Yesterday, November 11, 2020, was the twentieth anniversary of the Kaprun disaster, where 155 people died in a train fire in a mountain tunnel. Journalists Hannes Uhl and Hubertus Godeysen investigated the accident and its aftermath and wrote a book – 155: Kriminalfall Kaprun – in 2014. They asked me to translate it into English… Continue reading Notes on 155: The Kaprun Cover-Up
Blog
Elderberry Hot
Machine translation systems still have trouble recognizing proper names. Recently I was proofreading English texts for an Austrian museum and came across a line that went something like this: The project was directed by Thomas Schmidt and Elderberry Hot. Now, a lot of the texts I work with are about artists and some of them… Continue reading Elderberry Hot
Dad’s tips for breaking into Spandau
While helping my mom clean out her basement, I found this 1976 newspaper clipping about the notorious SS officer Otto Skorzeny, who apparently used to boast that he would be willing and able to spring Rudolf Hess, Albert Speer, and Baldur von Schirach out of Spandau prison for a tidy sum. The columnist,… Continue reading Dad’s tips for breaking into Spandau
German pet peeves
Since I wrote about English pet peeves last week, I thought it would be a good idea to highlight some German ones this week and try to explain them to readers who don’t speak German. Why? Because this blog is supposed to be about English and German, and because I deserve to suffer for my… Continue reading German pet peeves
Pet peeves
Lexicon Valley is a great podcast by the linguist John McWhorter, who manages to be fun while also being right about everything. The latest episode is about linguistic pet peeves, something linguists aren’t really supposed to have – it’s unseemly, like communists having brand preferences. But even people who know most linguistic pet peeves are… Continue reading Pet peeves
Yet more translations of Parzival
Well, that was fast. After expressing a wish that A. S. Kline would live to complete his new verse translation of Wolfram’s Parzival, (as Chrétien de Troyes failed to do with his own Perceval), I got an email from him with a link to the finished product on April 14th. And I’m enjoying it very… Continue reading Yet more translations of Parzival
Poetry in Translation
Here’s a website I can recommend very highly: A.S. Kline’s collection of poetry in translation. I perused the German section and was favorably impressed. But many languages are represented – check it out if you’re looking for more reading material to keep you busy at home. Kline is working on a new verse translation of… Continue reading Poetry in Translation
When bad translations are good
Today I ran across an example of a category most people don’t know about: extremely close translations for opera singers. I say “close” rather than “literal” because it’s not just about communicating the exact meaning, but also keeping words in mostly the same order so that you could basically nail the target sentence on top… Continue reading When bad translations are good
Deadly MT
I often run legal boilerplate (with all specifics of the case removed) through DeepL as a preliminary measure. Today’s experiment was from an alimony contract. And I’m pretty sure the person who signed it didn’t intend to agree to this: Because of the fulfilment of the obligations arising from this document, I submit myself to… Continue reading Deadly MT
Crow vs. Raven
Die Krähe Eine Krähe war mit mir Aus der Stadt gezogen, Ist bis heute für und für Um mein Haupt geflogen. Krähe, wunderliches Tier, Willst mich nicht verlassen? Meinst wohl bald als Beute hier Meinen Leib zu fassen? Nun, es wird nicht weit mehr gehn An dem Wanderstabe. Krähe, lass mich endlich sehn Treue bis… Continue reading Crow vs. Raven