Ever had to communicate with non-native English speakers? Here’s a little something to brighten your weekend… The following is a telephone exchange between a hotel guest and room service at a hotel in Asia, which was recorded and published in the Far East Economic Review: Room Service (RS): “Morrin. Roon sirbees.” Guest (G): “Sorry, I thought I dialed room-service.” RS: “Rye..Roon sirbees..morrin! Jewish to oddor sunteen??” G: “Uh..yes..I’d like some …
funny
I’m sure some of you have seen this before, but it is just too good (and sad but true) to not look at it again (and again and again and again…). Courtesy of europelanguagecafe. The ‘mental block’ becomes your daily torture (in native and learned languages alike) Brain: Knows more than one language –> refuses to find the correct word for the language you are speaking in. You have to decide …
As a language person, I love learning new words, particularly fun ones. So you can imagine my delight when I came across this page here (also check out the comments – brilliant new words there, too!) on Sad and Useless:
Just love the guys at Mental Floss! Betcha didn’t know all of these: (function(d, s, id) { var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0]; if (d.getElementById(id)) return; js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id; js.src = “//connect.facebook.net/en_US/sdk.js#xfbml=1&version=v2.3”; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);}(document, ‘script’, ‘facebook-jssdk’)); An array of hedgehogs! A parliament of owls! Here are 17 fantastic collective nouns for animals. Posted by mental_floss on Monday, March 7, 2016
I’m so glad I also interpret and teach, so I get to leave my lair on a regular basis… 😉 Thanks to Tina and Mouse!
Ever translated anything using one of those free online translation tools? I have, I admit it, but only to communicate with the French owners of the B&B we wanted to stay at during our vacation. I’m sure it wasn’t poetry in motion, but we understood each other enough to make it work. And for things like that, Google Translate, Bing Translator & Co. are perfectly fine. But what about important …
I’m always trying to find enough time to read what others in the translations and interpreting business are thinking – and writing. Much of it is very useful, some, thought-provoking, and some, simply funny (laughing is important, too, people!). This post here by Céline Graciet on Naked Translations was one of the latter – and it reminded me that for most of us, coffee is one (if not the single …
I just recently saw the movie “Frozen”, loved the music, and then I came across this! Too funny! And proof yet again that I don’t have to worry about being replaced by a machine any time soon… 😉 I especially love her face, trying not to laugh while she’s singing – and doing an excellent job of it, too! I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. …
There’s a lot going on in the translator community right now, many hot topics are being discussed quite passionately, and I will try to put my 2 cents in, as well, but not today. The last few weeks were quite grueling for me, having had to balance teaching 12 hours a week with a regular translating workload, i.e. working two jobs with having only the 24 hours each day …
In honor of having given my very first class lecture on terminology today, here’s a great glossary every translator should strive to learn by heart (found over on the website of the Terminology Coordination Unit): Funny glossary of translating 20,000 words: The amount of words (some) clients think can be translated overnight. Back translation: (1) I can’t proofread and I don’t trust you. Send translation of your translation. (2) When …
Ja, das liebe Sommerloch, der Urlaub, Feiertage, Ferien…. und dann findet man sowas im Briefkasten und denkt sich: Job-Sicherheit! 😉
It’s been too hot to think these days, so I figured some language-related fun is in order. Enjoy these tattoos…
Have you ever wanted to scream because of fantastical spelling and toe-curling grammar in posts, comments, e-mails etc.? Well, here’s a funny and really well-made little video about a dream killed: Missmatch (“I Dreamed a Dream” Parody) – watch more funny videos
Und ich dachte immer Kaffee soll wach machen, nicht kaputt… (c)2012 Anke Wiesinger (gesehen in Forchheim, Paradeplatz)
Für alle, die eine kurze und nicht alltägliche Antwort auf die Frage des Unterschieds zwischen Dolmetschen und Übersetzen suchen (Achtung, nicht unbedingt in allen Situationen angebracht!): Dolmetscher machen es mit dem Mund, Übersetzer mit der Hand.
Die Kollegen Nataly Kelly und Jost Zetzsche, die das sehr tolle Buch Found in Translation geschrieben haben, haben ein neues Projekt geplant, für das sie Übersetzer und Dolmetscher auf der ganzen Welt um kurze Videobeiträge gebeten haben. Die Anweisung lautet: möglichst nicht länger als 10 Sekunden (schwierig!), wenn’s geht landestypisch, und natürlich das Schild nicht vergessen! Hier ist mein Video (in Überlänge): Na, wer errät das Landestypische daran? 😉 …
Da ich diese Woche nicht nur jeden Tag beim Dolmetschen bin, sondern nebenbei auch noch ein monatliches Großprojekt abwickeln darf, heute mal wieder was zum Schmunzeln. Dieses Fundstück wurde mir von meiner Kollegin Johanna Hief zugespielt, und ich teile es, sowie auch ihren Kommentar, gerne: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ AliveGlow ist ein Photoshop kompatibles Einsteck. AliveGlow ist für Adobe Photoshop, Corel FOTO-PAINT ein Einsteck, die Pro Jasc Lackiererei und andere Grafik-Software, die Steckverbindungen …
Ein weiteres Beispiel dafür, was bei einer unprofessionellen Übersetzung herauskommt – das erste Wort im Wörterbuch ist halt leider nicht immer das richtige… (c) Stefan Muschweck
I’m swamped with work this week, so here’s a little funny (or is it?) video to lighten up my and your day. 🙂
The people of Spain think Cervantes The equal of a half dozen Dantes; An opinion resented most bitterly By the people of Italy… (Source unknown)
This is not new, but still good: The European Commission has just announced an agreement whereby English will be the official language of the European Union rather than German, which was the other possibility. As part of the negotiations, the British Government conceded that English spelling had some room for improvement and has accepted a 5- year phase-in plan that would become known as ‘Euro-English’. In the first year, ‘s’ …
This is really interesting – and true! RSA Animate-Drive: The surprising truth about what motivates us from The RSA on Vimeo. Of course, I’m not saying we all need to start working for free (gotta make a living, too, you know), but there are professional-type things I do for fun, for free, for other people, for example: I am the co-leader of the local chapter of my professional association, the …
Hier möchte ich nicht unbedingt essen gehen…. I don’t think I’d want to eat here…. (Photo: Bernd Wagner)
A very handy little guide to remembering how to spell things correctly, especially those homophones. (by The Oatmeal) Warning: Not for the tender-hearted….
There are a ton of discussions going on about British English and American English, there are blogs to read and videos to watch, some funny, some actually educating, and the question often is which version of English is the correct one…. well, in my opinion, that is really the wrong question to ask, since both flavors (and keep in mind that there are numerous others, as well, such as Australian, …
The last 3 weeks have been grueling – I was inundated with work (which is a good thing) and had 3 business trips (among them the workshop I held on RSS Feeds) and 4 private events, in part also requiring travel, all vying for my attention, all needing time and preparation. I finally turned in the last project this morning after another late night, and already there are new jobs …
Ian MacKenzie lets you take a look at what’s really going on in the home office… True, I do have two dogs, but I actually have to sit at the computer to work, so maybe not exactly like that… 😉
Caution! This joke contains some violence and strong language. A giant panda goes into one of those expensive and pretentious restaurants serving French/Asian fusion cuisine and takes a table for one. The surprised waiter for that table explains unctuously that his name is Marcel, he will be your server tonight, and we ‘ave a number of specials (he is French), etc., etc. The panda listens impassively to the list of …
Ja, manchmal fürchte ich wirklich, dass unsere Sprache sich langsam auflöst… Hier ein lustiges, aber auch etwas nachdenklich stimmendes Lied zum Thema:
Just a little thought on language – the English one, in this case. Enjoy!
