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 KĂĽstenwächters. Das Gerät und das Gerät. Ăśberlebensradar.” [but it could be Ăśberlebensretter – 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.
TGIF: You too can learn another language September 19, 2008
Posted by Jill (@bonnjill) in Fun stuff, Random musings.1 comment so far
Just like the goldfish clip from about a month ago, this ad with the bilingual cat and the lazy dog makes me laugh. This would never happen at my house. My dog barks at anyone who even walks on the sidewalk across the street – except for the Animal Control guy who was going to put out a trap to catch the skunk that sprayed my dog last Saturday. He left because Lily didn’t bark when he pulled up, so I didn’t know he was there (my doorbell isn’t working at the moment, but I don’t get many visitors so I don’t feel the need to run right out and fix it).
Yes, I’m in a run-on sentence kind of mood today…
Garfield has an interpreter September 18, 2008
Posted by Jill (@bonnjill) in Fun stuff.add a comment
Garfield has never been on the cutting edge of language humor, so this comic strip is especially enjoyable for those of us in the T&I sector. Common themes in the strip include Garfield’s laziness, obsessive eating, and hatred of Mondays and diets, his abuse of Jon’s dog Odie, or how inept with women Jon is. The strip’s focus is mostly on the interactions between Garfield, his owner Jon, and Odie (my personal favorite). Recurring minor characters such as the mice Garfield refuses to chase or Garfield’s vet appear as well.
Postscript: Top 10 rules for working from home September 17, 2008
Posted by Jill (@bonnjill) in Fun stuff.add a comment
Apropos working from home, Sarah from There’s Something About Translation had the most hilarious link about a week ago to a post on new media producer Ian MacKenzie’s blog called The Home Office: Fact or Fiction, contrasting what home office workers want you to think they are doing with what they are actually doing. If you haven’t seen it you simply must check it out!
Beetle Bailey: can you translate that? September 17, 2008
Posted by Jill (@bonnjill) in Fun stuff, Translation Sites.add a comment
Since the Speed Bump comic strip was so well-received, I thought I’d share this Beetle Bailey comic strip with you all. For those of you who aren’t familiar with Beetle Bailey, Beetle made his comic-strip debut as a college cutup in 1950 in a mere 50 newspapers. He accidentally enlisted in the Army during the Korean War and has been in the Army ever since. Most of the humor revolves around the mostly inept characters stationed at Camp Swampy. Private Bailey is a pretty lazy soldier who usually naps and avoids work, and thus is often the subject of verbal and physical abuse from his Sergeant.
Translate some scoop for E! Online September 13, 2008
Posted by Jill (@bonnjill) in Fun stuff, Random musings, Translation Sites.add a comment
It’s the weekend, so I am going to post something really fun yet still translation-related. Those of you who know me personally know that I am a big fan of TV. I enjoy numerous shows – just not reality TV – when and if I find the time to watch them. I usually download them and catch up on weekends or whenever I get a chance (like once the season is over). I just caught up on Heroes Season Two and plan to finally start Ugly Betty Season One tomorrow. It’s supposed to rain all weekend. Perfect “vegging out” weather.
Anyway, the point of this post is… Kristin at E! Online interviewed four actors from the TV show Heroes and had them answer in Japanese, Spanish, Korean and French, respectively. Apparently a fan asked the cast to describe the new season in one word at this year’s ComicCon. When it came time for Masi Oka’s (the adorable Hiro) turn, Milo Ventimiglia whispered something in his ear, and Masi answered the question in Japanese. Several weeks later at the Heroes season three premiere party (last night), the E! Online interviewer asked him to tell them in Japanese what was so great about season three, and he then proceeded to give the entire interview in Japanese. The interviewer was inspired and then asked three other bilingual actors to answer in their languages, and now the readers at E! Online have been challenged to translate the answers to find out the “scoop” on Season Three.
Someone was able to translate the Spanish and French (somewhat), but if you want to enlighten them or smooth it out it might be kind of fun. How cool is it that the show is so multicultural? They manage to effortlessly integrate the Japanese dialog with English subtitles without the American audience rebelling (probably a first since the average American doesn’t like subtitles – yes, I’m being sarcastic). OK, the Korean actor plays a Japanese guy, but still it’s a start to America embracing globalization… Every little step counts.
Musings from an overworked translator 