Author Archives: MMarks

Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels and foreign languages

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Richard Schneider in his blog at uepo.de recently had a post on Marx und Engels über Sprache, Stil und Übersetzung.
He reported on a book on the importance of foreign languages to them: Karl Marx,
Friedrich Engels – Über Sprache, Stil und Übersetzung, edited by Heinz
Ruschinski and Bruno Retzlaff-Kresse,  Dietz Verlag.

They wrote about what language is, but also both spoke several
languages.  From the introduction:

 Von Marx wissen wir, dass er Englisch und Französisch sprach und schrieb, nahezu alle europäischen Sprachen las und auch über gute Kenntnisse des Griechischen und Lateinischen verfügte.

Engels‘ Sprachkenntnisse waren noch umfassender: Er beherrschte etwa 20 Sprachen, davon zwölf aktiv, und kannte von mehreren auch frühere historische Entwicklungsstufen.

Diese intensive Beschäftigung mit Sprachen, die Marx und Engels stets mit dem gründlichen Studium der Geschichte der betreffenden Völker, ihrer Kultur und Literatur verbanden, standen in engstem Zusammenhang mit ihrem publizistischen und theoretischen Schaffen.

Must see statues of Engels in Wuppertal and Manchester. (This is a reconstruction of a rather hasty post).

Servus

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(Reconstituted post)

Herr Rau, in the LehrerInnZimmer blog, writes about Grußformeln in der Schule. See the comments too. And many thanks to Herr Rau for finding my recent blog posts that had been lost in the ether.

One problem is oral greetings, the other is greetings in writing. In speaking:
„Servus“ geht sehr viel seltener. Zwischen Schülern und Schülerinnen (eher: Schülern) ist das natürlich völlig okay, zwischen Lehrern und Lehrerinnen (eher: Lehrern, und da auch nur von bestimmter Sozialisation) auch. Zwischen Schülerinnen/Schülern und Lehrkräften ist das in der Regel nicht okay, aber zumindest in meiner Gegend verbreitet. Die Schüler und Schülerinnen (eher: Schüler) wissen allerdings nicht, dass das nicht akzeptabel ist.

The comments reminded me how many problems there are in writing emails, for instance, in German and English.

Richtig sind: Mit freundlichen Grüßen, vielen Grüßen, herzlichen Grüße, und wenn Verhältnis und Inhalt tatsächlich innig sind, dürfen die Grüße natürlich auch lieb sein.

I could never work out whether it was safe to write “Sehr geehrte Damen und Herren” to my bank or to my internet provider. Best to start out that way. In translators’ forums, “Liebe Grüße” is common, yet I don’t know all these people so I rarely use it myself. And I also dislike “sonnige Grüße” etc. It took me a while to write “viele Grüße”.I do quite like writing emails without an ending, in this way avoiding “cheers” and “kind regards”. I’ve never adapted to German non-sexist expressions.

 

Bart’s North Wing, Great Hall and Hogarth Staircase

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I have already written about the Pool of Bethesda, Hogarth’s paintings in the staircase of the North Wing of St. Bartholomew’s Hospital. That was ten years ago, when it was certainly possible to see the staircase, but now it has been totally refurbished and can be visited on Mondays and Tuesdays: Bart’s North Wing, the Great Hall and Hogarth Staircase. I read that Hogarth requested that the pictures should not be varnished, because that would make them harder to see, but his request was ignored. I do not know what has been done to them now but it is a beautiful refurbishment.

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Learning German at school – a book and a weblog

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German Through English Eyes. A History of Language Teaching and Learning in Britain 1500-2000, by Nicola McLelland, published by Harrossowitz Verlag Wiesbaden in 2015. McLelland was – and is – Professor of German and History of Linguistics at Nottingham University, which I gather is about to axe its German department. Borrowed from the London Library.

The book engages me more than I expected and will need a thorough read. I will come back to it.

Above all it makes me think about what textbooks teach us. I have been attempting to learn languages as far back as I can remember, but beyond thinking “not enough grammar” or “I can’t stand the direct method”, I have not thought much.

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Der Fall Collini – final notes

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A few notes on Der Fall Collini.

1. A slightly similar and later case was that of Friedrich Engel, who was 95 when treated leniently because of his age but would have been found guilty of murder of 59 Italian partisans under the law in 2004.

2. There are useful links and further points in online reviews too.
Rachel Ward mentioned the blog Mrs Peabody Investigates, by Katharina Hall, which was new to me and very interesting. Useful further links there too. I have the book Crime Fiction in German, which she edited and much of which she wrote. She also translated Schirach’s Strafe.

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Der Fall Collini – translation into English

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I am not finished with Der Fall Collini – there will be one more post with miscellaneous notes. But first, the translation into English by Anthea Bell, which I managed to borrow from the London Library. One of the reviews of The Collini Case I found was at the complete review, which seems all to be the work of one Austrian living in the US. lt comments “The terminology does give Bell some trouble”, and says this is not her finest work. It does also comment on how British her translation is, which is not surprising.

I don’t want to run down Bell’s translation, which is very good and does the job, and even if it were not so good, it would certainly be adequate for a reader – OK, translations always lose something, of course. But I wanted to see how the legal terminology would be a problem for her. And in contrast to Schirach’s short stories, this novel has much more to do with lawyers and courts. It follows the training and experience of a young lawyer in the Berlin criminal courts.

I have looked through the translation and found some peculiarities in the legal terms used, which I will try to set out in a table. (The font changes, but at the moment I can’t see how to harmonize it).

It does seem to me that there are some basic legal terms where Bell flounders, for example the meaning of Rechtsprechung or chambers.

  Schirach Bell Comment
  Liste für den Notdienst der Strafverteidigervereinigung legal-aid rota The reference to legal aid here seems odd. The English equivalent would be “duty solicitor”, which might not work here.
  Notdienst der Strafverteidiger, Rechtsanwalt Caspar Leinen. Caspar Leinen here, on standby duty for legal aid  
  Sie wissen, dass Sie nach der Rechtsprechung nur entpflichtet werden können… You know that legally you can be relieved of the duty to give legal aid only if… I have the feeling that Bell thinks “legal aid” means acting as someone’s lawyer – in fact it means financial support given to parties.(This is a difficult term to translate)
  die Kanzlei Leinens Leinen’s chambers Leinen’s office
  junge Anwälte young defence counsels “counsel” is the plural for me, no S
  Rechtsanwalt Caspar Leinen Caspar Leinen, legal adviser Caspar Leinen, Rechtsanwalt, or Caspar Leinen, lawyer
  Ihr erster Schwurgerichtsfall Your first big murder case Good!
  schrieben Anträge wrote their pleas wrote/drafted petitions
  wenn er in dem Mandat bliebe if he stayed in his brief if he remained instructed? not easy
  Post, die kein Richter kontrollieren durfte post uncensored by a magistrate why not judge?
  Strafprozessrecht criminal proceedings criminal procedure
  Die 12. Große Strafkammer – eines der acht Schwurgerichte am Landgericht Berlin – ließ die Anklage wegen Mordes gegen Collini zu The 12th Criminal Court – one of the eight courts of first instance in the Berlin regional judiciary where serious felonies were tried – authorized the arraignment of Collini for murder. Schwurgericht is a court that deals with the most serious criminal offences. 12th Criminal Chamber..eight courts of first instance for serious criminal offences at the Berlin higher Regional Court…indictment (arraignment is OK) Not sure what “judiciary” is doing here.
  ich habe noch eine Besprechung in der Wirtschaftsstrafabteilung I have to see someone in the commercial law department business/commercial crime department
  …dass nach der Rechtsprechung nur die höchste Führung der Nazis Mörder waren …that in juridical terminology only the top Nazi leaders were murderers according to German case law
  nach der Rechtsprechung …die sogenannten Schreibtischtäter waren…alle nur Gehilfen. Keiner von ihnen galt vor Gericht als Mörder p. 181 According to the juridical definition, the people who organized such things from their desks were all just accessories according to German case law …
  Der Empfang für die Besucher war im sogenannten Berliner Zimmer untergebracht, einem großen Raum mit nur einem Fenster, der Vorderhaus mit Seitenflügeln und Rückgebäude verband. Reception for visitors was in the Berlin Room, as it was called, a large room with only one window. It linked the facade to the lateral wings and the back of the building. I find sogenannt superfluous in the German and “as it was called” even worse in the English. I don’t know why Schirach even needed to define a Berliner Zimmer (I keep reading about them – here is a diagram https://www.tip-berlin.de/stadtleben/architektur/berliner-zimmer/ ) This is probably just part of Schirach’s technique of adding lots of trivial details as if these were evidence of authenticity.
  Anwalt der Nebenkläger counsel in the accessory prosecution Romain gives this for Nebenklage, but it might confuse a reader of the English. Hans Meyer was an accessory to murder; this refers to co-prosecution by victims – not easy to translate though.