Translation Blogs Are Boring

I’m sorry to mention this. I don’t mean to sound overly critical. But the problem with most translation blogs I’ve read is that they’re boring. I can barely stand to read them. And I’m in the translation business for goodness sake!

The ‘Offside’ Rule

In the past 24 hours I’ve watched at least 20 YouTube videos in my attempt to better understand the rule of ‘offside’ in soccer. I’ve been watching my daughter’s soccer games over the past few years (she’s 13 now) and I finally decided it’s time that I understand that particular rule. I’ve been casually confiding to other spectator-parents along the sidelines on game days that my understanding of that rule is rather vague. No more though. I’m now confidently less uncertain than I was before.

Every one of the videos and explanations of this rule of soccer I found online I watched and/or read with interest. Not every one of the explanations of the rule was elegantly presented or beautifully illustrated. Some of the explanations mispronounced the rule. It’s ‘offside’ and not ‘offsides’. Ironically one of the best explainers of the rule consistently mispronounced/misspelled the rule in their presentation. It didn’t matter.

What’s The Point?

Why bother writing a blog (translation or otherwise) if it bores me and others to tears? How can a blog from a translation company be made interesting? Better yet how can it be made interesting to an audience we care about? Our customers for one right?

I’ll be thinking about this over the next few days especially. If I come up with any answers I’ll write about it here. And if you already know, or have an idea, please leave a comment below.