Some vendors of Denglish at the Christmas market:

On the side of the van it says Konferenztechnik. Curiously, they do have the term event technology on their website, but they vary it in strange ways.

Company law forum (LexisNexis)

via Delia Venables

Merriam-Webster VISUAL DICTIONARY Online

(via languagehat)

Gabi Zöttl gives a number of useful links on her translation weblog (German), including one to an article in the Münchner Merkur on the increasingly unprofitable business of interpreting for the police.

Using the example of Hans-Joachim Lanksch, the article describes the stresses of the job (working at night, in a noisy environment, interpreting the words of people who are themselves stressed and sometimes threatening) and the difficulties, and finally, of course, the payment.

Mit all diesen Schwierigkeiten hätte der Münchner Dolmetscher Hans-Joachim Lanksch leben können. Ausschlaggebend für seinen Rückzug aus der Branche war die Bezahlung. “Hundsmiserabel schlecht“ bezahle die Münchner Polizei. “Die treffen eigene Vereinbarungen und nehmen immer die Billigsten.“ Während der gesetzlich geregelte Stundensatz eines Dolmetschers bei 55 Euro liegt, bezahle die Polizei 25 Euro und weniger. “Die Qualität des Dolmetschens leidet darunter erheblich.“ Die Münchner Polizei weist die Vorwürfe zurück. “Die Dolmetscher werden zunächst nach ihrer Qualifikation ausgesucht, aber haushalterische Aspekte müssen natürlich mit berücksichtigt werden“, so Dieter Gröbner, Sprecher der Münchner Polizei. Sechs fest angestellte Dolmetscher hat das Polizeipräsidium München, bei Bedarf werden zusätzliche Freie hinzugezogen. “Die einzelnen Dolmetscher bieten ihre Dienste und den Preis, den sie verlangen, dann selbst bei uns an.“

The talk at the BDÜ Stammtisch in Nuremberg also brings stories of bad pay, or of police authorities that request interpreters to enter into contracts to be paid 25 or 30 euros an hour, with the result that qualified and experienced interpreters have a choice between giving up police work or underselling themselves and at the same time being regarded as unprofessional by other interpreters.

Meanwhile, in England and Wales (or the whole of the UK?), I gather that the Home Office has decided to outsource almost all government translation work to two private agencies.

As Christmas approaches, or at least the shops start selling Lebkuchen in larger quantities (the Lebkuchen season actually starts with a little procession towards the end of August), thoughts of translators drift to how to say Merry Christmas in several hundred languages (Google will reveal all, and so will Youtube), or how not to say Merry Christmas at all for fear of giving offence, or perhaps how best to translate Rudolph the Rednosed Reindeer (that’s caribou to those of you in the USA) into Latin, or German. Laura Gibbs presents five versions.

Rufe, nasute cerve,
nasus tuus ruber stat.
Immo, si vera dicam,
nasus tuus conflagrat.

Three German versions can be found here.

Rudolph, das kleine Rentier,
Jeder bei den Lappen kennt,
Denn seine rote Nase
Weit und breit wie Feuer brennt.

Original English text by Robert L. May and Johnny Marks, melody by Johnny Marks (no relation)

Listen to many English versions at Songza.

LATER NOTE: see the Google video of the manual version referred to in the comments. I can’t seem to manage that myself.

Thanks to kalebeul.

It is said to be a regional German custom to hide a gherkin / pickled cucumber (these are large, Zeppelin-like objects) in the Christmas tree, rather like the silver threepenny bit in the Christmas pudding.

This one is so regional, however, that it probably isn’t true. Nevertheless, some Germans have come to believe in it. You can buy the one above at Gartenschätze.

See The German Christmas Pickle Tradition: Myth or Reality?

Mind you, Father Christmas doesn’t exist either.