This second case on a translator’s invoice is earlier. It was decided by the Oberlandesgericht Hamm (Higher Regional Court of Appeal in the civil and criminal court system)
The translation was from Spanish to German. 145 pages of transcripts of phone conversations in Spanish had to be translated for a criminal case under the Narcotics Act (Betäubungsmittelgesetz). The appeal court conceded the translator the DM 3.20 per line that the translator wanted, but again it insisted that spaces could not be included in the count. Not only was the translation urgent, but the deadline was reduced by 14 days after the translator had started working.

The ZSEG statute does not speak of remuneration for translators, but compensation (Entschädigung) for time spent. The translator was actually promised DM 3.20 per line by the Dortmund public prosecutor’s office, but the court held that such an agreement is not binding. When the translator submitted his invoice, he was at first offered only DM 2.50, which was the lowest permitted line rate plus 25% for urgency.

It is interesting, as in the last case, to read why the court thought the translation was particularly difficult and therefore accepted the translator’s higher line price. It said that the conversations were not in ‘European’, ‘easy/Castilian’ Spanish, but in Latin-American Spanish. ‘This Spanish is harder to translate, according to the applicant [the translator], and the court has no reason to doubt this’. Spanish is actually classed by the guidelines for compensating interpreters and translators as an easy language (Group A).

(Of course, many languages are equally ‘easy’ for those who speak them). Continue reading →

Two German court decisions on the Internet about translators’ charges. These are based on charges to the court itself, where the court instructed the translator and the statute ZuSEG applies.

The most recent was a decision in May 2002 by the Landesarbeitsgericht Baden-Württemberg (the court of second instance in labour law). file number is 4 Ta 18/02. The translation was of some pleadings to be served on the defendant in Portugal. The translator was successful on most points.,
One point was the rate per line. The court found a line rate higher than the minimum justified for a number of reasons: the text contained a number of legal terms of art, and the translator, ‘who is not a lawyer’, therefore has to produce a translation of a particular quality.

(But what does it matter if the translator is a lawyer or not? He or she shouldn’t be doing these translations without legal knowledge; and in addition, who says a lawyer can translate a legal text into Portuguese particularly well? – However, it’s true that to become a sworn translator you don’t have to take law as a special subject).) Continue reading →

Telepolis, magazin der netzkultur, reports on how Chinese communicate with each other in online chat rooms: Du bist ein 286 (You are a 286) by Weigui Fang. (Thanks to Ingmar Greil).

Here’s an example (my translation follows):

bq. Gestern abend kam mein GG [gege: Bruder] mit seinem GF [girl friend] zu uns zum Abendessen. Wie GG und GF bei Tisch meiner Mutter PMP [pai mapi: schmeichelten], war wirklich sehr BT [biantai: abnormal]. 7456 [Es hat mich wirklich geärgert]. Ich hab nur sehr wenig gegessen und sagte 886 [Tschüß] zu ihnen. Dann ging ich ins Internet, um mit meiner MM [meimei: Freundin/kleinen Schwester] zu chatten

bq. Yesterday evening my brother [gege: brother] and his GF [girl friend] came to have dinner with us. It was really quite BT [biantai: abnormal], the way GG and GF PMP [pai mapi: flattered] my mother at table. 7456 [It really annoyed me]. I ate very little and said 886 [Bye] to them. Then I went into the Internet to chat with my MM [meimei: girl friend / little sister.]

About 2000 new words have been invented for the Internet. If you use any method for entering characters onscreen, you will be entering pinyin or code, and you are offered a list of sets of characters to choose from. Internet chat will take, say, the second word from this list, even if it means ‘prawn’, to mean something completely different, because it’s easy to enter and they don’t expect to be needing the word ‘prawn’ in their conversation. Numbers are also used (see the example) where they sound something like the word intended.

Here’s an article on the subject in English.

bq. One of the most common Chinese Internet shorthands is 88, which reads “ba ba” in Chinese and has come to mean “bye bye”.
“If you’re in an Internet cafe and have to rush to class, it’s easier to type 88 than ‘bye’ or ‘zai jian’ (the Chinese word for goodbye),” said Zhou Xizhou, a native of Hunan Province.

The dispensing chemist’s / pharmacy, the Apotheke, is very evident in the German urban landscape. This is the one nearest my flat. Alas, no polarizing filter! At the left, deep vein thrombosis on long-haul flights; at the right, knee joints; in the centre, ticks, with a map showing where they are most common. We have few ticks in the centre of Fürth (although if the greening continues the situation might change). I am particularly worried about the gigantic folding paper ticks. Here is a link to a picture showing you how to remove a tick from your pet snake (text German).

Noel Castelino reminded me of World Wide Words, subtitled ‘Michael Quinion writes about international English from a British viewpoint’.

bq. This site is all about English words and phrases—what they mean, where they came from, how they have evolved, and sometimes the ways in which people misuse them.

It now has over 1350 pages, including some on the latest entries, on weird words, book reviews and an excellent set of links to other language sites.

There is a good summary of the 1999 Civil Procedure Rules changes to legal language, about which many English>German translators are still not informed. I must say, though, that I prefer to use plaintiff to translate Kläger unless I know the client wants claimant.

While I’m on the subject: I’ve mentioned Word Spy, a site about new English words, before, but it didn’t get a separate entry.