Jurist’s Paper Chase links to a video of a press conference at the UN showing the President and the newly-elected prosecutor of the International Criminal Court. Good for broadband /ADSL connections.
There is also a debate on gun control from Harvard, with Eugene Volokh (introduced by Sasha Volokh, both of The Volokh Conspiracy), Alan Dershowitz and Dennis Henigan. This video would be useful practice material for consecutive interpreting.
The Volokh Conspiracy also reports that you can get a robot vacuum cleaner for $199 now in the USA, by Roomba (the Electrolux one, the Trilobite, costs about EUR 1500).
A look around the Web shows Dyson have one too, and Panasonic is working on one. Their performance is widely said to ‘suck’. But I have great hopes of them.
Monthly Archives: April 2003
Quarkteigosterhasen
There were two of these. I would like to take a better picture, but, rather as in the case of the Walrus and the Carpenter, they are no longer there to help.
Velcro
Reply
There was a question on a German mailing list recently about translating Klettband, and someone mentioned that Velcro is a mark and it might be safer to say hook-and-pile fastener or Velcro-type fastener, to avoid the risk of threatened lawsuits by the manufacturer protecting its property. At the very least, the translator should warn the client.
I was reminded of Mark Israel’s FAQ from the UseNet group alt.usage.english, which is a source of all kinds of useful information. Here is the beginning of his list of ‘trademarks, although people use them generically’:
‘Adrenalin (the generic words are “adrenaline” and “epinephrine”),
AstroTurf, Autoharp, BVDs, Baggies, Bakelite, Band-Aid, Beer Nuts,
Benzedrine, Biro, Boogie Board, Breathalyzer, Brillo Pads, Caplet,
Carborundum, Chap Stick, Chemical Mace, Chiclets, Cinerama,
Coca-Cola/Coke, Colorization ? (process of adding colour to
black-and-white footage), Cuisinart, Dacron, Day-Glo, Deepfreeze,
Demerol, Dianetics, Dictaphone, Dictograph, Ditto machine, Dixie
cups, Dolby, Dow Jones Average, Dry Ice ? , Dumpster, Dvorak
Keyboard, Erector Set, Eskimo Pie, Ethernet, Exercycle, Fiberglas,
Fig Newtons, Formica, Freon, Frigidaire, Frisbee, Grand Marnier,
Green Stamp, Hacky Sack, Hammond organ, Hide-a-Bed, Hi-Liter,
Hoover, Hula-Hoop …’
I must say, I can’t imagine using Dianetics generically. Will have to work on that one.
Velcro
There was a question on a German mailing list recently about translating Klettband, and someone mentioned that Velcro is a mark and it might be safer to say hook-and-pile fastener or Velcro-type fastener, to avoid the risk of threatened lawsuits by the manufacturer protecting its property. At the very least, the translator should warn the client.
I was reminded of Mark Israel’s FAQ from the UseNet group alt.usage.english, which is a source of all kinds of useful information. Here is the beginning of his list of ‘trademarks, although people use them generically’:
Adrenalin (the generic words are “adrenaline” and “epinephrine”),
AstroTurf, Autoharp, BVDs, Baggies, Bakelite, Band-Aid, Beer Nuts,
Benzedrine, Biro, Boogie Board, Breathalyzer, Brillo Pads, Caplet,
Carborundum, Chap Stick, Chemical Mace, Chiclets, Cinerama,
Coca-Cola/Coke, Colorization ? (process of adding colour to
black-and-white footage), Cuisinart, Dacron, Day-Glo, Deepfreeze,
Demerol, Dianetics, Dictaphone, Dictograph, Ditto machine, Dixie
cups, Dolby, Dow Jones Average, Dry Ice ? , Dumpster, Dvorak
Keyboard, Erector Set, Eskimo Pie, Ethernet, Exercycle, Fiberglas,
Fig Newtons, Formica, Freon, Frigidaire, Frisbee, Grand Marnier,
Green Stamp, Hacky Sack, Hammond organ, Hide-a-Bed, Hi-Liter,
Hoover, Hula-Hoop …
I must say, I can’t imagine using Dianetics generically. Will have to work on that one.
Jurawiki
From Langenhan, Rainer and Melanie, Internet für Juristen, 4th ed. 2003, ISBN 3 472 05106 X (Rainer Langenhan is the author of the HandAkte WebLAWg), a definition of wikis. I had seen wikipedia but didn’t realize what a wiki was. ‘Wikipedia is a multilingual project to create a complete and accurate open content encyclopedia. ‘
Wikipedia itself has a law section, and if you click on Deutsch, you get a German law page in real German, not (as one always fears now) a page of Babelfish MT gibberish.
I looked up equity, found the maxims, and was surprised by some of them.
Plain English has turned Equity aids the vigilant and not the indolent into Equity aids the vigilant, not those who sleep on their rights. Equity does not require an idle gesture was new to me, to say nothing of the law students’ summary in a final maxim (must be American).
There’s also a German law wiki. Some interesting notes on Aktenzeichen led me to rather painstaking allocation of cases in Saxony (Amtsgericht Dresden). When allocating cases by the parties’ last names:
‘Außer Betracht bleiben dabei
Adelsbezeichnungen;
die Zusätze Abdel, Abu, al, auf dem, auf der, auf die, Ben, d, da, dal(a), dall(a), de, del, dell, delle, del la, della, di, do(s), du, el, la, le, lo, M, Mac, Mc, N, O, tel, tem, ten, ter, van, van de, van den, van der, van ten, van ter, vom, von, von dem, von der, von zu (m,r) und zu (m,r);
bei Doppelnamen der zweite Name.
Diese Regelung gilt ohne Rücksicht auf die Schreibweise und unabhängig davon, ob ein Bindestrich verwendet wird oder mehrere dieser Zusätze Bestandteil des Namens sind.’
Typos
When I was looking at Internet books in Buchhandlung Campe in Nürnberg on Wednesday, I noticed a number of German book titles using Typo to mean typography. I suppose it isn’t a false friend really, just an abbreviation but in English a typo is a typing mistake.
Manche Büchertitel benutzen jetzt das Wort Typo statt Typographie (im Englischen bedeutet typo einen Tippfehler).
e.g. Ulli Neutzling, Typo und Layout im Web
Cyrus Dominik Khazaeli, Crashkurs Typo und Layout
Ralf Köhler, Typo und Design
There’s also a list of Einige der besten Typo-Bücher aller Zeiten.
Perhaps this is just normal German and I haven’t noticed it before.
Still, there’s a fake site showing the English meaning.