Ectaco SpeechGuard is a handheld interpreting device based on something used by the US military. PCWorld’s Digital Duo demonstrate it and ridicule it in a video clip. (The clip starts with an ad. Scroll down to ‘Speaking in Tongues’ if you don’t get the video first time.

If you go to the Ectaco site, there is a lot more information and there are special models, such as the Attorney SpeechGuard.

* Thousands of instructions and questions on the following topics: Appointments, Definitions, Basic Interview, Fees, Sentencing, Motor Vehicle Interview, and Criminal Interview
* English speech recognition that recognizes 700 different speech patterns and can “learn” and adapt to anyone’s voice.
* Search for single words or whole phrases.
* Easily operate your unit with a touch-screen or navigational buttons day or night!
* Access your most frequently used commands and phrases conveniently in “My SpeechGuard”.

And there is a Law Enforcement SpeechGuard:

# Have you ever pulled someone over for speeding who didn’t understand why because you don’t speak their language?
# Have you ever tried to get answers quickly to help resolve a situation and needed participation fast? Has that ever complicated the cooperation with non-English speaking civilians wanting to help you?
# Do some non-English speaking residents feel like you are not really trying to help them?
# Are you often misunderstood in ethnically diverse communities because of language barriers?
# Have you ever been frustrated waiting for a translator to arrive and assist?

bq. If you answered “YES” to any of these questions, SpeechGuard PD-4 can turn those answers into “NO”.

I’m trying to picture the SpeechGuard in one of those uncomfortable situations where a car is stopped and you wonder if someone’s going to shoot (seen too many American films).

(Thanks to Chris Durban, whose Onionskin column appears in the ITI Bulletin and the ATA Chronicle, who posted this on www.flefo.org.

From a chemist’s shop window near the Rathaus, this evening

Somehow I don’t think that when Thomas Browne wrote ‘Urn-Burial’ he was thinking of the situation in Germany. You can be cremated here but after that you have to be buried!

bq. Great princes affected great monuments; and the fair and larger urns contained no vulgar ashes, which makes that disparity in those which time discovereth among us.

An interview in Focus indicates that Saxony-Anhalt is considering relaxing this legislation. (So does that mean that the law of burial, like that of translators and interpreters, is a matter for the Länder?)

bq. Sachsen-Anhalt plant eine Novelle des Bestattungsrechts. Dabei ist vorgesehen, den Friedhofszwang für Feuerbestattungen in bundesweit bislang einzigartiger Weise zu lockern. Hinterbliebene könnten demnach die Urne mit der Asche ihres Angehörigen mit nach Hause nehmen und ins Bücherregal stellen oder im Garten vergraben.

I love the way they say people will be able to put their next of kin’s ashes on the bookshelf. This is a sort of stereotype idea of how weird it would be not to bury the ashes.

A representative of the Evangelische Landeskirche fears ‘Bestattungstourismus’ (a word that gets me 62 ghits).
(Via Handakte WebLAWg)

See photo.

This reminds me of the joke: ‘Mit ihm ist ein erstklassiger Anwalt gestorben.’ – ‘Was, zwei Männer in einem Grab?’

(Via Udo, who also links to this)

If you are going into law and can’t manage the numeracy of the last entry, you might consult this firm (did they not take part in spelling bees?)

(Thanks to Trevor)

Clemens Mayer, 19, about to start as a law student, has won the Deutsche Gedächtnismeisterschaft (German memory championships).

In 30 minutes he learnt 1040 numbers. He associates each number between 0 and 99 with a symbol – a cow, a mouse, a pen.

bq. Der angehende Jura-Student Clemens Mayer, 19, aus Brannenburg hat die Deutsche Gedächtnismeisterschaft gewonnen. Damit löste er Gunter Karsten ab, der diesen Titel sieben Mal in Folge gewann.

He also managed to associate 85 names with faces. He trains for this every day by cutting out hundreds of faces from Quelle or Otto catalogues, under each of which his mother writes a fictitious name.

I suppose it’s good mental training for both of them. I just have this picture of them sitting there with the catalogues and the scissors.

(Süddeutsche Zeitung)