How do You Do That?!

Snoopy and Charlie Brown sitting on the floor, contemplating a castle of cards they built.

The conference opens with an address in a foreign language. The speaker launches headlong into a highly complex subject at breakneck speed. The talk is replete with terms whose spelling I can only guess, most of which encoded in the alphabet soup of acronyms. To make matters worse, he insists on cracking jokes as culturally-specific […]

The Great Race Around the World

Think Magellan was the first man around the world? Think twice. The identity — and status — of the first man to go full circle may surprise you big time. My TED-Ed Lesson on Magellan’s Circumnavigation of the World is out. In a 4-minute video it tells you everything you need to know about this incredible […]

Nice Trumps Nasty

Man with a Panama hat, in a light suit, dark shirt, playing the trumpet. The instrument covers the player's face. The instrument is seen frontally.

Most of us have learned to see politeness as wimpy and meek. We contemplate meanness as a shield worth wearing, despite the long-lasting harm it does to others and ourselves once the excitement of immediate gains fades away.

The Accidental Translator

This book tells the story of how I accidentally became a translator — and soon thereafter an interpreter — 30 years ago. It also testifies to how winding anybody’s professional route is and it drives home an idea best summarized in this quote by John Lennon: “Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans” The book was […]