Translation: back to the future!

Yesterday, 21st October 2015, was ‘back to the future day’, when Marty McFly arrived ‘in the future’, summoned by Doc to come to the aid of his and Jennifer's children children and… well, we won’t spoil it for you!

No, the aim of this article is not to ruin the film for the few who might not have seen it (although let's face it, who hasn't?), but to point out that when Marty stepped into the DeLorean, he was not just about to travel in time, but to translate through time.

That’s right! In physics, ‘translation’ means the ‘Motion of a body in which every point of the body moves parallel to and the same distance as every other point of the body.’ (http://www.thefreedictionary.com/translation)

So, everybody ‘translates’ themselves innumerable times each day, whenever you move anywhere in fact: from home to the office, from your desk to the coffee machine, from work to home, from the couch into bed… This means that, in a way, everybody is a translator… including time travelers!!!

If only the opposite were true…

Happy translating!!