Ein Artikel aus “Lebenden Sprachen” über deutsch-englische Übersetzung. Geoffrey Perrin war damals Übersetzer beim Bundesjustizministerium.

Dieser Artikel (es folgen andere) behandelt die Übersetzung des Wortes Rechtsverordnung. Seine Vorschläge sind immer noch nützlich, und er beschreibt auch die Vorgehensweise des Übersetzers beim Suchen des richtigen Wortes.

Two of the most interesting articles I have ever read on German-English legal translation were by Geoffrey Perrin and appeared in ‘Lebende Sprachen’ many years ago. When I eventually contacted Geoff, who was translating for the Bundesjustizministerium but is now more involved in teaching, he gave me permission to upload them and also some others. I am sorry I haven’t got round to it before.

This article first appeared in 1988 but is still relevant today. Its topic is how to translate the word Rechtsverordnung into English. We aren’t all happy with the word ordinance. But whatever word you prefer to use, this article describes the process of searching for an equivalent.

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Paul Flynn MP writes on the kind of English encouraged by working in European institutions. From wood s lot via language hat.

bq. Even President Chirac has been infected. He is fond of saying that anything disagreeable is ‘pas ma tasse de the’. Tea? Not his ‘glass of wine’, would make better sense. The President should set an example and challenge the littering of his mother tongue

Hmm. I wonder what he’d make of Desbladet?

bq. Skihoppning is, of course, the second-finest sport in the world after cricket. And the second-best just got second-better, ‘cos now they’re letting wimmins play on the Big Slopes. Enjoy our slö-motion replay…

wood s lot also quotes netlex, but that is already in Euro lish! (immemorial purity? foreigness? contribute to give birth?)

(English below)

Das OLG München mit eigener Latte gemessen: A20 – Business pur sucht das Impressum des Gerichts, ohne großen Erfolg (über law blog).

Das Oberlandesgericht München hat bekanntlich entschieden, dass ein Impressum nicht “leicht erkennbar” ist, wenn man vier Bildschirmseiten herunterscrollen muss, um es zu finden. Von Vertretbar.de:

bq. Mit Urteil vom 12.02.2004 hat das OLG München entschieden, dass die Positionierung eines der Anbieterkennzeichnung i.S.d. § 6 S.1 TDG dienenden Impressums am unteren Seitenende, dass bei einer üblichen Bildschirmauflösung von 1024 x 768 Pixeln erst mittels Scrollen auf der vierten Bildschirmseite sichtbar wird, gegen die Erfordernisse der leichten Erkennbarkeit und der unmittelbaren Erreichbarkeit der Anbieterkennzeichnung i.S.d. § 6 S.1 TDG verstößt, denn die Informationen nach § 6 TDG müssen an gut wahrnehmbarer Stelle ohne langes Suchen jederzeit auffindbar sein. Im Übrigen stehe das Übereinanderbringen von Links mit der Bezeichnung “Über XXX.de” und “Impressum” einer leichten Erkennbarkeit entgegen, da hinter beiden Links nach der Verkehrsauffassung die Anbieterkennzeichnung vermutet werden könnte (AZ: 29 U 4564/03 – JurPC Web-Dok. 136/2004).

EU law requires contact and other details for commercial websites (see earlier entry and here). The page with this is called the Impressum in German – in English, Legal or About or Contact.

The problem in Germany is that there are lawyers who make a living from starting lawsuits against people who have not obeyed the letter of the law.

Under the German law of unfair competition, unlike in other EU countries, there is a very broad right to take action against firms involved in unfair competition. Details in German here part of the site of Abmahnwelle e.V.).

The German American Law Journal blog comments on this week’s decision by the Oberlandesgericht in Munich that it is too much to be expected to scroll down four screens to find a link to the Impressum.

A20 – Business pur (German) has now looked for the Impressum of the Munich Oberlandesgericht and had some trouble finding it (via law blog).

Via JIPS, where it is the link of the week: the Curiae Project collects U.S. cases, including attorneys’ briefs and oral argument, ranked according to the frequency with which they are searched for.

It is a collaboration of the Library of Congress, Supreme Court of the United States, Supreme Court Historical Society and other institutions.

The most commonly cited and most frequently viewed cases have links from the opening page, and there is also a search function.

One of the links is to Oyez, described as The Supreme Court Multimedia, where there appear to be MP3s of some cases.

The site isn’t complete yet, and it calls itself a beta version.

I live over an electrician’s and last Saturday, knowing I was a translator, they asked me if I could translate

a short text of instructions for a small electronic alarm clock. I don’t do technical translations and I don’t translate into German, but this was an exception, and I could ask Germans to help if I wasn’t sure of the right technical turn of phrase. I was fearing the worst, so I asked to have the clock. Indeed, I needed the clock to understand the instructions rather than vice versa.

Here is the clock:

You keep pressing the SET button to move from mode to mode (set alarm, change time, change alarm etc.) To make changes within a mode, you press MODE.
The little bell at the bottom of the screen means CHIME, which means it will bleep only once; without the chime set, it will keep bleeping.

Here is the text:

Instruction manual for lcd alarm clock
1. General Setting
“set” button for alarm set, date set, time set.
“mode” button for alarm time, date & seconds display, advance
Press “set” several times until desired mode display.
Press “mode” to advance setting.
2. Setting alarm & chime on/off
At normal display, press “set” and release to display alarm time.
Press “mode” once to turn on alarm.
Press “mode” again and release to turn on chime also.
Press “mode” again and release to turn off alarm.
Press “mode” again and release to turn off chime also.

My version:

Bedienungsanleitung für LCD-Wecker
1. Einstellung allgemein
SET-Taste (Einstellen) stellt Wecksignal, Datum und Uhrzeit ein.
MODE-Taste (Modus) zeigt Weckzeit, Datum- und Sekundenanzeige, dient zum Weiterschalten
SET mehrmals drücken bis gewünschter Modus angezeigt wird.
Drücken Sie MODE, um weiterzuschalten
2. Weckton und Weckklang ein/aus
Bei normaler Anzeige, SET drücken und loslassen, um Weckzeit anzuzeigen.
MODE einmal drücken, um Wecksignal einzuschalten.
MODE nochmals drücken und loslassen, um auch Klang einzuschalten.
MODE nochmals drücken und loslassen, um Wecksignal auszuschalten.
MODE nochmals drücken und loslassen, um auch Klang auszuschalten.

Conclusion: Most original texts are a mess. Technical translators have to know how things work.

I also prepared this summary, which looking back on it is just as useless as the original. Had I had more time, I would have added small diagrams:

Allgemein
PM = nach Mittag
AL = Wecker („alarm“)

SET drücken, um von Modus zu Modus zu springen.
MODE drücken, um innerhalb eines Modus Änderungen vorzunehmenl

1. Nach Einschieben der Batterie: Zeit wird angezeigt.
z.B. 1:05 (Doppelpunkt blinkt)
MODE drücken: Weckzeit wird angezeigt
z.B. 7:30 (mit AL im Zentrum)
Weckzeit wird nur kurz angezeigt, dann wird wieder die Zeit angezeigt.

2. Einmal SET drücken.
Weckzeit erscheint, jetzt blinkend
MODE einmal oder mehrmals drücken: schaltet zwischen an ((()))
oder an mit „Weckton“ („chime“)

3. Nochmal SET drücken.
Weckzeit Stunden einstellen:
1: A (1 blinkt) (1:A = 1 morgens; 1:P = 1 nachmittags)

4. SET drücken.
Weckzeit Minuten einstellen:
:02 (blinkt)

5. SET drücken.
Monat einstellen

6. SET drücken.
Tag einstellen.

7. SET drücken
Stunden einstellen

8. SET drücken
Minuten einstellen

9. SET drücken
Zurück zum Anfang – Zeit wird angezeigt

Quiz auf Englisch mit merkwürdigen Ergebnissen. Sicher trifft es teilweise zu, aber das mit den Autoaufklebern…?

You’re China!
Big and powerful, you have a long history behind you with more good and bad than you care to remember, or are really capable of remembering.  Lately, in older age, you’ve gotten sort of crochety and even mean-spirited.  There is still a lot that’s beautiful about you, but most of the focus people have when they think about you is how hard it is to work with you.  There’s hope that you might start opening up to
people, but lots of people have bumper stickers about how much you should
change.
Take the Country Quiz at the Blue Pyramid

What a nasty quiz – nasty about China, I mean. I wonder what country it comes from?!

The cumulative results page says most people are the United Nations, and I must admit I was the UN the first time round, but I was aware I had answered the first question wrong. When I did it again, I got completely different questions (‘Are you more often angry than sad?’)
(Via Lifechanges…delayed)