Atlas Translations - August 2010 Newsletter
Edwin Morgan, Scottish national poet and distinguised translator, dies aged 90
GCSE results published last week showed some depressing new statistics for languages, with French slipping out of the top 10 most popular subjects at GCSE. The number of students taking French has dropped by a whopping 52 % in 8 years. German has not fared any better, with a 5.9% fall in one year (from 130,976 to 70,619).
Language-learning experts are calling for compulsion to learn languages beyond the age of 14, and concern about the current situation is shared by many. Wendy Piatt, the director general of the Russell Group of research-intensive universities, said the take-up of languages was ‘’inadequate to meet the needs of our universities, economy and society’’.
Ziggy Liaquat, the chief executive of Edexcel exam board, said: ‘’It is disappointing seeing the decrease in this set of results because clearly – as a nation – having strong languages is very, very important when operating in a global market’’.
French has been replaced in the top ten by religious education, which makes an appearance there for the first time with 188,704 students.
The only positive news for languages is the increase in the uptake of Spanish (67,707 students), which looks set to overtake from German as the second most popular language in schools.
The decline in languages began at the beginning of the decade and accelerated as a result of the decision to make the subject voluntary for 14-16-year-olds.
Labour had plans to make it compulsory for all children in primary schools to study a foreign language from the age of seven. However, the plans to introduce this from September 2011 fell when the legislation enabling the change was defeated in the run-up to the general election. The Coalition government has not yet announced what would be put in its place.
This year’s Language Show at Earl’s Court is fast-approaching.
Atlas will on be Stand 429 from15-17 October.
We can also provide free invitations: please email Laura should you be interested.
Edwin Morgan, Scottish national poet and distinguished translator, dies aged 90
Scots Makar Edwin Morgan was widely recognised as one of the foremost Scottish poets of the 20th Century. Known for his inventiveness and playfulness in his work, Morgan was Winner of the Queen’s Gold Medal for poetry and was appointed as Scotland’s national poet in 2004.
Equally at home in English and in Scots, Morgan was also a master of translating poetry from many languages.
His interest in translation began during his English degree at Glasgow University, where he absorbed poetry in various European languages, particularly French and Russian.
Morgan was highly open to foreign influences such as the Black Mountain poets, the Beats, Russian modernism and Portuguese concrete poets. By the end of his career he was to have translated from French, German, Italian, Spanish, Russian and Hungarian among other languages. Authors he has translated include Yevtushenko, Pasternak, Mayakovsky, Montale, Quasimodo, Lorca and Brecht. His Beowulf (1952) became a standard translation in America, while his Scots version of Cyrano de Bergerac (1992) was staged in a highly-acclaimed touring production by the Communicado company.
In 1985, he won the Soros Translation Award for translations from Attila Jozsef. In 2001, he won the Oxford-Weidenfeld Translation Prize for his version of Jean Racine’s Phèdre.
In a statement on the Scottish Poetry Library website, Carol Ann Duffy, the Poet Laureate, said: "A great, generous, gentle genius has gone. He was poetry's true son and blessed by her. He is quite simply irreplaceable."
For more on poetry translation, be sure not to miss the September Atlas Newsletter.
Just a quick reminder about Atlas’ course Atlas Training Courses. We are running a variety of courses throughout September, October and November.
Please click here for full details and dates:
http://www.eventbrite.com/org/469556044
You can also keep up-to-date with courses organised by Atlas on the ITI Website:
The word Rastafarian comes from which language?
The answer to July’s Question of the month [Mandinka (or Mandingo) is the main language spoken in which African country?]
is The Gambia (the language is also spoken by millions of Mandinka people in Mali, Senegal, Guinea, Côte d'Ivoire, Burkina Faso, Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Guinea-Bissau and Chad)
This month we are pleased to welcome new work placement, Isabel. From Gran Canaria, Isabel recently graduated from the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria with a BA in Translation and Interpreting (with English, French and Italian). She is now studying for the European MA in Audiovisual Translation at the Autonomous University of Barcelona and the University of Parma. She has always been interested in foreign languages and, eager to know what's behind the translation process, she applied for a work placement with Atlas under the Leonardo da Vinci programme.
We hope Isabel enjoys her time at Atlas!
Thank you for your interest in the Atlas monthly newsletters. We welcome your feedback and ideas for future articles.
(Compiled by Laura Bargery)
Atlas Translations Ltd
Clare Suttie
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