I have already mentioned Andrew Hammel’s German Joys weblog. Andrew Hammel teaches Anglo-American law (or is that ‘Anglo-American’ law) at Düsseldorf University. I see I said his weblog had awakened last October. Well, now it’s awakened even more. Oh, except that he’s just gone to Paris so it will be slow till March 31.
Among other things, there is an entry on whether German literary translators should go on strike.
Continuing the topic of incorrect interpreting (see earlier entry), Roger Shuy takes up the topic at Language Log.
bq. A few years ago I encountered this problem in a case in which English transcripts of Spanish speakers in undercover tape recordings were used as evidence. The prosecution provided only an English translation of the tapes. Even with my limited knowledge of Spanish I could tell that they were dead wrong in several crucial places. I pointed this out to the defense attorney who then commissioned a translation of his own. Not surprisingly, it showed that the government’s translation was badly in error. Naively perhaps, the judge then ruled that the two opposing translators should get together and try to agree on a single, accurate translation. This effort failed miserably, of course, and the judge finally ruled that both translations could be used at trial. His decision was hardly Solomonic but it was better than many of the usual judicial rulings about the use of foreign languages at trial.
It is a big problem that judges are unaware of language problems but don’t recognize this gap in their knowledge.
Shuy is a forensic linguist and it is great that he is on Language Log. I thought he’d posted before but his name is not listed as a regular contributor, unfortunately.
The Herald Online reports:
bq. TWO Nigerian men, one of them a convicted drug dealer, are facing bribery charges after they offered Port Elizabeths only Igbo court interpreter R100 000 to resign from his job.
I suppose the tactics would be better if Igbo were a dying language.
Via Erik Dams, once again.
This isn’t the first time Leonard Domike has been in the papers:
bq. The only official Nigerian court interpreter for Port Elizabeths courts has been dealt a blow after the Justice Departments regional office in East London withheld his January and February salaries, demanding that his foreign language qualification first be verified by the Qualification Board in Pretoria.
Just a minute – the defendants want to pay him and not use him, and the Justice Department wants to use him and not pay him – there must be a solution there somewhere.
Thanks to Trevor for reading on and giving me the story about the base guitarist:
bq. The band has been making headlines after its base guitarist, Wynand Myburgh, wrote F**k God on a teenagers wallet in Witbank last month.
QED.
Die Blog-Lesung ist im Kommen. Kaum sind zwei Lesungen in München angekündigt, bevor eine 1. Fränkische Blog-Lesung in Fürth angekündigt wird. Nicht nur vor Nürnberg, nein, es ist die Fürther Südstadt, wo diese (allerdings nur teilweise echte fränkische) Bloggerauslese für lumpige 3 Euro vorträgt, und zwar im ehemaligen Tengelmann (die Schließung von Tengelmann war einer der Tiefpunkte der letzten Jahre hier).
Die Fürther Südstadt ist übrigens hinter der Baumgruppe versteckt.
Mehr Informationen beim mysteriösen zonebattler.
It’s Spiegel again, getting its knickers in a twist about ‘strange British laws’, a book by Nigel Cawthorne that’s actually been around for a while.
bq. Cawthorne ist Großbritanniens Experte, wenn es um die merkwürdigsten Gesetze des Landes geht. Im November vergangenen Jahres veröffentlichte er sein 266 Seiten starkes Werk “The Strange Laws of Old England”, in dem er auf süffisante Weise die Possen der britischen Gesetzgebung beschreibt.
Make that ‘September vorvergangenen Jahres’. And as for Cawthorne being an expert on Britain’s laws, he is also an expert on:
the world’s greatest serial killers
sex lives of Hollywood goddesses (whatever they are)
the curious cures of old England
sex lives of the kings and queens of England
sex lives of the great dictators
sex lives of the popes (watch out, Benedict)
history of pirates: blood and thunder on the high seas
and that probably isn’t all
For example, it’s presented as an exciting new find that people aren’t allowed to die in the Palace of Westminster.
bq. “Soweit ich weiß, ist dort bisher noch niemand gestorben, aber, wenn doch, wurde vielleicht der Fall auch gar nicht erfasst. Schließlich gibt es im Parlament theoretisch diesen Fall gar nicht.”
I think people most certainly have died there, and the street outside has been recorded as the place of death.
bq. In den vergangenen 40 Jahren wurden bereits 2000 Gesetze gestrichen, aber es gibt immer noch 4000 nationale, 11.000 lokale und 13.000 private Rechtsprechungen, die gültig sind.
Rechtsprechungen!
bq. Kevin Martin, Vorsitzender der britischen Rechtsgesellschaft, ärgert das schon lange. Er fordert, dass sich endlich etwas tut.
Die britische Rechtsgesellschaft? That sounds impressive. Could they mean the Law Society? If to be translated, perhaps another term might suggest itself, like Anwaltsverein (and yes, keen commenters, I am aware that barristers have their own).
Thanks to Herbert on an ITI list.
Only for UK residents, the London Goethe Institut has a competition – deadline April 10 – to translate part of Ronald Reng’s Gebrauchsanweisung für London (2004), which describes the author’s experience playing football for the FC Churchill in England, including a 2:3 loss to a Catalan team. Competition. Text.
Gebrauchsanweisung für London
You don’t have to be a translator – in fact, it’s better if you don’t earn your living from translation, because it’s a huge piece (some parts are marked as not to be translated, but the rest is quite a lot).
(Via Erik Dams)
