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!
Lost in translation at My Allrecipes May 11, 2009
Posted by Jill (@bonnjill) in Fun stuff, Translation.3 comments
One of my former students posted this amusing anecdote to the Kentlingua listserv tonight. A woman wanted to send two recipes to her boyfriend’s mother in Costa Rica and took the easy way out.
A few weeks ago, I made a chicken dish for Carlos that he loved. After the first bite, he told me it was so good, would I mind sending the recipe to his mother in Costa Rica? I only speak conversational Spanish, but I thought what the heck, I would try to translate it to English before I sent it. How hard could that be, right?
Machine translation strikes again, but this time at least the person who used the online translator is embarrassed of the results 🙂 Enjoy!
TGIF: Schoolhouse Rock – Rufus Xavier Sarsparilla May 7, 2009
Posted by Jill (@bonnjill) in Fun stuff, TGIF.1 comment so far
This particular Schoolhouse Rock clip on pronouns is a personal favorite. It first aired in 1977. Jack Sheldon must have practiced for weeks in order to sing this song. Jack Sheldon is a trumpet player, vocalist, and all-around great entertainer. He sang most of my favorite Schoolhouse Rock clips, including Conjunction Junction and the wonderful “I’m Just A Bill.” I promise his songs will stick with you. They are very catchy. Enjoy!
Now, I have a friend named Rufus Xavier Sarsaparilla,
And I could say that Rufus found a kangaroo
That followed Rufus home
And now that kangaroo belongs
To Rufus Xavier Sarsaparilla.
Whew! I could say that, but I don’t have to,
‘Cause I got pronouns,
I can say, “HE found a kangaroo that followed HIM home and now IT is HIS”
You see, (uh) HE, HIM, and HIS are pronouns,
Replacing the noun
Rufus Xavier Sarsaparilla,
A very proper noun.
And IT is a pronoun, replacing the noun, kangaroo!
New blog on the blogroll: Mox’s Blog May 6, 2009
Posted by Jill (@bonnjill) in Fun stuff, Translation Sites.6 comments
There’s a new translation blog (Mox’s Blog) out there that has a unique approach that sets it apart – he’s a cartoonist and translator who draws translation-related cartoons. I just discovered the blog yesterday and have enjoyed his past cartoons. The translator behind Mox’s Blog is Alejandro Moreno-Ramos. Alejandro lives in Madrid, Spain and is an electromechanical engineer and English-French to Spanish translator. His main character Mox “is a young but well educated translator with two PhDs, six languages… and he hardly earns the minimum wage.” You know – a typical translator :-). I have taken the liberty to post my favorite cartoon here, but I urge you to subscribe to this very amusing blog.
Happy Day after Cinco de Cuatro May 5, 2009
Posted by Jill (@bonnjill) in Fun stuff, Random musings.add a comment
Yesterday President Obama greeted a White House crowd gathered for a May 4 celebration of Cinco de Mayo, the Mexican holiday honoring an upset military victory over the French, whose troops didn’t do so well in North America and don’t celebrate the same day much. In a well-intentioned attempt at Spanish and a joke about being a day early, Obama said: “Bienvenidos. Welcome to Cinco de Cuatro — (laughter) — Cinco de Mayo at the White House. We are a day early, but we always like to get a head start here at the Obama White House.” As most of us with any semblance of language skills know, he wasn’t saying “Happy May 4th.” He was saying, “Happy fifth of fourth.” He should have said, “Feliz cuatro de mayo.”
Well, you’ve got to give him points for trying…
TGIF: Bonus video – MADtv parody on Schoolhouse Rock April 30, 2009
Posted by Jill (@bonnjill) in Fun stuff, TGIF.2 comments
I just discovered this funny parody of the Schoolhouse Rock video I posted last week on nouns. Be sure to watch the original to refresh your memory before watching this to truly enjoy it. MADtv is Emmy Award winning American sketch comedy television series that made/makes fun of just about anything it can in American pop culture. It aired from 1995 to 2008 on Fox and is in syndication on the Comedy Channel. It is currently looking for a new TV station to continue airing its shows.
Musings from an overworked translator 