Oktoberfest! September 19, 2008
Posted by Jill (@bonnjill) in German culture, Random musings.1 comment so far
Thank goodness it’s Friday, and I’m taking a road trip to Cincinnati for the Zinzinnati Oktoberfest, which is proclaimed to be the world’s second largest celebration of Prince Ludwig’s wedding by the Guinness Book of Records. Having attended the Oktoberfest in Munich in 1997, I look forward to comparing the two. Hopefully there will be fewer drunk Italians in Cincinnati – although I have a feeling there will be just as many drunk Americans there. 🙂
The history of Oktoberfest dates back to the year 1820 when Bavarian Crown Prince Ludwig I decided to marry Saxony Princess Therese and organized a great holiday on the 12th of October. He invited all the residents of the city to join the celebration. The holiday was repeated at the same date the following year, and very soon it became a tradition.
The most common question I usually get asked is why Oktoberfest is celebrated in September. The date of the festival was changed near the end of the 19th century so it can be celebrated while it is still warm out. The Munich Oktoberfest takes place during the sixteen days up to and including the first Sunday in October. It is one of the most famous events in the city and the world’s largest fair, with some six million people attending every year, and is an important part of Bavarian culture. Bavarians and lots of foreign guests drink about 6 million liters of beer, consume approx. 1 million chickens, approx. 400 thousand wurst and sausages and other local cuisine, such as Käsespätzle (spaetzel mixed with melted cheese and onions), roast ox tail, and Kartoffelpuffer (potato pancakes). Thirty percent o
f all the beer produced by Bavarian breweries is consumed during this festival.
The Oktoberfest is a lot more than just eating and drinking. You may be surprised to hear that there are lots of amusement park rides and souvenir vendors as well. There are currently fourteen main tents at the Oktoberfest. The tents themselves are non-permanent structures that are constructed for and only used during the festival. The beer (or wine or champagne) served in each is brought to an accompanying table by women in Dirndl (traditional Bavarian dress). These women can carry up to 12 heavy Maßkrüge (a Maßkrug (aka Maß) is a 1-liter beer mug, plural: Maßkrüge) at once. It’s amazing. Seating can be hard to come by, because many people reserve space in tents up to a year in advance. More than 6 million people come to the Oktoberfest, and there are only about 100,000 available seats. If you want a seat, come a little later in the day or try your luck in one of the tents without a line, like the Spaten or Hippodrom tents.
You should fight the urge to take one of the Maßkrug home with you. The Maßkrüge are made from heavy glass – really heavy glass so they are not a good souvenir for backpackers! – and typically have a decorative brewery logo on the side, making them very popular souvenirs among visitors. Although it is strictly forbidden to steal the mugs, they can be purchased in the tents at a “reasonable” price. Buyers are strongly advised to keep the receipts because police are known to search them for stolen mugs even away from the fest area. When police catch someone stealing a mug, the thieves may be fined up to €50. There is also a general Oktoberfest souvenir mug that features that year’s Oktoberfest poster. This one is made of clay instead of glass and is available with a tin lid.
For those of you heading to the Oktoberfest in Munich, here is a fun little Wiesn dictionary for you. I’ll miss the tapping in Cincinnati, but in just a few hours many people will be hearing O’zapft is! (it’s tapped!) in Munich.
9/22/08: For photos of our weekend at the Zinzinnati Oktoberfest, click here! Unfortunately, the sausage in Cincinnati is sadly lacking. They consider Weisswurst to be a Brat and sell something called Mett, which is nothing like the Mettwurst I am familiar with in Germany. German Mett is raw minced pork and is usually served on bread rolls (Mettbrötchen) or sliced bread, frequently with a garnish of raw onion rings or diced. Not my cup of tea, but my sister loved it. Cincinnati’s Mett is more like a kielbasa. The pastries like Bienenstich, chocolate mousse cake or Schmidt’s Jumbo Cream Puffs were to die for though! And of course the beer was awesome! One gem is the Hofbräuhaus in Newport, just across the river. I felt like I was at my favorite beer garden in Germany (Schaumburger Hof). There were even real Germans there 🙂 It’s an absolute must for German culture fans! I’ll definitely be back!
Top 10 rules for working from home September 17, 2008
Posted by Jill (@bonnjill) in Business practices, Random musings.10 comments
In these days of high gas prices and rising living expenses in general, telecommuting is a hot topic. Many people aspire to work from home, which offers you the freedom to tailor your hours around childcare and cut out unnecessary travel and clothing expenses, office distractions and the need to work 9-5. We translators are ahead of the game, so to speak. Here are my top 10 rules for working from home.
1. Set office hours and stick to them.
The beauty of working from home is you can work whenever it suits you, but it is easy to drift away and do other things – or just the opposite, work the whole day. Decide on a set schedule and stick with it. Keep a log if you have to. You might want to kick-start your day by taking a walk around the block or scheduling a shower at 9 a.m. and then getting to work.
2. Get dressed.
It is hard to feel efficient when talking to a potential customer in your pajamas. I’m not advocating wearing a blouse and a skirt or a suit and tie, but at least lose the pajamas. My favorite organizational guru, FlyLady, insists that you should always “get dressed to lace up shoes” when you first get up in the morning. This means fix your hair and face too. According to FlyLady, “you act different when you have clothes and shoes on.” As for why the shoes should be laced, “putting shoes on your feet that lace up are better than slip-ons or sandals, because they are harder to take off. Instead of kicking your shoes off for a quick snooze on the couch, you actually have to go to a bit more trouble.”
3. Avoid the television during your office hours.
I know this seems like a given, but I have heard from several colleagues who had trouble managing their time in the beginning because they were watching their soaps instead of sending out resumes to potential clients. It is so easy to get sucked into a television program and put off your work – especially if you do not have a looming deadline. Keep the TV off during your office hours or be very regimented about turning it off after a scheduled break. I love Law and Order marathons as much as the next person, but I don’t watch them if I have a looming deadline.
4. Create a separate office space.
Ideally this is a separate room, with a door you can shut at the end of your office hours. If you haven’t got enough space, think carefully about where you want to work. Keeping a computer in the corner of your bedroom is not a good idea. Bedrooms should be a place to unwind and relax – not have a constant reminder that you can quickly check your e-mail. If you have to, partition a space off in the living room or dining room with a screen.
4. Plan your day.
Make a to-do list and do things in order of importance. Keep up with your e-mail. Answer e-mail as soon as you can before it becomes overwhelming. Make the difficult calls when you are starting your day, because putting them off and dreading them can sap your energy all day.
5. Have a clutter-free desk.
Think of your desk as a place of action. At the end of each day, put everything away and update your job board. I love starting each day with a clear desk. Keep the minimum of essential items such as pens and a few stationery supplies on your desk. Try and work on one project at a time so you can keep focused.
6. Don’t let post-its clutter up your desk.
If you have too many post-its you will start ignoring them. Keep a notebook or log to record phone calls on rather than post-its and scraps of paper.
7. File stuff away as soon as you can.
Invest in a filing cabinet and personalize your filing system. Also, does it really need to be in alphabetical order? Why not file the items chronologically at the front of a folder? I have four files for each business year and file invoices, bank statements, pay stubs, bills, etc. in chronological order. More on this another day.
8. Turn off the lights and close the office door at the end of the day.
It is so easy to keep the computer on and check the e-mail before you go to bed. One of my colleagues does not answer her phone outside her business hours, which she clearly states on her answering machine message. It isn’t healthy to be accessible 24/7. Our customers don’t usually work 24/7, so they shouldn’t expect you to.
9. Communicate your boundaries with your customers.
If you get up at 5 a.m. so you are available to take your kids to school or are a night owl, let your customers know. My customers know I do not get in the office until 10 a.m. because I work best later in the day. I also avoid working with customers who don’t respect boundaries. Unless they have a valid reason for doing so and are in a life-and-death emergency situation, if an agency calls me at 3 a.m., 8 p.m. on a Friday night or even Sunday night (these examples have all happened to me at one time or another) I cross them off my mental list of customers. If the customer’s expectations are unrealistic tell them and explain why.
10. Be sure you get some “me time.”
Take weekends or a couple days during the week off. Schedule time to exercise. Get a monthly massage. Take a walk in the park a couple days a week. Down time is so important.
If you follow these 10 simple rules you will find working from home to be more enjoyable and rewarding than it would be otherwise. Give it a try and see for yourself. Did I miss something? Tell me in the comments!
Watch your back – what is YOUR back-up system? September 15, 2008
Posted by Jill (@bonnjill) in Business practices, Random musings.9 comments
Cleveland got hit with the remnants of Ike yesterday. We had sustained winds of 40 mph and gusts of 50-60 mph for several hours, some rain, and lots of downed trees and power lines. The lights flickered a couple times here, so I decided to turn off my computer and settle in with a good book. Before I did, I e-mailed the translation I was working on to my Gmail account – just in case I needed to go somewhere else to access and work on it today, because it is due at EOB.
Luckily I didn’t lose power, but 336,000 people in the Cleveland area did. It got me to thinking about back-up systems. I used to back up on a zip drive back in Germany. Now I have an external hard drive. I have it set to automatically back up my files at midnight every night, because I usually have my computer on but am watching TV. Unfortunately it hasn’t worked in about a year. I tried to update the driver and reinstall it recently when I had some down time, but the thing is just an expensive paperweight at the moment. I need to buy a new one, and I think this week will finally be the time I do it.
It is also really important to keep a copy of your important files off-site in case of a power outage, flood, fire, etc. I know this and yet I rarely do it. Jost Zetzsche, who writes the biweekly newsletter for translators called The Tool Kit (if you don’t subscribe, I highly recommend you do – lots of good information about translation tools and other issues!), mentioned once that he stores his external hard drive in his car. As I said before, my off-site back-up system consists solely of me mailing files to my Gmail account. I used this more when I was teaching at Kent State and would e-mail the PowerPoint presentation and files I needed that day just in case my zip drive didn’t work. There are plenty of off-site file storage sites out there like RSync or Global Datavault (just to name the first two hits on Google), but there are so many it is hard to choose. Plus, most of them cater to big companies and not one-man operations. If you can recommend any that don’t cost an arm and a leg, I would love to hear about them!
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.
Freelance rule no. 1: Never rely on one or two clients September 11, 2008
Posted by Jill (@bonnjill) in Business practices, Random musings, Translation Sites.1 comment so far
I mentioned in my post two days ago that I had gossiped/chatted with several colleagues that day. Well, one of them was telling me that one of my former clients had lost his government contract and dissolved his agency a while back. This morning I was chatting with another colleague who reminded me how lucky I had been by not accepting his offer of full-time employment with his agency. I had completely forgotten all about it, because I always get one or two offers of full-time employment at every ATA conference. My colleague’s comment was “I can see why you stress having many clients over just one….but then that’s life for most folks employed by one employer….”
I learned this lesson indirectly when I was working in Germany. The agency I worked for relied too much on Microsoft and got into some financial difficulties when Microsoft started paying later and later. Instead of shopping around for new clients the owner ended up selling the agency to a bigger agency, which in turn sold it to an even bigger agency. By then the agency I had worked for was unrecognizable. Luckily I had left before the owner sold the agency. By the second sale, many of my colleagues who still worked there were forced to either move almost 100 km away or find employment elsewhere.
Work with the agency from the first paragraph dried up a year or so ago, and now I know why. Having enough other clients, it really didn’t bother me, and I hadn’t given it another thought. I knew it wasn’t the quality of my work, because he had obviously been impressed enough to want to hire me. Working in-house simply isn’t for me. I love the freedom and excitement of freelancing too much. It isn’t for everyone, but it can be very rewarding if you are well-suited for it.
A good general rule of thumb is to have about 7 A and B clients (for a good explanation of what an A and B client is, see Some thoughts on setting goals at Thoughts on Translation). That way if one of your A or B clients starts paying late or gets bought by another, less-than-reputable agency it isn’t that much of a blow to your pocketbook. I also get regularly contacted by new agencies who found my listing on the ATA website or on ProZ.com. I consider them C and D clients and am always willing to give them a try if I have the time and the project is interesting or in one of my chosen fields. Because they could end up to be A or B clients who pay even better than existing clients.
The only constant in life is change. Freelancing is by and large always about constant change. Every day we get new and different texts to translate. Our client base should also be fluid and constantly changing and improving.
Things are kind of quiet on the home front September 9, 2008
Posted by Jill (@bonnjill) in Business practices, Random musings.1 comment so far
I’ve been enjoying a couple of slow days, and that is why I haven’t been posting much in the past couple of days (unlike Corinne who has been a blogging machine… 🙂 ). I got a small job this morning that I finished in about 15 minutes. I charged my minimum rate, so I did pretty well for 15 minutes’ work. I met a friend for lunch and treated myself afterward to a latte at the café down the street. I spent the rest of the day cleaning up my office, shredding some old documents, catching up on my e-mail, buying the new electronic version of Dietl/Lorenz Dictionary of Legal, Commercial and Political Terms, updating my LinkedIn profile, and reading Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris (the HBO series True Blood, which premiered Sunday night, is based on her Southern vampire/Sookie Stackhouse books, and I had forgotten who the murderer was so I decided to reread it). Her books are addicting and light reads that you simply can’t put down. I also gossiped/chatted with several colleagues about various things, so I know I’m not the only one having a slow week.
When you are a freelancer you have to take advantage of the lulls, because there isn’t usually a lot of down time. When things are a little slow you have the chance to install software updates you’ve downloaded but not gotten around to installing, organize and archive the files on your computer, import some glossaries into your Multiterm termbase, buy that dictionary you’ve been meaning to order, and finish those little things that have been languishing on the To Do list for a couple weeks. I use a To Do list on iGoogle to keep track of appointments I want to make, phone calls I need to return, and things I need/want to buy. It really helps me remember things. If tomorrow is slow I have a list of things I want to do, but if I don’t have the time it isn’t that big a deal. Because chances are I am going to wake up tomorrow morning and have three translation requests in my in box.
Message to LotNommodo September 7, 2008
Posted by Jill (@bonnjill) in Random musings.1 comment so far
You are wasting your time spamming my blog with your advertising. WordPress uses Akismet to catch comment spam from ever posting to a blog and even if it didn’t I approve comments from unknown users. I doubt you are ever going to read this, but I wanted to give it a shot seeing as you spammed my blog with just under 40 comment spams today. I can’t imagine anyone makes any money doing comment spam. Comment spam and trackbacks generally use bad English and consist of a long list of links and unrelated words. Thank you WordPress for using Akismet!
Does Google sell its users’ personal data? September 7, 2008
Posted by Jill (@bonnjill) in Random musings.3 comments
According to the German magazine Stern it does. Stern bought several data packets that contained several hundred address lists for 1.50 euros plus value-added tax. For another 12 cents they bought the user’s telephone number. They called up the people on the lists (just as an advertiser who buys the information would) and told them everything they knew about them and where they had gotten the information. Needless to say people were pissed.
The fact that Germany has very strict laws regarding the protection of personal data (the Bundesdatenschutzgesetz) does not seem to matter – or apply. The problem is that names, addresses, birth dates, occupations and other criteria can be freely bought and sold as long as the customer does not expressly oppose it. How can they oppose it if they aren’t aware it is happening?
The Schober Information Group is an information broker near Stuttgart. It compiles information such as age group, gender, size of your household and income from the 50 million entries of private individuals. All you apparently need is an e-mail address and some cash to buy access to the information. Advertisers (really, anyone – even identity thieves) can use the Schober Information Group search engine to pinpoint specific target groups. Approximately 400 employees sort and organize the flood of data at Schober. The company earned 140 million euros in sales last year.
To quote the article (my translation):
Cookies can lead to real names
Companies such as U.S.-based Doubleclick even track the browsing behavior of a user over several websites with the help of cookies. With technical finesse, the company saves its results in a single cookie and passes it on to advertisers. Google not only uses cookies in its search engines, but also links them with real names if the user has an e-mail account with Googlemail [a.k.a. Gmail]. The company also scans the contents of e-mails in order to gather comprehensive files over its customers and load suitable advertisements. Wouldn’t it be dreadful if Google and Doubleclick were to work together? It happened a long time ago – Google bought the company last year for 3.1 billion dollars
I don’t know about you, but it bothers me that information brokers like Schober and advertisers can buy my information from Google and Gmail. If this is happening in Germany you know full well it is also happening here in the U.S. And it isn’t just online sources. Every time you swipe your credit card, use one of your customer cards (such as a CVS card to get a good deal on nail polish or buy one vitamin get one free, just two examples from this week’s circular), fill out a sweepstakes form, or buy something online more and more information is being collected. There doesn’t appear to be anything anyone can do about it. Big Brother is watching you…
Dear Germany: Eine Amerikanerin in Deutschland September 5, 2008
Posted by Jill (@bonnjill) in Fun stuff, German culture, Random musings.10 comments
I am reading the most fantastic book, which I received as a birthday gift from one of my best friends in Germany. Dear Germany: Eine Amerikanerin in Deutschland by Carol Kloeppel could have been written by me! If you are an American who has lived in Germany (or Austria or Switzerland for that matter) for any length of time or are thinking about moving to Germany, you need to order this book right now. She talks about the little things that made me scratch my head and some things that I simply didn’t register but wholeheartedly accepted because that was just the way it was. For example, the German beds and Bettwäsche [bedding] or the practice of riding your bike everywhere even in business attire. I can’t wait to read what she has to say about the small refrigerators.
The chapter this morning entitled Fahrvernügen und Führerscheinhölle [Driving Pleasure and Driver’s License Hell] made me almost fall out of bed because I was laughing so hard and then cry because I could totally relate. It brought back all those memories of getting a ticket for driving the wrong way on a one-way street and having an ungültige Fahrerlaubnis [invalid driver’s license]. I had to jump through a ton of hoops and spend a lot of money to get my German driver’s license, but it was all worth it. I consider passing the written portion of the test – in German no less – with no errors (five are allowed) on the first try to be one of my greatest accomplishments.
Carol Kloeppel is just a few years older than me (born in Minnesota in 1963). She has a degree in communication science and worked as a journalist and producer for various television broadcasters in the U.S. She met German television journalist Peter Kloeppel in New York in 1990 and moved to Germany to be with him. They lived in Cologne and later moved to Bonn. I keep wondering if I saw her on the streets of Bonn or if she was a member of my American Women’s Club of Cologne or the International Women’s Connection in Bonn. The book is really well-written and entertaining, and her translator, Claudia Geng, should be commended for a job well-done!
I can’t wait to read more, and I’m ordering a copy for my friend Jane right now.
Belated TGIF: Happy Birthday August 30, 2008
Posted by Jill (@bonnjill) in Fun stuff, Random musings.5 comments
Yesterday was my birthday, and I spent it out of the office enjoying myself. The highlight was celebrating with my German Meetup.com group and friends and family at the local Oktoberfest. After starting off the night at the keg tapping (free beer) and enjoying the traditional German style polkas of The Hank Haller Band in the main tent, we spent the night drinking and dancing to a great rock band called Disco Inferno in the Microbrew Bier Garden.
I wanted to share this little birthday clip I received featuring Disney movie clips with characters saying Happy Birthday in various languages. Some of the languages (including the German one) are inaudible, but it is a cute video all the same. I’m off to celebrate my niece’s birthday today and both of our birthdays tomorrow with the immediate family. Why celebrate one day when you can celebrate all weekend? 🙂 Monday is a holiday both here and in Germany, and I’m going kayaking on Lake Erie (weather permitting). [Edit: Robin reminded me that it isn’t a holiday in Germany. I got our Labor Day confused with May Day – hey, it happens 🙂 ] I’ll be back in the office on Tuesday. I hope you all enjoy your weekend!!
Musings from an overworked translator 