News

What knowledge defines a native speaker of a language?

Prof. Sophia Malamud will be visiting the Williams College on April 20. Prof. Malamud teaches linguistics at Brandeis University and has published extensively on semantics and pragmatics, using data from English, Russian, German, Italian, French, Amharic, and Yiddish. For this colloquium, Dr. Malamud will be presenting her work-in-progress on language acquisition and attrition, and in particular, heritage language knowledge. Continue reading »

“The Indomitable Zatoichi”

Neither samurai nor ronin but a masseur by trade and a blind swordsman extraordinaire. Though a meek and humble man, he is indeed a champion of the downcast and defenseless, who wanders aimlessly about the countryside and towns as a lone, solitary figure in the Edo Era. Continue reading »

Staying True and Breaking Loose: The Translator’s Paradoxical Craft

With particular reference to the challenges of translating prose fiction from the inscrutable language he specializes in, Hungarian, Paul Olchváry will explore a range of questions at the heart of translation—from navigating the elusive roadmap of associations each word or turn of phrase conjures in readers of the original language versus those of the target language, to resolving technical problems of rhythm and diction; from balancing one’s obligations to the original and its author with those to readers of the translation, to the very possibility of recreating the cultural-historical-linguistic island of the original text in a “global” language such as English. Olchváry will also comment on the contemporary situation and prospects of translation in North America, and read excerpts from his recent translations. Continue reading »

Faculty Colloquium

Dawn Seckler, Visiting Professor of Russian, will speak on her research, “Hipsters and Hippies: Recent Russian Cinema’s American Dream” and Brian Martin, Professor of French, will present his recent research "Lumber Literature: Masculinity and Sexuality in the Woods". Continue reading »

Drawing and Painting Egypt Exhibit

Students document their experience traveling in the Upper Nile Valley during winter study with artwork and essays. Presentations draw on their explorations of the history, architecture, and culture of ancient and modern Egypt. Continue reading »