TGIF: Bill The Language Guy from The Amazing Race October 17, 2008
Posted by Jill (@bonnjill) in Fun stuff.2 comments
I’ve been trying to stay away from the computer for the past couple of days to get my tendonitis flare-up under control, but I couldn’t leave you guys without the weekly video. For those non-US-based viewers, The Amazing Race is a reality show in which multiple teams race around the globe to ‘amazing’ locations for $1,000,000. It’s a big hit here in the U.S. and is now currently in Season 13. Being totally averse to anything reality-show-related, I have never seen the show, and based on this clip I know why. This guy has the audacity to think that the key to winning the race is being able to try to talk to people in their own language, even if he does it badly. The look on the cab driver’s face is worth watching the clip. Enjoy!
No idea why the link isn’t working, but click here to view it directly in YouTube.
TGIF: Maggi Buchstabensuppe October 9, 2008
Posted by Jill (@bonnjill) in Fun stuff.add a comment
And now for something a little lighter… this video seems to be making the rounds among German translators at the moment. Man, I just realized that I haven’t had alphabet soup in a long, long time. Do they even make it anymore?
I don’t think something like this would ever be allowed to air in the U.S., because all kinds of “concerned mothers” would come out of the woodwork to mount a protest (come on, you know they would!).
Even if you don’t speak German you can appreciate it with the help of the following key: Kuh=cow (as in “you stupid cow”), Depp=dork, dweeb or moron, Zicke=bitch, Idiot (should be self-explanatory). Then Hure=whore and Ruhe=Be Quiet! Enjoy.
How technology has changed things October 5, 2008
Posted by Jill (@bonnjill) in Fun stuff.add a comment
Beetle Bailey appears to be super-hip. Hi Mom, there’s no need to send me money through PayPal though…
TGIF: Fun with languages on Frasier October 2, 2008
Posted by Jill (@bonnjill) in Fun stuff.2 comments
I was telling a friend about the I Love Lucy clip the other day. She told me about this scene in Frasier, which I had completely forgotten about. It’s from “An Affair To Forget.” Niles thinks Maris is having an affair with her fencing teacher. The trouble is, he only speaks German, so Niles needs Marta the maid to translate it into Spanish so Frasier can translate it into English for him.
It leads to a fencing duel.
Happy St. Jerome Day! September 30, 2008
Posted by Jill (@bonnjill) in Fun stuff, Translation Sites.2 comments
Translators and interpreters celebrate September 30th as their day, since it is the Feast Day of the patron saint of librarians, scripture scholars, students, and of course, translators and interpreters. Eusebius Hieronymus Sophronius, better known today as Saint Jerome, was born sometime between 340 and 347 AD in Stridon, which is located on the Italian side of the modern Italian-Croatian border. He studied theology in Trier, which is one of my favorite German cities.
St. Jerome is one of the few people awarded sainthood in recognition of services rendered to the Church rather than for eminent sanctity or miracles. St. Jerome earned his place in history mainly for his translations and revisions of the Bible. He revised translations of the Gospels and the Psalms and translated the Old and New Testaments into Latin. This translation was recognized eleven centuries later by the Council of Trent as the official version of the Bible: the Vulgate.
Jerome’s humility regarding his own work set a good example for translators who followed him. He freely admitted ignorance, even embarrassment, when warranted, and revisited some of his translations, making corrections and additions. On the other hand, he also pointed out that a translation’s accuracy depended greatly on the reliability of the source text: copyists often inadvertently introduced errors, which would be compounded and passed down through the centuries.
Perhaps his most famous mistranslation put horns on Moses’s head. The original Hebrew scripture (Exodus 34) stated that when Moses descended from Mt. Sinai, he had “rays of light” coming from his head. The Hebrew word can also mean “horns,” and Jerome chose the latter meaning. This error has been perpetuated to the present in many ways. When Michelangelo sculpted a marble Moses in 1515, he relied on Jerome’s description in the Latin Vulgate translation. The resulting 235-cm-high horned statue can be seen in Rome (S. Pietro in Vincoli) today.
St. Jerome is usually depicted as a half-clad anchorite, with cross, skull and Bible for the only furniture of his cell, his red hat or some other indication of his rank somewhere in the picture. He is also often depicted with a lion, due to a medieval story in which he removed a thorn from a lion’s paw, and, less often, an owl, the symbol of wisdom and scholarship. Writing materials and the trumpet of final judgment are also part of his iconography.
St. Jerome died at Bethlehem from a long illness on September 30, 420. He is buried at St. Mary Major in Rome.
* This post was cobbled together from The Translator Interpreter Hall of Fame, Wikipedia, and here. For some fun with St. Jerome, see Sue Ellen Wright and Jost Zetzsche’s Jeromobot videos. We’ve also heard rumors that Jeromobot will be at this year’s ATA conference.
Pearls Before Swine on earworms September 29, 2008
Posted by Jill (@bonnjill) in Fun stuff.add a comment
If I didn’t know that cartoons are written days – if not weeks – ahead of time I would think the Pearls Before Swine cartoonist read my blog 🙂
TGIF: Ohrwurm September 26, 2008
Posted by Jill (@bonnjill) in Fun stuff.3 comments
One of my favorite German words is Ohrwurm. An Ohrwurm (literally: earworm) is a portion of a song or other musical material that becomes “stuck” in a person’s head or repeats against one’s will within one’s mind. One of my favorite bloggers shared this little ditty with us the other day, and I cannot get it out of my head for the life of me. She prefaced it as being “the whitest thing [she’d] seen in years.” I apologize in advance for sharing this tune with you because you will not be able to get it out of your head, but it is just too funny to not share. There is some controversy as to whether this clip and this group are actually real. According to some folks, this group really did exist in the 1970s. Even if they didn’t, this is just good stuff!
If you enjoyed it, you might also enjoy the commentary here.
TGIF: Berlitz ad – Improve your language September 26, 2008
Posted by Jill (@bonnjill) in Fun stuff, German culture.2 comments
It’s hard to top the I Love Lucy clip, but I’m going to try. This commercial is an oldie but a goodie.
For those of you who don’t speak German, the senior officer is explaining the Coast Guard equipment to the newbie. What he is saying isn’t really that important, but it’s basically “This is my sector. This is the Coast Guard’s most important piece of equipment. This device. This device.” Then something unintelligible like life-saving/survival radar or something about survival – it’s hard to tell and neither choice makes much sense grammatically. The senior officer leaves him alone at his new post and hilarity ensues in English. Enjoy!
For those of you who are interested in the German:
“Das hier ist mein Sektor. Das hier ist das wichtigste Gerät des Küstenwächters. Das Gerät und das Gerät. Überlebensradar.” [but it could be Überlebensretter – it’s difficult to hear]
Someone’s wrong September 24, 2008
Posted by Jill (@bonnjill) in Fun stuff.4 comments
If you knew my friend Susanne, who sent this to me, you would *really* appreciate the humor of this comic strip. As it is, this reminded me of the old newsgroup days, but it can also apply to any translation or non-translation-related listservs you may be on.
Blog lunch at ATA conference September 23, 2008
Posted by Jill (@bonnjill) in Fun stuff.2 comments
Corinne from Thoughts on Translation and I were talking about possibly organizing a lunch at this year’s ATA conference for fellow bloggers and those of you who read our blogs. We were thinking lunch on Thursday, the first day of the conference, would be a good choice. If you are interested in joining us, either add a comment or send us an e-mail.
Musings from an overworked translator 