WIGS, not to be confused with WAGs, stands for Women in German Studies, co-organizers of a conference in Liverpool next week.

IMPACT: German-Language Culture and its Reception

Venue: Foresight Centre, University of Liverpool, 23 to 25 July 2008

The programme can be seen at the link. Via an ITI list, I also received details of the Thursday evening round table discussion. No guarantee as to their correctness:

At
The Auditorium, Tate Liverpool, 17:30, Thurs 24 July 2008.

Featuring
Chair: Michael Schmidt, Professor of Poetry (Glasgow), editor Carcanet Press
Christoph Grunenberg, director of Tate Liverpool
Karen Leeder, Reader in German (Oxford), freelance translation and radio
work
Walter Meierjohann, Associate Director at Young Vic Theatre, London
Rebecca Morrisson, Editor of New Books in German (London)

A round table discussion followed by questions invited from the floor

How receptive is the British public to the history and culture of its close
neighbours in German-speaking Europe? Come and listen to 6 industry
specialists from publishing, theatre and the art world discussing the
practical challenges and cultural considerations in packaging
German-language culture for a British audience. Have the fall of the wall,
the increased profile of contemporary German-language film and literature in
translation, and the successful hosting of the 2006 World Cup altered
British attitudes to the German-speaking countries, or do representatives of
all things German still find themselves battling against ingrained
stereotypes? Is the dramatic decline in European language learning at
British schools cementing intolerance and cultural indifference for
generations to come, or might it actually increase the market for
translation and specialist cultural mediation?

When I was photographing this juvenile coot, I didn’t even see the frogs. Must take binoculars next time.

Here is Rudolf-Breitscheidt-Straße from the western end, looking towards the prospective shopping centre site. A sort of glass wall will cut across this street. In the distance, the tall building is the Park Hotel, which is not listed and is available for demolition. This side of it is the former Fiedler department store (clothes and household furnishings), marked with its name, now largely disused, and nearer, spot the Commerzbank building, rather an eyesore.

We have now moved along the street and are looking at the right-hand side at the other end of the development. The Park Hotel is out of view, to the left. On the right, distant, is the former HypoVereinsbank building, which is to remain. This side of it the cinema, and nearer the camera some low buildings, listed, which are to be pulled down.

Closeup of cinema (I rather like it myself):

Here is part of the area behind the cinema known as the Wölfel-Areal. This rather Chandleresque area will probably be missed by no-one except me. It belongs to my landlord.

Finally, now looking from the east and Fürther Freiheit back to the Park Hotel. It’s not listed – it was originally completely different. Only the ground floor is now partly inhabited by McDonalds. I think the shell may be 1950s. It will be a loss. Yet another view of the charming Commerzbank.

There are some design drawings in the Fürther Nachrichten.

I’m writing as though the plan were decided, which it is not. Only 80% of the land has been acquired. There are tenants who need to be moved to cheap housing elsewhere and might refuse. I remember hearing stories from an estate agent on rehousing a large number of Turkish tenants who lived at cheap rents in the area where the City Center was built.

I have been remiss in not publishing last Thursday’s shocker: a Portuguese concern looks likely to replace part of the centre of Fürth with a huge glassed-in shopping centre.

Photos in next entry.

Links to the local rag and a heated discussion in German at zonebattler’s blog.

It looks as if the town council will consent to the project on July 30th. It has been hushed up until now.

The prospective investor, Sonae Sierra, is also responsible for the rather unattractive Alexa Center in Berlin.

One negative aspect might be the intention to use the first railway as a theme. This could be quite trivial. Some of the underground stations already have tiled versions of the train, which seems enough to me.

A positive aspect would be the resurrection of the first-floor banqueting hall in the Park Hotel – the hotel itself would go – which no-one ever sees. The hotel has been altered several times and is not listed, but I imagine the hall should be. It would be used for restaurants and cafés, well, better than not seeing it at all.

In the Stadtheimatpfleger’s latest PDF newsletter there is a photo of the hall in 1913 which I can’t find anywhere else (click on Rundbriefe). I have pinched it:

I think that this would be more than a small comfort (kleiner Trost). I am very keen to see it.

What disturbs me most about the whole thing is the virtual loss of Rudolf-Breitscheidt-Straße as a public street. At the moment the City Center – a previous and now failed similar project – is closed after 18:00 and, of course, on Sundays. The new place would presumably stay open till 20:00. Obviously the fact that this street is the natural pathway from Schwabacher Straße to Fürther Freiheit is part of the attraction – people, potential shoppers, will walk through there. But when it’s closed, the centre is going to be deader than ever (especially since so many comfortable seats have been removed so no-one can sit down comfortably on warm evenings).

This certainly explains why they’ve been slow to pave Rudolf-Breitscheidt-Straße as a pedestrian street.

The Canadian multi-law-student weblog Law is Cool has discovered Leoben prison – already mentioned.

Since it was opened in March 2005 it has often been in the press, and has led to indignation among non-inmates.

The blogger, Lawrence Gridin, is restricted to online machine translation and invites comments from German speakers on this page. I quote the original German of the Kronen Zeitung from here.

Angeboten wird auch ein “Langzeitbesuch” – wobei sich ein Häftling maximal 24 Stunden lang mit Partner oder Familie in einem Raum ungestört aufhalten kann – was bereits für heiße Diskussionen sorgte.

Also a “long-term visit” is offered – whereby a prisoner can be maximally 24 hours long with partner or family in an area unimpaired – which already provided for hot discussions.

Von den Lebensumständen, die die Fotos vermitteln, kann das Gros der Bevölkerung wohl nur träumen: Ein Wuzzler im Aufenthaltsraum neben einem großen Fernseher, eine herrliche Sporthalle, ein piekfeiner Trainingsraum mit glänzenden Fitnessgeräten – und ein verträumter Blick in die grüne Landschaft neben Korbsessel und Palme. Die Luft ist allerdings “gesiebt”.

Of the life circumstances, which obtain the photos, the majority of the population can probably only dream: A Wuzzler in the lounge beside a large television, a wonderful sport-resounds, a piekfeiner training area with shining Fitnessgeräten – and a verträumter view into the green landscape beside basket armchair and palm. Air is however “gesiebt”.

Actually, the main drift comes over quite well.

As usual, if one had an MT program oneself, one could tell it that Manfred Gieß is a name, and then it would not write ‘Manfred pour’.

Unknown words are not translated. Hence the strained joke about ‘at least the air is filtered before it is allowed in’ is omitted. HÄf’n (slang for prison) and Wuzzler (table football) are terms that would need to be fed in.

I am surprised at ‘sport-resounds’ for Sporthalle.

Justizanstalt Leoben website (German)

Thanks to Ed. at Blawg Review for the tip-off.

Seen in Stadtpark today – it was a bit too dark to get a sharp shot of this fast-moving creature, the hero of all squirrel comparisons:

It’s Lovely! I’ll Take It! is a website subtitled A collection of poorly chosen photos from real estate listings. With love.

(Via Volker Weber)

Mouse soap from yeduo in Taiwan.

Via Gizmodo.de

At Obiter Dictum, Christian Säfken recently dipped a few toes in the murky waters of terms for German lawyers:

Anwalt ist nicht gleich Anwalt

He discusses: Jurist, Stud. iur., Cand. iur., Wirtschaftsjurist, Rechtskundiger, geprüfter Rechtskandidat, Diplom-Jurist, Volljurist, Rechtsanwalt, Patentanwalt, Syndikus, Justiziar, Fachanwalt. Keen commenters wish to add Assessor, Probericht, Sozius.

We might add Notar and Anwaltsnotar, Staatsanwalt, Amtsanwalt, Rechtspfleger, Rechtsbeistand, Verteidiger.

We could add the Swiss Advokat, Fürsprecher and Fürsprech.

It’s a curious fact about the red squirrel, quite common in Germany, that some of them are black. Here’s a Wikimedia picture:

They are sometimes much blacker than that, but the same size as the red squirrel and obviously similar.

Now recently it has come to the attention of Germans that the UK is overrun with immigrant US grey squirrels – sciurus carolinensis. This is not exactly news, but the Guardian did recommend them as the ultimate ethical meal.

Somehow the local paper has got it into its head that sciurus carolinensis is black, and it is quick to report – with photo – that not every black squirrel is bad:

Das rote Eichhörnchen ist uns vertraut und jedem schon einmal über den Weg gelaufen. Und jetzt sollen, so heißt es, seine Tage gezählt sein. Das ist glücklicherweise nur ein Gerücht. Im Süden Englands haben sich allerdings die ausgewilderten und fast doppelt so großen schwarzen Eichhörnchen stark vermehrt. Die typischen rotfarbenen europäischen Eichhörnchen wurden mittlerweile in den Norden Englands verdrängt. Nicht jedes schwarze Eichhörnchen ist aber ein Nachfahre der amerikanischen Tiere. Das hier abgebildete Exemplar aus dem Landkreis Fürth ist einfach nur eine Farbvariante des uns vertrauten fuchsfarbenen Eichhörnchens. Sein Vorkommen beschränkt sich jedoch auf den süddeutschen Raum und ist auch dort nicht so häufig anzutreffen wie seine roten Vettern.

I’m not too sure that the grey squirrel should be described as ‘ausgewildert’, as if it had been a mink that escaped from a mink farm. Anyway, here is one of the nasty creatures photographed by myself in the south of England:

They have rather nice silvery tails, but I suppose that won’t do them any good if they’re not integrated.

LATER NOTE: I have obviously missed out on the ‘mutant’ black squirrel, which is a variant of the grey.

It has already taken over in parts of England and appears to be spreading.
Its rise means the greys now have serious competition for the first time since they were introduced to Britain from America in the 1870s.
The black squirrel is also likely to make life even harder for our native red squirrels.
A study by Cambridge scientists shows that black squirrels now make up half the squirrel population in some parts of the UK.
The upstarts are genetic mutations of greys, but have a darker fur and higher levels of the male sex hormone testosterone – making them more aggressive and more successful.

Well, I’d give them some peanuts if I met them.