TGIF: The Tale of Mr. Morton June 19, 2009
Posted by Jill (@bonnjill) in Fun stuff, TGIF.add a comment
This is the Tale of Mr. Morton… featuring predicates. I bet only a few of you English native speakers can explain what a predicate is. I know I couldn’t until I looked it up. It’s been over twenty years since I truly studied the fine details of English grammar. The predicate is basically the rest of a sentence apart from the subject. As Wikipedia so succinctly explains, “a predicate is one of the two main parts of a sentence (the other being the subject, which the predicate modifies)… The predicate must contain a verb, and the verb requires, permits or precludes other sentence elements to complete the predicate. These elements are: objects (direct, indirect, prepositional), predicatives (aka predicate complements: subject complements and object complements) and adverbials (either obligatory or adjuncts).”
This Schoolhouse Rock clip first aired in December 1993 and features Jack Sheldon, who was a frequent contributor to Schoolhouse Rock. As I’ve said before, he sang most of my favorite Schoolhouse Rock clips, including Conjunction Junction and the wonderful I’m Just A Bill.
Have a great weekend, everyone! I’ll be offline, because I will be walking a total of 30 miles (17 on Saturday, 13 on Sunday) in preparation for the Breast Cancer 3-Day. I am training to walk 60 miles in 3 days from July 31-August 2. We are just ending Week 7 in the training plan. I have raised $2780 so far. And if you want to donate to my walk I certainly won’t say no 🙂
Give it a couple shakes… June 18, 2009
Posted by Jill (@bonnjill) in Fun stuff.3 comments
Maybe it’s because I’m not quite awake yet, having worked late last night to get a good chunk of my e-learning modules finished (only 2200 words to go, so I’ll be finished with it today – YAY!), but this morning’s Adam@Home made me chuckle enough to want to share it with you all. The backstory is that he and the kids are cleaning out the basement this summer. There have been lots of jokes about procrastination, etc. I think you’ll see why I thought this one was worth sharing. I think I have a typewriter in my basement too. I’ll be sure to give it a couple shakes…
Wonder and amazement in Antwerp’s Central Station June 15, 2009
Posted by Jill (@bonnjill) in Fun stuff.1 comment so far
My first experience overseas was when I studied in Salzburg, Austria back in 1989. Salzburg is of course where they filmed huge portions of the Sound of Music, so it – and the movie – has always had a special place in my heart. Train stations are the same no matter where you are, so I can only imagine the bewilderment these people experienced. This is just a really cool video. Not necessarily TGIF worthy, but consider it a little bonus to brighten your week. And think about how you might react if this had happened where you were. It is a promotion stunt in the Central Station of Antwerp for a Belgian television program, where they are looking for someone to play the leading role in the musical of “The Sound of Music”. Apparently they only had two rehearsals. Quite impressive…
TGIF: Busy Prepositions June 12, 2009
Posted by Jill (@bonnjill) in Fun stuff, TGIF.1 comment so far
It’s Friday, and you all know what that means – TGIF video time. I want to apologize for my lack of posts in the last few weeks. I have been working on a large project. I just submitted the fourth batch of files today. The job is supposed to end in the next few weeks and will then hopefully start back up in July. That leaves little time for things like housecleaning, spending time with Lily and blogging. I need to get better at managing my time. I’m sick of living in a pig sty :-). I’m planning on spending today cleaning, doing laundry, washing the floors and finishing up odd chores – in addition to a little translating.
We are coming to the end of the Schoolhouse Rock videos on grammar. I don’t know about you, but I have really been enjoying this little trip down memory lane. I have even had the opportunity to share them with my 4 and 6 year old nieces when I babysat them, and they now ask to see them again when they see me. These songs are so catchy that I still can sing along – and it’s probably been 35 years. These last two, Busy Prepositions and The Tale of Mr. Morton, aired in 1993. Even if they are more recent they are still catchy. I will post the one that started it all – Interjections – to end the series.
I hope you all have a great weekend!
There are no kangaroos in Austria! June 8, 2009
Posted by Jill (@bonnjill) in Fun stuff.3 comments
This became a well-worn joke during my Academic Year Abroad in Salzburg, Austria back in 1989. So much so that I have a twenty-year-old t-shirt with the above slogan. Sadly, it really is true that folks confuse Austria and Australia, because one of my letters that year arrived months later because it had been directed to Australia by one well-meaning yet inept postal worker. So it really made me chuckle to see this Adam@Home comic in my e-mail in box this morning.
TGIF: Unpack your adjectives June 5, 2009
Posted by Jill (@bonnjill) in Fun stuff, TGIF.1 comment so far
There are nine Schoolhouse Rock – Grammar Rock videos in total. We are getting down to the end. Today’s video is on adjectives and features Blossom Dearie on vocals. According to Wikipedia, “Blossom Dearie was an American jazz singer and pianist, often performing in the bebop genre and known for her distinctive girlish voice.” A camping theme is used in this video to describe adjectives. As we all know, adjectives are words that describe or modify another person or thing in the sentence. I personally love the turtle. He’s adorable. I hope you enjoy this one and have a great weekend!
A treat (or not…) for you French speakers… June 3, 2009
Posted by Jill (@bonnjill) in Fun stuff.5 comments
Wow, this is too good to wait for Friday to post. Thanks to my fellow translators on Twitter for tweeting about it this morning. The French language version of the trailer for Coco Avant Chanel (the upcoming biopic of legendary fashion designer Coco Chanel) starring Audrey Tatou was released today, but the subtitled American version doesn’t come out for a few weeks. Videogum asked a “high school freshman with one and a half semesters of introductory French” (and absolutely no ear for the English language) to translate it for them and posted the results. I can’t figure out how to embed the video in WordPress, so you need to click on the link. Believe me – it’s worth it. I don’t understand French at all but even I enjoyed reading the subtitles. And now I’m looking forward to the movie coming out. It looks good – and hopefully the subtitles will be much better than these. Enjoy!
TGIF: Bad translations May 28, 2009
Posted by Jill (@bonnjill) in Fun stuff, Random musings, TGIF.10 comments
Today is the one year anniversary of this blog. With this post, I have published 301 posts in the last year. Wow, that’s a lot of random musings and TGIF videos! I hope they amused and helped you. I would like to thank all my subscribers and readers for finding me and sharing your insight in the Comments. I have said several times that I think the Comments are the best part of a blog. Without them it would just be me nattering on about all kinds of things – and who cares about that.This site is all about community- let’s keep it growing! So thanks for sharing the last year with me! It’s been a blast, and I’ve enjoyed every minute of it.
And to those of you who have stumbled on my blog doing searches on German men, German culture, word count, 1099 questions, international banking, etc., thanks for stopping by and come back soon!
But it’s also Friday, so I hope you enjoy this slide show of bad translations.
TGIF: Lauren gets worked up over her French exam May 22, 2009
Posted by Jill (@bonnjill) in Fun stuff, TGIF.add a comment
I interrupt the regularly scheduled Schoolhouse Rock videos on grammar to share this fun little video clip. Here is another hilarious moment from Catherine Tate’s BBC comedy sketch show. You might remember I posted her sketch as an interpreter who interpreted 7 languages back in July. Thanks to Sarah Dillon for tweeting about it a few weeks ago.
Those of us in the United States will be celebrating Memorial Day on Monday; however, just about every translator I know will be working that day. Ah, the life of a freelancer… Business has really picked up in the last week or so for just about everyone I have talked with, so maybe, just maybe, we’ve seen the bottom of our recession. I hope you all enjoy the weekend and the video!
TGIF: Lolly, Lolly, Lolly, Get Your Adverbs Here May 14, 2009
Posted by Jill (@bonnjill) in Fun stuff, TGIF.add a comment
Following the theme of Schoolhouse Rock videos on grammar (we’re getting close to the end now!), here is the classic clip on adverbs, Lolly, Lolly, Lolly, Get Your Adverbs Here. This clip first aired in 1974. If you have problems understanding the lyrics, you can find them here. My dad used to drill the fact that adverbs usually ended in -ly into my sister and my head growing up, so I’m a big fan of adverbs.
As Wikipedia explains:
An adverb is a part of speech. It is any word that modifies any other part of language: verbs, adjectives (including numbers), clauses, sentences and other adverbs, except for nouns; modifiers of nouns are primarily determiners and adjectives. Adverbs typically answer questions such as how?” (or “in what way?), when?, where?, why? and to what extent?. They often end in -ly.
As Schoolhouse Rock explains:
An adverb is a word… (That’s all it is, and there’s a lot of ’em!)
That modifies a verb… (Sometimes a verb! Sometimes…)
It modifies an adjective,
Or else another adverb.
And so you see that it’s positively, very, very, necessary.
Enjoy – and have a great weekend!
Musings from an overworked translator 