I was wondering how to translate buchhalterisch runden, aka kaufmännisch runden.

I know what it means – it means rounding up or down, literally in the ‘accountants’ style’.

Here I do think I can rely on the German Wikipedia:

Das Kaufmännische Runden geschieht wie folgt:

* Ist die Ziffer an der ersten wegfallenden Dezimalstelle eine 0,1,2,3 oder 4, dann wird abgerundet.
* Ist die Ziffer an der ersten wegfallenden Dezimalstelle eine 5,6,7,8 oder 9, dann wird aufgerundet.

Diese Rundungsregel wird durch die Norm DIN 1333 beschrieben. Das Runden wird so auch häufig in der Schule gelehrt.

The
English Wikipedia is self-described as unreliable, but says:

Round-to-even method

This method, also known as unbiased rounding, convergent rounding, statistician’s rounding, Dutch rounding, Gaussian rounding, or bankers’ rounding, exactly replicates the common method of rounding except when the digit(s) following the rounding digit starts with a five and has no non-zero digits after it.

Note that, according to this article, this is not identical to the ‘common method’. See the talk page for the dispute, and also three discussions on LEO. One suggestion there is ’round to nearest ($)’, but that is ambiguous.

This led to quite a discussion on two lists. One opinion is just to write ’round’. That doesn’t seem precise enough to me, in a contract, or, as was also suggested, in building specifications. But to define it precisely would take a lot of words. Others want to translate buchhalterisch or kaufmännisch literally. On top of that, it is apparently met most frequently in accounting, but that was not my context.

Ben Teague was one of the great stalwarts on FLEFO in CompuServe, which I joined in 1994 or thereabouts. He translated physics, but his great passion was amateur theatre. His wife Fran taught/teaches literature at the university. His website gives some impression of all this.

Now I learn from Michael Wahlster, via Twitter, that Ben was shot dead on Saturday, when he was standing outside the theatre with two other people, by the husband of one of them. Here’s an article on the shooting, and here another with more information about Ben and a photo.

Police said Marie Bruce, Tom Tanner and Ben Teague were all outside the community theater when Bruce’s estranged husband came by with two hand guns and open fired.

“Marie was the president of this organization for many, many years that acted and directed, (and) has two beautiful children,” said victim’s friend Steve Elliott-Gower. “(Tom), like Ben, he was always down at the theater helping build somebody else’s set. Ben Teague was the life and soul of the organization — very talented guy. He must have put in tens of thousands of hours building and designing sets.

I must admit I thought of him as old, but he was only one year older than me. He probably just did more! I am sorry I didn’t meet Ben. The same goes for another Flefoid, Alicia Gordon, who was only 53 when she died.

Further links: a personal account by Ben’s step-brother (since his 92-year-old father married Ben’s mother) and by the Austin Area Translators and Interpreters Association.

The Bessere Mitte had wooden models of the shopping centre proposed by Sonae Sierra:#

and the alternative they propose.

The top model corresponds to the three white blocks in the bottom model, which leaves Rudolf-Breitscheid-Straße open. This was at the Fürth Stadtfest yesterday. A couple talking to the campaigners felt that a 15,000 square metre shopping centre would be too small, and would not miss the listed buildings that would have to go (or be partly hidden).

I was pleased to hear recently that some of the independent shopkeepers have a parallel initiative. That shows that the opponents of the scheme aren’t just the few people who appeared on the stage at the civic hall meeting. That’s the Arbeitskreis kritische Einzelhändler Fürth.

I think they want us to stop running over cyclists here.

I don’t suppose we’ll have to wait long for Susan Boyle. They just have to cut some footage of listeners with Telekom devices.