I have mentioned Linguee and LinearB – see comments under the latter.

At first I disliked Linguee because I could not see where the texts came from without clicking through, and most of the English equivalents were bad. Admittedly this is not a full investigation, and readers are invited to do their own searches. My first impression of LinearB was good, because the sentences were good English, although they didn’t reveal the source at all.

I now realize that LinearB is full of Europarl, a database of bilingual documents from the proceedings of the European Parliament. Meanwhile it transpires that Linguee incorporates the acquis communautaire TM (I assume), and Europarl too. If I therefore look up the word Rechtsbehelf on both sites, I get masses of quite good EU equivalents, equivalents I could find myself on the Web anyway. Actually, it’s surprising that LinearB doesn’t use that material too.

I just looked at the example in the comments, Bestand as a noun, in Linguee and the results are not bad at all. I also think it is likely that Linguee is expanding and will expand fast. However, I suspect that when I have a genuine question to ask it, it will give me some more Gerglish and not much help.

Pilgrimages aren’t what they were, apparently.

Reise im modernen Komfortbus
14 x Übernachtung mit frühstück in sehr guten *** und **** Hotels
14 x ‘Abendessen
Zimmer mit Bad oder Dusche/WC
Alle Führungen laut Programm
Reiseleitung

None of this ‘give me my scallop shell of quiet‘ here.

Mago at Life in Translation links to another multilingual website, Linear B.

The original idea came via James D. Reed of SpanishLegalTranslation.

Here you can choose your language pair and search translation memories (aligned texts).

The results are much better than those of the two multilingual sites recently mentioned here, for instance Linguee.

Here are my results for Rechtsbehelf:

appeal – [ 6 sentences matched , 3 shown ]
… lesung vorrangig drehten , im kompromisspaket niederschlag gefunden haben . es geht um den rechtsbehelf -lrb- artikel 4 -rrb- , den transparenzmechanismus -lrb- artikel 6 der rahmenrichtlinie -rrb- , …
… that dominated discussion between the council and parliament during second reading : right of appeal -lrb- article 4 -rrb- , the transparency mechanism -lrb- article 6 of the framework …

unser ziel ist es zudem , den asylbewerbern das recht zu sichern , auf dem gebiet des mitgliedstaats zu verbleiben , bis über ihren rechtsbehelf entschieden worden ist .
we aim to secure for asylum seekers the right to remain on the territory of a member state until their appeal has been decided .

… antrags nun auf unserem hoheitsgebiet verbleiben kann , bis die endgültige entscheidung über seinen rechtsbehelf gefallen ist .
… applicant could then remain on our territory while awaiting a final ruling on his appeal .
[ View more matching sentences ]

legal remedy – [ 2 sentences matched ]
zweitens wollen wir das recht des asyl suchenden auf einen wirksamen rechtsbehelf nach artikel 38 stärken .
secondly , we want to reinforce the asylum seeker ’ s right to an effective legal remedy in accordance with article 38 .

… bestrafung ohne ein ordnungsgemäßes gerichtsverfahren , die meinungsfreiheit , das recht auf einen wirksamen rechtsbehelf und das recht auf freiheit , sicherheit und ein faires verfahren verankert .
… no punishment without law , freedom of expression , the right to an effective legal remedy and the right to liberty , security and a fair trial .

question – [ 1 sentence matched ]
für den fall , dass der rechtsbehelf keine grundsätzlich aufschiebende wirkung hat , müssen die mitgliedstaaten überdies laut richtlinie festlegen , wann ein asylbewerber eine aufschiebende wirkung beantragen kann .
if , moreover , there is no question of a standard suspensive effect of an appeal , then the directive requires that …

recourse – [ 1 sentence matched ]
weitere mit china behandelte fragen sind die unterdrückung der politisch andersdenkenden , die willkürlichen inhaftierungen , der rechtsbehelf gegen die todesstrafe und die unterdrückung der ethnischen minderheiten .
… the repression of political dissent , the arbitrary conditions of detention , the frequent recourse to the death penalty and the repression of ethnic minorities .

right – [ 1 sentence matched ]
zum rechtsbehelf wird im kompromisspaket den ansichten des parlaments gefolgt , wonach die mitgliedstaaten aufgefordert werden sicherzustellen , dass jeder fall aufgrund des vorliegenden tatbestands beurteilt wird .
on right of appeal , the compromise package takes parliament ‘s line by requiring member states to ensure that the merits of the case are duly taken into account .

The ‘Rechtsbehelf gegen die Todesstrafe’ seems to have gone a bit off course, and the ‘conditions of detention’ in the same example, but I think it was a native speaker of English messing that one up.

The site is mysterious but I found a PDF file with more details, including an address and inter alia a table showing a number of German words and phrases and the automatically extracted translations, followed by the ideal translation. Details: Searchable Translation Memories
Chris Callison-Burch, Colin Bannard & Josh Schroeder
Linear B Ltd.
39 B Cumberland Street
Edinburgh EH3 6RA
{chris,colin,josh}@linearb.co.uk

Deutscher AnwaltSpiegel (PDF)

(via GALJ)

I couldn’t help thinking that if the projected Fürth shopping centre Neue Mitte were in Britain, the owner of number 12 could have his building compulsorily purchased. Apparently it’s not possible in Germany.

The Fürther Nachrichten report that the Oberbürgermeister has been repeatedly complaining in public that he can’t expropriate the 77-year-old owner, to the extent that some accuse him of mobbing.

Recently we read about an FDP councillor aged 78 saying he can’t pray for the owner’s soul any longer:

Noch eine Schippe legte FDP-Stadtrat Kurt Georg Strattner nach. «Ich kann für das Seelenheil dieses Menschen nicht mehr beten«, gab der Malermeister, selbst schon 78 Jahre alt, verbittert zu Protokoll.

Now we have Dr Jung:

«Für jeden Gehweg und jeden Spielplatz kannst du enteignen, aber nicht für Arbeitsplätze und Kaufkraft», sagte Jung den Fürther Nachrichten am vergangenen Donnerstag. …

Tags darauf verschärfte der OB den Ton, als er in seinem Grußwort bei der Maikundgebung der Fürther Gewerkschaften als Vergleichsgröße nicht mehr Gehweg und Spielplatz bemühte, sondern ein «Hundeklo», für das man jederzeit enteignen könne. Als diesen Montag nun die Architektenentwürfe für das Einkaufszentrum vorgestellt wurden, wiederholte er dies noch einmal.

He did admit that he was upset about the course of events. At least this proves that the mayor and town council, amazingly, really do believe the Neue Mitte would be a blessing – I had sometimes wondered if they weren’t just saying that for political reasons.

At Language Log, Mark Liberman gives the first page of David Pesetsky’s April 1 assistance to his orchestra:

David Pesetsky, the Ferrari P. Ward Professor of Modern Languages and Linguistics at MIT, is also the principal second violin in the New Philharmonia Orchestra of Massachusetts. For their 4/1/2009 rehearsal, he provided English translations for the sometimes-confusing performance instructions in Mahler’s 1st Symphony.

Langsam Slowly
Schleppend Slowly
Dampfer auf Slowly
Mit Dampfer Slowly
Allmahlich in das Hauptzeitmass ubergehen do not look at the conductor
Im Anfang sehr gemaechlich in intense inner torment
Alle Betonungen sehr zart with more intense inner torment

There is more, especially if you click on the link to ‘read the whole thing’.

The Guardian reports that a German doctor on his first session of providing out-of-hours cover for British GPs administered a lethal dose to a patient (ten times the maximum recommended painkiller dose). He was too tired to concentrate.

Ubani, in a letter of apology to Gray’s family written last July, said the “fatal mistake” derived from a confusion between drugs, one of which was not used by on-call services in Germany, and the “tremendous stress” he had been under, having only had about three hours rest before he started his shift.

One imagines that such incidents are waiting to happen under the present health services. Many German doctors have been reported as seeking work in the UK.

The case has also sparked a row over how Germany responded to a UK request to extradite the doctor. Last month Ubani was given a nine-month suspended prison sentence there for the UK incident and fined €5,000 (£4,450) for causing death by negligence. He is continuing to practise in Witten, Germany, although he has been suspended from working in the UK by the General Medical Council’s interim orders panel.

LATER NOTE: The Süddeutsche Zeitung has an article on the subject too.

Der Fall wirft die Frage nach einer strengeren Überwachung der unabhängigen Krankendienste auf, die abends und am Wochenende Ärzte an Patienten vermitteln. Peter Walsh, Geschäftsführer der Organisation “Action against Medical Accidents” forderte den NHS auf, alle Firmen dieser Art zu überprüfen, mit denen Verträge bestehen. Walshs Gruppe setzt sich für die Opfer von Behandlungsfehlern ein.

Die Qualitätskommission des britischen Gesundheitsamtes erklärte, dass bei ihr schon mehrfach Beschwerden über den Dienst eingegangen seien, die den Deutschen vermittelt hatte. Deshalb werde sie den Fall gründlich untersuchen und notwendige Konsequenzen daraus ziehen, sagte eine Sprecherin dem Guardian.

Recently at a local store, the stereo piped in the Christmas carol “The Little Drummer Boy.” It’s one of my favorite Christmas carols, though some versions are better than others. But what struck me was that the more recent versions modify the traditional words “The ox and ass kept time,” replacing them with “The ox and lamb kept time.” I’m sure the word “ass” was replaced because in post-modern usage, the word refers to a body part— and these days, its use might incur hefty fines from the FCC.

A Google search on “the ox and * kept time” reveals more (including a mule).

Censorship meets Religion?

Louise Frances Denyer, of (or connected with) Birmingham University, has a PDF on the Web of an 85-page paper (about half of it consists of appendices with language examples):
Corpus study carried out on three ‘legal’ verbs to demonstrate their similar and different usage for the purposes of legal translators and lawyer-linguists.

The paper aims to show the valule of corpus studies in translation and legal-language teaching. I’ve only skimmed it so far, but unfortunately the corpora used, which are English, Spanish and French, don’t appear to be specifically legal texts. The three verbs were chosen because the author’s students wanted to know more about them – I remember this problem with another collection of verbs mentioned here: abolish, override, set aside, quash etc.

The following is really only based on skimming the article:

Breach often collocates with peace, security, contract, confidentiality, rules, rights, and fiduciary (MM: should be fiduciary duty, not just ‘breach of fiduciary’ as suggested).

Violate collocates with rules, codes, covenants, terms, prohibitions, and court injunction; also with airspace. It is very common in connection with US constitutional rights, whereas in British English it can relate to minor offences.

Infringe collocates with IP rights, such as patents, copyrights, fundamental rights.

I found this article via the programme of a conference on corpus linguistics in Murcia this week, tweeted by Matthew Bennett, seeing the topic and then Googling the author’s name.

I have got a book on corpora that seems very good, but I am only part-way through it: Working with Specialized Language. A practical guide to using corpora, by Lanne Bowker and Jennifer Pearson, Routledge 2002.

Walt Disney did Pinocchio a great disservice. A new English translation by Geoffrey Brock sounds as if it puts things right.

Interesting podcast interview Tim Parks at the New York Review of Books – scroll down.

Collodi was very much about the unification of Italy, but this aspect has gradually been ironed out of the book for children.

Observer review.

(My copy of Tim Parks’ A Season with Verona is being held captive by a football fan in Erlangen).

Thanks to Trevor.