Jude Seal's Notebook

{ Since the writing of this piece the problem described has been corrected - however the problems it revealed are an interesting insight into the problems of translating certain languages and so I have elected to leave this post in place, unedited }  Google Translate can be something of a revelation to many.  It can sometimes feel like a magical box into which one can type a sentence in another language and be supplied with its translation into your desired language.  If you are unaware of the language of the sentence you can use the Detect Language feature - allowing the Translate engine to work out what the source language is before translating it.  Google Translate is however, often ridiculed for its lack of accuracy – and this all relates to the problems of faced by machine translation.  The production of accurate translation relies on many factors - but particularly the nature of the input.  In terms of single words - even in its best reviewed and most...

C.W.: Contains references to UK Politics, Brexit, and one reference to murder. Less Serious C.W: Contains references to Eurovision. TL/DR Included at the bottom of the post. I have been asked this question a few times by fellow researchers, and by other students, so I thought I would write a short explanation of why I am particularly given to multiple descriptions of th is type and why when I am setting out the geographic boundaries of a study I try to avoid using the names of specific countries – instead referring to the physical geography of the area. British Library digitised image from page 947 of "Gazetteer of the British Isles, statistical and topographical. Edited by J. Bartholomew. With appendices and special maps and plans" When the Eurovision Song Contest introduced telephone voting, a number of people – many in a unique subset who were both fans of Eurovision and of statistics – noted that while some traditional back and forth awarding of po...

How did an 'Anglo-Saxon' monk become a venerated figure is a province in Sweden?  The answer is the story of St Eskil.   ( I have placed an explanation for my use of the term Anglo-Saxon at the end of this post.  It is used here due to the fact that St Eskil was recorded in Swedist hagiography of the time as being Anglo-Saxon and his origin played a significant part in the narrative which arose around him)   Painting in Överselö Church in Sweden, depicting the saint Eskil, with his attributes, Source Born in England, St Eskil is one of a number of missionary saints of Anglo-Saxon origin sent into Scandinavia – and one of a number associated with St Sigfrid (Sigfrid of Sweden).  Like many saints associated with evangelical missions into Scandinavia the exact dates of St Eskil’s life – we can gain approximations from some events detailed in later hagiography, but beyond that certainty is illusive.  We know that St Sigfrid was probably ...

We are at tipping point in a years-long struggle against racism.  Protests have sprung up all over the world, stemming from events in the USA.  This post is not intended to provide commentary on these events – there are many people far better placed to provide such comment – but rather to highlight something which I think is not completely understood regarding the etymology of a particular word, which can in context be considered a racial slur.  It has been in my mind to write this post for some time – stemming from conversations at the IMC in Leeds in 2019.  I decided to finish it off due to a recent conversation with a student with a similar background to me which revolved around the misunderstanding and misrepresentation of minority cultures.  Gibberish.   It’s a term that’s often thrown around in discussion and criticism.   A critic may condemn a writer’s prose style as ‘bordering on gibberish’.   A politician may call their opponent’s...

MS Royal 13 B VIII , Gerald of Wales' Topographia Hiberniae, England, c.1196-c.1223 The website TV Tropes is one which, like Wikipedia, is easy to venture into, and then find yourself going down a metaphorical rabbit hole.   One of its features is that each trope often has a name drawn from one of   the works which has used it . One trope is Aerith and Bob – the usage of very common-sounding names amongst more fantastical ones – which creates a sense of dissonance.   Even when justified by the story line (such as a character from the 20 th century being catapulted into a pseudo-medieval fantasy world) if creates a certain degree of dissonance.   It is worth noting that the definition excludes those cases where this is deliberate or a translation convention in the manner of Tolkien's use of different historical languages for different culture.   When reading down a list of medieval saints the appearance of Saint Kevin might produce the same eff...

I have written a new blog post for the Wellcome Collection on the use of guide dogs by blind people in the Middle Ages.  You can find it here . 

This entry is intended as a summary of points I’ve been thinking about regarding the university system and the problems we are currently facing.   The Covid-19 (SARS Cov-2) Pandemic of 2019-20 has revealed the fault lines of academia in the UK.  Talk of mass severance of academic jobs, pay cuts, mergers, and other measures has been rife.  Is there a way to fix this system?  I’ve been thinking about this for over a year now and I have a few thoughts which might help build a better system. 1) For the government to increase the research budget and education funding generally to where it should be.  This would remove the need for tuition fees and remove the ‘business’ model which universities have been forced to follow.   University Education in all subject areas is after all a public good which benefits both society and the economy as a whole. 2) Change university admissions.  Cap student numbers – to reduce the pressure on academics to...