Transblawg

Following the last entry, I must state that there is a lot of bureaucracy in Germany, and in a few other places too. Spiegel Online, in another article in its inimitable English, helps us to get to the bottom of this:

bq. The average age of students in their very first semester is already a relatively ancient 23, partly due the fact that many students take a few years just to complete the first semester partly due to constant course and university changes and partly due to mandatory military or civil service.

You see that - all Germans have to be in the civil service.

(Thanks to Ekkehard for spotting it)

Spiegel Online is preparing a Germany Survival Bible.

bq. If you're an expat or someone who has spent time in Germany, we want your help. Why do pedestrians wait for the light to change at 3:00 a.m.? Why are the shops closed on Sunday? Is German beer a stereotype or a reality? Why do toilets have shelves? Why do we have to bag our own groceries at the supermarket -- assuming we get to the checkout in the first place? And why are there so many dogs on German streets and naked people on German beaches? Are Germans rude? Why are there so many sex shops?

I might not be tempted to enter, but see here:

bq. If you're an expat blogger in Germany, we're also happy to consider republishing any blogs you may have written that are appropriate to the Survival Bible. We'll give you credit and provide a link back to your site.

The trouble is, I've never seen myself as what is called an expat. I think of an expat as someone in the diplomatic service who may or may not speak the language of the country where he or she has landed, and who has an offshore bank account, sends children to public school in Britain and will retire in Surrey. But it's not impossible that Spiegel Online defines the term expat in a different way from me.

Anyway, Spiegel Online thinks the Germans have a fixation with garden gnomes. Yes, they do. They would be surprised to hear that garden gnomes are not a purely German phenomenon. Anyway, here is a photo I took this week outside a one-euro shop in Fürth:

Eine BBC-Liste der Schimpfwörter im britischen Englisch, nach Anstößigkeit geordnet, sollten einige Deutsche studieren. Nummer 2 auf der Liste, mit Variationen, wird gefährlich häufig von Nicht-Muttersprachlern verwendet. Üben Sie mit Nummern 24 und 21; auch Nummer 8 ist ganz nützlich.

(von badscience über Language Log)

Here is information on the test for some people wanting to become British citizens. Information from Ekkehard in the comments to the last entry on this topic. Apparently it's a 45-minute test done on the computer, answering 24 questions.

At wortpatenschaft.de you can adopt a German word that is threatened by extinction:

bq. Werden Sie Wortpate! Beschützen Sie ein deutsches Wort und übernehmen Sie dafür die Verantwortung: Entwickeln Sie das Wort weiter, pflegen Sie es, hüten Sie es vor Mißbrauch oder Verdrängung! Schreiben Sie Gedichte mit Ihrem Wort, tauschen Sie sich aus mit anderen Wortpaten und schaffen Sie Wörterbiotope oder -museen, ertüfteln Sie Wortspielereien. Und helfen Sie gleichzeitig mit einer kleinen Spende dem gemeinnützigen Verein Deutsche Sprache. Ihr Einsatz für die Gemeinschaft!

Die Auswahl an Wörtern ist sehr breit, weil offensichtlich niemand sich die Mühe machen wollte, bedrohte Wörter auszusuchen.

Just a minute - is that the Verein Deutsche Sprache I've encountered before? The one that often criticizes words for no comprehensible reason? Ah well - no wonder they have such a comprehensive list of words.

I did get some mockery last year for using the term Aufboden instead of Dachboden. Maybe I should adopt that. The term is normal in the dialect of the person I learnt it from, but no-one else had ever heard of it. However, the site isn't offering that.

(Via Astrid Paprotta)

This is me after coming down the Sinwell Tower at Nuremberg Castle the second and, I hope, last time. I still don't understand the wooden construction in the platform, but at least I photographed it this time.

Laser Monks finden Tintenpatronen "sündhaft teuer":

bq. All I wanted was a little bit of black dust for one of our monastery printers. In my search for a toner cartridge, I was suddenly struck with how incredibly expensive this black dust and a few squirts of ink were. "There must be a better way," I said to myself.And so began my foray into the world of imaging supplies. What I discovered was a revelation. Simply stated, the mark-up on ink supplies is sinfully high, reaching in some instances into the 1,000-2,000 % levels. I also discovered that there were many companies that manufactured either new compatible cartridges or remanufactured cartridges at a fraction of the cost of the big name brands. My thoughts starting racing. Imagine the money we could save schools, churches, and other organizations if we could negotiate some deals with the manufacturers directly and cut out the middlemen.

Aus diesem Grund verkaufen sie für gute Zwecke unter anderem wiedergefüllte Tintenpatronen.

The Cistercians have a 900-year tradition of customer care and outreach, we learn.

(Via Boing Boing)

Use your Welsh:



Use Catalan:



Speak Plattdeutsch:



The East Frisia site has a lot of resources, including audio clips of people speaking it on the phone.

Following the exclusion of translations from the Golden 'Duncan Lawrie' Dagger Award (see earlier entry), three British publishing companies have arranged Bloody Foreigners: Crime FictionTranslation Tour.

(From Translation Exchange)

This week, Focus Online had an article headed Briten Blamieren Sich. It referred to an article in The Times about the Hesse would-be-citizen questions. The Times article is available online only in part - it had a graphics page which is the main cause for concern, shown in the Focus article.

Focus:

bq. Die britische „Times“ versucht sich am hessischen Einbürgerungstest und macht peinliche Fehler.
Die Diskussion um einen deutschen Einbürgerungstest können sich die britischen Medien nicht entgehen lassen. Für die „Times“ ist es eine fabelhafte Gelegenheit, endlich wieder einmal ein Foto von Hitler zu drucken, mit hochgerecktem Arm und in Uniform.

bq. The London Times tries the Hessen naturalization test and makes embarrassing mistakes.
The British media could not bring themselves to pass up the opportunity to discuss a German citizenship test. This is a wonderful opportunity for The Times at long last to print another picture of Hitler, with his arm raised and in uniform.

The errors are 1) the flag shown is the Belgian flag (I wonder if the Belgian press have picked this one up?) and 2) the reference to the German national anthem as Deutschland über Alles.

I sometimes get very angry about this kind of nationality-bashing, which is a mistake, because it's just a way to sell newspapers. In this case, however, quickly passing over the flag error, I don't think it's part of British general knowledge that the text of the German national anthem has been edited. Nevertheless Focus goes on about it for three paragraphs.

Another thing: when such a ridiculous set of questions is to be taken seriously, it's fair game for any newspaper.

I wonder if there were any other mistakes in the Times article? Focus had an easy time here, because it published only after the Times Letters Page printed readers' corrections on the very two points Focus builds its article on. That's a good tip for online journalists: watch out for the readers' letters the following day, and then sell the story abroad.

I do think the picture of Hitler might have been smaller. After all, British football fans travelling to Germany have been told by the Home Secretary particularly not to mention the war, which will probably have the opposite effect to that intended, along the lines of 'So that's how we can really annoy them'.

bq. The English team’s travelling support is fond of drinking lots of beer, humming the themes of war films, and singing songs such as Two World Wars and one World Cup or Ten German Bombers.

(Via Handakte WebLAWg)

Heidi at HeiDeas collects linguistically relevant Simpsons jokes:

bq. Origins of English
Homer: English? Who needs that? I'm never going to England.

bq. Lisa tries to learn Italian. Milhouse, who has been covertly bilingual all this time, is her instructor.
Luigi comes up to Lisa and Milhouse in Little Italy.
Luigi: Mr. Milhouse -- thanka gooddness! Could you trannzlate an helpa me my cheese for my lasagna
Lisa: But Luigi! Surely you speak Italian!
Luigi (sighs): No I don’t. I only speak ahh, how you say, um, fractured Englisha — that’s what my parents spoke at home.

Earlier HeiDeas Simpson post.

Thanks.

Times online: Law lords overturn school uniform 'jilbab' ruling

Unter den Umständen eine beruhigende Entscheidung. Die Schule hatte alles Mögliche gemacht, eine Kleiderpolitik einzuführen, die für alle Religionen annehmbar war.

Text of the decision (English)

From the summary of facts:

bq. In 1993 the school appointed a working party to re-examine its dress code. The governors consulted parents, students, staff and the Imams of the three local mosques. There was no objection to the shalwar kameeze, and no suggestion that it failed to satisfy Islamic requirements. The governors approved a garment specifically designed to ensure that it satisfied the requirement of modest dress for Muslim girls. Following the working party report the governors, in response to several requests, approved the wearing of head-scarves of a specified colour and quality.

bq. The respondent is Muslim. Her father died before she entered the school, and at the material times she lived with her mother (who did not speak English and has since died), a sister two years older, and a brother (Rahman), five years older, who is now her litigation friend. The family lived outside the school's catchment area, but chose it for the respondent and her elder sister, and were told in clear terms of the school's uniform policy. For two years before September 2002 the respondent wore the shalwar kameeze happily and without complaint. It was also worn by the respondent's sister, who continued to wear it without objection throughout her time at the school.

bq. On 3 September 2002, the first day of the autumn term, the respondent (then aged nearly 14) went to the school with her brother and another young man. They asked to speak to the head teacher, who was not available, and they spoke to the assistant head teacher, Mr Moore. They insisted that the respondent be allowed to attend the school wearing the long garment she had on that day, which was a long coat-like garment known as a jilbab. They talked of human rights and legal proceedings. Mr Moore felt that their approach was unreasonable and he felt threatened.

Die Süddeutsche Zeitung (Wolfgang Koydl) hat Spaß im englischen Gericht. Dürfen ausländische Reporter übrhaupt englische Barrister als Beckmesser beschreiben?

Brown gegenüber stehen, gleichsam auf der europäischen Seite dieses Prozesses, kleinlich-penible Beckmesser, deren Äußeres freilich eher in einen Roman passen würden. Mit ihren Perücken und Roben scheinen Baldwin und Rayner James geradewegs einem Druck von Honoré Daumier entstiegen zu sein.

Richter Smith, der mit seinem kugeligen Kopf und dem Schnurrbart ein wenig an den Stummfilmkomiker Oliver Hardy erinnert, hat die Angewohnheit, seine Perücke vom Haar zu ziehen und sie ein paar Augenblicke lang hasserfüllt anzustarren, bevor er sie resigniert wieder auf das Haupt stülpt. Auch er, so scheint es, hat Momente, in denen ihn Zweifel an seinem Wirken in diesem Verfahren beschleichen.

Zur Beschreibung des Verfahrens:

Erahnen, aber nicht erkennen, denn die Situation im Gerichtssaal erinnert eher an eine Klausur in englischer Literatur denn an einen Megaprozess mit astronomisch hohen Einsätzen. Das mag daran liegen, dass britische Anwälte in Zivilverfahren geradezu aufreizend gesittet miteinander umgehen. Sie springen nicht theatralisch von den Bänken hoch und rufen „Einspruch, Einspruch Euer Ehren!“, wie man das aus Filmen kennt.

Ja, denn in den USA muss ein Einspruch im schriftlichen Transkript des Verfahrens stehen, sonst darf man den jeweiligen Punkt nicht im Rechtsmittelverfahren rügen.

Wenn John Baldwin, Browns Verteidiger, einen Einwand gegen eine Behauptung des Anklagevertreters Jonathan Rayner James vorzubringen hat, dann schraubt er sich eher widerwillig halb vom Sitz hoch und rückt dann befangen die Perücke zurecht, bevor er sich räuspernd mit einem schüchternen „Also eigentlich möchte ich sagen“ zu Wort meldet.

Das erinnert genau an eine Beschreibung in einem kurzen und kurzweiligen Buch zum Anwaltsverhalten in allen englischsprachigen Gerichten der Welt: The Language of Advocacy, von Keith Evans - ein Buch, das so gut ist, dass man es gleich nochmal kaufen möchte.

The Times has a law weblog. It looks as if it started on March 6. Writers are Edward Fennell, Gary Slapper, Mark Stephens and Alex Wade. Not many comments yet, but I haven't checked if you have to register.

The most recent entry, by Gary Slapper, gives some support to the idea that Britain is not becoming more litigious, contrary to popular belief.

This is good. The Times online is usually very good at law (The Times has a law section every Tuesday), although one gathers it can't always tell the difference between Germany and Belgium.

Neues österreichisches Verkehrszeichen

This is an additional sign Austria is attaching to 3,500 level crossings that have no protection other than a cross sign (Andreaskreuz - saltire), a stop sign and the whistle of the train. It tells them to listen out for the whistle. It's not clear whether the sign can be understood by kangaroos.

Here's someone who likes photographing these cross signs (in Germany).

The Highway Code on various types of level crossings.

bq. Open crossings
271: These have no gates, barriers, attendant or traffic lights but will have a 'Give Way' sign. You should look both ways, listen and make sure there is no train coming before you cross.

(via Michael Kadlicz but first reported by Ingmar Greil)