I was pleased to see that my local pharmacy offers interpreting services not only to speakers of run-of-the-mill Deutsch but also to speakers of “Deitsch,” i.e. Pennsylvania Dutch:
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Does Yoda use German syntax?
Long, long ago, I read a list of rules for a Star Wars drinking game. “Take a drink every time Yoda speaks in German syntax,” it decreed. But how often does Yoda actually use German syntax? Let’s go through some of his words of wisdom and see how many drinks that rule would get us,… Continue reading Does Yoda use German syntax?
The sound of German
What does German sound like to your average speaker of English? Not great, apparently. In Don DeLillo’s 1984 novel White Noise, which I’m currently reading on the recommendation of a friend, the main character attends a German lesson and behold: “When [the teacher] switched from English to German, it was as through a cord had… Continue reading The sound of German
I’m slightly acidic
While cleaning out a desk drawer I found these amusing machine translation errors I’d noted down months ago. So here they are (sorry about the line breaks within words): Mensch das ist super lieb. Human that is super nice. Man, that’s really nice. Ich war nur ehrlich und habe jetzt den Salat. I was just… Continue reading I’m slightly acidic
Let’s Go: tenth-century Germany
Long before Berlitz, Lonely Planet and Let’s Go – long even before Baedeker – there was this handy German phrasebook for travelers from Francia, with the German translated into Vulgar Latin: I can show you all this thanks to Wilhelm Braune’s Althochdeutsches Lesebuch, which is in the public domain. You might think this doesn’t look… Continue reading Let’s Go: tenth-century Germany
Fun with syntax
Here’s a nice example of a common sentence structure in written German: Obwohl er eine andere Vorlage geplant hatte, erschien ihm die in ihrer Verdoppelung die Bildfläche vertikal teilende geometrische Form interessant genug, um sie weiterzuverfolgen. Literally: Although he an other template planned had, seemed to him the in its doubling the picture surface vertically… Continue reading Fun with syntax
They Thought They Were Free
This 1955 book by Milton Mayer, reissued in 2017 by University of Chicago Press with a helpful afterword by Richard Evans, is worth your time if you are interested in human beings. Mayer, a Chicago native, worked as a freelance journalist and taught Great Books seminars with Mortimer Adler and Robert Hutchins (he gets a… Continue reading They Thought They Were Free
Senta spinnt
The Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra put on an excellent concert performance of Der fliegende Holländer (The Flying Dutchman) last week. Soprano Melody Moore brought the house down with her powerful singing and her spirited characterization of Senta. Speaking as someone with a degree in Complaining About Wagner, I must admit I really like this opera. It’s probably my favorite Wagner opera… Continue reading Senta spinnt
Pro tip: “der angelsächsische Raum”
Today I wrote an email in German to tell someone the topic of their translation was practically unknown in the English-speaking world, so we needed to add a little explanation to the text. I wrote “im angelsächsischen Raum” for “in the English-speaking world” and then, as I often do, I second-guessed myself and Googled it… Continue reading Pro tip: “der angelsächsische Raum”
Watch out for strange women in forests (Waldgespräch)
Poor old Robert Schumann. Was I too hard on him in a previous post? He wrote a lot of good stuff, including a fine setting of Eichendorff’s Waldgespräch: Waldgespräch means “forest conversation.” But I just did my own translation and I’d like to call it… Waldgespräch Meeting in a forest Es ist schon spät, es wird… Continue reading Watch out for strange women in forests (Waldgespräch)