translationfound

Assets and Allocation

2007-06-22T18:30:00.000+01:00

Asset Allocation -

Wikipedia EN says:
Inherent in asset allocation is the idea that the best-performing asset varies from year to year and is not easily predictable. Therefore having a mixture of asset classes is more likely to meet your goals. A more fundamental justification for asset allocation is the notion that different asset classes offer non-correlated returns, hence diversification reduces the overall risk in terms of the variability of returns for a given level of expected return. In this respect diversification has been described as "the only free lunch you will find in the investment game."

FAZ.NET says:
Aufteilung des Kapitals auf verschiedene Investmentarten (Anlageklassen, Währungen, Regionen). Der Ertrag und das Risiko eines Portfolios kann durch die Auswahl der Wertpapiere und deren Gewichtung bestimmt und optimiert werden.

What does allocate mean?
Roget's Thes says:
allocate

Definition: assign
Synonyms: admeasure, allot, apportion, appropriate, budget, cut, designate, dish out*, divide, divvy*, divvy up, earmark, give, mete, set aside, share, slice
Antonyms: keep, keep together
Notes: to allocate something is to set it aside for a specific purpose; to allot something is to give it with an implied restriction and an understanding of sharing

Where does allocate come from?
Etymonline says:
allocate (v.) Look up allocate at Dictionary.com
1640, from adj. (1438), from M.L. allocate (the common first word of writs authorizing payment), imperative pl. of allocare "allocate," from L. ad- "to" + locare "to place."

° ° °
c.1300, from O.Fr. alouer "approve," from L. allaudare, compound of ad- "to" + laudare "to praise," confused and merged in O.Fr. with alouer "assign," from L. allocare (see allocate). From the first word came the sense "permission based on approval," from the second the meaning preserved in allowance "a limited portion or sum (usually of money or food)," first recorded 1440.

Personally I can't help associate allocate with place - locale - it's my Latin training. And the French alouer - assign fits right in - you put a thing in a place - a certain portion in a certain place. In its slot. And voila we arrive at the current meaning of placing assets in different investment classes.

gisela. Translator? You just found her.
www.sepiaport.com

CC 3.0 Licenses

2007-03-18T19:06:00.000Z

Copyright Law is at an exciting crossroads as Creative Commons has issued the CC License Version 3 which heavily relies on provisions made by the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works the Rome Convention of 1961 the WIPO Copyright Treaty of 1996, the WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty of 1996 and the Universal Copyright Convention.

CC's partial affirmation of the Moral Rights of the author, which US copyright law grants only in a very limited fashion is one outgrowth of the recognition of the above treaties.

The Moral Rights of the author aknowledges an emotional attachment of the author to her creation aside from monetary interests.

While Creative Commons licenses based on CC's underlying philosophy permit and even champion sampling, citing and altering of creative content, in short, generating derivative works - authors also felt their concerns regarding protecting some fundamental Moral Rights deserved some consideration.

For this reason CC states in its Wiki:
...Creative Commons licenses, with one exception, have taken the approach of not interfering with the author’s moral right of integrity in those jurisdictions that recognize this right.

Related Links:
Wikipedia list of (famous) Legal Copright Cases
Wikipedia description of a Public Domain case
Wikipedia definition of Moral Rights
Wikipdia definition of Copyright
Wikipdia list of software related copyright terms
Wikipdia description of Related Rights
Wikipedia information regarding the EU's harmonizing of the term of copyright protection

Oil for Food? Not! For Water

2006-11-13T10:41:00.000Z

Brendan Buhler reporting on the bottled water convention in Las Vegas:
"We need to change the way we sell water," said industry analyst Kathleen Ransome. "At what point will consumers turn to the tap?"

Hm, dunno ... at gun point?
What other reason would there be to turn away from bottled water?

Surprise, surprise there are some - oil prices for instance. 'Cause honey chile oil is what the water bottles are made of. And they're becoming dearer by the day.

Reason number two:
The American middle class is shrinking; "so who's going to be able to afford it at a higher price?" asks analyst Kathleen Ransome.

Well, the American middle class is'nt exactly shrinking. It's sliding down towards the lower classes. And the lower classes turn to the tap.

More on why bottled water is not good for the planet and probably bad for your health.

Redewendung Figure of Speech

2006-09-10T19:39:00.000+01:00

Die Redewendung - figure of speech
Der Eiskunstlauf - figure scating
Die Zahl - Figure
...das soll einer verstehen - ...go figure
Die Figur - figure
etwas ( Kniffliges) herauskriegen - to figure it out.

I finally figured it out!
Endlich hab ich's gepeilt!

Translation Found: Here

2006-08-25T14:20:00.000+01:00

Translationfound Update:
Bitte sehen Sie sich hier meine Übersetzungeproben an:
Please ave a look at the samples of my work:
Proben/Samples
PDF Downloads.

I am juggling between language domains such as:
Ich jongliere zwischen Sprachwelten wie:

Die Interpretation von Multimediabotschaften mittels der innewohnenden semantischen Inhalte macht es möglich, den Verlust von Information während des Adaptationsprozesses.......
NÖCH?
Dann geht es lockerer weiter mit
Then:

Aquaknarre water gun Wasser, Huh == Huch!!!....

Nun wird es etwas ernster es geht um Geld, viel Geld (not mine):

Without owning the copyrights concerned you have published ten complete works by xxxxxxxxxx in the Internet. Your argument, that according to the laws of the United States, these works are Public Domain, is not valid, because they are being viewed online in the WorldWideWeb in Germany as well.

Which means, I am going to be neither here nor there blogwise for a few weeks.
Will sagen, ich werde, was Blogging betrifft in den nächsten Wochen erst mal weg vom Radar sein.

Zur Erbauung und zwischenzeitlichen Unterhaltung in Sachen Englisch empfehle ich:
Meanwhile stay tuned dealing with complex issues such as: How would you look like if you were
a four-year-old letting the family's pet parakeet out of its cage

Oder sehen Sie sich meine Übersetzungeproben an:
Or have a look at the samples of my work:
Proben/Samples
PDF Downloads

Tschüss!
Bis Bald
Gisela Strauss
Technically
Technical Translator
Im Prinzip technische Übersetzerin

UPDATE: SVN is on hold currently.
This is the stuff I am doing now:
Proben/Samples
Dear Blog-Readers,
Liebe Blog-Leser,

from now on I will be over at Agile_webdesign.blogspot.com more often.
Ab jetzt werde ich öfters bei Agile_webdesign.blogspot.com sein.

Reason being that I have begun translating the user manual for SVN - Subversion.
Grund: Ich habe damit begonnen das Anwender-Handbuch von SVN - Subversion zu übersetzen.

Den Fortschritt können Sie hier verfolgen.
You can track its progress here.

Die Rohübersetzungen sind öffentlich und werden nach dem Publizieren korrigiert.
It's a work-in-progress publication were the first draft is being published and then proof-read online.

Thank you for coming by.
Kommen Sie doch mal vorbei.

Gisela Strauss
Übersetzungen | Lokalisationen
Translations | Localizations

Time for China

2006-08-24T19:07:00.000+01:00

The China Time posters gave me cause to reminisce and think back to Chinatown San Francisco.
It is a completely safe and serene experience to walk through, and most of the shops are set up for Chinese so they are a true discovery.

The Chinese restaurants serve huge amounts of vegetables and rice and the vegetable gardens are maintained just outside of San Francisco to this day. It’s all family business which means the price for a very good meal is very decent.

Columbus square is where Chinese older women regularly do Tai Chi exercise in the morning. This is downtown and borders on – you guessed it - little Italy.

Of course any self-respecting San Franciscan knows their Chinese astrological sign.
It’s the year you are born in that matters.
I was born in the year of the Dog.

Redewendung

2006-08-24T18:45:00.000+01:00

The ball is in your court.
Der [Tennis]-ball ist auf deinem/Ihrem Feld.
Bedeutung -
die nächste Möglichkeit eine Handlung zu initiieren liegt bei dir/Ihnen.

Grass - Not Bel by Far

2006-08-17T15:46:00.000+01:00

The Grass confession should not be surprising. It is known in Germany that former Nazis of considerable rank sought and found cover in left wing intellectual circles. Spiegel is notorious for having had writer/editors with murky brown backgrounds over years.

The editor of Hannah Arendt's work in German at Pieper Verlag for instance had been a high-ranking Nazi.

The RAF was not only anti-zionist but anti-semitic.

While I am saying this I am not pointing fingers: in my own extended family, even in the second generation, there is this tendency to want to reconcile anti-semitic feeling and blatant revisionism with progressive and new age ideas and human rights activism. Having said that, the Grass thing seems less insidious than that, but emblematic for the moral dilemma the German post-war intellectuals are caught up in.
Without wanting to sound smug - I had been a mere kiddie when I left for Berkeley and am kinda glad I had been given Chomsky, Vidal, Naomi Klein, Susan Sonntag, and the German exiles such as Arendt, Adorno and others from the Frankfurter Schule as "recommended reading" while I was there.

I never read Grass. But I liked Böll.

Grass - Lies Gras über die Sache wachsen. Wie alle andern auch.

Letter to Bolton, US Ambassador at the UN

2006-07-21T14:27:00.000+01:00

The Schevitzes are friends, and like many Jewish people around the world they voice their concern about Israeli policies in the Middle East:
Dear Ambassador Bolton,

As parents of a son living in Jerusalem and working at Yad Vashem, we want to express our parental, moral and political concern over the escalating crisis between Israel, Lebanon, and Palestine and urge you to support a Security Council resolution calling for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire.

We are gravely concerned about the loss of life on all sides. We condemn all attacks on civilians, and call for the release of political prisoners and POWs held on all sides in this conflict.
Hezbollah's crossing of the Israeli border to capture two soldiers may have violated the 1949 Armistice between Israel and Lebanon. But it is important to note that in the triggering incident, Hezbollah captured soldiers, not civilians. In addition, as the New York Times recognized on July 19, Hezbollah did not fire rockets into Israeli cities until after the Israeli army began bombing civilian areas of Lebanon. The Israeli government could have chosen to engage in serious negotiations for a prisoner exchange, as they have so many times before. As recently as 2004, in a German-orchestrated swap, Hezbollah exchanged a kidnapped Israeli civilian and the remains of several Israeli soldiers killed in combat in Lebanon, for over 400 Palestinian, Lebanese, and other Arab prisoners.

Instead, the Israeli government chose to escalate what would have remained one of many common border skirmishes into a war. They have been deliberately shelling civilian areas and civilian infrastructure in both Lebanon and Gaza. Israel's attacks were and are clearly disproportionate in their use of force. They constitute acts of collective punishment against the Lebanese and Palestinian populations -- extremely serious violations of international law.

It appears that by totally crippling the Lebanese society and demonstrating that the legitimate government is powerless that Israel is setting the stage for a coup that would put into place an Israeli-controlled government. We understand this from a "Realpolitik" point of view.

Nevertheless, the world is crying out for global intervention to stop the bloodshed. We want to see the U.S. rally the international community to stop further bloodshed instead of hampering UN efforts to call for an immediate ceasefire.

We urgently call on the Bush administration to work with international partners to broker an immediate and unconditional ceasefire and commence negotiations to peacefully resolve all aspects of the crisis, with the goal being a comprehensive just and lasting peace in the region based on the implementation of international law.

We look forward to hearing your response.

Dr. Jeffrey Schevitz
Beatrice Altman-Schevitz
Family Therapists
Höhenstr. 13
D-87629 Füssen (Hopfen am See)
Deutschland

Na und?

2006-05-05T16:51:00.000+01:00

Snapshot from a discussion about English usage:

This is probably why Japanese tend to accept what the Kenkyusha Unabridged Dictionary of English says is good usage rather than believing what an educated native anglophone says. The dictionary always has the same answers no matter which edition or which copy they consult, but we native speakers of English almost always provide different answers for all the obvious reasons. You should hear me exclaim "Oy!" when my son tells me what his 4th-grade Taiwanese English teacher tells him about my native language. Naturally, though, he believes her version.

Franke: EFL teacher and medical editor
It's all in the way you say it, innit? [ isn't it]

Yes, and that's why trained translators will always be faster than native speakers. Unencumbered by the 24/7 experience of the language, its subtleties and ambiguities, they find the one and only right word for the translation quickly. At best they are correct but sound generic. At worst they get a phrase or an idiom completely wrong. Na und?

Escher - shorthand for...

2006-04-26T19:17:00.001+01:00

The thought of Dutch Escher paintings evokes feelings of the surreal, the oppressively surreal even. In American journalism, the mention of Escher paintings often is used as a shorthand for difficult-to-describe, eerie emotions, or just something plain weird:

«The visual effect is like standing inside an M.C. Escher painting, wavy columns that appear to be marching...»
Guy Raz on a building in Berlin.

« This isn't a recall. It's an Escher drawing. And it gets worse. The price tag for mounting this circus? »
John Ridley on the last California elections

«...who specializes in skewed perspectives and weirdly repetitive dreamscapes. Think M.C. Escher on ecstasy. »
Nathan Rabin on MTV music videos

Gisela Strauss
Translator | Übersetzer

Mr. Magyar

2006-04-25T17:21:00.000+01:00

True story:
At a German-American networking event, an American spoke to me, who introduced himself to me as Mr. Magyar. I said, Oh, but that means Hungarian. He said, I am. And then he said, There are many jokes about Hungarians, that I do not like. But one I like. It goes like this:

Hungarian is behind you in a revolving door. Before you get out, the Hungarian’s before you, gets out before you.

Underground | Suburban | Newton | Apple | Bite |

2006-04-19T18:08:00.000+01:00

Municipal trains approaching the main station feature an announcement saying, passengers can change to suburban, regional, national and international trains.

During such an announcement I overheard a guy behind me asking his partner -

« what's the difference between underground and suburban trains? »

Most English speakers would know that the « burbs » or « suburbs » are smaller towns surrounding a larger city - also called bedroom communities because commuters will come home from the city, go to sleep, not doing much else.

But literally « sub » can mean « under » or « near by » in Latin and « urbs » means city - » so under the city « - » underground « - would be a possible interpretation. But it's wrong because of the gotcha!!! idiomatic effect.

« Urbis at Orbis » is probably the the genitive of urbs and orbs - and means something like « of the city and the globe »

The orb that ought to be on Newton's tomb, according to the Da Vinci Code is the other biblically relevant round thing - the apple, which brought Newton illumination by dropping on his head - or so the saga goes.

So an apple hanging above your head - especially if already eaten into might bring extra illuminating effects (I mean Newton was brilliant to begin with).

"Munich" and Munich

2006-04-11T15:46:00.000+01:00

While many mainstream media oulets indulges in horror and conflict stories -
it's good to help balance the score by mentioning good things:

"Ein Bustan" was established by a group of parents living in the lower
Galilee who wish to enroll their children in the first Jewish/Arab
Waldorf Kindergarten in Israel. These Arab and Jewish parents have been
meeting regularly since January 2005. Together they created established
the non-profit organization "Ein Bustan" and determined the principles
on which it is based.

° ° °
Thoughts and images continue to rise within me, after having seen "Munich".

Spielberg communicating with the audience outside of the story line - as when we see Avner being driven to a Louis-Malle-type French countryside arcadia, where in the yard of a charming farmhouse, around a long table, covered with starched white table cloth, the extended family of the patriarch is having lunch, and embarrassing, revealing things are being said.

When regional food is being discussed and the French host, Papa, played by Michael Lonsdale, a Paris native, whose business it is to sell information regarding the whereabouts of very dangerous people, acknowledges to Avner, a deep yet common tie they both have, You are feeding your family with the trade you're in. So am I.

The last scene with the top assasin handler Ephraim, when he refuses Avner's tentative invitation to his New York home for bread and salt - the old Jewish tradition. And this top handler, with this painful, bitter quiver around his mouth turning down Avner's inviation in a way as if this had been a painfully dumb and naive thing to have asked.

Was the message here something in the direction of, The war for Israel has taken from some of us that which makes it special to be a Jew?

The scene where the German intellectual, obviously a member of a conspirative household, finds her justification in Herbert Marcuse quotes for taking Avner's cash and betraying her sources.

The faces of the terrorists and those of the Israelis in Fürstenfeldbruck, at the moment, when the the terrorists realized the Lufthansa escape was a sham, because they found the plane deserted - no smartly dressed German pilots anyhwere in sight, and the realization on the Israeli's faces that this was the end - that they would be shot - those expressions on both sides were almost identical.

Leaving the audience without any possibility to identify any bad guy. What's left is the sort of sadness which only a sense of the tragic can create.

Munich (German: München), the city as a whole, has failed to cop to this dimension. What comes to mind for one is the endeavor "Olympic Spirit" - not an attempt to at last come to terms and to a sense of healing with the tragedy of the Munich Olympic Games, but a trendy roller blading fun park, not far from where the horrific events began. It now has failed dismally.

And the repetitive statements by police and German secret service spokespersons - It's not our fault - We did what we could.
Alright, alright alright.

T'RATI TAGS
Munich Spielberg+
Munich+
München+

Gisela Strauss
Translator + Munich
Übersetzerin + München

und jetzt bitte: kuscheln, out-chillen, olé!

2006-04-05T19:25:00.000+01:00

Wird Hamburg bald endlich wieder so schön kuschelig liberal, so richtig chilled-out? Es besteht berechtigte Hoffnung.

K u s c h ! - means - Kowtow! grovel!brownnose!bow!bootlick!cave in!cower!cringe!flatter!genuflect!go social!kneel!pander!say uncle!stoop!toady!truckle!

Whereas K u s c h e l ! -- means - cuddle!snuggle!cater to!cherish!coddle!dote on!humor! indulge!please!satisfy!

Which is what the term «Kuschelklassiks» -- «cuddle classics» -- is meant to invoke.

GS
München

Lone Star

2006-04-02T20:37:00.000+01:00

According to Bloomberg News,
Lone Star, a Texan fund sold a third of the bank Tokyo Star in October 2005, making a seven-fold return on its initial investment when it bought the bankrupt banke called Tokyo Sowa Bank Ltd. in 2001.

Lone Star is said to have invested more than $2.5 billion in Asia since 1995.

Press Release Munich Dallas: AIDMATRIX

2006-03-29T16:56:00.000+01:00

Shari Temple, Managing Director - Europe of the Aidmatrix Foundation –
"The Right Aid to the Right People at the Right Time" described how tons of evening dresses ended up being shipped to Tsunami regions. Where the injured and homeless could not use them. Disposing of them added to the work load, disaster relief organizations had to shoulder. This is no singular incident, and cause for Aidmatrix Foundation to take action.
Aidmatrix is about providing intelligent logistics and sourcing solutions tailored to the requirements of globally and locally networked relief organizations such as the Red Cross & Red Crescent Societies.
The Spanish Red Cross Emergency Relief Unit is the first to apply Aidmatrix to its inventory and shipping processes:

Press Release:
International Red Cross & Red Crescent Societies join with the Aidmatrix Foundation to Provide Global Disaster Relief

MUNICH and DALLAS – March 23, 2006 –

……Head of IT, Hugh Peterken said, “The Federation’s mission to improve the lives of vulnerable people by mobilizing the power of humanity. As the world's largest humanitarian organization with millions of volunteers active in over 183 countries, we are pleased to partner with Aidmatrix. We believe only through powerful and innovative partnerships will we achieve our mission". …………..About the Aidmatrix Foundation
Aidmatrix helps charitable organizations alleviate human suffering by mobilizing resources and orchestrating the right aid for the right people at the right time. It is a 501(c) (3) nonprofit governed by a voluntary board of directors including captains of industry. Founded as a program of the i2 Foundation a half-decade ago, it mobilizes more than a billion dollars in aid annually working with more than 350 charities worldwide. It partners with corporations including i2 Technologies, Accenture, Sun Microsystems, Alcatel, Dell, EDS and others to engage employees and the public in its innovative mission. See www.aidmatrix.org for more information.

Homm Besoffen am Pool bei Mittag?

2006-03-29T14:12:00.000+01:00

Chief Investment Officer Homm, of Absolute Capital Management (ACM), says he realized work was a privilege he does not want to miss. He tried retiring and found himself drunk on the poolside by noon - everyday. He realized that this wasn't all that desirable in the end: he said his brain began to shrivel, he needed to go back to work.

Tough call for some folks who believe hedge fond boss and pit bull Florian Homm, Mallorca (FT Germany), attacked their "Lebenswerk" - their work of a lifetime - (sic car rental entrepreneur Erich Sixt, Pullach, Bavaria). How could someone love work, and try and take the "work of a lifetime" away from someone else? It's a bad bad world out there, for the
Hummer vehicle provider from Pullach, seat of the BND.

But then maybe Homm did not mean it. Maybe this was some unintended side effect of his laudable work ethic. He is so post Cold War, post so post Marshall Plan, it is scary.

Meanwhile many Arbeitsplatzinhaber (proprietors of an employment situation) agree with Homm. Being drunk at work by noon everyday, beats being drunk by the poolside of a Spanish casa at noon anytime. No, really.

Jim O'Neill, Rock Star, Chefökonom

2006-03-29T13:50:00.000+01:00

FT Deutschland nennt Jim O'Neill den Chefvolkswirt von Goldman Sachs.
Da es nicht immer eindeutigen Zuordnungen akademischer Titel gibt, wollte ich's mal wissen:

Also:
Jim O'Neill wird 2006 gehandelt als

Chefvolkswirt (FT, Hamburg), Chefökonom (Die Zeit) -- chief economist (FXstreet), chief global economist (FT, UK)....und als
Goldman Sachs' rock star (Business Week).

Von Wichten und Wichtigtuern

2006-03-28T17:30:00.000+01:00

wichtig (adj) -- important
Wicht (noun) -- important person? Nope it's the opposite - a putz, a trifle of a person, a dwarf
Wichtigtuer (noun) -- is a person that acts as so they are important.
Bösewicht (noun) -- evil, wretched person, literally evil putz

Gewicht -- weight

Hergotts Bscheisserle: Maultaschendiskussionen

2006-03-19T16:16:00.000Z

Hergotts bscheisserle Maultaschendiskussionen hm...

Der Autor / Auteur dieser Blog-Überschrift sagt von sich:
»:Ich bin Medienwissenschaftler und arbeite im Fach Medienwissenschaft an der Universität Trier. Derzeit schreibe ich an meiner Doktorarbeit, in der ich mich mit Netzwerkkommunikation im Internet am Beispiel der Weblog-Kommunikation auseinandersetze.«

Bitte Übersetzen....Call for translation:

God's little hustler mouth bag discussion? Nope.
God's little shyster?
God's little sheister?
as in
«Is it "Sheister" or "Shyster"? I had always thought the former, because when my mom uses it she means a shitty person (i.e. from the German "Sheiss" for "shit") and I think she picked it up from my great-grandma Shneider, but I feel like there might be some derivative for "Shyster," like someone who cheats you out of your money? Bueller?»

Please help me out on this one.
Greetings
Gisela

On February 14th I had writer’s block

2006-03-13T17:46:00.000Z

On February 14th I had writer’s block.
So please excuse that only now - inspired by some Jean-Jacques Goldman lyrics -

«Sache que je ...
Ces trois mots là n'affirment pas
Il y a une question dans " je t'aime "
Qui demande " et m'aimes-tu, toi ? «

-there comes the writer’s blog on the topic:
So the hidden question is then, Are you being earnest?
Meinst Du das ernst?

A pivotal if nagging concern in matters concerning love.
Gisela

Arabella or The Case of the Pussy Field

2006-03-13T17:18:00.000Z

In spring 2001 Arabella Plaza Munich was peaceful as ever – Arab princes who sat outdoors at Café Wieners, drinking hot beverages, would return at dusk to the quiet subdued atmosphere of the Arabella Sheraton – their permanent European lodging.

Meanwhile a project manager at a nearby bank, involved with the zoning procedure for the land surrounding the expanding Schönefeld Airport Berlin, was less than happy, because the department manager she was reporting to was about to deny her well deserved project earning points, because of - what she felt male cronyism running rampant. She let everybody know and offered her educated guess where this place was headed for – spilling the beans on some rather largely unsuccessfully managed funds, and in her opinion disastrous financial situation that could only lead on way – down. Sadly, she turned out to be correct in her views.

Her department manager was about to retire looking back on such glamour projects as the Fünf Höfe.

I was absorbed in migrating data which tracked costs of the Schönefeld zoning project from individual spreadsheets to software. In Germany tracking funds allocated for any item involving real estate project management is done according to DIN – Deutsche Industrienorm. So the tree structure of this software was rather detailed. The said Flughafen Schönefeld project manager, was rather in a state, when she passed by my work station and asked, no ordered me to – tell the secretary of soundso (department manager she was angry at) "I am going to a seminar at Gut Möschenfeld", pronouncing the sch like German diminutives are pronounced - like Höschen, and not like Schulz for example as it was supposed to be. I looked up startled and she said, Yes you heard right and tell it exactly like that to this secretary of his.

When I crossed Arabella Plaza to reach the underground after work – the Arab princes had disappeared.

Real Estate on Translationfound:
Arabella Park |Arab real estate fond at Unicredito's HRE | Opportunity Cost | UniCredito's HRE | Allodial unique to U.S. real estate law | REITS vs offene Fonds | Seneca on foreclosure

T'RATI TAGS
real estate+
Munich+
München+

World Cup 2006, Munich

2006-03-12T18:53:00.000Z

Stachus or Karlsplatz - as it’s called officially - is a public transportation crossroads in the heart of Munich. Crowds arriving for the soccer World Cup 2006 in Germany at Munich central station are bound to take any S-Bahn going in the direction of Marienplatz, which inevitably passes the Karlsplatz station.
The underground trains U4 and U5 stop here as well. Above ground just about every tram serving Munich stops exactly at or near Karlsplatz/Stachus.

But this underground station also serves as an allegory of the indelible tracks western civilization has left on its fast forward stampede to ever better pastures. For there is not one exit which does not remind us of one or another towering symbol of were we’ve been and where we are rushing to:

Law - Justizpalast - Palace of Justice
Entertainment - The Mathäser Filmpalast - U.S. style cinemas
Fast Food - Mac Donald’s Fast Food Place
Finance - Bayerische Börse - Bavarian Stock Exchange

But no matter where unsuspecting passengers will exit to – what unites them all is that they inevitably will end up on footage captured by police-run security cameras, a measure decided on in the palace of justice, most likely.

The Stachus / Karlsplatz fountain above ground was designed and built just in time for the Olympic Games in 1972.

T'Rati Tags
McDonald’s +
World Cup 2006 +
U-Bahn +
Stachus +
Munich +

Google Video Beta - it's here

2006-03-11T19:08:00.000Z

Expert Village for the global village person - via Google video:

Let's pretend we're in a German bank:
Watch this video

Deutsch: Ich möchte gern 100 Dollar in Euros umtauschen.
English: I would like to exchange $ 100 into Euros.

Deutsch: Ich möchte gerne BArgeld für diesem Scheck haben.
English: I would like to cash this check.

Lesson learned?
Ok
Relax watching these ducks.

Dear Global Villagers . . .

2006-03-11T17:51:00.000Z

. . .many U.S. expatriates I have met here in Munich describe their experience, when visiting the U.S. as very difficult.

Conversely Germans who, after a prolonged stay abroad, return, find it very difficult to adjust.

Many "global villagers" are aware of this phenomenon, also called "reverse culture shock".

Certainly the underlying psychological reasons are complex,
but more importantly there are ways of coping with this startling experience.

One first step would be to exchange thoughts about it.

In my case - I have lived in the U.S. for more than ten years - and find it extremely enriching - to have been exposed to more than one culture.

Yet at times there is also the feeling that it is difficult for other people to get a sense of who I am, which seems to make them anxious and irritated. This in turn bothers me a lot.

What are your experiences and how are you coping?

Czech Jan Ludwig Hoch aka Robert Maxwell

2006-03-09T15:51:00.000Z

Czech Jan Ludwig Hoch
Czech Jan Ludwig Hoch represented a special breed of European business men for whom even the sophisticated business culture of Goldman Sachs was no deterrent.

Also known as Robert Maxwell, he continued to make Goldman Sachs London offers the staff thought they could not refuse. Goldman Sachs then was the new and eager kid on the block in London, and while it was no secret that the local financial community had become weary of the newspaper tycoon, Goldman Sachs went ahead boldly with Maxwell where no-one had gone before. To make a long and tortuous story short - pension fund money legally belonging to Maxwell’s employees, was moved around a bit, eventually to never be seen again - with the unwitting help of Goldman Sachs.

It goes like this:
Maxell moved the pension fund money to a new account not related to the funds. Then he asked Goldman Sachs to move it – but not back to where it came from – but to somewhere else. To some Luxembourg-managed fund to be exact. Ostensibly to invest the money on better terms. This is how £ 400 million of pension fund cash left British shores, never to be returned.

The cultural difference between New York and London was that the experts from the New York bred Goldman Sachs did not believe Robert Maxwell was capable to doing any such thing. London bankers however probably would have raised eyebrows had he proposed such a scheme to them.

T'Rati:
Goldman Sachs Goldman Sachs
Robert Maxwell Robert Maxwell

Arab Investments Ldt. & Unicredit's HRE (Hypo Real Estate)

2006-03-07T16:49:00.000Z

Arab Investments Ldt.
has started a real estate fond worth € 500 million in Germany. Nothing unusual except for the legal challenge it posed to the real estate experts at Unicredit's Munich based HRE (Hypo Real Estate) bank:

The request made by the managing director of Arab Investments Limited had been that it ought to be compliant with Shari' ah. Simply put, it means that this fond is not to derive earnings through interest rates, which are typically generated through classic Western insurance and banking transactions.

Watch word of the day:
Shari’ah-compliant
Schari’ah konform

Real Estate on Translationfound:
Arabella Park |Arab real estate fond at Unicredito's HRE | Opportunity Cost | UniCredito's HRE | Allodial unique to U.S. real estate law | REITS vs offene Fonds | Seneca on foreclosure

T'RATI TAGS
sharia+
scharia+
real estate+
Munich+
München+
Italien+Bayern+
Italy+Bavaria+

Gisela Strauss
Translator + Munich

Opportunity Cost

2006-03-03T17:59:00.000Z

Intriguing Concept:
Although the example cited here is about real estate, it applies to many things.

Opportunity cost is a term used in economics to mean the cost of something in terms of an opportunity forgone (and the benefits that could be received from that opportunity), or the most valuable forgone alternative. For example, if a city decides to build a hospital on vacant land that it owns, the opportunity cost is some other thing that might have been done with the land and construction funds instead. In building the hospital, the city has forgone the opportunity to build a sporting center on that land, or a parking lot, or the ability to sell the land to reduce the city's debt, and so on.

Real Estate on Translationfound:
Arab real estate fond at Unicredito's HRE | Opportunity Cost | UniCredito's HRE | Allodial unique to U.S. real estate law | REITS vs offene Fonds | Seneca on foreclosure

Gisela Strauss, Translator
München | Munich

T'RATI TAGS
real estate+
Munich+
München+

Gisela Strauss
Translator + Munich
Übersetzerin + München

CODE PINK

2006-03-03T12:19:00.000Z

Women's Call for Peace: An Urgent Appeal | DEUTSCH
You can help an sign the following appeal: click on the link above or go to www.democracyinaction.org.

» We, the women of the United States, Iraq and women worldwide, have had enough of the senseless war in Iraq and the cruel attacks on civilians around the world. We've buried too many of our loved ones. We've seen too many lives crippled forever by physical and mental wounds. We've watched in horror as our precious resources are poured into war while our families' basic needs of food, shelter, education and healthcare go unmet. We've had enough of living in constant fear of violence and seeing the growing cancer of hatred and intolerance seep into our homes and communities.

This is not the world we want for ourselves or our children. With fire in our bellies and love in our hearts, we women are rising up - across borders - to unite and demand an end to the bloodshed and the destruction.

We have seen how the foreign occupation of Iraq has fueled an armed movement against it, perpetuating an endless cycle of violence. We are convinced that it is time to shift from a military model to a conflict-resolution model that includes the following elements:

- The withdrawal of all foreign troops and foreign fighters from Iraq;
- Negotiations to reincorporate disenfranchised Iraqis into all aspects of Iraqi society;
- The full representation of women in the peacemaking process and a commitment to women's full equality in the post-war Iraq;
- A commitment to discard plans for any foreign bases in Iraq;
- Iraqi control of its oil and other resources;
- The nullification of privatization and deregulation laws imposed under occupation, allowing Iraqis to shape the trajectory of the post-war economy;
- A massive reconstruction effort that prioritizes Iraqi contractors, and draws upon financial resources of the countries responsible for the invasion and occupation of Iraq;
- Consideration of a temporary international peacekeeping force that is truly multilateral and is not composed of any troops from countries that participated in the occupation.

To move this peace process forward, we are creating a massive movement of women - crossing generations, races, ethnicities, religions, borders and political persuasions. Together, we will pressure our governments, the United Nations, the Arab League, Nobel Peace Prize winners, religious leaders and others in the international community to step forward to help negotiate a political settlement. And in this era of divisive fundamentalisms, we call upon world leaders to join us in spreading the fundamental values of love for the human family and for our precious planet. «

Related Post on Translationfound:
Cindy Sheehan's Visit to Landstuhl

Technorati Folksonomy:
code+pink

Gisela Strauss
Translator + Munich
Übersetzerin + München

CODE PINK: DEUTSCH

2006-03-03T12:05:00.000Z

Frauen sagen Nein zum Krieg! ENGLISH
Women's Call for Peace: Ein dringender Aufruf
Sie können den nachfolgenden Aufruf online unterzeichnen: klicken Sie auf den Link oben oder gehen Sie zu www.democracyinaction.org.

» Wir, die Frauen der Vereinigten Staaten, des Irak und Frauen weltweit haben den sinnlosen Krieg im Irak und die grausamen Angriffe auf Zivilisten rund um die Welt satt. Wir haben zu viele unserer Lieben begraben. Wir haben zu viele Leben gesehen, die durch körperliche und geistige Wunden für immer verkrüppelt wurden. Wir haben voller Entsetzen zugesehen, wie unsere kostbaren Ressourcen in den Krieg gepumpt werden, während die Grundbedürfnisse unserer Familien nach Nahrung, Obdach, Erziehung, ärztlicher Versorgung unerfüllt bleiben. Wir haben es satt, in ständiger Furcht vor Gewalt zu leben und zu sehen, wie das wachsende Krebsgeschwür des Hasses und der Intoleranz sich in unsere Heime und Gemeinden frißt.

Dies ist nicht die Welt, die wir uns und unseren Kindern wünschen. Mit Feuer in unseren Bäuchen und Liebe in unseren Herzen erheben wir Frauen uns -- über Grenzen hinweg - um uns zu vereinen und ein Ende des Blutvergießens und der Zerstörung zu verlangen.

Wir haben gesehen, wie die fremde Besetzung des Irak eine bewaffnete Bewegung gegen sie anheizte und einen endlosen Kreislauf von Gewalt vorantreibt. Wir sind überzeugt, dass es an der Zeit ist, von einem militärischen Modell zu einem Konfliktlösungsmodell zu wechseln, das die folgenden Elemente umfaßt:

* Den Rückzug aller ausländischen Truppen und ausländischen Kämpfer aus dem Irak;
* Verhandlungen zur Wiedereingliederung allen entrechteten Irakis in alle Aspekte der irakischen Gesellschaft;
* Die volle Vertretung von Frauen im Friedensprozeß und eine Zusicherung der vollen Gleichstellung von Frauen im Nachkriegsirak;
* Eine Zusicherung, alle Pläne für ausländischen Stützpunkte im Irak fallenzulassen;
* Irakische Kontrolle über sein Öl und andere Ressourcen;
* Die Aufhebung von unter Besetzung aufgezwungenen Privatisierungs- und Deregulierungsgesetzen, die es Irakis ermöglicht, selbst die Entwicklung der Nachkriegswirtschaft zu gestalten;
* Eine massive Wiederaufbauleistung, die irakischen Unternehmen den Vorrang erteilt und sich auf finanzielle Ressourcen jener Länder stützt, die für die Invasion und Besetzung des Irak verantwortlich sind;
* Erwägung einer befristeten internationalen Friedenstruppe, die wahrhaft multinational ist und keine Soldaten aus Ländern umfaßt, die an der Besetzung teilgenommen haben.

Um diesen Friedensprozeß voranzutreiben, schaffen wir eine massive Frauenbewegung quer durch Generationen, Rassen, Ethnien, Religionen,Grenzen und politische Überzeugungen. Gemeinsam werden wir unsere Regierungen, die Vereinten Nationen, die Arabische Liga, Friedensnobelpreisträger, religiöse Führer und andere in der internationalen Gemeinschaft unter Druck setzen, sich zu Wort zu melden, um die Aushandlung einer politischen Regelung zu unterstützen. Und in dieser Ära Zwietracht säender Fundamentalismen appellieren wir an Weltführer, sich uns anzuschließen, um die fundamentalen Werte der Liebe zur Familie der Menschen und zu unserem unersetzbaren Planeten zu verbreiten. «

Technorati Folksonomy:
code+pink

Gisela Strauss
Translator + Munich
Übersetzerin + München

Cindy Sheehan's visit to Landstuhl

2006-03-02T17:11:00.000Z

Elsa Rassbach
Member of American Voices Abroad in Germany writes regarding Cindy Sheehan's article of February 26 about "Camp Casey in Germany."

As a member of American Voices Abroad - AVA (www.avaworld.org), I am one of the organizers of Cindy's visit to France and Germany from March 9th to 15th. I am writing from Berlin, where I live, one of many thousands of American citizens living abroad and working for peace and justice.

AVA has initiated the hearing at the European Parliament in Strasbourg (France) on March 14th, at which Cindy, among other witnesses, will testify about the Iraq war. AVA was also involved in drafting the resolution which will be considered by the European Parliament.

AVA has also set up Cindy's visits to the French Parliament on March 13th and to the German Parliament on March 15th. In both cases, she will have the opportunity to speak to Members of Parliament from several different political parties. All of these events are supported broadly by the German and French peace movements and by many U.S. expats living in Europe.

However, the "heart" of Cindy's visit to Europe in March has been planned at Ramstein, in Germany, which is the logistical hub of the U.S. war on Iraq and of other wars threatening the Middle East. This is where Camp Casey in Germany will be. It is at Ramstein that nuclear weapons are held. It is from Ramstein that the planes carrying fresh soldiers, weapons, and supplies fly out daily to Iraq.

The German people never supported the war in Iraq. The German government publicly deemed the war on Iraq illegal, yet nevertheless allowed use of the U.S. military bases here to conduct it. Without this German government support, the U.S. would have had and still would have great difficulty in conducting these attacks on the people of the Middle East.

The hypocrisy of the stance of the German government towards the war on Iraq is now being widely discussed in the press here. The secret complicity of the German government with CIA rendition flights is becoming ever more clear. German intelligence also directly assisted the U.S. in the war on Iraq. But the main way in which Germany has helped the U.S. has been through allowing the use of the U.S. bases still on "German soil" more than sixty years after the liberation of Germany from the Nazis.

There are strong currents of opinion here against supporting the U.S. in any more illegal wars. For example, this past summer, a high German court acquitted a German career officer, Major Florian Pfaff, who in the spring of 2003 refused military orders to provide software to the German Military. Major Pfaff refused the German Military's orders on the grounds that the software would ultimately be used by the U.S. for the illegal war on Iraq.

The German court held that Major Pfaff's concerns were well founded and held that neither Germany nor Major Pfaff were not bound by NATO agreements in the case of an illegal war such as the war on Iraq. Together with Cindy, Major Pfaff will be a witness at the European Parliament hearing on March 14th and will be travelling with her throughout her visits to Germany and to France.

Major Pfaff will be with us in Ramstein and also in Landstuhl, and we hope Cindy will be with us, too, once she has a clearer understanding of what the plans are.

It is of course easy to say that people demonstrating at Ramstein Air Base are coming too close to Landstuhl, because it is only two miles from Ramstein. Landstuhl is the site of the large hospital complex where almost all U.S. soldiers wounded in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are first brought before being transferred to the veterans hospitals in the U.S.

In the frenzy of the right wing blogger attacks on Cindy for coming anywhere near European governments, somehow the idea has been promoted that some irresponsible and insensitive people are planning to demonstrate at the hospital in Landstuhl, Germany, or to set up a "camp" there. It has even been written in these blogs that Cindy wants the soldiers to die, etc. What nonsense!

The peace activities planned for Landstuhl will be solely inside a German Protestant church there. The pastor of the church is the leader of the local German peace group in the region, the Friedensinitiative Westpfalz ("Peace Initiative West Pfalz"), which is hosting the events in Landstuhl and in Ramstein with Cindy on March 11th and 12th.

On Saturday, March 11th, there will be a discussion with Cindy and other European Parliament witnesses inside the church, and then we will walk together from the church two miles to the parking lot not far from the entrance of Ramstein Air Base. There we will hold a vigil led by spiritual leaders from many different faiths, as was often done in Crawford, Texas.

There is nothing shocking or unusual about this plan. Indeed, on the first Saturday of each month, the same Friedensinitiative Westpfalz traditionally holds this same march from Landstuhl to Ramstein air base and holds a vigil there, led by the pastor. Only because of Cindy's visit, the Landstuhl/ Ramstein march has this time been scheduled for the second Saturday of the month. What is shocking to the U.S. Military, perhaps, is that Cindy will now bring some media attention to concerns that the German community has long been voicing.

Yes, there will be a sort of "Camp Casey," but it will be at Ramstein, where the "military machine" is, and not at Landstuhl. The German peace group has received special permission from the local German authorities to set up crosses and half moons (representing the Iraqi dead) along the road leading towards Ramstein Air Base. There is also permission to set up three tents to symbolize Camp Casey. These items will be allowed to stay up over Saturday night near Ramstein. After church on Sunday, we will ceremoniously gather the up the crosses and half-moons, which may be reused again for further peace demonstrations at Ramstein. We do hope, with Cindy's help, to establish a new tradition, Camp Casey Germany, and come back to Ramstein again and again until Germany finally just says "no" to the U.S.

Cindy is being criticized for coming anywhere near Landstuhl, even though her own son Casey's remains were brought there from Iraq -- because Landstuhl is also the morgue. And just as the Bush administration forbade photographing coffins, this regime would surely prefer that there be no publicity whatsoever about Landstuhl, where so many tragically wounded soldiers are being brought every day, as well as those who have died.

We feel the objections to Cindy coming to Landstuhl and to Ramstein have solely to do with her effectiveness. Her presence here will bring European and American public attention to the imortance this key logistical hub for the U.S. war on Iraq, as well as for any "pre-emptive" attack on Iran.

In peace,
Elsa Rassbach
Member of American Voices Abroad in Germany

HELP click on the time stamp - here 5:11 - to get a valid URL for this post.

Gisela Strauss
Translator + Munich
Übersetzerin + München

In Eigener Sache / Self Pomotion

2006-03-02T11:27:00.000Z

"A girl's got to eat", so they say, and yes, I do have a professional life besides blogging and here's the data:
PROFIL
RESUME
If you like this blog then feel free to forward these links!

Thank you!

Best regards

Gisela Strauss
Translator + Munich
Übersetzerin + München

T'RATI TAGS
Munich+
München+

Translate This!

2006-02-28T16:24:00.000Z

How do N.Y. financial services translate into the German banking culture?

When Goldman Sachs began in 1991 to adapt its block trading methods to the European market, nobody could believe, that anyone could sell a large amount of shares at once, and only write off 1 to 2 percent loss. This stellar performance had been the norm on Wall Street for decades. In Europe, it was a sensation.

At that time Goldman Sachs boasted 4000 vice presidents. Form that group partners would be culled every second year. Partners expected to make $150.000.000 p.a. plus 0,25 percent profit. Take-home pay of 20 million at year's end was to be expected.

Now, after Goldman Sachs has gone through an IPO, there are no longer any partners. Mergers and Acquisition still are going strong. The expertise and sophistication of its analysis and investment methods may still be unmatched. The culture at Goldman Sachs may be less elitist and shrouded than before the IPO. And still, even houses like Morgan Stanley or Lehman Brothers have had a hard time penetrating the secret of Goldman Sachs' success. And these are firms steeped in the traditionally sophisticated investment banking culture of New York City.

Deutsche Bank has been pouching Goldman Sachs professionals and is, via London, attempting to build an investment vehicle which aims to imitate the legend.

But often the opposite is the case - U.S. asset management and equity funds zoom in on German local opportunities, approach regional banks, poach employees and utilize the trust engendered. The sort of trust engendered less so perhaps by stellar performance than by long-standing, often deeply emotional ties with local clients. German native bankers' astonishingly robust self-esteem combined with a relentless instinct to tap into those ties, serves U.S. dynamic fund management companies well, in adapting their array of complex international investment instruments to a fragmented German market, often catching German bankers, hired to aid the process, unawares

In essence, local bank employees simply continue with what they always did - dealing with customers and negotiating German laws and regulations. With the only difference that the new masters they are serving are less strict and more casual leaders, with an enormous storehouse of knowledge and skills, which can be leveraged ad-hoc on a need-to-know-basis.

It's a win-win situation - poached German banking employees - compared to their colleagues - get more money, enjoy flat hierarchies, and learn just what they need to know, about globally managed and hedged equities - U.S. style.

T'Rati Tags
goldman+sachs
hedge
Munich+
München+

Gisela Strauss
Translator + Munich
Übersetzerin + München

Tagging Barista Envy

2006-02-26T15:23:00.000Z

ever envied those cool baristas behind their shiny espresso machines, whipping out chochocino, latte macchiato, small, medium or large, serving hot cinnamon rolls, in short, cornering the forefront and cutting edge of an already meaningful niche of the food services sector industry.

Well, envy no more, for as Slantpoint observes

«Offline
Do you ever stand in line at Starbucks, watching the endless line of orders keep the barristas busy, and think, "There's no way I could do that. I'd have no time to blog." »

[enter barrista in Google search and you'll get a Did-you-mean- "barista-?-nag-message.]

And no. I never ever stand in endless line for my coffee creation. There's just too many Starbucks, Coffee Fellows, San Francisco Coffee Companies and Lavazza bodegas in Munich, practically storefront-to-storefront, crowding sidewalks. And besides, moi, I have my own espresso machine at home. [full honest disclosure: it's a tiny two-cup machine, an un-Italian one - and to be exact: a German brand. It is "unkaputtable", and it cost 50 Euros].

More on the topic of conspicuously hip hot beverage consumption on
Mother Tongue Annoyances
There is another, unrelated, but interesting blog on MTA: How a wise captain knows how to leverage the tide.

Technorati tags
conspicuously hip consumption
starbucks+blogging
Italy+Bavaria
Italien+Bayern

Gisela Strauss
Translator + Munich
Übersetzerin + München

Keeping Up With the Vernacular

2006-02-24T19:21:00.000Z

Thanks to NPR I am able to stay culturally literate as far as Instant Messenger slang goes. (SMS isn't that much of a thing in the U.S.)

Quotes form the NPR Website:
"GWTL
Get with the Lingo! Okay, we made that one up. But these other IM terms are real.

BBL: Be Back Later
BRB: Be Right Back
IMHO: In My Humble Opinion
JK: Just Kidding
LOL: Laughing Out Loud
LYLAS: Love You Like a Sister
NP: No Problem
OMG: Oh My God
OTP : On the Phone
ROFL: Rolling on Floor Laughing
TTFN: Ta-Ta for Now
TTYL: Talk to You Later
YW: You're Welcome"

...And here's some picks from netlingo.com

AAK Asleep At the Keyboard
AAR8 At Any Rate
AAS Alive And Smiling
AAYF As Always Your Friend
ADAD Another Day Another Dollar
ADIH Another Day In Hell
ADIP Another Day In Paradise
AEAP As Early As Possible...

...hopes
Gisela

Related Translationfound posts:
Zitcoms

HVB daughter gets US help to merge with Unicredito

2006-02-23T18:29:00.000Z

Many in Germany would not want to be associated with hedge and equity funds. But truth be told - those - like Hudson Advisors helped make HRE - the Hypovereinsbank Real Estate Bank a just attractive enough daughter for the - by Rampl enthusiastically praised - merger between the traditional Bavarian bank and the Lombardian Unicredito.

Hudson Advisors Munich bought lump sums of loans in default, which had been - enthusiastically - sold to long-term clients of the HVB. During the time when the physically monstrous Kohl reigned over German reunification, many were led to believe there were huge masses of profits in Saxon real estate. Including experienced management of the HVB.

More Real Estate on Translationfound:
Arab real estate fond at Unicredito's HRE | Opportunity Cost | UniCredito's HRE | Allodial unique to U.S. real estate law | REITS vs offene Fonds | Seneca on foreclosure

See also current post on equities.org

Gisela Strauss
Translator, Munich
Übersetzerin, München

T'RATI TAGS
real estate+
Munich+
München+
Italien+Bayern+
Italy+Bavaria+

WICKEDLY IDIO-MATIC

2006-02-23T16:44:00.000Z

"Neidhammel" is someone who is pathologically envious of others. Literally envy mutton.
Ambulance chaser is not some paparazzi but the term for personal injury lawyers.
For instance if a tailgater drives into the derriere of your motor vehicle, the ambulance chaser will try and convince you that you have a personal injury case.
Personal injury is big business for advocates in the U.S.

06:11 pm just found in my inbox:
Einladung zum Jour Fixe: Wie ticken Banker?
Which reminds me of another wicked idiom:
Ich glaub' der tickt nicht richtig.
I think he isn't wrapped too tight.
So that's why this email header seems somewhat risqué for a business club invitation.

Lawyer jokes are an institution in America. Here is one:
Don't ask how much
Avocaat is in your advocate. Ask only to what extent people can smell it on this lawyer's breath.

Fragen Sie nicht, wieviel Avocaat in ihrem Advokaten ist. Fragen Sie nur, wie sehr er sich als Fahne bei diesem Rechtsanwalt bemerkbar macht.

Kind of Peaceful

2006-02-18T18:43:00.000Z

At the last MAPC event in Munich a former
Marine who now lives and works as a teacher in Souther France described his experience of war in Iraq. Among other things, he said that to natives in Iraq the holding up of the palm of your hand towards an approaching vehicle and the lowering it traditionally means a friendly guesture. It does not mean "stop or "slow down".

Imagine all the tragedies solely arising out of that one misunderstanding between any given soldier who just might have arrived in Iraq, manning a road block, and natives.

Scott, the former Marine also said that the French are nice because they do not ask at parties, "C'mon!How many did ya kill over there?". It's those and other things taking place in the U.S. that made him and his girlfriend decide to go to France for the time being. Scott teaches English to little French children. He says, it's kind of peaceful.

Munich American Peace Committee
Munich American Peace Committee on Technorati

Technorati Participants

Gisela Strauss
Translator
Munich

REITS VS OFFENE FONDS?

2006-02-14T19:11:00.000Z

REITS
Offene Immobilienfonds haben aufgrund überraschender Liquiditätsprobleme in Deutschland an Ansehen verloren. Gleichzeitig wurden Berichte über REITS in der deutschen Presse lanciert.

Real Estate Investment Trusts - Vokale werden ausgeprochen wie in Pete's, begeistern amerikanische Inverstoren schon lange.

Es gibt sogar ein REITS CAFÉ mit Podcasts über REITS.

Real Estate on Translationfound:
Arab real estate fond at Unicredito's HRE | Opportunity Cost | UniCredito's HRE | Allodial unique to U.S. real estate law | REITS vs offene Fonds | Seneca on foreclosure

T'RATI TAGS
REITS+
real estate+
Munich+
München+

Gisela Strauss
Translator, Munich
Übersetzerin München

Allodial | Revolution | Treaty of Paris |

2006-02-14T19:00:00.000Z

Allodial is a real estate term (etymological source: royal estate - no inherent link to the word real) meaning land which cannot be granted by way of the feudal system - with obligations of any kind to a feudal overlord.

After the American Revolutionary War (1775–1783) land no longer was considered » granted by the king « i.e. royal estate - because by then American colonies were no more.

Treaty of paris Painting from 1783 by Benjamin West depicting
John Jay, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Henry Adams
Public Domain

In the Treaty of Paris (1783) between Americans and the British, it was agreed that land in America would be held from now on "in allodial title".

No landowner in the United States was to owe any allegiance to any English noble from then on.

Considering this - it is not surprising at all that legal terminologies linked to real estate business - in as much as they express an underlying philosophy -
differ between U.S. and British English.

Real Estate on Translationfound:
Arab real estate fond at Unicredito's HRE | Opportunity Cost | UniCredito's HRE | Allodial unique to U.S. real estate law | REITS vs offene Fonds | Seneca on foreclosure

Also on Translationfound more on French - American Linguistic ties:
FRIGO

T'RATI TAGS
real estate+
Munich+
München+

Gisela Strauss
Translator, Munich
Übersetzerin, München

Angie - no the other one!

2006-01-29T16:50:00.000Z

Tired of seeing pictures of politicians parading at the World Economic Forum?

Public Domain

Here come Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt - apparently on their way to a very important WEF meeting.

Haben Sie es satt Bilder von Politikern auf dem World Economic Forum zu sehen?

Hier mal was anderes: Angelina Jolie und Brad Pitt eilen ganz offensichtlich zu einem sehr wichtigen Meeting.

loiclemeur

Of Rogues and Men

2006-01-25T17:30:00.000Z

Joschka Fischer hat in seinem Buch, Die Rückkehr der Geschichte für Schurkenstaat die (korrekte)Übersetzung Rogue State mit Rouge State verwechselt, und die Editoren haben den Fehler auch nicht erwischt.

Obwohl ein Rogue schon mal auch Etablissments wie etwa das Moulin Rouge besucht.

rogue
1561, "idle vagrant," perhaps a shortened form of roger (with a hard -g-), thieves' slang for a begging vagabond who pretends to be a poor scholar from Oxford or Cambridge, perhaps from L. rogare "to ask." Another theory traces it to Celtic (cf. Bret. rog "haughty"); OED says, "There is no evidence of connexion with F. rogue 'arrogant.' " Rogue's gallery "police collection of mug shots" is attested from 1859.

Oder dachten die Editoren etwa bei Rouge States an Khmer Rouge?

Gefunden in
Die Rückkehr der Geschichte,
Kiepenheuer und Witsch -
diese verhexten Fehler aber auch.

Disclaimer: ich mache sie auch.

Kühlschrank - Fridge - Frigo

2006-01-25T17:08:00.000Z

Refrigerator ist das englische Wort für Kühlschrank.
Üblicher ist aber fridge.

Das Englische basiert auf vielen lateinstämmigen Wörtern, die unmittelbar von den Römischen Besatzern eingeführt worden waren . . . und später von den Normannischen Besatzern. (frigerare - kühlen)

Frigo
thermal imaging picture of the back of a fridge

GNU Free Documentation License,
Version 1.2 or any later version

Nach dem amerikanischen Revolutionskrieg folgte eine enge Freundschaft mit Frankreich mit regem kulturellem Austausch als Begleiterscheinung. Zu dieser Zeit wurde nochmal ein Schwung lateinstämmiger Wörter eingeführt - vom revolutionären Frankreich.

Dieser neuer Schub von französischen Wörtern ist ins britische Englisch nicht eingegangen. Aus guten Gründen - der sprachliche Austausch zwischen den beiden verbrüderten Rebellen-Staaten Frankreich und U.S.A. reflektierte die Ablehnung des British Empire - als Machtmonopol wie als überlebte Staatsform. Das neue freiheitliche Selbstverständnis manifestierte sich im individuellen sprachlichen Austausch d.h. im Sprachrythmus und in Redewendungen - jenseits der Politik.

Zurück zum Beispiel "refrigerator":
Französich: frigidaire | frigo | réfrigérateur
Englisch: xxxxxxxxxxx| fridge | refrigerator

Weiter:
French fries aka freedom fries
(EN/FR)Pivot: Angelpunkt, Drehachse, Etymology: French
French: [pi'vo] English: ['pi vett]
chantoosie Barbra Streisand is an actress and a chantoosie (singer)
French: chanteuse

Also: excuse my French:
I) Americans politely referring to their humble French language skills.
II) Americans rhetorically apologizing for just having used profanity.

See also on Translationfound:
ALLODIAL | TREATY OF PARIS

XC - Cross Country Skiing - Skilanglauf II

2006-01-13T19:57:00.000Z

Zugegeben ich bin Anfängerin, aber Langlauf macht sehr viel Freude. Im Wald zu sein und im tiefen Schnee zwischen den Bäumen zu gleiten, dann wieder auf die Spur zurück laufen und dabei ganz von selber muskeldehnende Bewegungen ausüben, die so entspannend sind, dabei Winterduft atmen, Straßenschuhe im Rucksack, und mit nichts weiter als Bus oder Tram rund um München unterwegs sein.

XC I: |>>

Ski-Langlauf - Cross Country Skiing I

2005-11-26T15:08:00.000Z

Im Englischen Garten in München gab es letztes Jahr Loipen für den Ski-Langlauf, so viel Schnee ist gefallen.
Last year there were packed trails for Nordic, or cross country skiing in the English Gardens, Munich, because there was so much snow.

Als Grundausstattung für den Skilanglauf benötigt man Stiefel, Bindung, Stöcke und Skier.
As basic equipment for cross country skiing you will need boots, binding, poles and skis.

XC skiing or cross-country skiing already existed ca. 4500 years ago in Scandinavia - however not as sport but as a means of transportation.
Skilanglauf gab es bereits vor ca. 4500 Jahren in Skandinavien. Allerdings nicht als Sport sondern als Fortbewegungsart.

glide - (bergab) gleiten, laufen
stride - bergauf laufen
pressing grooves - Loipenspuren anlegen (maschinell)
trail fee - Loipengebühr
breaking trail - sich eine neue Loipe schaffen (als Langläufer, nicht maschinell)

breaking news - letzte Meldungen
news break - Unterbrechung für Nachrichten
break - Pause
breakfast - wörtl. die Fast beenden, also am morgen wieder was essen, kurzum: frühstücken
break a leg! Hals- und Beinbruch!
give me a break - jetzt lass aber gut sein!
nervous breakdown - Nervenzusammenbruch

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/
Commons:GNU_Free_Documentation_License

XC Skiing I:
Cross-Country II

Wörterbuch Denglisch - Deutsch

2005-11-14T19:37:00.000Z

http://de.wikibooks.org/wiki/Fruchtbringendes_W%C3%B6rterbuch:_A

Oder wäre Ihnen etwa so mir nichts Dir nichts eingefallen, dass
Easy Going: Unbekümmertheit
Event: Veranstaltung oder
E-Paper: Digitalpapier ist?

Mir nicht.

Aber selbst "ausknocken" und "obernight" stehen da nicht drin.

Gefunden, die Übersetzung für ...

2005-11-14T18:23:00.000Z

Kerndlfresser - endlich:
it's treehuggers

Doing the Math on a Napkin

2005-11-12T15:57:00.000Z

ist in Bayern "Berechnungen auf dem Bierdeckel erstellen". This is not a literal translation but an adaptation - the content of the message is being adapted to the locale, or region. The value of the message remains the same by changing it.

The technique of adaptation vs translation is common in marketing and advertising, where conveying an emotional value or a punchline supercedes the requirement to have text translated close to the original.

Doing the Math - has a certain connotation in America - often it is used slightly ironical, where an unsuspecting person finally gets to do the math and figures things out. So doing the math often has to do with numbers but not always. Oh, this is another good one - to figure things out [ to figure - calculate, to work out | to figure out - to unravel]. To figure things out is to come to understand a situation or issue that is complicated or convoluted, not quite obvious, or even concealed by design.

Take Courtney Love, a real life example: according to blogger Mary Hodder graduate student at UC Berkeley's School of Information Management and Systems, Courtney finally does the math when she figures that bosses of record companies steal from her more than . . .

Another, fictional, example:
Hank came up with this great-sounding business plan, but Jill sat him down and made him do the math. Then things didn't look so great.

Hank kam mit diesem Geschäftsplan an, der ziemlich großartig klang. Jill sagte
- Nun setz dich mal hin und rechne das mal ordentlich nach.
Daraufhin sah das alles nicht mehr ganz so großartig aus.

Try Writing an Essay . . .

2005-11-10T18:12:00.000Z

Nicely put:

IDEA AND ESSAY Expository WRITING

When we talk about figuring out what our idea is in a given essay, we don’t mean settling on the essay’s topic. We mean articulating a relationship between two or more things in a way that holds the potential for a lively exploration or argument. We want our idea statement to be clear but also to be suggestive—it is a seed, a kernel, that already has packed within it all the meaning that sprouts, branches, and flowers through the rest of your essay. This is true even if we are writing an exploratory essay that doesn’t contain a traditional thesis statement. We should still be able to express our idea in this clear and complete way, as many of you do on the cover sheets to your drafts.

Example:
People who live to shop, rather than shop to live, may be creating more problems for
themselves than they are solving when they set out for the mall.

esprit de I'escalier

2005-11-07T16:00:00.000Z

esprit de I'escalier [es-pree de less-ka/-iay] (idiom)

» A witty remark that occurs to you too late, literally on the way down the stairs. The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations defines esprit de l'escalier as, An untranslatable phrase, the meaning of which is that one only thinks on one's way downstairs of the smart retort one might have made in the drawing room. « It says on the NPR website's list of untranslatable idioms.

There is also a German entry on the NPR list of untranslatables: [core-in-ten-cuck-er] (noun).
Such a person, told me at the job, The assistant we had before you was LIKE MOTHER THERESA, sigh. (Mind you this IS Bavaria, after all)

"I am more the Sissi Perlinger type, in case you were wondering" - I didn't say but wished I had. Typical case of "esprit de I'escalier".

Gisela
Munich Bavaria

Zitcom

2005-11-04T16:15:00.000Z

klar weiß jeder was eine Sitcom ist, man lebt ja schließlich nicht hinter dem Mond.

Aber Zitcom? Und warum sollte Zitcom eine Komödienserie für Teenager sein?

Weil zits Pickel sind.

dieses und anderes verdanken wir Variety.

mehr slanguage

Das z in zitcom zur Differenzierung genüsslich als dekandent weiches s ausprechen.
Sonst wirkt es nicht. Sonst kommt es nicht rüber.

Seneca on how to cope with foreclosure

2005-11-04T15:13:00.000Z

"Do not regard as valuable anything that can be taken away."
Seneca's (circa 4 B.C.E.-65) is an aphorism that reminds me of foreclosure.

A process not unkown in the world of real estate, mortgage loans and asset management.

Find a fitting aphorism for yourself » » »

Author of the book is James Geary

Or make your own: an aphorism must
be brief
be definitive
be personal
have a twist
be philosophical

Jenny Holzer makes modern aphorisms such as
"Playing it safe is doing a lot of damage in the long run."
und Jenny Holzer macht noch mehr

Real Estate on Translationfound:
Arab real estate fond at Unicredito's HRE | Opportunity Cost | UniCredito's HRE | Allodial unique to U.S. real estate law | REITS vs offene Fonds | Seneca on foreclosure

T'RATI TAGS
real estate+
Munich+
München+

Gisela Strauss
Translator Munich
Übersetzerin München

Chop Wood, Carry Water, Translate

2005-11-04T12:43:00.000Z

As a translator I am never above doing other office stuff such as regular correspondence, Powerpoint presentations, labelling folders with neat little stickers and so on. Usually there isn't that much translation work at a job and so last time I got deeply involved with Excel.

What astounded me was, that none of my previous experience in Web development, office administration and light accounting with Excel had prepared me for the uneasy feeling of not really knowing for sure, where the calculations and data models I was supposed to work on, were coming from, or, for that matter going to end up.

They had passed from one department to another to yet another and I was extremely uncomfortable with discrepancies of any kind because I did not know what they meant.

Turns out this feeling is not unusual:

"Microsoft Excel – and other spreadsheet programmes – allows the creation of models of infinite complexity. The main advantage of Excel - an easy-to-use, almost intuitive, “programming” interface – is potentially its main disadvantage. Spreadsheets get started quickly and may or may not be properly maintained. Complex calculations can be resolved in a cell-by-cell iterative manner, making error location difficult. Solutions tend to be extended over time – often by different people – which compounds the problem. A myriad of pre-packaged functions is available, but the choice of the appropriate – or inappropriate – function is entirely at the developer’s discretion."
Writes Colm Toolan, Business Architect, recommending

Spreadsheet Check and Control: detect and prevent errors 29.95EUR

Author: Patrick O'Beirne BSc, MA, FICS
Publisher: Systems Publishing
ISBN 1-905404-00-X

Chop Wood, carry cater, translate, and well, excel!

To Write Against . . .

2005-10-31T15:05:00.000Z

To write against something could mean to dispute something:
Disputation of Dr. Martin Luther Concerning Penitence and Indulgences.

Or take the Cluetrain Mainfesto: its writings are against outdated, patronizing marketing methods which are, nevertheless cheerfully being sold to and paid by those who rather fail than cease to patronize us, THE PEOPLE.

But what does "writing against a directory mean?" This is shorthand for:

When a developer works with a shared directory - one that several editors use concurrently - and then commits the most recent version of a given file to that said directory, she could be said to write against that direcory.

Joanna committed her file commit_this.xsl to the directory Directory, already containing the file commit_this.xsl. This way she wrote against the directory.

Jan created a new file, brand_new.xsl in the directory Directory, he also wrote against the directory.

OUR DAILY O'REIILLY I: Abbreviations/Acronyms

2005-10-25T18:41:00.000+01:00

DAILY O'REILLY STYLESHEET EXCERPTS BEGINING AS OF NOW:

DAY ONE:
Abbreviations/Acronyms

Acronyms should generally be spelled out the first time, as in: GROSS RENTAL INCOME (GRI). Thereafter only the acronym should be used.

Acronyms should be defined once per unit of publication, i.e. once in a book, once for a website, once for an essay.

Please use either A.M. and P.M. or a.m. and p.m., consistency is cool.
[12:00 am is always midnight, 12:00 pm is always noon. GS]

K = 1024; k = 1000. So a 56 kbps modem is equal to 56,000 bps, while 64K of memory is equal to 65,536.

NEXT: Bibliographical Entries

DAILY O'REILLY II: Bibliographical Entries

2005-10-25T18:40:00.000+01:00

DAILY O'REILLY STYLESHEET EXCERPTS DAY TWO:

Bibliographical Entries

In general, when referencing another book within a book's text paragraphs, note only

the name of the book and the publisher.

It isn't necessary to list the author names.

For other information regarding bibliographical entries, see The Chicago Manual of Style, 14th Edition.

Gisela Strauss
Technical Translation, Adaptation

DAILY O'REILLY III : Cross-References

2005-10-25T18:39:00.000+01:00

DAILY O'REILLY STYLESHEET EXCERPTS DAY THREE:
DAILY O'REILLY: Cross-References

An example of a chapter cross-reference: see Chapter 27.

An example of a section cross-reference: see "Treatment" later in this chapter.

An example of a section cross-reference in another chapter: see "Acceptable Gifts" in Chapter 29.

DAILY O'REILLY IV: Dates and Numbers

2005-10-25T18:38:00.000+01:00

DAILY O'REILLY STYLESHEET EXCERPTS DAY FOUR:
DAILY O'REILLY: Dates and Numbers

# Spell out numbers under 10, unless the same object appears in a sentence with an object 10 or over (five apples; 5 apples and 100 oranges).

# Use numerals for versions (Version 5 or v5).

# Use a numeral if it's an actual value.

# 32-bit.

# 1980s.

# Phone numbers can appear in the format (xxx) xxx-xxxx, or in the format xxx-xxx-xxxx. Pick a format and be consistent.

DAILY O'REILLY V: Figures, Tables, and Examples

2005-10-25T18:37:00.000+01:00

DAILY O'REILLY STYLESHEET EXCERPTS DAY FIVE:
DAILY O'REILLY: Figures, Tables, and Examples

Every figure, table, and example should be mentioned and identified in the text before (for example: see Figure 99-1; Example 1-99 shows; Table 1-1 lists, etc.). Figures, tables, and examples should not be introduced with colons or phrases like "in the following figure," or "as shown in this table." Since figures float, lack of specific in-text references may cause incorrect placement of figures.

Any word groupings within a figure should have an initial cap on the first word only, with the exception of proper nouns. Generally, we don't use periods at the end of these word groupings.

Figure, table, and example numbers should be numbered as follows: 1-2 (note hyphen, not en-dash between numbers). The first number is the chapter number. This will be soft-coded in production if not during the writing process.

* Figure 1-1. Figure captions are initial-capped on first word only, with the exception of proper nouns. There is no period after figure captions.

* Table 1-1. Column heads & table titles are initial-capped on the first word only, with the exception of proper nouns. There is no period after table titles.

* Example 1-1. Example titles are initial-capped on the first word only, with the exception of proper nouns. There is no period after example titles.

...and the levee was dry

2005-09-19T20:35:00.000+01:00

"I drove my Chevy to the levee, but the levee was dry."
Don McLean

That the levee broke and was anything but dry in New Orleans was often referred to in commentary about the devasting flood.

Fuhr mit meinem Chevy zum Deich, der Deich war aber trocken.

Here is a link to the Don McLean lyrics, and the songs starts playing as soon as the page loads. A melancholic song capturing the mood of the eve of the Sixties. I remember exactly the first time I heard the song - in high-school, in Würzburg Germany.

Little did I know that, a couple of years later, I should spent my formative and instructive years in Berkeley - where the Sixties had rocked, and Free Speech and the student movement had been born, and - while I was living and working there, UNIX and the Internet Protocol has been helped along as well by some freaks at U.C. Berkeley. A thing the Berkeley politicos tend to overlook.

And which I have come to appreciate more and more. The Internet after all helped Free Speech along quite a bit, too.

Huns in F---ing Austria Are Not Amused

2005-09-04T16:01:00.000+01:00

While the Huns are at either at your feet or at your throat if you are British - Brits are after the sign with the name of your town if you live in, that's right, Fucking, Austria.

Public Domain

Found via Carob

Ocean

2005-09-04T13:26:00.000+01:00

c.1290, from O.Fr. occean (12c.), from L. oceanus, from Gk. okeanos, the great river or sea surrounding the disk of the Earth.

While the Pacific Ocean lapping at the shores of the SF-Bay Area is this big benelovent being, the Mare Balticum, sighted at the Copenhagen harbour, black and unfathomable is a terrible beauty to behold. That some 1000 years ago people of that area ventured into this vastness with small, long, agile boats, to go and arrive in
Newfoundland is a stunning thought. To this day the wayfinding methods of these seafaring people are unkown to us. For nourishment I reckon they brought big barrels of beer, buttermilk, and lots of barley cakes on board, then some sheep and fishing gear.

Public Domain

I long for the ocean. I miss it physically and emotionally. Weird for someone grown up landlocked, but then again, ancestry-wise there was this line of Pomeranian merchant marines on my mothers's side, which may explain it somehow.

Wiener

2005-08-22T18:53:00.000+01:00

Das Wiener Schnitzel is a boneless cutlet, pan-fried in a coat of bread crumbs, and any Milanese will tell you that it originated in Milan and was introduced to Vienna by the Austrian soldiers occupying the Lombardian town. So really it's a Piccata Milanese

Der Wiener Schnitzel is the name of a hot dog chain in the U.S.

While any Viennese will tell you that a Wiener really is a Frankfurter.

"Wienern" means to polish mostly furniture.

Gisela Strauss, Munich, Bavaria
italy+bavaria

ROI RENDITE

2005-08-15T17:44:00.000+01:00

Return of Investment - Rendite, die
That's the easy part.
And then there's the math part.
ROI
Rendite

Between a rock and a hard place - zwischen Baum und Borke (außer für den Borkenkäfer). Borke - the bark of the tree . And Borkenkäfer - bark beetle, the insect which dwells and breeds in and dines on what's between bark and stem of a tree. For many other species that would be downright uncomfortable. It would be like being between a rock and a hard place, an expression which apparently is frequently used in Australia, less so in North America.
Stichprobe - Spot Check.
Hieb und Stichfest - Foolproof.

The Interpreter was here . .

2005-07-30T20:48:00.000+01:00

what is the Interpreter up to now? Ms Broome's Vespa, obviously repainted, has been spotted in Paris by Clotilde Dusoulier

A Lot of Work to the Victim: SMOP

2005-07-24T19:40:00.000+01:00

Hier gefunden:
SMOP: /S·M·O·P/, n.
[Simple (or Small) Matter of Programming]

1. A piece of code, not yet written, whose anticipated length is significantly greater than its complexity. Used to refer to a program that could obviously be written, but is not worth the trouble. Also used ironically to imply that a difficult problem can be easily solved because a program can be written to do it; the irony is that it is very clear that writing such a program will be a great deal of work. “It's easy to enhance a FORTRAN compiler to compile COBOL as well; it's just a SMOP.”

2. Often used ironically by the intended victim when a suggestion for a program is made which seems easy to the suggester, but is obviously (to the victim) a lot of work. Compare minor detail.

life saver

2005-07-13T18:21:00.000+01:00

O'Reilly has been on the forefront of those publishers who are not afraid to experiment with - for a publisher - seemingly suicidal ideas such as: give a book away for free online and hope that its printed version sells as well.

It's published We the Media, a journalist's (Dan Gilmore) take on blogs, and many more books. Only time will tell if this was suicidal or a life saver. My premature guess will be: the latter.

O'Reilly wants you to write well too: life saver.

FAZ Makes Fun of . . .

2005-07-10T20:03:00.000+01:00

The paper FAZ, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, makes fun of a German-English word combination created by a public services official.

Die Zeitung FAZ, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, macht sich lustig über eine deutsch-englische Wortkombination, die von jemandem im Öffentlichen Dienst kreiert wurde.

The word Ehrenamtscard - a discount card for someone working in a not-for-profit organization without receiving compensation, inspired a commentator called wer to go on:

Treuepoints
Touchkultutr
Schöffencourt
Polizeiobermaster
Bishopliche Hirtenletters
Kreiswehrersatzangency
Oldbacken
Leibesexercises
Fullbeschäftigung
Schurwool
Abenddawn
Jutebag
Kanzleramtsspeaker
Housedrachen
Streetfeger
Müllworker
Beamtenship
Totenshirt
Zauberdrink
Gemeinderatsession
Zwangsjacket
Schöpferpower
Menschenskid
schönheitsdrunk
Staatswinegut

Why am I writing this blog.

2005-06-20T17:06:00.000+01:00

Let me see - when going through this stuctured process of translating, intangible knowledge gets generated and awaits to be garnered. It is fuzzy, it is wild. It is self-organizing. It blogs.

Having lived in, nay constantly living in two cultures at once, mentally, generates something like white noise. And then things become unbearably funny, and absurd, and when that happens, I blog.

And as a translator I always should spellcheck and proofread and quality assure my blog because of professional cred. I need to remind myself of that. Or else, some friendly, welcome pedant, will.

I am definitely not aiming for lots of traffic in some Sullivanesque manner.

Non sequitur:
machine translation explained.

I am God, so what? Natürlich bin ich Gott!

2005-06-15T17:53:00.000+01:00

« Florida State quarterback Wyatt Sexton was taken to a hospital by police after they observed him behaving strangely, lying in the street, jumping on a car and telling them that he was God. »
A Reuters story says.

That is strange behaviour. In Munich soccer stars know they are God and everybody knows they are God, so there is no need to go on about it. Besides, it would annoy Benedict.

cessez-le-feu cease-fire

2005-06-14T17:03:00.000+01:00

cease-fire is un cessez-le-feu - in French

Business - Geschäftliches

2005-06-12T18:48:00.000+01:00

When billing clients situated outside of your country and within these member states of the EU, you do not have to add VAT -

if you have obtained your own international tax ID
if your client has provided you with her international tax ID
if you have verified that it's a valid one
if that verification page of the EU works.
Which it didn't when I tried it just now.

Mehrwertsteuer muss nicht erhoben werden, wenn die Kundin den Geschäftsitz außerhalb Deutschlands und in einem dieser EU-Länder hat -

wenn Sie selbst eine internationale Steuernummer haben
wenn Sie die internationale Steuernummer der Kundin in der Rechnung angeben können
wenn Sie diese hier verifiziert haben
wenn diese Tool funktioniert, was es gerade nicht tat.

That Cabbage Thing - Das Ding mit dem Kohl

2005-06-01T15:13:00.000+01:00

»Do you know the name of this vegetable? «
»Wie heißt dieses Gemüse?«
Public Domain

The Guardian asks in its print edition. »Kohlrabi« I said to myself - but what is the English word for it? The article has its faults: absentminded yuppy walks into gold mine when starting an organic veggie delivery business because the British middle classes take to ordering plenty out of masochistic snobbery - paying out a lot to be roughing it with welted weird veggies. Oh yes and somehwere there is the Italian father-in-law in the background, making it all possible. It's so cliché but the worst is the ironic tone of the piece - generating that subtle distance from the stereotype generated, so as to appear especially sophisticated.

It's kohlrabi in U.S. English as well.
Im Englischen heißt es auch Kohlrabi.

Widgets can make their parents grow - I think... Widgets verursachen Wachstum bei ihren Eltern - oder so ähnlich.

2005-05-25T19:21:00.000+01:00

Widgets can make their parents grow. Because the English language is more compact than most languages, widgets on which there will be text labels which may be longer in the target language than in English, will need to grow. But! They may have parents. In which case the widget children with longer text on them need to tell their parents to grow also.

Widget
An object used to hold data and present an interface to the user. A widget is a combination of state and procedure. Each widget is a member of a class, which holds the procedures and data structures common to all widgets of that class. A widget instance holds the procedures and data structures particular to that single widget. Each widget class typically provides the general behavior associated with a particular kind of interaction with the user.

Sofia Coppola

2005-05-21T17:00:00.000+01:00

Sofia Coppola of course is the *other* San Francisco Bay Area movie maker brat(Skywalker Ranch is located in Marin County which is part of the Bay Area).
Lost in Translation of course is an homage to the aesthetic sensibilities of pre-Internet-boom persons. And when right at the beginning of the story unfolding Bill Murray gets introduced to a group of Japanese, including a Mr. Minami, this is an homage to the Bay Area pre-Internet boom sophisticate who is casually aware of the fact that

» Minami, a partner at Minami, Lew & Tamaki, is best known for his work as lead counsel in three landmark U.S. Supreme Court cases overturning the convictions of Japanese-American men who refused to be interned during World War II. Minami also co-founded the Asian American Bar Association of the Greater Bay Area and the Asian Law Caucus. «

At least that is what I believe homegirl Sofia would have wanted us to think.

Star Wars Did Some Good

2005-05-19T19:18:00.000+01:00

At last. What other phenomenon would have gotten a film critic to exclaim enthusiastically in a video about the film at the Canadian network CBC:

As a seasoned film reviewer I can safely say, Who cares. Who cares what I think. Who cares if it's good or bad.

There is some hidden truth in this - about film critics and about the industry.

Cessna in plane B5 English

2005-05-12T19:22:00.000+01:00

B5, Washington correspondent spoke of a chessnuh chasing the folks out of the White House for the duration of 15 minutes. Or was it Vic Chesnutt - that naughty New Orleans based bard chasing White House staff out and away with cacophonic noise like that of the bard Cacofonix in the French Asterix and Obelix comic strip?
Nope. No such thing.
A Cessna it was, or so belatedly, the Bayern 5 (aka the-in-15-Minuten-kann-sich-die Welt-verändern-Station)correspondent declared 12 hours later.

But then again, no-one, and I mean no-one is safe from committing
completely stupid mistakes. Including me. But hey, pointing out errors is such smug
fun.

Creative Commons Licensing enables distributed jamming

2005-05-06T18:51:00.000+01:00

Distributed jamming is made possible with the license to be creative - Creative Commons License.

Francois Schnell has described the process.

Gisela Strauss
Tech Translator
Munich

persistent content elements

2005-04-20T20:02:00.000+01:00

The capturing and mapping of persistent content elements in the form of text seems in the foreground of some Internet localization projects.

In other projects there is a lot of flow text, altering between technical documentation and copy - or advertising - addressing increasingly differentiated niche audiences. Go figure, go to
http://sepiaport.com

Ädoof, Nawatschn, Natschos, Papa Ratzi

2005-04-20T18:54:00.000+01:00

Adobe architecture is an intriguing native American Southwestern architectural solution. Like with so many native American words, its pronunciation is slightly different from what we'd expect.
Adobe ist not pronounced
[*a*-dobe ~ Ädoub] but [a-d*oe*be-ee ~ Ädobi]
with emphasis on the *o* .
Ädoof, because by now the semi-monopolistic, patent-happy software firm who took the name ADOBE from native Americans without asking - I presume!? - has been around long enough in Germany, for B5 radio announcers to know this.

Photograph: Ulrich Egert

Nawatschn: Navajos are not Nawatschos, for this the announcer at the FAZ radio in Munich-Harlaching deserves a Watschn,nay a Nawatschn, except the station no longer exists.

"Nachos"- dear, dear self-assured naggers at movie houses and trendy digs - are eatable warez which consist of a load of warmed corn tortilla chips *with* melted cheese poured on top of them. "Nachos with cheese", as they are so pervasively and haughtily presented in the German language realm, are "a load of corn tortilla chips with melted cheese on top of it, with cheese." This is the duh-equivalent of "Der Wiener Schnitzel", a hot-dog chain in America.
I won't even get into it what the Anglo-Saxons mean, when they say "chips". It's boring.

Cute, if pointless, is the British press' coinage of "Papa Ratzi", for the Papa is said to be shy; less cute is that of "Papal Rottweiler".

END of Recovered from Translation
Gisela Strauss
Tech Translations, Website Localizations -EN/DE
in the Greater Munich area and virtually, everywhere.

Impressum Assistent

2005-03-13T16:50:00.000Z

Von Apotheker bis Zahnarzt kann hier jeder sein Impressum nach den Regeln des deutschen Gesetzes zusammenstellen.

http://www.digi-info.de/de/netlaw/webimpressum/assistent.php

Gefunden via
via http://www.dennisbreuer.de/index2.html

Wer spamt gibt eine Anzeige auf und zahlt somit . .

2005-02-25T20:31:00.000Z

Wir wussten es schon immer, es ist einfach nicht klug sich mit Rechtsanwälten anzulegen. So rät der Blawg Handakte (d.h. Law-Blog) [http://log.handakte.de/] mit folgendem Hinweis vom Kommentar-Spam ab:
Wer spamt zahlt, Beispiel:

Ihre Anzeige im E-Business Weblog
Sehr geehrter Herr Wiesner,

Sie haben am 9.3.2004 einen Kommentar mit dem Hinweis auf Ihre Internetseite
www.moneyguide.de.vu bei mir im „E-Business Weblog“ (ISSN 1611-2342) eingestellt.
http://www.roell.net/weblog/archiv/2004
/03/03/sueddeutsche_zeitung_goes_epaper.shtml#2244.
Ich stelle Ihnen deshalb den zur Zeit gültigen Anzeigenpreis für werbende Kommentare in
Rechnung. Er beträgt 900 Euro pro Monat zuzüglich der gesetzlichen Umsatzststeuer. Der Betrag ist jeweils im Voraus zahlbar.

Nettobetrag: 900 EUR
Steuerbetrag (16% USt aus 900 EUR): 144 EUR
Bruttobetrag: 1044 EUR

Bitte überweisen Sie 1044 EUR binnen 10 Tagen auf mein unten angegebes Konto unter
dem Vermerk „moneyguide“. Beachten Sie, dass ich bei ausbleibendem Zahlungseingang nach Ablauf der gesetzlichen Zahlungsfrist sofort das Mahn- bzw. Inkassoverfahren eröffnen werde.
Ich danke für Ihren Auftrag!

URL zum Dokument:
http://www.roell.net/weblog/archiv/pics/RechnungWiesner.pdf

Neue Deutsche Rechtschreibung

2005-02-25T16:06:00.000Z

10 Regeln

WEB Translation / Localization / Internationalization / Globalization

2005-02-20T18:36:00.000Z

These Trendy Words, What Do They Mean? Let Me Try . . .

I) WEB TRANSLATION

Adapting any text of a web site which viewers see via a browser into a given target language.

II) WEB LOCALIZATION

Adapting the target text to the constraints of the site - may it be a given style, or template - without altering the value of the message. This includes text being directly transferred to the source code, and evaluating the result in terms of user experience engineering.
Adapting a web site to the requirements of a specific target language without lessening the site's quality of functionality nor style.
In practical terms, web localization is a blend of both of the above, where WEB TRANSLATION is a core component of
WEB LOCALIZATION

III) INTERNATIONALIZATION

Streamlining the organization and process of international localizations for a given website.
Organize a web site around a standard which allows for easy localization for any intended target language.
In practical terms, web internationalization is a blend of both of the above, where WEB LOCALIZATION is a core component of INTERNATIONALIZATION

IV) GLOBALIZATION

A wrapper for points one to three

Gisela Strauss · loca · loquacious · localizing · tech translator ·

The New Global Sensitivity I

2005-02-20T16:19:00.000Z

The New Global Sensitivity dictates that website localizers such as moi, will pay tribute to the fact that:

French AND English are being spoken in say Canada
Chinese AND English are spoken in say Hong Kong
French AND Italian AND German are spoken in say Switzerland
Bavarian AND German ... no just kidding.

Very handy entries for the web localization Select Your Language drop-down menu.

Bitte wählen Sie Ihre Sprache:

Afrika (Englisch)
Afrika (Französisch)
Argentinien (Spanisch)
Australien (Englisch)
Belgien (Französisch)
Belgien (Niederländisch)
Bolivien (Spanisch)
Brasilien (Portugiesisch)
Bulgarien (Bulgarisch)
Chile (Spanisch)
China (Chinesisch, vereinfacht)
Dänemark (Dänisch)
Deutschland (Deutsch)
Ecuador (Spanisch)
Estland (Estnisch)
Finnland (Finnisch)
Frankreich (Französisch)
Griechenland (Griechisch)
Großbritannien (Englisch)
Hongkong (Chinesisch, traditionell)
Hongkong (Englisch)
Indien (Englisch)
Indonesien (Englisch)
Irland (Englisch)
Israel (Hebräisch)
Italien (Italienisch)
Japan (Japanisch)
Kanada (Englisch)
Kanada (Französisch)
Karibik (Englisch)
Kasachstan (Russisch)
Kolumbien (Spanisch)
Korea (Koreanisch)
Kroatien (Kroatisch)
Lettland (Lettisch)
Litauen (Litauisch)
Luxemburg (Französisch)
Malaysia (Englisch)
Mexiko (Spanisch)
Mittelamerika (Spanisch)
Naher Osten (Englisch)
Neuseeland (Englisch)
Niederlande (Niederländisch)
Norwegen (Norwegisch)
Österreich (Deutsch)
Paraguay (Spanisch)
Peru (Spanisch)
Philippinen (Englisch)
Polen (Polnisch)
Portugal (Portugiesisch)
Puerto Rico (Spanisch)
Rumänien (Rumänisch)
Russland (Russisch)
Schweden (Schwedisch)
Schweiz (Deutsch)
Schweiz (Französisch)
Serbien und Montenegro (Serbisch)
Singapur (Englisch)
Slowakei (Slowakisch)
Slowenien (Slowenisch)
Spanien (Spanisch)
Südafrika (Englisch)
Taiwan (Chinesisch, traditionell)
Thailand (Englisch)
Tschechien (Tschechisch)
Türkei (Türkisch)
Ukraine (Russisch)
Ungarn (Ungarisch)
Uruguay (Spanisch)
USA (Englisch)
Venezuela (Spanisch)
Vietnam (Englisch)
Zypern (Griechisch)

The New Global Sensitivity II

2005-02-20T16:10:00.000Z

Globally Sensitive Drop-Down Menu / ENGLISH, the sort changes from the German lanuguage menu, i.e. Cyprus-Greek vs Zypern-Griechisch. Where we are reminded of the fact that traditional Chinese is also spoken in Hong Kong, that French and Italian are also spoken in Switzerland, and so on.

Very handy entries for the web localization Select Your Language drop-down menu.

Please Select Your Language
Africa-English
Africa-French
Argentina-Spanish
Australia-English
Austria-German
Belgium-Dutch
Belgium-French
Bolivia-Spanish
Brazil-Portuguese
Bulgaria-Bulgarian
Canada-English
Canada-French
Caribbean-English
Central America-Spanish
Chile-Spanish
China-Simplified Chinese
Colombia-Spanish
Croatia-Croatian
Cyprus-Greek
Czech Republic-Czech
Denmark-Danish
Ecuador-Spanish
Estonia-Estonian
Finland-Finnish
France-French
Germany-German
Greece-Greek
Hong Kong-English
Hong Kong-Traditional Chinese
Hungary-Hungarian
India-English
Indonesia-English
Ireland-English
Israel-Hebrew
Italy-Italian
Japan-Japanese
Kazakhstan-Russian
Korea-Korean
Latvia-Latvian
Lithuania-Lithuanian
Luxembourg-French
Malaysia-English
Mexico-Spanish
Middle East-English
Netherlands-Dutch
New Zealand-English
Norway-Norwegian
Paraguay-Spanish
Peru-Spanish
Philippines-English
Poland-Polish
Portugal-Portuguese
Puerto Rico-Spanish
Romania-Romanian
Russia-Russian
Serbia and Montenegro-Serbian
Singapore-English
Slovak Republic-Slovak
Slovenia-Slovenian
South Africa-English
Spain-Spanish
Sweden-Swedish
Switzerland-French
Switzerland-German
Taiwan-Traditional Chinese
Thailand-English
Turkey-Turkish
Ukraine-Russian
United Kingdom-English
United States-English
Uruguay-Spanish
Venezuela-Spanish
Vietnam-English

Comparative Ads Anyone?

2005-02-13T18:59:00.000Z

http://bundesrecht.juris.de/bundesrecht/uwg_2004/__6.html

List of Countries

2005-02-13T17:15:00.000Z

List of Countries

http://www.auswaertiges-amt.de/www/de/adressen_html

Louis XIV spied the cravat

2005-02-12T18:10:00.000Z

{ This Chococino Break is brought to you by Translationfound }

This image is Public Domain

Louis XIV spied the cravat on Balkan mercenaries having assisted France in conquering the Ottoman Turks.

American Heritage says:
« NOUN: A scarf or band of fabric worn around the neck as a tie.
ETYMOLOGY: French cravate, necktie worn by Croatian mercenaries in the service of France, from Cravate, a Croatian, from German dialectal Krabate, from Serbo-Croatian Hrvt. »

A necktie to this day in German is « Die Kravatte »

Like a Hole in the Head . . .

2005-02-10T17:55:00.000Z

Margaret hits the mark again with this digital clipping
http://www.margaret-marks.com/Transblawg/archives/000511.html

« An American woman has been left with a British accent after having a stroke. This is despite the fact that Tiffany Roberts, 61, has never been to Britain. Her accent is a mixture of English cockney and West Country. Apparently the first case of this kind occurred in Norway in 1941, where a woman recovered from shrapnel injuries to the head with a German accent - not popular at the time. »

After reading this I wonder, does the reverse scenario hold true as well? Talk in a Anglo-Saxon or Saxon accent, and hope for brain damage?

Web site localization EN-DE

2005-02-10T17:41:00.000Z

!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"
becomes
!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//DE"
source:
http://www.iana.org/assignments/language-tags
via
http://www.w3.org/

happy meta tag translating
very happy title tag translating
extremely happy error messages translating which you may be able to produce or maybe not. Error messages which you may be able to loacte in the perl, php, or html source - and then again not.

localization

Dres. is short for the Latin "Doctores"

2005-02-10T17:14:00.000Z

Dres. is short for the Latin "Doctores" and as such is used when two or more persons holding the aforementioned title are adressed in a German letter head or appear on a shingle:

Dres. Limbach & Roundtree
Rechtsanwälte

Gisela Strauss
Tech Translator in the greater Munich area
& virtually, everywhere.

You don't run Windows? Here's Help

2005-02-10T16:11:00.000Z

This board is useful if you don't run Windows but need to know what Windows commands are - in German. As a rule of thumb the deeper you venture into the German language Windows version the more likely it will be that commands are still in English.

http://www.winboard.org/

Gisela Strauss
Tech Translator in the greater Munich area
& virtually, everywhere.

Rates -

2005-02-09T14:04:00.000Z

In Germany rates are calculated per line.
A line costs from euros 1.10 - 1.40
Elsewhere it is from euros 0.10 - 0.25 per word.

As we now see more web sites being translated,
where lines don't have a standard length,
I favor the per-word charge - it is also more universal.

But caution is advised when bidding on web sites which are extensive: Merely capturing the underlying structure, wherein to place the distributed chunks of translated text is a task growing exponentially with the size of the site.

Try explaing that to the client. Even clients who themselves are programming or engineering professionals have no patience for such issues.
For them, human language stuff is this service thing that should be done without fussing about, and let them please wory about those real complex and difficult things they are involved in. Unless they are localizaton engineers. Then it's a pleasure to discuss issues.

Signing off out of Munich.
Gisela Strauss.
Tech Translator.

What Blog Journalists Say

2005-01-17T16:58:00.000Z

Press Room: What Blog Journalists Say About Translationfound:

http://www.margaret-marks.com/Transblawg/archives/001264.html

http://www.blogall.de/linklog/index.php?id=11099&file=index.php&gruppe=3092

http://www.jurablogs.de/meldungen/2005/02/10/7890/

Technical translation as part of software project communications.

2005-01-14T14:49:00.000Z

Software projects often rely on English as the lingua franca, where few or none of the engineers are native speakers. This calls for special handling of the translation process.

Technical translations as part of project communications are especially rewarding, since the translator knows her target group well. She attended requirement handling meetings and workshops and acquired a feel for local language usage. By providing excellent, precise and swift translation services, she becomes an integral part of the success of the project.

Here are some points to consider:

1. Technical language describes complex interdependent processes, and documents serve as the the launching pad for the software development to take place. The language should be unambiguous, precise, clear and logical as any technical tool ought to be.

2. Developers tend to put down complex concepts into nested, long sentences when using their mother tongue. The translator is capable of breaking them down into shorter ones while maintaining the intrinsic logic.

3. The translator is never too embarrassed to ask, what the text means, especially if it's in her mother tongue. Often the reason lies in the authors being not quite sure about the issue themselves. Give them a chance to clarify.

4. Even technical texts can be elegant. If the author is brilliant, the translator will be able to let this shine through by her own use of language.

5. Diligent research of the subject is due prior to translating.

Gisela Strauss
Tech Translations in the Greater Munich Area
& Virtually, Everywhere

Excerpts from a useful grammar website: Handy for translators and expats alike.

2004-01-07T09:51:00.000Z

°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°

http://webster.commnet.edu/grammar/abbreviations.htm

Mrs., Mr., Ms., Prof., Dr., Gen., Rep., Sen., St. (for Saint)

Miss is not an abbreviation.
Ms. is not an abbreviation, either, but we do use a period after it — probably to keep it consistent with Mr. and Mrs.

The plural of Mr. is Messrs. (We invited Messrs. Carter, Lincoln, and Ford.) The plural of Dr. is Drs. (We consulted Drs. Carter, Lincoln, and Ford.) The plural of Mrs. is Mmes or Mmes. (with or without the period).

In most formal prose, we do not use titles, abbreviated or otherwise, with individuals. Ms. Aaaaa Bbbbbb is simply Aaaaa Bbbbbb, and after the first use of her full name, Bbbbbbbbb will do .

c.o.d.

Titles after names:
Sr. Jr. Ph.D. M.D. B.A. M.A. D.D.S.

The Chicago Manual of Style recommends not using a comma to separate the Jr./Sr./III from the last name, but you should follow the preferences of the indivdual if you know those preferences. If you list a "junior" with his spouse, the "Jr." can go after both names, as in "Mr. and Mrs. Arthur C. Banks Jr." or "Mr. Arthur C. Banks Jr. and Gloria Banks — but not Arthur C. and Gloria Banks Jr. You should avoid using a "Jr." or "Sr." when you have only the last name — Mr. Banks Jr.

Notice that U.S.A. can also be written USA, but U.S. is better with the periods. Also, we can use U.S. as a modifier (the U.S. policy on immigration) but not as a noun (He left the not U.S. but U.S.A.).

Terms of mathematical units: 15 in., 15 ft, 15 kg, 15 m, 15 lb.

When modifier: a 15-ft board, a 6-lb line, etc.

790 BC but! AD 78 n in SMALL CAPS.

Latin terms: etc. (et cetera — and so forth), i.e. (id est — that is), e.g. (exempli gratia — for example), et al. (et alii — and others).

Acronyms
There is a difference between acronyms and abbreviations. An acronym is usually formed by taking the first initials of a phrase or compounded-word and using those initials to form a word that stands for something. Thus NATO, which we pronounce NATOH, is an acronym for North Atlantic Treaty Organization, and LASER (which we pronounce "lazer"), is an acronym for Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation. FBI, then, is not really an acronym for the Federal Bureau of Investigation; it is an abbreviation. AIDS is an acronym; HIV is an abbreviation. URL is an abbreviation for Uniform Resource Locator (World Wide Web address), but many people pronounce it as "Earl," making it a true acronym, and others insist on pronouncing it as three separate letters, "U * R * L," thus making it an abbreviation. The jury is still out (I vote for Uncle Earl).

Using articles with abbreviations and acronyms:
One of the most often asked questions about grammar has to do with the choice of articles — a, an, the — to precede an abbreviation or acronym. Do we say an FBI agent or a FBI agent? Although "F" is obviously a consonant and we would precede any word that begins with "F" with "a," we precede FBI with "an" because the first sound we make when we say FBI is not an "f-sound," it is an "eff-sound." Thus we say we're going to a PTO meeting where an NCO will address us. We say we saw a UFO because, although the abbreviation begins with a 'U," we pronounce the "U" as if it were spelled "yoo." Whether we say an URL or a URL depends on whether we pronounce it as "earl" or as "u*r*l."

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