The Drunken Boat publishes poetry from around the world, translations of poetry, reviews of poetry collections and anthologies, and interviews with well-known poets. The current issue features Cave Canem poets, home for the many voices of African-American poetry and committed to cultivating the artistic and professional growth of African-American poets.
posted by netbros on Feb 22, 2009 - 3 comments

Indian Nipple Song and May He Poop? (Previously)
posted by twoleftfeet on Dec 5, 2008 - 32 comments

Wordchamp lets you view foreign-language web pages with definitions in your language as mouseovers (registration-only). [more inside]
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane on Jul 5, 2008 - 10 comments

Could I interest you in a Chocolate Collon? And would you like a cool can of Plussy to wash it down? If you're looking for a fun book to read, or anything else, Engrish has it in stock.
posted by Citizen Premier on May 23, 2005 - 11 comments

How do you say “Give me the bat, Wendy” in Italian?
posted by growabrain on Mar 20, 2005 - 34 comments

The Renaissance saw the publication of many great romantic epics: Ludovico Ariosto's Orlando Furioso in 1516; Torquato Tasso's Jerusalem Delivered in 1581; and Edmund Spenser's The Faerie Queene in 1590 and 1596. But perhaps the most ambitious and mysterious of them all was the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili published in 1499 by Aldus Manutius (previously discussed here). The Poliphili has usually been attributed to an Italian monk named Francesco Colonna, although recently some have claimed that it was the work of architect and humanist Leon Battista Alberti, even though he died in 1472. The Poliphili has long fascinated scholars because of its amazing typography, the cinematic style of its woodcuts, and the strange messages seemingly hidden in this multi-lingual text. Written in Italian, Latin, Greek, Hebrew, Arabic, Chaldean, and even some hieroglyphs, it has only recently been translated into English. This strange text has inspired a great deal of research and even a New York Times best-selling murder mystery.
posted by papakwanz on Feb 4, 2005 - 18 comments

BollyWhat. Making Bollywood accesible to all. Including such wonders as lyrics translations, newcomer's guides and intriguing articles such as Masculinity, Bollywood-Ishtyle and a Hollywood FAQ for a different perspective. Explore and enjoy.
posted by Mossy on Dec 30, 2003 - 8 comments

To add to the recent JapanFilter phenom, here are two unrelated items: a brief tutorial on using Japanese commodes, and a list of Japanese car names. Interested in buying a Nissan Homy? A Mitsubishi Bravo Exceed, perhaps?
posted by antifreez_ on Dec 5, 2003 - 9 comments

A neato collection of Russian eBooks translated into English mostly for propaganda purposes, which while not in the public domain are available for non-commercial use after the fall of the Soviet Union and certain copyright peculiarities, as described here. The archivist says: The main aim of this collection is to preserve the work of translators and give some information to historians. But whatever the reason, there's some good reading here to be had.
posted by chrisgregory on Sep 3, 2003 - 6 comments

Japanese Tolkien fans angered over translation issues. Relatively old news, but I believe not that well known. Do the technical difficulties involved excuse the loss of important meaning in dialogue? Film translation seems to suffer from much less prestige than literary translation, though that too has its controversies. In the US, anime fans replay the loose vs strict translation debate daily, also protesting cuts and edits. Is it really impossible in the rush to make money off the geeks and off the masses to stay relatively true to the original material?
posted by e^2 on Aug 29, 2003 - 21 comments

How Do You Say ASSALAMU ALAIKUM in Gaelic? Plans have been announced in the Irish Republic to translate the Koran, Islam's most sacred text, into Irish. The ambitious project aims to bring Ireland's Gaelic-speakers and Muslim communities closer together, Leslie Carter of the Islamic Cultural Centre in Dublin said.
posted by turbanhead on Mar 11, 2003 - 14 comments

Metafilter Absurdified via Spanish.
posted by fieldswn on Dec 14, 2001 - 29 comments

Dubbing the Simpsons Should The Simpsons in French be egalitarian or classist? Depends on whether you use Quebec or national French, apparently. (Second article.)
posted by joeclark on Jan 4, 2001 - 4 comments

The Aberdeen Bestiary Project, beautiful scans of medieval art, and translations of the Latin translations of the Physiologus, a story-book of sorts, or an encyclopedia of nature.
posted by sonofsamiam on Nov 17, 2000 - 0 comments