I have found two more Fürth private weblogs, both in English and with photos (at the moment often of Lofoten), by a husband and wife. No comments by the great unregistered.

Enviable photos of oystercatchers (inter alia) at Andreas’ Blog.

According to jana’s (travel) blog, Die Insel is reopening as a restaurant / bar. It used to be a wonderful place for coffee or drinks. The makeover looks good – will it be possible to go in just for a coffee?

In the ITI Bulletin, Florence Mitchell recently recommended three books for people to read to prepare for a simultaneous interpreting weekend: Roderick Jones, Conference Interpreting Explained, St Jerome Publishing; Andrew Gillies, Conference Interpreting, Tertium; and James Nolan, Interpretation: Techniques and Exercises, Multilingual Matters.

Now I find, through a Google newsfeed, a review of the James Nolan book online at Worldpress.org. The reviewers are Dr. Lynn Visson Mosty and Dr. Ingrid Mosquera Gende, who are based in Russia and Spain, I understand.
It appears the LINGUIST List did a write-up in 2005 (this is a version of the first review).

Here’s more. Well, those interested will have to investigate for themselves. I suspect the book is good.

The Bundesjustizministerium has put an English translation of the German Civil Code online. It was done by Langenscheidt Übersetzungsservice.

The same provisos apply as in the last entry with reference to translations of the Criminal Code!

I wonder if I can agree with Prof. Dr. Ulrich Noack‘s description of this translation as ‘official’. People are always asking for official or standard translations of statutes. But I prefer to avoid the term.

There is already a translation online at the German Law Archive of the new parts, mainly Book Two. That has the great advantage of having the German and English on the same page.

Gerold Harfst has just published Übersetzungshilfe – Translation Tool ISBN apparently applied for), a collection of sections from German criminal law statutes translated into English. It can be ordered at www.antelfax.de (print out the form and post or fax it), as can Harfst’s earlier books.

There was a time when the only translations of the Strafgesetzbuch and Strafprozessordnung on the market were Harfst’s (earlier ones being out of print). The US forces in Europe had translations too, but they weren’t generally available.

Now there are translations of those statutes online (German Law Archive), although not of the Jugendgerichtsgesetz or Betäubungsmittelgesetz.

There are even a bio and photo of the author (presumably the shorter of the two men) online.

I can’t recommend this book specifically since I haven’t seen it. I seem to remember the translations being thorough and quite good. The danger with this kind of book is that until you investigate a particular section of the statute, you can’t really judge the quality of the translation, and in order to do that you need some knowledge of German and American/English law (U.S. English is what Harfst refers to – in fact, he describes himself as an interpreter and translator of the ‘American’ language: Sachverständiger, Dolmetscher und Übersetzer für die amerikanische Sprache), but these translations are often relied on blindly by users.

Here’s an example from Harfst’s earlier translation of the Criminal Code (old translation, new StGB):

bq. § 26 Anstiftung. Als Anstifter wird gleich einem Täter bestraft, wer vorsätzlich einen anderen zu dessen vorsätzlich begangener rechtswidriger Tat bestimmt hat.

bq. German Law Archive (Bundesjustizministerium translation):
§ 26 Incitement. Whoever intentionally induces another to intentionally commit an unlawful act, shall, as an inciter, be punished the same as a perpetrator.

bq. Harfst 1989 (maybe the StGB has changed slightly)
§ 26. Instigation. Whoever, as an accessory before the fact, intentionally has designated another to his intentionally committed illegal act, will be punished as a perpetrator.

Both versions show the non-native speaker (punished the same as; designate X to an act). The comma after ‘act’ would be wrong in German too.

What worries me is the use of accessory before the fact. An accessory before the fact is someone who helps before an offence is committed, and an accessory after the fact is someone who helps after it has been committed. But an instigator or inciter is not an accessory, but a perpetrator. For § 27, Harfst has Aiding and abetting, whereas the GLA version has Accessoryship. That is rather imaginative but a good idea. Harfst continues to use accessory before the fact for Anstifter.

This is all perfectly OK as long as the translator researches both source and target languages.

Weblog von einem Deutschen in der Schweiz.

Scarcely have I posted the entry on Swiss wrestling before I find a recommendation for a Weblog in German, describing Switzerland from a foreigner’s point of view. And it’s the second time I’ve seen bodigen today:

Diese Abstimmungen werden, das muss man für die ausserhalb der Schweiz lebenden Leser dazu erklären, sowieso in dem meisten Fällen mit „nein“ gebodigt, d. h. auf den Boden geworfen und zu Fall gebracht, wie die im Schwinger-Jargon geübten Eidgenossen dies bezeichnen. Vor allem, wenn es um Geld geht, das ausgegeben werden soll.

The categories include Schweizerdeutsch (141 entries).

(Thanks to Peter Geyer on pt)

Not much time at the moment, so here’s some news from Switzerland to be going on with:

bq. Sensationssieg von Martin Grab
Der Unspunnen-Schwinget in Interlaken ist mit einer Sensation zu Ende gegangen. Der 27-jährige Schwyzer Martin Grab bodigte nach nur 60 Sekunden des Schlussgangs den hoch favorisierten Schwingerkönig Jörg Abderhalden, der die ersten fünf Gänge allesamt souverän gewonnen hatte.
Grab seinerseits hatte gegen Abderhalden im dritten Gang verloren und startete mit einem vollen Punkt Rückstand zum letzten Duell. Mit dem platten Sieg im Schlussgang, den er mit einem sogenannten Lätz realisierte, überflügelte Grab seinen Rivalen Abderhalden um einen halben Punkt.

Bad luck for Abderhalden, who really had been doing well. Thanks to Urs Wolffers for the link to this film (Schwingen is about the fourth item down, click on ‘Video’). The commentary showed that in Swiss wrestling, the expression ‘sie mussten die Hosen runterlassen’ is the equivalent of ‘he’ll be having an early bath’ in football.

Here’s a good description in English. Look at the Unspunnen Festival link too.

bq. Swiss wrestling is unique, however related to the Persian, Lapp and Icelandic versions of the sport. Wrestling stems from the need for physical exercise, a demonstration of personal strength and skill and a spare-time activity for herdsmen. It is a friendly conflict with opponents greeting each other with a handshake before the match. In a typical Swiss gesture, the victor brushes the sawdust from the loser’s back.

Does that ‘typically Swiss gesture’ mean that whenever I meet a Swiss person, I can symbolically brush the sawdust from their back?

I was distracted by this from the Berner Bund article by Richard Aschinger on the way American law is conquering the globe, US-Recht oder gar kein Recht.

Some kind person, possibly with the initials BW, has recommended Transblawg for Best of the Blogs (Deutsche Welle).

I know my entries are too long – it’s difficult for them to be otherwise in view of the subject matter – and on top of that blogging will probably be lighter in the next few weeks, so anyone who comes here expecting a display of quality is likely to be disappointed.