Lost in Translation

Jan 20, 2025 5:39 AM

Author:Ella Frances Sanders

Lost in Translation

Did you know that the Japanese have a word to express the way sunlight filters through the leaves of trees?

Or, that there’s a Swedish word that means a traveller’s particular sense of anticipation before a trip?

Lost in Translation, a New York Times bestseller, brings the nuanced beauty of language to life with over 50 beautiful ink illustrations.

The words and definitions range from the lovely, such as goya, the Urdu word to describe the transporting suspension of belief that can occur in good storytelling, to the funny, like the Malay word pisanzapra, which translates as 'the time needed to eat a banana' .

This is a collection full of surprises that will make you savour the wonderful, elusive, untranslatable words that make up a language.

Reviews

...a collection of words you never knew you needed before

—— Huffington Post

Charming illustrations and sheer linguistic delight

—— Maria Popova , Brainpicker

words you never knew you needed but now can’t live without

—— Saga Magazine

...a fantastic collection of words without English counterparts

—— Entertainment Weekly

… will make you think, laugh and discover situations you never knew there was a word for

—— ELLE Canada

Great editor: great teacher of editors

—— Peter Stothard, editor of the Times Literary Supplement

Harry Evans is the journalist we all wanted to be. He could write, sub, design, re-write, think - everything short of standing on the streets and selling the paper himself. Essential English has for generations been the bible of any aspiring Harry Evans. It is as fresh today as it was when it was first published nearly thirty years ago

—— Alan Rusbridger, Editor-in-Chief, Guardian

Welcome back to the standard and brilliant text on written English for journalism. Good writing is good writing, and Harold Evans is a good writer, when all around are letting standards slip. Essential English should be essential reading for all journalism students, and all journalists who seek to improve their writing

—— Peter Cole, Professor of Journalism, University of Central Lancashire

Eager, conscientious, affectionate… Endearingly old-fashioned in its family piety, protective partisanship and unembellished decency… A work that murmurs and sidles in a self-effacing tone… A likeable, informative and poignant book that Findlay is uniquely suited to have written

—— Richard Davenport-Hines , Literary Review

There is a tenderness with which [Findlay] cherishes even the most inconsequential events… Fitting tribute

—— Jonathan Beckman , Daily Telegraph

Entertaining

—— Financial Times

Findlay’s welcome biography reveals him to be a fascinating character… Admirably and engagingly fulfils its brief

—— Peter Parker , Oldie

A revealing portrait of an extraordinary man

—— Independent

Findlay ably amplifies her portrait with family history and evocations of the Edwardian literary scene

—— New Yorker

Respectful and sympathetic

—— Lesley McDowell , Independent on Sunday

Compelling

—— Clive Aslet , Country Life

A colourful treatment of a colourful life

—— Lady

Personal and affectionate tribute

—— Sally Morris , Daily Mail

Affectionate, familial tribute to this many-sided man.

—— The Catholic Herald

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