Jonathan Goldberg, Author at WordsmithsBlog

Interview with British wordsmith Nicholas de Lange

Professor Nicholas de Lange is the English translator of over a dozen books by Israeli author, Amos Oz, including Judas, which was short-listed for the 2017 Man Booker International Prize. An ordained Reform rabbi, Professor de Lange is Emeritus Fellow and Professor of Hebrew and Jewish Studies at Cambridge University’s Faculty of Divinity and Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies.

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Interview with American wordsmith (and poet) Jacqueline Suskin

This column has been expanded in scope to include all linguists, not just translators. This allows us to interview socio-linguists, juridical terminologists, etc. But no-one we ever interview is likely to have as unconventional an occupation as our current interviewee, Jacqueline Suskin, a “performance poet”, who has chosen this niche field within the world of poetry.

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Interview with Dutch wordsmith (and author) Gaston Dorren

Gaston Dorren, a Netherlands-based writer and linguist, has published three Dutch books on language. One of these was published in English as Lingo: Around Europe in Sixty Languages, and translated into several other languages. He has contributed to popular linguistics magazines in the Netherlands, Belgium, Britain, Norway and Switzerland.

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Interview with Lebanese wordsmith (and grammarian) Lina Choueri

I was born in Mansourieh, in the Metn hills on the outskirts of Beirut. I began school before the age of 3, and studied French as a second language. In Lebanon, the choice of second language is important, because this is the language in which all subjects are taught: mathematics, science, history and geography were all taught in French.

Interview with Lebanese wordsmith (and grammarian) Lina Choueri Read Post »

Interview with American wordsmith (and interpreter) James Nolan

My father, a US Navy officer, came from Nova Scotia and my mother, an artist, from Asturias. I was born in the US at the end of World War II and shortly thereafter my family moved to Mexico City where my father did his Masters in Spanish. Both my parents were bilingual and I was raised speaking both languages.

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Interview with British wordsmith (and poet) Annie Freud

Our current guest, Annie Freud is a distinguished British poet and one of the members of the Freud lineage to gain fame for their intellectual achievements. She is the daughter of painter Lucian Freud, the maternal granddaughter of sculptor Sir Jacob Epstein, and the great-granddaughter of Sigmund Freud.

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Interview with British wordsmith (and translator) Mike Mitchell

Our choice of wordsmith this time is the well-known and prolific translator (from French and German), Mike Mitchell, who kindly granted Jonathan G. this interview. Mike lives with his wife in a hamlet close to the town of Tighnabruaich, County of Argyll, West of Scotland.

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Interview with Israeli wordsmith (engineering academic and champion sportsman) Shaul Ladany

Shaul Ladany, 83, qualifies as a wordsmith on account of his knowledge of 8 or 9 languages (in 3 alphabets – Cyrillic, Latin and Hebrew). But readers may find equal interest in a life-story filled with adventures and achievements (both scholastic and sporting). For this reason, in the following interview we have taken the liberty of departing from our usual focus on linguistic issues in order to present the unusual biography of an exceptional man.

Interview with Israeli wordsmith (engineering academic and champion sportsman) Shaul Ladany Read Post »

Interview with British wordsmith (and musician) Christopher Goldsack

I did have a very successful start to my professional career. I won several major international singing competitions and worked for all the major opera companies in Britain. French was always an important part of my repertoire, but I was equally comfortable singing in other languages of course.

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Interview with Dutch wordsmith (and tour guide) Geert Sivellis

I grew up in a very international community within Portugal. There were at least 5 English-language international schools in the area. The common language was English. My parents briefly attempted to teach their offspring Dutch, but it proved too confusing for the young brains that were at the same time learning English and Portuguese.

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Author name: Jonathan Goldberg