Im Stern von dieser Woche zitiert Heinrich von Pierer, der angeblich ein englisches Sprichwort zitiert (die deutsche Version reiche ich vielleicht nach), etwa “Nur Säuglinge in nassen Windeln lehnen Veränderungen ab”. Was für ein Sprichwort ist das überhaupt?

bq. From the Observer column in today’s Financial Times:

bq. Sticky feeling
Who said German companies needed to catch up? The giants of Germany’s corporate scene are already miles (kilometres?) ahead of counterparts in the English-speaking world.
How else to explain comments on cutting labour costs by Heinrich von Pierer, chief executive of electrical engineering group Siemens, in yesterday’s Stern magazine?
Summing up the general reluctance of people to accept change, he referred to what he described as an “English saying” that went: “The only ones who like changes are babies in wet nappies.”
An English saying? Really? Observer would love to meet von Pierer’s tutor. Can anyone enlighten us? Or should the gruff German join Shakespeare in the book of English proverbs?
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A later poster points out that Google reveals ‘Only wet babies like change’ and other variations with the word ‘diapers’, that is, an American saying. Is that right?

(Thanks to Robin Bonthrone for this contribution to the pt group at Yahoo, which I repost with permission).

Keys Corner berichtet von einem Verkehrsinformationssystem in NRW, das so beliebt wurde, dass es weniger genau wurde.

Keys Corner mentions a system in North-Rhine-Westphalia for predicting where a traffic jam is going to occur in 30 minutes’ time. This was 99% accurate until so many people used it that it became less reliable. I suppose, taken ad infinitum, it could be so popular that jams would occur precisely where they were not predicted, and then you could start using it again and drive wherever it predicted jams, because you’d know there wouldn’t be any there.

Here is a site about ukuleles or ukeleles written in Japanglish. The parts of the uke include the Kneck. Of course it looks as if the uke is Hawaiian, so that’s in the direction of Japan.

Although I can see the attraction of buying a ukelele (or ukulele – Collins accepts both spellings – see Desbladet’s entry She’ll be coming round the mountains [sic]), I instead sprang for G.C. Thornton’s ‘Legislative Drafting’, which costs almost as much as a ukelele but takes longer to read.

I quote it in full on shall, may, must in legislation in the continuation (overleaf, as it were).

Note that this is about legislation, not about contracts.

The book has wonderful sections on style, on miscellaneous words and expressions that should be used with care or avoided. Also on the process of drafting and much more.

It made me aware that the Interpretation Act (1978) is worth having for translators. I ordered it for £3.80 plus £3.50 postage from Blackwells.

To see the if I wanted to buy the Thornton, I tried Hammicks (just sold to the Scottish booksellers John Smith), but no luck. Then I went to Wildy’s, whose Colin Wickham knows everything and is in charge of the big second-hand department, and he sent me to LexisNexis (originally Butterworths) in Chancery Lane, where they had two copies. He also told me that Garth Thornton is unfortunately another of those Australians who do these things so very well.

Through Google I found two more legal bookshops: Lambs, in Store Street, London, and Avizandum in Scotland. Continue reading →

PapaScott links to a comparison of the German text of Nena’s song ’99 Luftballons’, beside a literal translation and the freer English version, at the site inthe80s.

The literal version was produced by one Siobhán Silke, who sounds doubly female to me but is referred to as ‘he’. SS does not claim to know everything and has done a good job. I think ‘nicht gerafft’ means ‘they didn’t get it/they didn’t realize what was going on’, and ‘dass sowas von sowas kommt’ more like ‘how one thing can lead to another’.

Top ten misconceptions people have about translators, according to Jez on July 5th.

An excellent list. Examples:

bq. 10. Anybody with two years of high school language (or a foreign-tongued grandmother) can translate.
9. A good translator doesn’t need a dictionary.

Like the first commenter, I queried only number 4:

bq. 4. Becoming a translator is an easy way to get rich quick.

I don’t think people imagine that translators are getting rich quick – well, perhaps some of them do. And I do think you can earn well from translation, although I agree translation takes longer than most people think.

Another comment mentions the belief that it’s equally easy to translate into and out of one’s native language.

Some localized misconceptions about literary translation occur to me:

(The term literary translation has two meanings. It can be used to mean translating fiction, drama and poetry, which is what I mean here; it can also mean translating for publishers, including non-fiction.)

1. Literary translation uses different and superior brain cells from non-literary translation.

2. Literary translators make a good living; non-literary translators don’t.

3. When you find that the translator you’re talking to only does non-literary translation, it’s tactful to change the subject.