Translating the news/Übersetzung der Nachrichten

Bad news that Viktor Yushchenko was poisoned, but nice to hear the Austrian doctor. Some of the local colour got lost in translation, however.

Der Standard (Juschtschenko):

bq. “Wir schließen ab mit der Zusatzdiagnose ‘Verdacht auf Fremdverschulden'”, sagte Zimpfer weiter. Eine weitere Abklärung obliege den zuständigen Behörden. In Blut und Gewebe des Patienten habe man mindestens das Tausendfache der normalen Konzentration gefunden. “Das entspricht einer Dosierung im Milligramm-Bereich bzw. im unteren Gramm-Bereich und ist sehr leicht z.B. in eine Schlagoberssuppe zu verpacken.” Auf Grund der Schäden im Verdauungstrakt gehe man von einer Einnahme über den Mund aus. “Ob er das gegessen oder getrunken hat, ist nicht herauszuarbeiten und macht auch keinen Unterschied”, so Zimpfer weiter.

The Guardian:

bq. “We suspect involvement of an external party, but we cannot answer as to who cooked what or who was with him while he ate,” Zimpfer said, adding that tests showed the dioxin was taken orally.
Zimpfer said Yushchenko’s blood and tissue registered concentrations of dioxin 1,000 times above normal levels.
“It would be quite easy to administer this amount in a soup,” Zimpfer said.

BBC News:

bq. It is still not clear whether the poisoning was deliberate, though Dr Zimpfer said it was likely to have been caused by “a third party”.
The question of who was responsible was a matter for the judicial authorities, he said.
Dr Zimpfer said the substance was soluble and could have been administered in something like soup.

I seem to miss the Schlagoberssuppe. Schlagobers or Obers is Austrian for cream.

Try this:

cover

Here are some sample pages.

6 thoughts on “Translating the news/Übersetzung der Nachrichten

  1. My Viennese chef tells me the Schlagoberssuppe is the generic description for soups made with cream ‘to bind the soup together’ – as opposed to clear-broth consomme. Obviously, a culinary ingredient lost in the press translation.

  2. Thanks for the information. I think we’d say ‘bind the soup’ rather than ‘bind the soup together’.
    I was thinking of cream stirred in at the last moment, but from what you say it makes me think what he meant was ‘thick soup’ as opposed to ‘clear soup’.
    What does dioxin look like in clear soup? One can’t be careful enough.

  3. Yes. Bind the soup. Thick [consistency] soup was what also occured to me. What puzzles me is that – according to my wife who served me up a thick, creamy soup last night – Polish/Russian borcz or barczc cabbage soup with a dollop of cream on top doesn’t count in Austria as Schlagoberssuppe. The whole consistency has to be creamy. Obviously, the victim realised only afterwards what he had been dished up.

  4. Curious use of ‘third party’ by the Guardian. Presumably, in the case of a soup, the third party is someone other than the cook or the eater (drinker?)

  5. Yes. I think you’re right. The third party could be someone KGB-trained by the sound of it and eager to keep practising his or her post-Soviet Union skills.

    After another bumper bowl of Schlagoberssuppe this evening, it’s back for me to the Clearasil to treat my suspicious third-party-induced acne.

Leave a Reply to AMM Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.