Musings from an overworked translator

TGIF: The thawing of the Queen April 3, 2009

I wasn’t going to put up a video today, but this just cracks me up. Queen Elizabeth II has always been quite prim and proper, but she has really been letting her hair down in the past few days. It wouldn’t surprise me if next we’ll hear she hosted a kegger for the G20 leaders.

First, she actually puts her arm around First Lady Michelle Obama:

And then she expresses irritation at the behavior of Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi:

It’s like aliens have invaded her body 🙂

TGIF: Everything’s amazing but nobody’s happy March 27, 2009

It’s amazing how quickly the week slips away. I was busy doing nothing for the first half and got slammed with work again towards the end of the week. I honestly had wanted to write more than one proper post this week. I’m amazed it’s already Friday. I will be working again over the weekend, so I suppose I shouldn’t truly be celebrating the fact that it’s Friday…

But it *is* Friday and that means it’s time for another video. This one made me really laugh. It’s not at all language-related, but I am confident we can all relate. Technology has been improving at an amazingly fast rate. I remember having a “party line” as a kid. No, it wasn’t one of those 1-900 chat line numbers. We shared a phone line with the neighbor across the street. That meant we had to lift the receiver to see if someone was on there and wait until they were done to make our call. If you had an emergency and needed to call home and your neighbor was on the line you had to have the operator break into the call. Yes, that was back in the day when they still employed people to help you make phone calls. All this on a rotary phone, so I particularly enjoyed his intro. In fact, my nieces were fascinated by my parents’ rotary phone when they were really young. They’ve outgrown it now – just like we have. I hope you enjoy this clip!

Click on it twice to pull it up on Youtube.

Bonus TGIF: Spielberg interview (TV Total) – oops! Lucas March 20, 2009

Fidusinterpres, a German and English to Portuguese translator who lives about a half hour outside of Bonn, just shared the best video clip on his blog, and I had to share it with you all. N24 needs to hire an interpreter who has actually seen Star Wars. Unbelievable! The interpreter translated the famous phrase “May the force be with you” (Möge die Macht mit dir sein) as “Am vierten Mai sind wir bei Ihnen” (May the 4th be with you – or more precisely We’ll be with you on the 4th). Unbelievable! This may only be funny for German speakers, but give it a try.

I love Stefan Raab. His hit show TV Total premiered while I still lived in Germany, and I always enjoyed watching it. I think he’s just hilarious. He plays with the German language really well. I have a copy of his hit single “Maschendrahtzaun” in my CD case. It was based on a reality TV court show in which the plaintiff had a very strong East German accent. The poor woman was completely overwhelmed with the PR and fans outside her house at the time, but the song was a huge hit.

TGIF: My Internet’s Gone Down March 19, 2009

I have a friend coming to visit tomorrow, so I’ll be busy cleaning when I’m not frantically translating my massive survey. I thought I’d post the Friday video a little early tonight so I don’t forget.

This is a cute video about the horror we all fear: losing our Internet connection. I know I for one go into serious withdrawal when my Internet has gone down. Enjoy!

TGIF: Beauty is nothing without brains March 13, 2009

Here’s a bonus TGIF video to brighten your day. It isn’t language-related, but since most translators I know love books I figure this is related enough. It made me giggle, and that’s really all that matters, right? Enjoy!

TGIF: Emma Thompson to the rescue March 13, 2009

This clip from Césars 2009 (France’s version of The Oscars) is one of those edge-of-your-seat clips, but not for the reason you would think. You don’t need to understand French to appreciate it, although I’m sure the French speakers will enjoy it more for the humor of the presenter. You only need to watch about the first 1:45 or so to see why I named this post what I did.

TGIF: Berlitz La Bamba March 6, 2009

It’s Friday. That means it’s time for another language-related video. This time it’s the Spanish fraction’s turn to enjoy a little humor (well, actually everyone because this is a pretty well-known ad even amongst those of us who don’t know Spanish). This Berlitz ad was a Cannes Lion finalist and won a silver medal at Epica 2006. Enjoy!