Infographic Fun: What do Muslims do during Ramadan?
Most people know that Muslims fast during Ramadan from sunrise to sunset, but Ramadan is so much more than just fasting—it’s really about self-discipline and spiritual reflection. So, I decided to depict all the things Muslims are concerned with during Ramadan.
Bluewashing in Representation
Bluewashing is when a company joins the UNGC but doesn’t actually follow up on its principles, basically deflecting from their bad business practices. This also applies to governments: they use humanitarian operations or actions to cover up their bad practices.
Solopreneur Sustainable Business Challenge: Conducting an Impact Assessment
Before I improve my business’ sustainability plan, I need to assess what I’m doing right so far.
Push for Terminology Change: Middle East
“Middle East” as a geographic term is ambiguous; it varies depending on the individual and the time period. It is also clear that the term originated in “the West” (another geographically ambiguous term) and was initially perpetuated by colonial powers.
Infographic Fun: Wage Gap between the US National Soccer Teams
The question most women’s soccer fans ask: Why wouldn’t the women not be paid as much as the men? And I don’t just mean with respect to gender equality; I mean looking at their performance at the international level, it doesn’t make much sense.
Purplewashing in Representation and Messaging
After examining purplewashing and all its facets, I believe it’s important to examine our work from an intersectional feminist perspective because as my research has shown, feminism and women’s empowerment can be used for purposes that don’t actually help women. We may be bound by client requirements/ preferences sometimes, but we should always be mindful of purplewashing and strive to ensure all women are empowered, not exploited, in client communications.
Solopreneur Sustainable Business Challenge: What is Sustainability?
As a solopreneur who works from home, I don’t have as much of a carbon footprint as many other businesses, but I bet there are some things that will surprisingly turn out to cause more emissions than I thought. Anyways, I can always try to do better in being more sustainable.
Push for Terminology Change: Ethnic Cleansing
There are two main objections to the use of “ethnic cleansing”: (1) it’s a problematic euphemism, and (2) it’s a legally ambiguous term. As translators (and interpreters), we are sometimes bound by guidelines or client requirements to use certain terms, that’s just a fact of our profession. Yet we also have the power to change the way we discuss an issue in our target language.
Infographic Fun: Encanto and Intergenerational Trauma
An article from Newport Academy explored intergenerational trauma, the seven inner child archetypes, and talking about Bruno. This infographic depicts the seven inner child archetypes discussed and a character example
Brownwashing in Representation and Reputation
Brownwashing can be a good thing or a bad thing, depending on the context. As translators, we don’t create the content and its representational issues, but we can advise on problematic elements as we see fit.
Whitewashing in Representation
Whitewashing can mean a variety of things—all related to representation. Translation is a key element of representation when it comes to foreign media and cultures, and our work frequently tips the scales between apt representation and misrepresentation.
Tips & Tools for Translating Official & Educational Documents
This is an article for all the translators out there who love translating official documents (i.e., birth certificates, marriage contracts, etc.) and educational documents (i.e., diplomas, transcripts, etc.). Fair warning: if you don’t love translating these types of documents, then this article will be kind of ‘meh’ for you.
That Translator Can Cook: Warak Enab (Stuffed Grape Leaves)
Warak enab means ‘grape leaves’ in Arabic, but this dish is also commonly known as dolma, which is the singular term of this dish in Greek-usually the Greek stuffed grape leaves are referred to as dolmades (the plural term)…
That Translator Can Cook: Koshari
As NPR complains (affectionally, I’m sure) about “those pesky transliterations from Arabic script,” koshari can also be spelled ‘kushari’ or ‘koshari.’…
That Translator Can Cook: Margoog
This hearty stew is also called ‘matateez,’ which is quite fun to say. I could not find anything about margoog’s history, whether I searched in English or Arabic, so…
That Translator Can Cook: Harees
Harees is a very old recipe; variations of this porridge can be found in the 10th-century cookbook, Kitab al Tabikh…
That Translator Can Cook: Maaqouda
I couldn’t find much information about maaqouda’s origins, but one question did arise from it: why do we all like frying potatoes?
That Translator Can Cook: Shulbato
I made the mistake of making shulbato as an entrée even though it’s a side dish because as an entrée, it provides you waaay too much fiber…
That Translator Can Cook: Baklava
The origin of baklava is somewhat controversial and many groups (Turkish, Greek, Armenian, etc.) claim that it was created by their ancestors…
That Translator Can Cook: Maftoul
In Arabic, the word “maftoul” comes from the root “fa-ta-la”, meaning to twist or to roll, which is how maftoul is made…