Latest news with #A'Hobat
The National
06-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The National
Good News Scotland: Positive news stories that trumped 'Awful April'
Sign up to the new free newsletter using the linked banner above! IT'S safe to say that April didn't have the most auspicious of starts. I mean, it was literally dubbed 'awful April' – a well-earned moniker given households across the UK and Scotland have faced across-the-board increases in their bills. Energy? Aye. Water? Check. Council Tax? Uh huh. Mobile and broadband? You bet. TV license and car tax too? You get the gist. READ MORE: Radiohead musician cancels UK shows over 'credible threats' But while April may have started off poorly, it certainly had some bang for your buck (apologies) on the good news front. So, Donald Trump announced a whole shed load of tariffs against countries worldwide. That's not the good news, but I did love how a group of penguins in Scotland reacted to it. (Image: The Penguins in the Wall) A group of clay penguins which popped up in holes in a wall along Glasgow's Kelvin Walkway took a stand and staged a protest. This was because the US president included a group of barren, uninhabited volcanic islands near Antarctica — home only to penguins — in his list of countries and territories to be hit by the tariffs. Good old-fashioned solidarity and humour in the face of bad news. When I was despairing at the start of April, the images and video from my colleague Lucy's trip to go see the Highland cows in Pollock Park cheered me up. (Image: NQ) The public can see the park's herd just a short walk away from the Burrell Collection museum. You're welcome. This may have made the cut as it was one of my childhood favourite books. But I also like to see Gaelic being championed. And so it has, with the first Scottish Gaelic translation of JRR Tolkien's classic The Hobbit completed by a University of Aberdeen professor. (Image: Archive/University of Aberdeen) Moray Watson, a professor of Gaelic and translation and a lifelong Tolkien fan, began working on a Gaelic version titled A' Hobat prior to the Covid lockdowns. After many phases of editing, the book is available to order, complete with an afterword explaining why Watson chose the word "hobat" to translate "hobbit". I was also heartened to see that a new Palestine museum is set to open in Edinburgh through a US-based organisation. (Image: Palestine Museum US) The Palestine Museum US was founded by Palestinian American businessman Faisal Saleh, who said they "couldn't have found a better location" for their first European location. The team is to take over the former Arusha Gallery on Dundas Street, where it will be run by local volunteers. On a post on social media, it was announced doors will open on May 17. This month was also undeniably a scorcher, evidenced by this rare cloud-free photo of Scotland captured by satellite. Finally, researchers have discovered that carnivorous and herbivorous dinosaurs 'mingled' amongst each other 167 million years ago after finding rare footprints on the Isle of Skye. According to newly identified tracks, despite being prehistoric predator and prey, massive meat-eating and plant-eating dinosaurs drank together from shallow freshwater lagoons on the Isle of Skye. The 131 footprints at Prince Charles's Point on Skye's Trotternish Peninsula makes the site one of Scotland's largest and rarest in the world.
BreakingNews.ie
26-04-2025
- Entertainment
- BreakingNews.ie
JRR Tolkien's The Hobbit translated into Gaelic for first time
One of the world's best-selling books has been translated into Gaelic. Moray Watson, a professor of Gaelic and translation at the University of Aberdeen, began working on a Gaelic draft of JRR Tolkien's The Hobbit prior to the first Covid-19 lockdown. Advertisement After a number of delays and fitting the project around his teaching commitments, Prof Watson has revealed he has now completed A'Hobat. After several phases of editing, the book is now available to order, complete with an afterword explaining some of his creative decisions throughout the novel. The translation is supported by the Gaelic Books Council and it is the latest in a list of languages the classic has been translated into, including Hawaiian, Esperanto, Breton and Yiddish. Prof Watson is director of Ionad Eeghainn MhicLachlainn: the National Centre for Gaelic Translation (NCGT), which exists specifically to support the translation of literature into Gaelic, as well as Manx and Irish. Advertisement He said: 'Enjoyment of reading is of tremendous importance on many levels when it comes to the esteem and status of a language. 'Being able to select from a wide range of engaging texts is also extremely important when learning a language or when making the decision to dig in and make that long, sustained extra effort necessary to go from competence in a language to mastery. 'I've read the book in at least nine languages so far. Whenever I learn a new language now, I always check to see if there is a translation of The Hobbit. If there is, I buy it. That way, I can read a novel early on in the learning process, because I already know the story very well at this point. 'Every single time I read it, in every single language, I get to experience the deep, rich joy of discovering Tolkien's world. Advertisement 'It's no wonder people fell in love with this book, and continue to do so nearly 90 years after it was first published. 'I'm very lucky to have had the chance to work with it and I hope that people enjoy it.' In addition to The Hobbit translation, the NCGT is supporting a book co-edited by Prof Watson which features a set of essays from translators and scholars on various aspects of the translation process. Prof Watson is also completing a Gaelic translation of HG Wells's The Time Machine, which includes an academic essay on how elements of translation theory can help the translator work through some of the trickier parts of a text. Advertisement The first appearance of Sherlock Holmes in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's A Study In Scarlet is next on the list to be translated to Gaelic, and Prof Watson is hunting for interesting novels in French, German or Spanish that have never been translated to English to further expand Gaelic reading lists.
BBC News
24-04-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
First Scottish Gaelic translation of JRR Tolkien's The Hobbit
The first Scottish Gaelic translation of JRR Tolkien's fantasy adventure The Hobbit has been completed by a professor at the University of Watson, a professor of Gaelic and translation - and a lifelong Tolkien fan - started work on A' Hobat before the start of the Covid translation was supported by the Gaelic Books book was first published in the 1930s and was later adapted for a series of films by director Peter Jackson. It follows the adventure of Bilbo Baggins, who is invited to join a dangerous quest led by a wizard and a group of dwarves. Prof Watson's translation has been published following several said: "I've read the book in at least nine languages so far. "Whenever I learn a new language now, I always check to see if there is a translation of The Hobbit." He added: "Every single time I read it, in every single language, I get to experience the deep, rich joy of discovering Tolkien's world."The academic said it was a privilege to "delve deeply" into story's original maps, runes and illustrations when he was triple checking translations before Watson said: "It's no wonder people fell in love with this book, and continue to do so nearly 90 years after it was first published."I'm very lucky to have had the chance to work with it and I hope that people enjoy it."The professor is now working on a Gaelic translation of HG Wells' adventure story The Time Glasgow-based Gaelic Books Council has previously published translations of George Orwell's Animal Farm and stories by Scottish crime writer Ian Rankin.
The National
24-04-2025
- Entertainment
- The National
First Scottish Gaelic translation of The Hobbit published
Moray Watson, Professor of Gaelic and Translation and a lifelong Tolkien fan, began working on a Gaelic version titled A' Hobat prior to the Covid lockdowns. Delays from this and fitting the project around his teaching commitments meant that arriving at a final version took much longer than expected. Now, after many phases of editing, the book is available to order, complete with an afterword explaining why Watson alighted on the word hobat to translate "hobbit" and why it has a' and not the more "expected" an. READ MORE: Scottish castle on sale again amid 'transphobia' row with community group The Gaelic translation, supported by the Gaelic Books Council, joins a growing list of languages allowing new engagement with the classic story the world over, including Hawaiian, Esperanto, Breton and Yiddish. Professor Watson is director of Ionad Eòghainn MhicLachlainn: the National Centre for Gaelic Translation, which exists specifically to support the translation of literature into Gaelic (as well as Manx and Irish). In addition to The Hobbit translation, the Centre is supporting a book co-edited by Watson which features a set of essays from translators and scholars on various aspects of the translation process. 'Enjoyment of reading is of tremendous importance on many levels when it comes to the esteem and status of a language,' he said. 'Being able to select from a wide range of engaging texts is also extremely important when learning a language or when making the decision to dig in and make that long, sustained extra effort necessary to go from competence in a language to mastery. 'I've read the book in at least nine languages so far. Whenever I learn a new language now, I always check to see if there is a translation of The Hobbit. If there is, I buy it. That way, I can read a novel early on in the learning process, because I already know the story very well at this point. 'Every single time I read it, in every single language, I get to experience the deep, rich joy of discovering Tolkien's world.' The book includes all the drawings by the author and Professor Watson says it was a pleasure and privilege to delve deeply into the maps, runes and illustrations when triple-checking translations before publication. 'It's no wonder people fell in love with this book, and continue to do so nearly 90 years after it was first published,' he added. 'I'm very lucky to have had the chance to work with it and I hope that people enjoy it.' READ MORE: 'You just have to look about you': Album charts tale of Gaelic in central Scotland Watson is also completing a Gaelic translation of H. G. Wells's The Time Machine, which includes an academic essay on how elements of translation theory can help the translator work through some of the trickier parts of a text. The first appearance of Sherlock Holmes in Arthur Conan Doyle's A Study in Scarlet is next on the list to be translated to Gaelic and Professor Watson is hunting for interesting novels in French, German or Spanish that have never been translated to English to further expand Gaelic reading lists. Watson teaches on the MSc in Translation, which is available online and on campus and makes the University of Aberdeen the only institution in the world that offers a Gaelic translation degree at this level.
