Herb's Translation Blog

What is translation?

2011-02-27T07:26:00.000-08:00

According to latest issue of Jost Zetzsche's excellent Tool Kit newsletter, translation is not "something" that multilingual people do, but a profession of highly qualified individuals who themselves can do a lot to make this apparent for anyone who cares to look.

Jost goes on to distil some overarching themes from the recently published book, The Prosperous Translator, into six useful bullet points:

Writing skills in the target language are one of the key components to success as a translator.
Above-average subject-specific knowledge is another key to success.
There is great value in membership and active participation in professional associations.
Networking with colleagues and clients is essential.
Low prices devalue your proposal and make you less attractive.
There is lots and lots of work out there for lots and lots of us, provided that we adhere to the points listed above.

Jost concludes that: the (translation) world would truly be a better place if we followed these suggestions (and if those who can't would choose a different profession!).

German Communication Styles

2010-12-15T02:50:00.000-08:00

I just came across an illuminating web page explaining German communication styles (and the proverbial/alleged lack of humour). You can find it here.

"Was meint eigentlich Halloween" / Bambi-Lüge

2010-10-31T06:57:00.000-07:00

Irgendwie habe ich das Gefühl, dass ich auch Opfer der sogenannten Bambi-Lüge war. Näheres in einem bereits etwas älteren aber durchaus aktuellen und wie üblich sehr unterhaltsamen Zwiebelfisch-Artikel.

"Judgement" or "Judgment"?

2010-09-14T00:05:00.001-07:00

I always assumed that "judgement" is the correct spelling, but when my Word 2003 spellchecker complained about it (with the language flavour set to US English) I looked it up in the Concise Oxford English Dictionary (I have an electronic version, of course) and found this interesting entry:

"In British English the normal spelling in general contexts is judgement. However, the spelling judgment is conventional in legal contexts, and in North American English".

Schnaps or Schnapps?

2010-08-23T05:29:00.000-07:00

The German spelling is Schnaps. It's a mystery to me how the second 'p' ended up in the apparently correct (or at least frequently encountered) English schnapps spelling, although the entry in the Duden Herkunftswörterbuch (see below) may give some clues.

Interestingly, the OED lists both version as correct and has this to say on the matter:
"An ardent spirit resembling Hollands gin. 1818 Blackw. Mag. III. 403 Enjoy your schnaps, give sorrow to the wind. 1823 BYRON Juan X. lxxi, Not like slow Germany wherein they muddle Along the road,..and also pause besides, to fuddle, With ‘schnapps’. a1848 O. W. HOLMES On Lend. Punch-bowl 16 He went to Leyden, where he found conventicles and schnaps. 1885 C. LOWE Bismarck II. 488 A General, talking of drinks, had laid down the principle: ‘Red wine for children, Champagne for men, Schnaps for Generals’".

This is what the Duden Herkunftswörterbuch has to say on the matter:
Schnaps: Das ursprünglich nordd. Wort (niederd. Snap[p]s) bezeichnet seit dem 18. Jh. den Branntwein, ursprünglich aber einen Mund voll oder einen schnellen Schluck, wie er gerade beim Branntweintrinken üblich ist. Es ist eine Substantivbildung zu schnappen. Abl.: schnapsen ugs. für »Schnaps trinken« (im 18. Jh. niederd. snappsen). Zus.: Schnapsidee »unsinniger, seltsamer Einfall« (20. Jh.; ein derartiger Einfall kann nur durch zu reichlichen Alkoholgenuss bedingt sein); Schnapszahl »Zahl, die aus mehreren gleichen Ziffern besteht« (20. Jh.; wohl nach der Vorstellung, dass ein Betrunkener beim Lesen einfache Ziffern doppelt oder mehrfach sieht). Duden - Das Herkunftswörterbuch, 3. Aufl. Mannheim 2001 [CD-ROM]

Babylon currency converter saga

2010-07-04T17:06:00.001-07:00

See below for transcript of live chat with Babylon support (as reported earlier today at the IT Help Desk for Translators) for your entertainment.

I have since received an e-mail saying "After talking with my supervisor we reached the conclusion that you cannot change manually the converter" - AAAARRGGGGHHHHH!

********************************************
The following is a record of your online chat.

General Info
Chat start time Jul 4, 2010 7:43:03 AM EST
Chat end time Jul 4, 2010 8:16:01 AM EST
Duration (actual chatting time) 00:32:58
Operator babylon
Chat Transcript
info: Please wait for a site operator to respond.
info: You are now chatting with 'babylon'
babylon: Welcome to Babylon Support , How can I help you?
you: Thanks for your quick reply. Give me a minute to compose my question please
babylon: Ok!
you: I have several Babylon licences (3 I think). On my old Windows 2000 PC I still have Babylon 7 (Version 7.0.0 r13). I just noticed that it doesn't update the currency information from the currency server. If I try and do it manually by clicking "Update rates now" it connects to the server and says the update was successful but the date is 30 August 2009!
babylon: Can I have your order number please?
you: I have had Babylon for years - I can try an find the order number - do you mean my licence number? You should be able to find me on your database if you look for my surname
babylon: Ok, what is your surname?
you: Sorry - I assumed you would see it in the correspondence - my name is Herbert Eppel
babylon: Ok, I found you.
you: That's good :-)
babylon: Unfortunately at this moment this tool is anavaliable, we are still checking and trying to fix...
babylon: :)
you: Is this a problem in Version 7 or in Version 8 too?
babylon: I believe in both of them.
babylon: Its an actual problem
you: Is it possible to enter a currency conversion rate manually?
babylon: I guess it would make much difference
you: Using date from August last year is very misleading in some cases!
babylon: Give me your e-mail address, I will ask my supervisor about it and I will come back to you asap
you: Babylon currently uses 1 EUR = 0.879 GBP (which is from August last year) - the actual value is more like 0.800, so the conversion is useless as it stands.
you: My e-mail address is ...
info: Your chat transcript will be sent to ... at the end of your chat.
babylon: I think if you download the trial version of the website which is an actual version than yours
babylon: it could work
you: I'm not sure what you mean. I don't need/want a trial version. As I said, I already have 3 licences!
babylon: Yes but then you enter your codes
babylon: And make it yours
babylon: Just for the sake of having a new version
you: I don't want to complicate matters, I just want my existing version 7 to work on this Windows 2000 PC
babylon: Babylon 7 doesnt work in the windows 2000
you: Yes it does. I have it here. I gave you my exact version number earlier. I think you mean Babylon 8?
babylon: I checked again with my supervisor.
you: And?
babylon: Its not compatible.
you: What exactly is not compatible?
babylon: B7 = Win2000
you: Your information is incorrect.Babylon 7 definitely works under Windows 2000, as I said.
babylon: Ok, I will write you asap as we have any news regarding currency convertor
babylon: ok?
you: When do you think I can expect an answer?
babylon: I`m not sure when
you: Can you give me a rough idea, i.e. next week, next month, next year?
babylon: I cannot, I`m sorry. We are working on it
you: Can you let me know whether I can enter a currency conversion rate manually? As I said, the converter is useless as it stands.
babylon: I will check with my supervisor and I will try to return to you asap
you: Thanks - will you respond by e-mail or should we leave this chat session open for now?
babylon: By email
you: OK, thank you.

Schildbürger

2010-04-14T06:58:00.000-07:00

Some time ago I was asked what attracted me to come back (after my six-month placement with Arup in London in 1984/85) and live in the UK. One of the things I said in response was:

"I was glad to leave behind the proverbial German bureaucracy, although somewhat alarmingly I sometimes feel that Britain is well on the way of overtaking Germany in this respect, and the attractive concept of ‘reasonableness’ seems to have been lost in many cases."

A current silly argument relating to the replacement of traffic signs with more modern versions (in some cases it appears to be a case of "spot the difference") restores my 'faith' in German bureaucracy.

Zehn gute Gründe, Deutsch zu lernen

2010-04-14T06:51:00.000-07:00

Die Kulturwächter schlagen Alarm: Das weltweite Interesse an der deutschen Sprache geht zurück! Und nicht erst, seit Guido Westerwelle Außenminister ist. 2005 lernten noch 17 Millionen Menschen Deutsch als Fremdsprache, heute sind es zwei Millionen weniger. Dabei gibt es viele gute Gründe für Deutsch.
Spiegel Zwiebelfisch, 14.4.2010

Der Diplom-Ingenieur: Eine Marke mit international anerkannter Qualität

2010-04-13T08:22:00.000-07:00

Die deutsche Ingenieurausbildung genieße auch zehn Jahre nach Einführung der Hochschulreform hohes Ansehen. Im Titel werde dies aber nicht deutlich, beklagt VDI-Präsident Bruno O. Braun im Gespräch mit den VDI nachrichten. Der VDI fordert daher, den „Dipl.-Ing.“ im Zeugnis zu berücksichtigen. „Wir wollen die Abschlüsse im internationalen Vergleich durch das Renommee des Diplom-Ingenieurs aufwerten.“
VDI nachrichten, Düsseldorf, 19. 3. 10

VDI fordert Erhalt der Marke „Diplom-Ingenieur“

2010-04-13T08:18:00.000-07:00

Der VDI fordert die Kultusministerkonferenz auf, die Marke Ingenieur neben den neuen Abschlüssen Bachelor und Master kenntlich zu machen. Dies sei wichtig, damit die international anerkannte Marke Diplom- Ingenieur nicht verloren gehe.
VDI nachrichten, Düsseldorf, 19. 3. 10

Großbritannien: „Ingenieur“ soll geschützt werden

2010-04-13T08:13:00.000-07:00

Berufsschutz: In Großbritannien dürfen sich auch Heizungstechniker Ingenieur nennen. Konzerne wie der Rüstungskonzern British Aerospace wollen jetzt, dass sich das ändert.
VDI nachrichten, London, 12. 3. 10

Der denglische Patient

2010-03-18T14:10:00.000-07:00

Der denglische Patient

von Ageliki Ikonomidis

Die Anglomanie ist eine Krankheit. Einst kam sie über den großen Teich, unter anderem eingeschleppt von ITlern und Global Playern. Seitdem verbreiten sich fremdländische Erreger bevorzugt dort, wo unsere Abwehr geschwächt und die Anfälligkeit hoch ist, zum Beispiel in Branchen mit entsprechender Disposition. Die Anglomanie ist polymorph, weshalb sie oft unerkannt bleibt, was wiederum die Therapie erschwert. Sie begnügt sich nicht mit englischen Infiltraten, sondern äußert sich auch in pathologischen Einzelsymptomen und Begleiterscheinungen, die im Deutschen zuweilen schwere Störungen hervorrufen. Über erste Anzeichen, mittelgradige Beeinträchtigungen und den manifesten Morbus Denglisch berichtet dieser Beitrag.

Rhabarberbarbara

2010-02-24T01:34:00.000-08:00

Sehr witziges YouTube-Video unter dem Titel Rhabarberbarbara

Duel carriageway

2009-11-17T07:54:00.000-08:00

No duels please, it's a spelling error

MDÜ Articles

2009-11-04T10:29:00.000-08:00

The current issue of the BDÜ magazine "MDÜ" features two articles written by me, a reprint of the "What makes a good agency" article published in the ITI Bulletin earlier this year, and a new article (in German) on Linguee.

Translator ('fixer') dies in Afghanistan

2009-09-10T13:03:00.000-07:00

I'm not familiar with the circumstances, and I'm simply posting the links to the Guardian reports entitled "Journalist rescued in Afghanistan pays tribute to translator who died in raid" and "British journalist's rescuers left dead Afghan behind" as examples of yet another thought-provoking episode in the 'Afghanistan saga'.

50 things that are being killed by the internet

2009-09-09T23:46:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Steven Marzuola for passing on the link to this article in the Daily Telegraph.

Re. item no. 8, I'm not going to mourn the end of phone books - see also my letter in the Leicester Mercury.

Item no. 14 is quite alarming: "The internet's draw on our attention is relentless and increasingly difficult to resist", although come to think of it, I was probably quite restless even before the Internet...

Item no. 29 is the reason why this post ended up in my translation blog rather than my other blog. It says "Sites like Babelfish offer instant, good-enough translations of dozens of languages". I'm not sure about that.

Bundestagswahl, Wohnsitz im Ausland

2009-09-04T05:44:00.000-07:00

My application to register as a voter in the forthcoming German elections proved to be quite an 'educational' experience, especially if one is interested in the finer technical details of PDF forms.

LinkedIn Crowdsourcing Translation Controversy

2009-09-04T01:13:00.001-07:00

Thanks to Iwan Davies for pointing out Rachel McRoberts' excellent presentation describing the background to the recent LinkedIn crowdsourcing translation controversy.

Bring on the German lessons

2009-08-20T21:23:00.000-07:00

An interesting (political, not language-related) analysis in the Guardian.

HE Translations in Home Business magazine

2009-08-18T10:21:00.000-07:00

HE Translations is featured in the Home Business magazine (p.4)

Balkonien

2009-08-03T09:15:00.001-07:00

Witzige Karikatur von Martin Erl in der Rhein-Neckar-Zeitung vom Samstag/Sonntag, 1./2. August 2009.

which or that?

2009-07-31T09:54:00.000-07:00

This BBC Learning English article sheds some light on this issue.
Thanks to Jacqui Birnie for providing the link.

Mathe 4, Französisch 5, Englisch 4, Chemie 5

2009-07-31T08:14:00.000-07:00

Interessanter Artikel in der Rhein-Neckar-Zeitung.

Home work - we love it!

2009-07-23T13:48:00.000-07:00

Leicester Mercury reports on teleworking, featuring
HE Translations

Deutsche Mondlandung 1929

2009-07-19T06:28:00.000-07:00

Spiegel-Bericht zum Fritz Lang-Film "Frau im Mond".
See Wikipedia for background in English.

Senioren fit am Steuer

2009-07-16T09:12:00.000-07:00

Not directly translation related, but here is part of a message I just sent to my brother, with "süddeutsche Reisegruppe" referring to my mother and her cousin:

Anbei die Titelseite der aktuellen VDI-Nachrichten mit einem Leitartikel, der insbesondere für die süddeutsche Reisegruppe von Interesse sein dürfte, aber auch für Zeitgenossen mit Midlife Crisis-Risko interessant sein dürfte.

Tool Kit Newsletter

2009-07-11T07:43:00.000-07:00

The 144th edition of the Tool Kit newsletter arrived today - interesting and useful as ever.

What makes a good translation agency?

2009-07-11T03:02:00.000-07:00

An article I had published in the July-August 2009 edition of the ITI Bulletin provides some answers.

The article was subsequently re-published in issue 4/2009 of BDÜ's MDÜ magazine, in the February 2010 issue of Translorial (Journal of the Northern California Translators Association), in issue 1/2010 of Hieronymus (journal of the Swiss translators' association ASTTI) and in on pp. 8-10 of issue 5/2010 of the Swedish Translators' Association magazine (in Swedish).

Naturwunder in Deutschland

2009-07-11T01:59:00.000-07:00

Ich war überrascht wieviele dieser Naturwunder ich bisher noch nicht kannte.

Herbert

Duden Newsletter

2009-07-10T07:36:00.000-07:00

Der neue Duden Newsletter kam heute an. Wie immer sehr interessant.

Paying tax by direct debit

2009-07-02T07:11:00.000-07:00

Having recently discovered that one can set up a direct debit with HMRC I did this right away, (perhaps somewhat naively) assuming that I would no longer have to worry about/bother with six-monthly payments.

However, as it turns out, the six-monthly payment liability doesn't go away (although the amount to pay is reduced by whatever DD payments have been made in the preceding months).

Sorry if this is obvious to others - it wasn't to me until I spoke to HMRC this afternoon.

On further reflection, their so-called Direct Debit is in fact more like a Standing Order (they also refer to it as budget payment plan), i.e. the tax payer specifies the amount he or she intends to pay.

Why they call it Direct Debit is a mystery.

Lucy needs an interpreter

2009-06-19T07:14:00.000-07:00

Here is a YouTube video for your entertainment.

Million-word milestone claim sparks debate

2009-06-10T07:40:00.000-07:00

See Guardian article

Unconventional route into translation

2007-10-11T06:54:00.000-07:00

An article I had published in the September-October 2007 edition of the ITI Bulletin describes my somewhat unconventional route into translation.