41 +0000

In reply to John Kort.

Sorry for the inordinate delay, John!
Why not enclose the list in ordinary parentheses and then add a comma?

Having lived in the town that had everything (culture, society, and people), John valued [the] good things in life.
BTW, you used an ENdash, which I prefer anyway!
Best wishes,
Brian Steel

Comment on Mistranslation and Misinterpretation, 12. Medical-legal Consequences by Brian

Brian — Fri, 11 Apr 2014 11:37:56 +0000

Thanks, Steve.
I am sure some readers will accept your invitation to follow up this aspect of the blog.
Brian

Comment on Mistranslation and Misinterpretation, 12. Medical-legal Consequences by Steve

Steve — Fri, 11 Apr 2014 07:56:33 +0000

It’s great that interpreters are being made more widely available. But this account of the case in Florida is incorrect. Here’s the story:

http://healthaffairs.org/blog/2008/11/19/language-culture-and-medical-tragedy-the-case-of-willie-ramirez/

Most significant, neither the paramedics nor the boy were the source of the word “intoxicado”. A family friend who accompanied him to the hospital said it to the ER doctor, but clarified that he was a good boy and had not taken any drugs.

In my opinion, and I’m not a doctor, this doctor is the one most responsible for the victim’s condition, not the interpreter. As the fictitious TV doctor Gregory House used to say, “Patients lie”.

Comment on Translation 40. Hindi-English-Hinglish, an Indian ménage à trois by Arvind Kumar

Arvind Kumar — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 02:29:35 +0000

I read the article with great interest. It is factual and written scholarly. I have been a proponent of accepting English words into Hindi as and when a new concept is introduced, like mobile phone, in-coming free (meaning incoming calls are not charged.) However I notice a newer trend – shifting to good Hindi in TV soap operas, TV live newscasts. The fact is that the language is in the process of developing a new phraseology. Not only English, but a large number of foreign and non-Hindi Indian language word along with a large number of provincial Hindies too are getting in and are bound to come more and more. — Arvind Kumar

Comment on Translation 32. David Bellos’s Revealing Book on Translation and the Meaning of Everything. (Reposted) by Paul Wingrove

Paul Wingrove — Sat, 05 Jan 2013 17:40:45 +0000

In reply to Brian. Dear Brian, no problem. In any case, you pointed me to The Omnivore, of which I was ignorant. I will try to keep an eye on the blog. Like you, I could not locate the Cambridge Literary Review (rather, I could locate it, but Bellos' article was not downloadable). Anyway, I was so curious to see what he says that I ordered the relevant copy of CLR. I am sure that once I receive it I will be able to transmit the relevant section to you, electronically, in the interests of scholarship! Paul