Lately, I have had ever more exposure to AI generators. Be it because someone designed birthday cards with a specific theme. Or someone wrote an entire text with the help of AI. Or I simply overheard discussions over lunch breaks. AI generators are growing in influence. So here is my shy attempt to give a limited introduction into what is currently available for language, art, and design content creation. My apologies if I have omitted equally important tools.
I started a blog back in 2016 before becoming a coach about a year before losing my mother. I had never blogged and had no idea what I was doing except that I knew I had something to say and needed somewhere to say it.
I recently came across it again and, with your permission, wanted to share a brief excerpt from something I wrote back then. It still rings true for me today and, I hope, might also resonate with you.
Susan Williams No, I don’t give a shit about cursing Microaggression is a form of bias that can occur in everyday language, often subtle and said inadvertently. Language can be problematic when it’s a common phrase or saying and people avoid understanding its origins or implications. We use language to express ourselves, and even when […]
I’m a big fan of cognitive behavioural therapy. I think everyone should learn about it, whether they’re in need of therapy or not because it explains so much about how we think and how to control our mindset. One of the main insights I have taken away from it is that when we’re tired, stressed out, or even bored our brains revisit the same thoughts and memories that we already think about the most. These are our most well-worn neural pathways, so represent the path of least resistance when we don’t have the energy to think of something new. This of course causes a feedback loop, so the type of thoughts we default to quickly become a habit.
In 1712 Joseph Addison, founder of English daily newspaper ‘The Spectator’, wrote the following:
“There is no question but our great-grandchildren will be very curious to know the reason why their forefathers used to sit together like an audience of foreigners in their own country, and to hear whole plays acted before them in a tongue which they did not understand.”
Every industry has its peculiarities of language and in theatre that is especially true. Combine that with differing nationalities working together in a foreign land and you have a recipe for possible disaster.
LegalAliens is a London-based ensemble theatre company dedicated to producing original translations of contemporary European plays, particularly those which have not already been staged in the UK. Founded by Italian performer/producer Lara Parmiani and American director Becka McFadden, the company views translation as a collaborative process, and works to demystify European theatre, “getting rid of that label of inaccessibility and intellectualism it is often associated with”.
A playwright working on her own, honing a literal translation, may not be able to come to grips with the untranslatable, and may, consciously or not, stamp her own peculiarities upon the original. A translator working on his own may miss some of the intricate dramaturgical techniques employed by the original writer. Both may get so caught up in the intensity of working between languages that they forget that a script is only one layer of performance.
In the days before the Internet and e-mail, I was designing the lighting for a show in Germany. The theater in Munich had sent me the drawings for the theater and the lighting equipment inventory.
I like to think of myself as a fairly decent researcher. Anytime I take on a new adventure I conduct due diligence to make sure I’m best prepared for anything the upcoming situation could possibly throw my way. Let me tell you, nothing can properly prepare you for everything you will encounter whilst living abroad and perhaps this applies even more so when speaking on Asia.
