|
Kató Lomb (Pécs, February 8, 1909 – Budapest, June 9, 2003) was a Hungarian interpreter, translator and one of the first simultaneous interpreters in the world. Originally she graduated in physics and chemistry, but her interest soon led her to languages. Native in Hungarian, she was able to interpret fluently in nine or ten languages (in four of them even without preparation), and she translated technical literature and read belles-lettres in six languages. She was able to understand journalism in further eleven languages. As she put it, altogether she earned money with sixteen languages (Bulgarian, Chinese, Danish, English, French, German, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, Latin, Polish, Romanian, Russian, Slovak, Spanish, Ukrainian). She learned these languages mostly by self-effort, as an autodidact. Her aims to acquire these languages were most of all practical, to satisfy her interest. According to her own account, her long life was highlighted not primarily by the command of languages but the actual study of them. Through her books, published in Hungarian in several editions as well as in some other languages, interviews (in print and on the air) and conversations, she tried to share this joy with generations. As an interpreter, she visited five continents, saw forty countries, and reported about her experiences and adventures in a separate book (''Egy tolmács a világ körül'', "An interpreter around the world"). == Her command of specific languages == * In the interview given to ''Hetek'' newspaper (1998),〔November 14, 1998, (Full interview in Hungarian )〕 she lists the following as the 16 languages she earned money with: :English, Bulgarian, Danish, French, Hebrew, Japanese, Chinese, Latin, Polish, German, Italian, Russian, Romanian, Spanish, Slovak, and Ukrainian. * In the foreword to the first edition of her book ''How I Learn Languages'' (1970), she says:〔Quoted in the English translation, 2nd ed., 2008, pages viii and xvii.〕 :“I only have one mother tongue: Hungarian. Russian, English, French, and German live inside me simultaneously with Hungarian. I can switch between any of these languages with great ease, from one word to the next. :Translating texts in Italian, Spanish, Japanese, Chinese, and Polish generally requires me to spend about half a day brushing up on my language skills and perusing the material to be translated. :The other six languages I know only through translating literature and technical material.” *In the fourth edition of her book ''How I Learn Languages'' (1995), she writes:〔Hungarian edition, 1995, p. 29; English translation, 2nd ed., 2008, p. 49〕 :“I would simply like to tell how I, over 25 years, got to the point of being able to speak 10 languages, translate technical documents and enjoy fiction in six more, and understand written journalism in 11 more or so.” *In her book ''Harmony of Babel'' (1988), she writes:〔Hungarian edition: 1988, page 137; (English translation ), p. 138〕 :“How many languages do I speak? I have only one mother tongue: Hungarian. I speak Russian, German, English, and French well enough to be able to interpret or translate between any of them extemporaneously. I have to prepare a bit for Spanish, Italian, Japanese, Chinese, and Polish. At such times I leaf through the parts of my diaries written in these languages. I can read Swedish, Norwegian, Romanian, Portuguese, Dutch, Bulgarian, and Czech literature; I can translate their written—political or technical—texts.” As it can be seen, Danish, Hebrew, Latin, Slovak, and Ukrainian are only mentioned in the ''Hetek'' interview, while Czech, Dutch, Norwegian, Portuguese, and Swedish are only in the ''Harmony of Babel.'' (Although Danish, Norwegian, and Swedish are close to each other, as well as Czech and Slovak, or Portuguese and Spanish, or Ukrainian and Russian are.) The languages listed at all places: * in the first place, English, German, French, and Russian (of course apart from her native Hungarian) – five languages in which she professed to be truly proficient; * in the second place, Italian, Spanish, Japanese, Chinese, and Polish – five more languages, in which she was able to interpret too (after some preparation); * additionally, at a lower level, Romanian and Bulgarian; * and apart from these, five more languages are mentioned at both places (see above); which gives altogether 22 languages. In ''Polyglot: How I Learn Languages,'' she refers to more languages she also understood. Including these, she claimed to know at least 28 languages (including Hungarian) at least at a level enabling her to comprehend written texts, out of which languages she was able to interpret in 10. According to her account, she acquired the languages above in this order: French (at elementary school, at the age of approx. 10–14); Latin (before and/or partly during her university studies); English (from 1933, on her own; this was when she developed her subsequent method of learning languages); Russian (from 1941, on her own); Romanian (on her own); Chinese (approx. from 1950, in two years, at a university course〔More information in Hungarian about her studies: (The history of the (Chinese) Department )〕); Polish (around 1955, at a course); Japanese (from 1956, on her own); Czech (1954, on her own; which enabled her to understand Slovak, Ukrainian, as well as Bulgarian at some extent); Italian (on her own, after some antecedents in the 1940s); Spanish (in the second half of the 1960, on her own); German.〔''Így tanulok nyelveket'' (I Learn Languages ), 1st edition, ''Előszó'' (), pp. 5–22. Years can often be inferred from the text.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Kató Lomb」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|