eCPD Webinars are offering an online course in November. The first module has to be done before choosing one of the second and third modules, which give practical experience in translating either DE>EN or EN>DE

Module 1: Two separate one-hour lessons:
Translating and Interpreting in a legal context, in particular between common and civil law systems.
German law – institutions, sources and application, with particular focus on linguistic issues of relevance for translators/interpreters.

The webinar leaders are Angela Sigee and Richard Delaney – both experienced and recommended by me, at least I’ve heard Angela before and read things by Richard.

It seems there is a ‘satirical’ Fürth website/weblog that has won the Grimme online award. It is called Der Postillon and run by Stefan Sichermann. The Nürnberger Zeitung reports (interview with Sichermann):

Der “Postillon” ist eine typische Interneterscheinung: Das 2008 ins Leben gerufene Satireblog verzeichnete nach Angaben seines Gründers und Betreibers Stefan Sichermann im ersten Jahr des Bestehens zwischen 1 und 100 Leser. Heute sind es über 100.000 Klicks am Tag bei etwa 25.000 Einzelbesuchern.

Apparently the success was partly driven by Facebook, so perhaps it’s not surprising I’ve never heard of it.

QED

My blogroll is never quite up to date, but I have added Tim Windhof’s blog Columbus meets Cologne. Tim is a lawyer and legal translator who spent some years in Munich after studying in Cologne and New Zealand. There’s an audio interview with him on Translation Thoughts (just under 20 minutes), from which I gather that German is his native language and so he translates into German.

I also added Margaret Hiley’s Post from Pudding Bag Lane – she translates academic stuff.

And I added Translator Thoughts, for interviews with translators.

Circumstances oblige one to spend more time in England.

What’s different?

There are many more spam phone calls. That might depend on the phone user, though. Also post informing you that you are making a PPI claim through the company that writes.

When you phone up big offices, you get put through from pillar to post. Then if you have to speak to someone and give your personal details, the person is incredibly chirpy and friendly. For instance, I am asked to give my phone number and do so – ‘Thank you very much, that’s brilliant’. ‘That’s brilliant’ is commonly used for absolutely nothing.

I hate the way people ask on the phone if you are Mrs or Miss. Just occasionally they add Ms. I knew that Ms was a problem in the UK because ‘it can’t be spoken’, I just hadn’t experienced it on the phone before.

There are masses of plain English forms and advertisements for services and brochures from utility companies explaining what they offer. This is just beginning in Germany. The local utility company in Fürth sends a magazine or newsletter which always frustrates me because I worry that it might contain essential information so I can’t throw it away without looking through it.

The range of TV programmes is huge so it’s usually possible to find something worth watching. In Franconia, we don’t even get RTL and Vox on digital terrestrial.

Opening hours are more civilized than in Bavaria (I gather that even in Baden-Württemberg, you can shop at supermarkets till 10 pm rather than 8 pm).

Most things are sold in twos. For years I have had a horrible pillow here – I only use one. It seems to have a life of its own. I went to Tesco and nearly all pillows were called ‘rebound’. I know just what they mean. I got an anti-allergenic one, could have got a feather one. But no, I could only get two (‘pillow pair’ is the term).

Swimming is better organized than in Fürth. And I have seen no OAPs doing the crablike Altdeutsch-Rücken stroke and taking up three lanes to do so.

It’s about time I posted this entry, which has an incomplete feeling about it.

The Daily Telegraph reports:

Gustl Mollath has been held against his will in a secure unit since March 2006, after he voiced suspicions that employees of Hypo Vereinsbank — including his ex-wife — had been smuggling money to Switzerland.

He was tried on charges of assaulting his wife and detained in a psychiatric hospital in Bavaria. But last year a German newspaper uncovered an internal audit report carried out by the bank that showed his claims were valid.

In the Süddeutsche Zeitung, Heribert Prantl comments on the deficiencies of the section of the Criminal Code which psychologists regard as law and lawyers as psychology.

Prantl writes: in the trials in Nuremberg in 2006, many errors were made: evidence not taken into account, the judgment based on a false document and false accusations used to show Mollath was under paranoid delusions.

Mollath seemingly cannot get out of the mental hospital because he is regarded as dangerous (and there is no agreed definition of dangerous).

German Criminal Code:

§ 63 Unterbringung in einem psychiatrischen Krankenhaus
Hat jemand eine rechtswidrige Tat im Zustand der Schuldunfähigkeit (§ 20) oder der verminderten Schuldfähigkeit (§ 21) begangen, so ordnet das Gericht die Unterbringung in einem psychiatrischen Krankenhaus an, wenn die Gesamtwürdigung des Täters und seiner Tat ergibt, daß von ihm infolge seines Zustandes erhebliche rechtswidrige Taten zu erwarten sind und er deshalb für die Allgemeinheit gefährlich ist.

In the Bohlander translation:

Section 63
Mental hospital order

If a person has committed an unlawful act in a state of insanity (section 20) or diminished responsibility (section 21) the court shall make a mental hospital order if a comprehensive evaluation of the offender and the act leads to the conclusion that as a result of his condition, future serious unlawful acts can be expected of him and that he therefore presents a danger to the general public.

Separated from my books, I’m not sure what German law means by insanity. One element was Mollath’s refusal to be tested by a psychiatrist, as he could not believe anyone would find him insane. Of course, it all started when he was found guilty of beating his wife on her evidence alone. And made ridiculous accusations that a bank was engaged in wrongdoing.

Update on June 17: The Süddeutsche reports that an earlier draft of the application to reopen the case has turned up and it appears that surprising alterations were made before the final engrossment.

And a doctor and CSU member who tweeted that the Bavarian Minister of Justice, Beate Merk, should be asked when Mollath will be released, was shortly afterwards visited by two plainclothes policemen:

Der Fall über den Richard Gutjahr heute in seinem Blog berichtet, ist so unglaublich, dass man ihn unbedingt weiterverbreiten muss. Die Ärztin Ursula Gresser (Mitglied der CSU!) twitterte “Wann Mollath freikommt? Diese Frage könnte man Frau Merk am Mo. 10.06.13 um 19 Uhr im Landgasthof Hofolding stellen“.

via Detlef Burhoff in JURION Strafrecht Blog