Chartered Institute of Linguists

This year seems to have passed at a fast and busy pace. Before we knew it, it was June, and several of our members travelled to Wiesbaden for the Anglophoner Tag, organised this time by the Hesse BDÜ. The seminars were highly informative and entertaining, and they dovetailed nicely with the extra-curricular programme in that most pleasant of cities. Enjoy reading the report by Margaret Collier and Sally Lamm on page 2.

Towards the end of this year's brief summer, we had our Autumn Study Weekend in Heidelberg. Following assiduous initial preparations by Vice-Chairwoman Judith Gabler, Secretary Gabriele Matthey kindly finalised the event most ably, with an arrangement of speakers whose contributions embraced the anecdotal, the enthralling and the highly informative. In addition to the Institute's CEO Alexandra Jones, we were delighted to welcome members of the Cambridge Society and some newcomers to our events. Read Jadwiga Bobrowska's report on page 4.

Please keep an eye on what is going on at the Institute. There are a lot of interesting offers for seminars and webinars for enhancing your CPD. I myself will be taking an Institute exam this coming January (to gain at last a qualification in a language I quite often use at work). The extra study needed as a 'final push' means that I shall henceforth be taking a back seat on Committee matters.

After various representatives of other organisations present had introduced these briefly, the first speaker on Saturday was Thomas Martini, MCIL, who had done extensive research into how Die Welt and t-online had reported Barack Obama's speeches over a period of time. For this purpose, he monitored 10 speeches of Obama's from 2009 onwards, taking a quantitative and a qualitative approach to his analysis. The theme was very much 'What you read is not what he said' – sometimes as a result of necessary omission, sometimes perhaps owing to a political agenda. Thomas made two important points: We don't generally query translation in news items, and it is generally journalists and news agencies who translate, rather than professional translators. He used the term chiaroscuro to describe the finished result: Sometimes you see the original text, sometimes you don't. And his conclusion as to who provided the more accurate version in German was something of a surprise.

Next, Natasha Dalügge-Momme, ADÜ Nord, rapidly and wittily dispelled the myth that technical terms and items are 'objective' and have no cultural connotations. As she showed us, a rose is not a rose is not a rose (sorry, Ms Stein). Natascha quoted examples from a number of specialist fields, in some of which a technical term might well have been expected to be standard. When it comes to hammers, for example, different nationalities automatically use a different kind of hammer as their standard household tool. Portable has different connotations in different cultures. What is known as a motorway or Autobahn is not so readily rendered into one term for countries where some charge tolls but others don't. And the legal requirements governing the descriptions of certain items vary from country to country, as does the weight attached to various things (e.g. German Handwerker). Not surprisingly, perhaps, food is the worst minefield, and one which Natasha now widely avoids when possible.

After a delicious buffet lunch, we were treated to a history of Wiesbaden as a spa by Dr. Martina Bleymehl-Eiler. It is one of the oldest spas in Germany, and its springs are among the hottest. But it wasn't until the 19th century that Wiesbaden advanced to world renown as a spa, and in the 18th century, it was actually outshone by neighbouring Bad Schwalbach. Gambling was permitted as of the late 18th century, and this undoubtedly was and is a major attraction for many visitors.

The turning point came with the founding of the Duchy of Nassau, of which Wiesbaden was the capital. The spa facilities were upgraded, an early rail link to Frankfurt was built, and the town was of course accessible by boat. An intensive international advertising campaign was mounted, and proved successful. Of the many people who came to 'take the waters' in the 19th century, a large number were from abroad, and of these, 40% were British. The boom was not affected when the Duchy fell to Prussia in 1866, but was reinforced when various new sports were introduced. While Wiesbaden's days as a leading spa are undoubtedly over now, it is still an elegant and popular place to visit, and retains the English church established in the town's heyday.

Renate read Prof. Benedikt Toussaint's talk, accompanied by illustrative slides, on Heisse Quellen: Geologie von Wiesbaden und Umgebung. The springs, at least 500,000 years old, were used by the Celts and the Romans, and it takes roughly 25,000 years for the water to reach the surface. We heard about how the springs developed, what the characteristics of spring water are, and the definition of thermal water. The many hot springs in Wiesbaden and the region have of course been of great benefit to the local economy.

Next, Barbara went through Sabine Hartmann's paper on Aromatherapy and useful medicinal plants, with some valuable additions of her own (and handed out a glossary of some terms in German and English). After a summary of the traditional use of plants in medicine, perfume and cookery, we moved to the modern concept of 'wellness', with some examples of popular facilities in the region.

With the images of soothing and wellness-inducing herbs in our minds, and the end of a stimulating but really quite tiring day approaching, we were in the right frame of mind for a diverting presentation from our co-organiser Renate. She shared with us both the principles and the terminology of a method of muscle relaxation developed by Dr Edmund Jacobsen in 1939, and which seemed familiar to me from numerous drama workshops attended over the years: in essence, it’s a question of focussing on your breathing and on various parts of the body one at a time, starting with the feet and ending with the facial muscles, tensing and then releasing each set of muscles in turn until a state of relaxation is achieved. Read more at www.hypnos.co.uk/hypnomag/jacobson.htm

… from which we were in due course awakened by the gentle sounds of corks being pulled and glasses clinking. Barbara Müller-Grant was preparing for her presentation, the last of the day, on “Wines from the Rhine”. Since we were overrunning the schedule by this stage, she had to curtail the slide presentation of what looked like a very comprehensive „low-down‟ on the history of vine-cultivation in Germany, and in the Rhine region in particular in order to allow us sufficient time to sample the goods! Which we thoroughly enjoyed doing, and thereby understood her main theme, namely the difference that “terroir” makes. We sampled Riesling from the north bank (i.e. classic Rheingau) and contrasted it with one from the south bank (i.e. less prestigious Rheinhessen), and the difference was clearly apparent. A Grauer Burgunder (= Pinot Grigio) from Rheinhessen was also added to the mix and this by now noisy tasting session brought the day to a convivial close.

On the Friday evening, those of us lucky enough to be staying at the Hotelo hotel were invited to a Prosecco reception by Norman Ellis, hosted in his bijou room. We then set off by tram and bus for dinner at the historical Heidelberger Kulturbrauerei. More than twenty GS members and guests enjoyed a balmy evening in the beer garden catching up with old friends and making new ones. We were particularly pleased to welcome several CIOL members from the UK, including our new CEO Alexandra Jones.

On Saturday, the sun rose and shone again all day for us. Our morning study session was held in the library of Heidelberg University's law faculty. This is housed in a neo-baroque building, which was once a bank. While the marble walls kept us nice and cool we were warmly welcomed by Prof Müller-Graff, Managing Director of the law faculty. He started off his brief presentation by giving us a potted history of Heidelberg University's six centuries of higher education and research activities and then talked about its 21st century global network.

In particular, Prof Müller-Graff is responsible for Heidelberg's exchange programme with Cambridge University. For 35 years there have been student exchanges between the two universities. The partners are individual colleges and the exchange programme covers all disciplines except medicine. German students going over to Cambridge are required to study something specific to that university, such as Wittgenstein.

throughout Germany after the Napoleonic wars, which had sparked nationalist sentiment. Students organized themselves in this way to prepare for a revolution to unify Germany. They felt they had to be able to fight. Gradually, the Burschenschaften moved away from their political roots and became a way of organising a community. They named themselves after the various German tribes (e.g., Rhenania after the Rhine) and their members wore different coloured caps and sashes (e.g. blue for the river Rhine).

Over time, the fraternities became more institutionalised and membership was for life. The number of fraternities mushroomed and became centred on the various university subjects. Today, fraternities have largely died out and only 5% of students are organised in fraternities, and only one-third of these still fence (but as always not against each other but with each other). Among the remaining fraternities old traditions are maintained, such as the Kneip, disciplined drinking sessions, and communal singing. Dr Bahl passed round the special song books with studs in the front and back covers which prevent the book getting wet when it is put down on the beer soaked tables.

The first queen was Blanche of England, an English princess of the House of Lancaster. She was the eldest daughter of King Henry IV, who deposed Richard II and then sought important alliances in order to maintain and legitimize his rule. One needed ally was King Rupert of Germany who started off as Elector of the Palatinate but went on to take the German throne after the deposition of King Wenceslaus. A marriage between Rupert's eldest surviving son Louis and Blanche was soon arranged. The marriage contract was signed in 1401 in London and the marriage ceremony took place one year later in Cologne. As part of her dowry Blanche was given the oldest surviving crown in England. (Today it can be viewed in Munich at the Residenzmuseum). Four years later, in Heidelberg, Blanche gave birth to a son, called Rupert. Sadly, Blanche died just two years later aged 17.

The story of the second of the three queens - Elizabeth Stuart - is much more dramatic and even sadder. Princess Elizabeth was the daughter of James I of England. Her father was considering marrying her off to Louis XIII of France, a Catholic king. This worried the advisers of the young Frederick V, Elector Palatine and head of the Protestant League. They feared that such a move would upset the confessional balance of Europe, so emissaries of the Elector were sent to the English court and, after intense negotiations (Frederick, after all was only an Elector and not a king), a marriage contract was signed in 1612.

The marriage ceremony was held in Whitehall Chapel in 1613 on St Valentine's day and the celebrations carried on for weeks afterwards. The alliance was feted as the marriage of the Thames and the Rhine. It is said that Shakespeare's Tempest was written especially for the wedding. However, by April the celebrations had bankrupted the court and the happy couple (she was known as the Queen of Hearts) sailed away on

As part of the marriage negotiations Frederick had agreed to expand Heidelberg castle and, in the months that followed the couple's arrival, a so-called English wing was added which housed, among other things, a globe theatre. Extensive gardens were laid out which, although never finished, came to be called the 8th wonder of the world. The entrance to the new elaborate castle was dedicated to Elizabeth - the Elisabeth-Tor. In 1614 the couple's first son - Frederick Henry - was born.

Frederick assumed a weak crown and a state torn with internal divisions and, in 1620, the Holy Roman Emperor sent in his armies to overthrow Frederick V. No help was forthcoming from any of the Protestant allies and Frederick and Elizabeth had to leave in a hurry. They lived out the rest of their days in exile in the Netherlands. Frederick lost not only Bohemia but all of the Palatinate. In 1632 Frederick died of a fever aged just 36. Elizabeth spent the next 30 years until her death in 1662 grieving for her husband and for several of her children who also pre-deceased her.

However, the story didn't die with Elizabeth. In 1658, her youngest daughter, Sophia, married Ernest Augustus, the future Elector of Hanover. The Electress Sophia became the nearest Protestant relative to the British crown. Under the English Act of Settlement, the succession was settled on Sophia and her children, so that all monarchs of Great Britain from George I onward are descendants of Elizabeth Stuart. Which brings us to the third queen, who was christened Alexandrina Victoria but came to be known as Queen Victoria. Her father, Edward, Duke of Kent, was a son of George III. She inherited the throne at the age of 18 after her father's three elder brothers died without any surviving legitimate children.

Our last speaker of the day was the CIOL's very own CEO - Alexandra Jones, or Sandy as she likes to be called. Sandy was delighted that we had invited her to Heidelberg of all places, as this is where she spent six months of her gap year before going up to Oxford to study German and Greek. Sandy gave us a quick update on the Institute, which had been through a difficult patch, but that is behind it now. Some of the difficulties had arisen, in part, from antiquated administrative practices. Sandy has spent her first six months bringing procedures up-to-date.

Sandy then went on to speak about one of her passions, the Scottish Gaelic language, which she took up 10 years ago. There are fewer than 60,000 speakers of the language today and they are very scattered throughout Scotland. Nevertheless, the language is staging a revival. Sandy believes in language bio-diversity and the benefits of plurilingualism and, therefore, that all languages have a right to be supported.

Sandy also told us that she enjoys translating poems from German and Gaelic into English. She spoke about the challenges of translating poetry. She read out (and also sang beautifully) some of her translations and remarked that they were always a work in progress. We can't publish any of the examples as Sandy is in the throes of compiling a book of her poetry translations. Watch out for it next spring.

The morning's study session was followed by lunch in the famous Perkeo tavern. After this everyone split up and enjoyed the sunny afternoon in different ways (visits to the castle, shopping etc.). We met again in the evening for dinner and then, after dark, spilled out on to the meadows by the Neckar river to marvel at the castle illuminations and the fireworks let off from the Alte Brücke.

On Sunday morning our amazing weekend was rounded off with a tour of the centre of Heidelberg with none other than Mark Twain! He told us about his forthcoming book - A Tramp Abroad - and then took us around the city and told us tales of learned professors, famous students, old churches, ancient tomes and Heidelberg's famous sons and daughters (e.g. did you know that Friedrich Ebert, Germany's first president, was born and lived in Heidelberg?). Our tour ended in Heidelberg's cobblestone market place.

If, like me, you’ve ever wondered why there is a reconstruction of Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre in Neuss, a town on the Rhine, or why Shakespeare’s death mask is to be found in Darmstadt, the answer is simple – Shakespeare was German. At least, that is what Germans have felt for centuries, according to Professor Martin Swales, a former Professor of German at University College London (UCL), who gave a fascinating talk on this subject at this year’s Shakespeare Festival in Neuss.

It was August Wilhelm Schlegel, one of the most famous and prolific early translators of Shakespeare’s work, who described Shakespeare as being “ganz unser” (entirely ours). Indeed, many Germans believe that Shakespeare stands alongside Goethe and Schiller as the third German classic author. It is perhaps for this reason that in any given year there are more performances of Shakespeare in Germany than in England. Moreover, the first Shakespeare society in the world was founded in, you guessed it, Germany, in 1864.

Most significantly, however, German was the first language Shakespeare was ever translated into. This was way back in 1766, just 150 years after Shakespeare’s death, with Christoph Martin Wieland's prose translation of 22 of the plays. Between 1818 and 1839 alone, eight separate German translations of the entire works of Shakespeare were published. Some have argued that this even helped to "improve" the German language, as new words had to be invented to complete the task.

Nevertheless, it was the Schlegel-Tieck edition of 1833 that is considered to have set the gold standard for Shakespeare translation and laid the foundations for successive generations of German writers to attempt their very own versions. As Professor Swales pointed out, this stream of translations is probably one of the reasons for Shakespeare’s continued popularity in Germany - German audiences can actually understand the plays. By contrast, Shakespeare's original English is no longer easily understood.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe once described the unities of French theatre as being "as oppressive as prison." Thus, Shakespeare represented a breath of fresh air and offered a whole new world of creative possibilities. Indeed, Goethe was one of Shakespeare's greatest advocates. In 1771, he gave an impassioned speech on the merits of his "friend" across the North Sea. As Professor Rüdiger Görner points out in an afterword to a new translation of Goethe's speeches and writing on Shakespeare, Goethe even Germanized the Bard’s name when he called him Schäkespeare.

However, the story doesn't end there. Not only do Germans think of Shakespeare as entirely theirs, Germany is considered to be personified by Hamlet. In 1844, the writer Ferdinand Freiligrath wrote a poem entitled "Germany is Hamlet," the thinker, the lingerer never acting. To top it all, Hamlet was a so-called "Wahldeutscher" (German resident by choice) as he was a student at Wittenberg University. So there! In an attempt to fight back, Professor Swales, asked his colleagues at UCL’s English Department to name a Shakespearean character who they thought embodied Britain, the Bard’s native country. The English professors suggested Falstaff – I’ll leave you to draw your own conclusions on that one.

And I was surprised to read elsewhere that the term mother tongue may not be strictly correct. Research has apparently established that throughout history it is men who have made the biggest impact on the spoken word. Scientists investigated male and female genetic markets from several thousand communities to study patterns of language transmission, and found that the language spoken by any community depended largely on the arrival of men, whether via migration, pioneering or invasion.

An interesting article in a renowned German daily weighs up the pros and cons of a simplified version of Finnish known as Selkokieli. It was originally developed for the handicapped but then found to be useful, and here I quote, 'for the growing number of elderly people unable to keep pace with the flood of information, and above all for foreigners'. Finland's department of education finances the translation and publication of a wide range of texts in Selkokieli. It is hoped and thought that the simpler version of the language will promote the process of integration.

This is the Internet BlaBlameter developed by a Frankfurt author, politician and PR strategist to weed out the wheat from the chaff of long-winded texts. The software searches for long compound nouns, the use of nouns rather than verbs and expressions not used in everyday speech. To give just one example of its findings, a political coalition agreement concluded in the Frankfurt town council contains 80 times more hot air than a Grimms' fairy tale. For

This issue is quite a short one, containing essential information on coming events and, first and foremost, on a separate sheet (for those who haven't already received it by e-mail), Norman's message: Together with our Webmaster, Norman Ellis, we have launched an appeal to get our members to make more active, indeed inter-active, use of our website. We are asking you to register your details briefly so that above all those members who don't normally come to meetings or events can get in touch with each other and with the rest of us. This opt-in system has been carefully prepared by Norman to ensure that privacy is not violated in any way.

The fee is €80, which covers lunch including non-alcoholic beverages, and coffee and other beverages served during the conference. The amount is payable by bank transfer to the BDUE LV Hessen e.V., account no. 106 580 609 at the Postbank Frankfurt/Main, sort code 500 100 60 or IBAN: DE90 5001 0060 5806 09 / BIC PBNKDEFF (bank charges to be borne by the payer). Please quote 'AT2011' as your reference.

The venue is the five-star Dorint Hotel, Auguste-Victoria-Strasse 15, 65185 Wiesbaden (near the central station), in the conference area. A contingent of 20 rooms has been booked and will be held until 20 May. The price is €121 a night, including breakfast, all rooms with shower/bath/WC, cable TV and telephone, or €141 for doubles. The booking code is AT 2011. Tel. + 49 (0) 611 – 3306-3306, fax + 49 (0) 611 3306 1000, email: reservierung.wiesbaden@dorint.com .

This year's study weekend takes us to one of Germany's most beautiful cities and home of the world-famous castle as well as Germany's oldest university. We are currently putting together an exciting study programme, starting with dinner at around 19.00 on Friday, 2 September 2011 and ending after lunch on Sunday, 4 September 2011. The programme will include "talks and walks" and have highlights such as the castle illuminations and provisionally a theme evening taking us back to Heidelberg through the ages.

Some of you may have read that last year the UK Ministry of Justice announced plans to put all interpreting services out to tender, after the Justice Minister had claimed that hiring individual linguists from the National Register of Public Service Interpreters was an 'inefficient, labour-intensive process'. A private language agency, which pays less than the full national agreement rate, already has preferred supplier agreements with a number of regional police authorities. Said agency apparently defended itself against criticism that it had sent a Czech interpreter to help a Slovak-speaking suspect by saying it was 'fair to say that most people from Slovakia essentially speak Czech' – a view not borne out by

It is often claimed that the Germans have no sense of humour. This accusation certainly can’t be levelled at the electoral authorities in Frankfurt who, for the March election of town councillors, produced a ballot paper measuring roughly two feet by four. Voters had a total of 93 votes to be distributed among parties according to a convoluted system described as ‘kumulieren und panaschieren’. Shall I explain it? No, maybe not. As for the amount of paper used for the sample ballot papers sent to every voter and then for the actual ballot papers on the day, it could probably have covered both sides of the Great Wall of China.

A teacher at a not inexpensive private school near me tells of astonishing use of English by native speakers on the staff. One colleague spoke of 'elevating' a problem when alleviating was meant, and another advertised for sale 'a blue boy's wardrobe'. Did Gainsborough's Blue Boy have a wardrobe? Or is some poor lad so despondent that he is divesting himself of his belongings, wardrobe and all?

Is anyone else irritated by the word 'Schienenersatzverkehr' used when a tram or train is not running and a bus service is provided instead? Why not just say 'bus', which is far easier to understand?? I put this question to one of the staff in Frankfurt's interesting transport museum, and he said (I am not making this up!) it was a 'konzessionsrechtliche Frage' – if the word bus were used (even though the vehicle is in fact a bus), this would imply that the bus operator, which might be a different company, had the right to operate permanently on the route in question. So 'Schienenersatzverkehr' it shall be, even though the poor passenger just wants to get from A to B and cares nowt for any legal implications behind the wording …

19^th March, in Switzerland “Josephstag”*, here in Germany a completely normal Saturday, were it not for that special edge which makes it distinctive: it’s the date of our GS AGM. This year we’re departing from the usual round of Frankfurt, Cologne and Düsseldorf by holding it in Heidelberg, one of two events planned in that city for this year (see Diary). The AGM agenda is on Page 7. Following the AGM and lunch, we shall be taking advantage of the location to do a guided walk in that famous city. It has been organized by Gabriele and is titled “Heidelberger Kuriositäten”. I for one am looking forward to visiting a city which, I must admit, I have still not visited after 27 years in Germany.

As of January, John Hammond left his post of Chief Executive of the CIoL. During his five years as Chief Executive and the three years before that as Chair of Council, John was extremely active in furthering the aims of the Institute, which included the granting of the Royal Charter and the celebration of the Centenary. On behalf of all Institute members in the GS, I would like to express my most cordial thanks to John for his good works (an understatement!) and wish him all the very best for the future. John’s successor as Chief Executive is Alexandra Jones, to whom we likewise wish every success in her new post.

They say it takes crises to garner people’s get-up-and-go. I’m sure I was not alone in my ignorance of the fact that this time last year the German Regional Society felt obliged to hold a ‘crisis meeting’ after having been obliged to cancel the traditional annual November workshop due to lack of registrations. It was only at the end of this year’s Joint Translators’ Workshop, held in the Saalbau Galluswarte, that Gabriele Matthey revealed this little piece of ‘history’ to the assembled company of twenty German and English (and one New Zealander!) colleagues who by that point had spent a most interesting, stimulating, amusing and convivial day together.

In so doing, she delivered a timely reminder that organisations and events such as this need support in order to continue! Support from the likes of you and me. It is a sad facet of human nature that our spontaneous inclination is usually to bury our heads and let others ‘get on with it’. It’s so easy to take other people’s contributions for granted. But the very least we can do is tear ourselves away from our desks or our tellies and support events organised by those individuals amongst us who overcome that natural inclination in order to keep alive an interest group that has found value in sharing thoughts and ideas for very many years, establishing a tradition, in the case in point, which is surely worth preservation.

It was interesting to note, too, that two of the contributors to this particular gathering were indeed just such active members at national organisational level – John Graham has just stepped down from his seat on the ITI Council after very many years’ service, and Richard Delaney has just taken up a position as co-opted corporate ITI Council member. It is worth pausing to reflect that, without the voluntary input of stalwart colleagues such as these, we ‘rank and file translators’ would not be in a position to benefit from the wide-ranging support that we enjoy from organisations such as ITI, BDÜ and CIOL. So – thank you, guys (and gals)!

The day itself began with a whirlwind introduction to the niceties of continuous casting and slab steel production from Mike Harrington, who has been immersed in it (so to speak…) for longer than he would probably care to remember. His enthusiasm remains undimmed, and his carefully prepared array of visual-aids-for-the-uninitiated in the form of diagrams and terminology lists gave us all the confidence to feel we could challenge and improve the extract he presented from a published EN translation of a brochure on the subject. (And there’s nothing we enjoy more than that, of course…….!)

By way of historical background, Mike explained that, following takeover, Mannesmann Demag had eventually become SMS Siemag, SMS being one of the firms that has helped develop the modern concept of casting molten steel into long strips for eventual use in products such as cars and cooking utensils. In this continuous “slab casting” process, the steel is turned out in chunks that are cut up into chocolate-bar-like slabs in a modern production concept that unifies the casting machine and the rolling mill, thereby making significant energy savings by avoiding the need to re-heat the material. Whoever thought that steel-making could be so engrossing….

Our brain cells having been frisked into activity by Mike’s engaging ‘interactive’ approach, and refreshed by the customary mid-morning cup of coffee or tea, we were entertained by John Graham’s contribution, prepared at short notice after a last-minute contributor cancellation. As we all know, John is never short of newly-gathered linguistic material to set before us in a manner which (as I’m sure he would acknowledge) is

He reminded us, too, of the importance of the need to extract from often uncomprehending clients an at least approximate idea of the purpose of the translation. And ideally the (English) language variant required. He also referred to the unavoidable process of ‘micro-localisation’ (my term, not his!): almost every text involves a degree of rewriting, taking into account cultural considerations, without which cultural ‘bloomers’ can only too readily creep in (viz. the example of the German ‘eco-festival’ which unwittingly gave its English-speaking punters cause to smile with its slogan “The Call of Nature”…..). This rewriting/adaptation process is well described by the (relative) neologism ‘transcreation’, a term that John feels could and should be more widely used. His talk was peppered with one-off culturally-loaded ‘little gems’– ‘Ostalgie’ and the ‘Teuro’ to name just a couple of favourites.

After a break for lunch in the cosy, independently-run Mediterranean restaurant on the ground floor, we returned to the seminar room for a session run by the day’s principal speaker, Richard Delaney, who is a qualified lawyer and teaches on City University's MA course in Legal Translation. This was a ‘legal’ slot that was not for the faint-hearted. Richard presented us with a single sentence of (German) legalese that extended over 18 lines and was rendered even more unintelligible by virtue of the inclusion of endless bracketed references to digital media products and providers. Undeterred, most participants at least began the challenge of teasing out the main thrust, but it must be conceded that only a handful of determined souls stuck the course through to the final full stop!

A second, related paragraph (the context of which would actually have helped to a not inconsiderable extent in understanding the first….!) provided us with the basis for much fruitful discussion that finally had to be brought to a close in order to accommodate demands from 'the floor' for an afternoon cuppa and the high-speed networking conversations inseparably associated with the last tea-break of the day.

At the risk of repeating what I said earlier, an informal talk from Gabriele brought the day to a close, in the course of which, apart from exhorting us to be more pro-active, she mentioned that BDÜ has recently agreed that translators in possession of the CIOL Dip Trans or ATA Certification are now eligible for BDÜ membership (the previous requirement for translation into German having been waived). So get out there and sign up!!

Once I had registered (easy) and paid, I received a reminder three days before as well as my link to join the webinar on the day. You are requested to be there a little bit early (as one would be for any other event!). All registered participants can be sent a link (by email) to a recording of the complete proceedings of the webinar including all illustrative material – particularly useful if you are suddenly unable to take part. This is sent out 36 hours after the live event.

To avoid George-W-like confusion, the language we are flirting with is that of Slovenia, not of Slovakia, i.e. Slovene as opposed to Slovak, the native names being “slovenščina” or “slovensko” and, respectively, “slovenčina” or “slovenský” (accented vowels underlined). The two languages indeed look similar, at any rate to anyone not too familiar with Slavonic languages, and they show a large number of similarities in spite of being a long way apart (separated by Hungary and Austria). Slovene belongs to the South Slavonic group, which includes Serbo-Croat, Macedonian and Bulgarian, while Slovak is West Slavonic like Czech, Polish and Sorbian. However, all Slavonic languages share a great many features of grammar, syntax and vocabulary.

One of the most striking of these features is the general Slavonic system of numerals, wherein “one” takes the nominative singular of adjectives and nouns, two (except in Slovenian – see below) three and four” take the nominative plural, with adjectives in the genitive plural, and “five upwards” the genitive plural. This, in fact, is only a simple explanation and the numeral system becomes even more complex when verbs, gender and case are involved. In Slovenian “karta” (ticket) is feminine, so if you are asking for “one/two/three/four/five tickets”, it will be (in accusative) “eno karto/dve karti/tri karte/štiri karte/pet kart”. Note that for “two tickets” a different plural form is used. This is because Slovene goes a step yet further in that it uses a dual form with nouns and verbs. This form will be familiar to Classical Greek scholars but has become obsolete in most European languages. For example, here is the conjugation of the verb “to be”: “biti”:

For those interested in South Slavonic linguistics, the Slovenian language is quite close to the “Kajkavian” dialect of (Serbo-)Croatian. The dialects of this language are distinguished by their word for “what”: što (pron. “shto”) in the main Croatian dialect and also in Serbian; ča (pron. “cha”) in the Croatian of the Dalmatian coast and islands; and kaj (pronounced like “kite” without the “t”) in Northern Croatia (including the capital, Zagreb), bordering on Slovenia and merging linguistically into it. Both “Kajkavian” and Slovenian make more use of the future tense than other Slavonic languages, which tend to use the perfective forms of verbs. “I will speak Slovene” is (for a man) “Govoril bom slovensko” / (for a woman) “Govorila bom slovensko”. Again unlike in many other Slavonic languages, the future makes use of the past participle. “I (man) spoke Slovene” is “Govoril sem slovensko”; “I (woman) spoke Slovene” is “Govorila sem slovensko”.

However, if you are visiting Slovenia you might not want to bother with all this linguistic hair-splitting. You will be more interested in ordering a beer (pivo, as in every other Slavonic language), a wine (vino, sounds familiar), a kokta, Slovenia’s and former Yugoslavia’s answer to Coke, an excellent cappuccino (on Ljubljana’s main railway station, železniška postaja) or dinner (večerja): I’d recommend “Spajza”, pronounced like “Speise” but with a Hamburg accent, on Gornji trg, Upper Market, in Ljubljana (“beloved”). To achieve success in these endeavours I refer you to an absolutely brilliant book available from one of Ljubljana’s main bookshops, Mladinska Knjiga Trgovina (“Youth Bookshop”): see Bibliography below *. Besides containing loads of useful vocabulary and phrases, it supplied the basis for most of the grammatical explanations given above. It also gives indispensable tips on Slovenia itself and even has a section on flirting. A grammar and guide book all in one – can’t be bad!

For further reading I picked up an interesting booklet at Ljubljana’s castle (Ljubljanski grad), perched high above the city and the comely river Ljubljanica (Lyublyanitsa), where there was a rather harrowing exhibition in progress about the human rights situation in Darfur, Sudan (September 2009). This had been organized by the Slovenian writer and documentary-film maker, Tomo Križnar. The booklet accompanying the exhibition is called “Darfur – vojna za vodo” (“Darfur – the war for water”)**. I can’t understand all of it as I don’t have a dictionary but it deals mainly with the struggle for survival of the South Sudanese people in the face of attacks by hostile forces from the north, vicious competition for water due to serious drought, and exploitation of other resources, especially oil, by foreign companies without benefiting the local population. One quote is clear: “V zadnjih tridesatih letih je v Sahelu padlo povprečno 40% manj dežja”: “During the last thirty years approximately 40% less rain has fallen in the Sahel”. (At the risk of being flippant, that’s an example of numerals in the locative plural case.). However, the booklet also tries to inspire us to aim at a better world: “Mi imamo EN sam svet, mi imamo naš PLANET. Naj se sonči v svetlobi, naj ga LJUBEZEN VODI! ……..V resnici obstaja samo ena družina in to je čLOVEštvo. V resnici imamo samo en dom in to je Zemlja – Gaja.” This probably translates as something like: “We have just ONE world, we have our PLANET. Let it be illuminated, let it be LOVED FOR ITS WATER …..Really, there is only one community and that is humanity (čLOVEštvo). Really, we have only one house and that is the Earth – Gaia.” Nothing new, really, but it’s good to read something of worldwide importance also in lesser-known languages.

I’ve just realized that I’ve been using Slovene and Slovenian indiscriminately. I think they are interchangeable when referring to the language. Otherwise Slovene is the noun referring to the people and Slovenian the adjective. Likewise Slav, Slavic, Slavonic. Slav is the noun for the people, while Slavic refers to the language in American usage, I think, and Slavonic is used more in Britain. Comments welcome.

According to the website of the Electoral Commission in London, British citizens living abroad are entitled to appoint a proxy to vote for them in the 5 May referendum on the British electoral system. However, when I phoned to ask whether the 20-year absence limit that applies for normal elections applies, I was told that the franchise hadn’t yet been established, and that I should inquire again in a month’s time. I will do so, but am not too hopeful.

Thanks to Janet Berridge for an article reporting on the discovery by US scientists that the brain is unable to separate what is being said from the way in which it is being said. The stronger the foreign accent, the less likely the speaker is likely to be trusted or believed by the native speaker of the language being spoken! Leesen carefully, ah weel say zis only wunce:

Thanks to Mike for a witty article on oxymorons (the word itself apparently coming from two Greek words meaning sharp, in the sense of alert, and stupid). These apparent contradictions, the article says, often convey more than a whole sentence. One such, which was new to me, is Speckbarbie, meaning young women trying to squeeze themselves into clothes a size or two too small. The other example given, likewise a favourite for ‘Jugendwort’ des Jahres, is not suitable for a family publication such as ours.

GS Diary 2011

19 March

German Society AGM in Heidelberg

For the agenda and full details, see page 7.

25/26 March

5th Deutscher Gerichtsdolmetschertag 2011 (BDÜ)

Hannover Congress Centrum http://www.gerichtsdolmetschertag.de/index.php

Until 3 April

Evolving English: One language, many voices

A major exhibition and events programme at the British Library in London. It is the first ever exhibition exploring the evolution of the English language, from Anglo-Saxon runes to modern day rap. Driven by developments in religion, politics, technology, economics and culture, English today is spoken by a third of the world’s population. The exhibition will examine where the language is now, where it has come from and where it is heading. The new varieties of the language appearing in world literature and on the internet show that this incredible story is by no means over. For full details, see http://www.bl.uk/evolvingenglish.

7-8 May

ITI conference in Birmingham

For further information, see www.iti.org.uk / www.iti-conference.org.uk.

20-22 May

4th ADÜ-Nord-Tage in Hamburg.

»Kompass ausrichten – Frischer Wind oder bewährter Kurs?«

http://www.adue-nord.de/

17-19 June

Anglophoner Tag

(BDÜ Hesse) Wiesbaden

2-4 September

Study weekend in Heidelberg

12-16 October

Frankfurt book fair. This year’s guest of honour is Iceland.