Transblawg

4. Juli 2011 —I read the headers of a large number of blogs in a feed reader, so I couldn't help noticing that a number of translators' blogs had taken up the idea of posting their favourite language blogs. The ball was started rolling by A ♥ for Language Blogs by Judy and Dagmar Jenner, who were thinking of #fol…

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1. Juli 2010 —Translating court names is a complex matter. So here is just one court name to discuss. In a newspaper article reporting on a decision of the Bundesgerichtshof (BGH) or the Bundesverfassungsgericht (BVerfG), you wouldn't need to use the German name. Bundesgerichtshof is usually translated as Federal…

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6. Februar 2010 —I was surprised that the Times yesterday reported on a case decided this week by the Federal Court of Justice (Bundesgerichtshof). It looks as if there is some feeling that if German courts allow repayments of in-laws' gifts when their child divorces, then this may be done in the UK too. However, th…

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18. Oktober 2009 —One thing pointed out by the BDÜ representatives at the Book Fair was this video from the Berlin BDÜ conference, where Jutta Witzel interviews Chris Durban. Chris Durban has certain opinions about how to get and keep good clients, which I am sure are excellent for her particular area of financial tr…

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21. Juni 2009 —This is a mysterious ad from the current version of the booklet announcing the BDÜ September translation conference in Berlin: Weird. This is the best I can do for the most common pronunciation: sım baı 'ǝʊs ıs The o sound in the third syllable is a bit different in the US. The second syllable sugge…

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12. Juni 2009 —Rory MacLean (who grew up in Canada) writes in a Goethe Institut weblog, Meet the Germans - his Rory's Berlin-Blog is apparently only part of it -, in which he currently sits on the fence about sausages in Germany and Britain, with many quotes. I can understand people enthusing about Nuremberg Bratw…

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17. März 2009 —Ich werde ein Berliner seems to take Nothing for Ungood a step further. The year is 2009. Berlin is hip. Germany is hip. Are you struggling to make some German friends? This blog will teach you how to blend in "wiz ze" Germans. When you ask a German person why he likes to go to Aldidl, he or s…

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16. März 2009 —From Wikimedia Commons: Starting on Thursday Dec 4, 2008, Wikimedia Commons witnessed a massive upload of new images. We received nearly 100,000 files from a donation from the German Federal Archives. These images are mostly related to the history of Germany (including the German Democratic Re…

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12. Februar 2009 —Guardian article about the Weinereien in Berlin, where (after 8 pm at least) you pay what you want: The Berlin Weinerei are the inadvertent brainchild of Jürgen Stumpf, who moved to the city in 1996 from the Bavarian town of Franken, where his family owns a five-hectare vineyard. He opened up a …

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6. Februar 2009 —The Fürth citizens' action group Eine Bessere Mitte Fürthhas revamped its website, where you can now see some other current shopping centres, including the Alexa in Berlin, built by Sonae Sierra (Fakten), the proposed better alternative (Vision) and reports in the media (Medien). There is an article…

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1. Februar 2009 —Under Huns, Hair Salons and Puns, Strange Maps reprints a map from Die Zeit, showing the incidence in Germany of salons named Haareszeiten, Haarmonie and Haargenau. Plus link to a flickr pool on hairdressers with funny names. The map shows little except that the names are widespread. According to th…

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16. Januar 2009 —While I'm on a soapbox, here's a link to a protest about Hartz IV (German) at www.hartzkampagne.de on behalf of my contact in Berlin, Andreas Wallbaum (der Hartzer Roller). He even has a blog, but don't we all?…

18. Oktober 2008 —The Frankenpost reports that a driver has been picked up on camera for speeding more than once in Bavaria, but as he has a right-hand-drive car, they could only identify the passenger, a large Ernie doll (Muppets). For picture, see there: BINDLACH - Die Bayreuther Verkehrspolizei glaubte zunächst,…

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18. September 2008 —I've added to the blogroll love german books, a weblog by a translator in Berlin. Good links to sites on German books, their translators, literary prizes and so on.…

18. September 2008 —I mentioned Charlotte Roche's bestseller Feuchtgebiete earlier. It's now being translated into English as Wetlands, by Tim Mohr, who is apparently from New York and spent six years as a DJ in Berlin (for more, see the weblog love german books). This was mentioned in two weblogs I follow, by Werner S…

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14. August 2008 —I was wondering whether to translate Anglo-amerikanisches Recht as Anglo-American law. I think I will. It used to seem a bit of a Germanism to me. But better than Anglo-Saxon law, which my employer in Erlangen once put in the Vorlesungsverzeichnis as my speciality. Anyway, while I was comparing site…

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15. Juli 2008 —I have been remiss in not publishing last Thursday's shocker: a Portuguese concern looks likely to replace part of the centre of Fürth with a huge glassed-in shopping centre. Photos in next entry. Links to the local rag and a heated discussion in German at zonebattler's blog. It looks as if the town…

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5. Juli 2008 —Some topics I mentioned earlier have been taken up elsewhere recently. Uppercase ß: earlier entry I was a bit early on this. The way for capital ß has now been opened (Tagesspiegel) Düsseldorf/ Berlin - Die letzte Lücke im deutschen Alphabet ist geschlossen - zumindest technisch. Das ß gibt es nun…

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5. Juli 2008 —Madame Tussauds opened in Berlin yesterday. Scarcely had it opened when a 41-year-old visitor pulled off Hitler's head. Hitler returns to Berlin, from The Guardian n-tv, via RA-Blog…

1. April 2008 —RA-Blog quotes this short piece of news from Der Tagesspiegel - obviously an April fool report, like the news of an albino wild boar cub in the 'Fürther Nachrichten': Finanzsenator Thilo Sarrazin (SPD) hat einen Mitarbeiter angewiesen, die Bestände der Berliner Tierparks auf ihren finanziellen Nut…

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21. Januar 2008 —The UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities has recently been translated into German in a process involving Germany, Austria, Liechtenstein and Switzerland. Dr. Sigrid Arnade of the Verein für Menschenrechte und Gleichstellung Behinderter e.V. criticizes the translation on the basis…

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21. Januar 2008 —The UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities has recently been translated into German in a process involving Germany, Austria, Liechtenstein and Switzerland. Dr. Sigrid Arnade of the Verein für Menschenrechte und Gleichstellung Behinderter e.V. criticizes the translation on the basis…

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15. November 2007 —The best-known German forensic biologist, Mark Benecke, was pinned to the ground and deprived of his camera by five police at Cottbus as he was getting out of a train, reports Berliner Kurier. A station employee at Berlin, it was claimed, (although Benecke had not been in Berlin all day), had mistak…

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17. September 2007 — For years, Günter Demnig, a Cologne artist, has been creating bronze stones embedded in the pavement outside the former homes of Jews murdered in the Holocaust. They are called Stolpersteine - stumbling blocks. On September 14th the first stone was laid in Berlin for an African, Mahjub bin …

5. September 2007 — Since the last entry attracted comments, here are two pictures of the Palast der Republik to confirm the comments. And can anyone tell me what the not-quite-legible ad in the last picture is for? It says something like 'Der Beweis, dass auch Männer mehrere Höhepunkte gleichzeitig haben können…