Wat meer creativiteit bij het vertalen! Dat is waar Gerry Feehily naar snakt ... Met een beetje taalkundig enthousiasme zouden de vertaalde toespraken van Merkel, Sarkozy en Van Rompuy misschien al wat minder slaapverwekkend zijn?

When presseurop.eu was launched in May last year, one of its guiding mottos was Umberto Eco’s “The future of Europe is translation.” But sometimes I’m inclined to think that the future of Europe is lost in translation. I recently checked a statement by Angela Merkel concerning the CD-rom nabbed by HSBC supergrass Hervé Falciani containing data on Germans who have siphoned off their money to Switzerland in order to avoid taxes back home. This has created a hole in the German treasury of some €200million, but in order to get the data, the German government has to cough up €2.5million. While some wring their hands as to whether it’s right to chase up tax evaders by paying a thief, the French language press widely relayed Merkel’s statement on the matter as “Il faut tout entreprendre pour obtenir ces données" i.e. Everything must be done to obtain this data.

However, if you look at the original German statement, "Vom Ziel her sollten wir, wenn diese Daten relevant sind, auch in den Besitz dieser Daten kommen", you realise she didn’t quite say that. In transliterated English this goes – “An objective should be aimed at, if this data is relevant, then we should take property of the data”. Ok, German syntax is knotty, but nevertheless this is a typically Merkelian clunker, grey as dishwater, dry as dust, that plods around the subject until it sort of dies of boredom. Now contrast this with the zippy French rendering of the statement and actually it seems as if it got an edit from the hyperactive Nicolas Sarkozy, who says “must” every time he opens his mouth.

But what’s good translation? On the literary front, having recently dipped into the new Penguin version of the Arabian Nights, I’m more and more frustrated by this very contemporary quest for ultimate precision. The editors are keen to bury the definitive Burton translation, full as they say of “mistakes” and “archaisms”, but so far I’ve been less than thrilled to come across words like “managers” and “skills” and even the adolescent “kind of”. They sound much more like 21st century Angela Merkel than 12th century Bagdad. Which gets me thinking, to twist Nietzsche to some foul ends, that it might be better if accuracy perish rather than life. When Merkel is translated with a bit of fantasy, we listen up. We only need now enliven the Union entire by translating Van Rompuy, Barroso et al as if they all weren’t trying to make us fall asleep.

Bron: Presseurop

Mel Gibson wants you to hear real Viking language.

"I want a Viking to scare you. I don't want a Viking to say, "I'm going to die with a sword in my hand."
I don't want to hear that. It pulls the rug out from under you. I want to see somebody who I have never
seen before speaking low guttural German who scares the living sh*t out of me coming up to my house.
What is that like? What would that have been like?" Gibson is unsure whether it'll be in Old Norse or Old
English. "Whatever the 9th century had to offer. I'm going to give you real." Leonardo DiCaprio is going
to have his work cut out for him. But hey, English majors survive this every year, and they pay for the
privilege of pronouncing it.

If the movie is really dealing with the 9th century Viking raids, then the Vikings will speak Old Norse.
If the film decides to deal with them raiding and pillaging England or Ireland, then all their victims can
speak Old English (which was awfully similar even before the Norse lent them all the case endings) and
Gaelic just to make things extra interesting.

Source: Cinematical.com

Those who jump off a bridge in Paris are in Seine.

A backward poet writes inverse.

A man's home is his castle, in a manor of speaking.

Dijon vu - the same mustard as before.

Practice safe eating - always use condiments.

Shotgun wedding: A case of wife or death.

A man needs a mistress just to break the monogamy.

A hangover is the wrath of grapes.

Dancing cheek-to-cheek is really a form of floor play.

Does the name Pavlov ring a bell?

Condoms should be used on every conceivable occasion.

Reading while sunbathing makes you well red.

When two egotists meet, it's an I for an I.

A bicycle can't stand on its own because it is two tired.

What's the definition of a will? (It's a dead giveaway.)

Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.

In democracy your vote counts. In feudalism your count votes.

She was engaged to a boyfriend with a wooden leg but broke it off.

A chicken crossing the road is poultry in motion.

If you don't pay your exorcist, you get repossessed.

With her marriage, she got a new name and a dress.

When a clock is hungry, it goes back four seconds.

The man who fell into an upholstery machine is fully recovered.

You feel stuck with your debt if you can't budge it.

Local Area Network in Australia: the LAN down under.

He often broke into song because he couldn't find the key.

Every calendar's days are numbered.

A lot of money is tainted - It taint yours and it taint mine.

A boiled egg in the morning is hard to beat.

He had a photographic memory which was never developed.

A plateau is a high form of flattery.

A midget fortune-teller who escapes from prison is a small medium at large.

Those who get too big for their britches will be exposed in the end.

Once you've seen one shopping center, you've seen a mall.

Bakers trade bread recipes on a knead-to-know basis.

Santa's helpers are subordinate clauses.

Acupuncture is a jab well done.

An anagram is a word or phrase made by transposing or rearranging the letters of another word or phrase.Enjoy the following examples.

Amazing sentences:

To be or not to be: that is the question, whether tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune."

The anagram:

In one of the Bard's best-thought-of tragedies, our insistent hero, Hamlet, queries on two fronts about how life turns rotten.

That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind - Neil Armstrong

The anagram:

A thin man ran, making a large stride, left planet, pins flag on moon. On to Mars!

The Translator tells the remarkable story of a man who came face-to-face with genocide– time and again risking his own life to fight injustice and save his people. 

“I am the translator who has taken journalists into dangerous Darfur. It is my intention now to take you there in this book, if you have the courage to come with me.” Daoud Hari, a Zaghawa tribesmen from Darfur, had recently returned to his village after living abroad when his village was attacked by the Janjaweed. He lost his beloved brother, Ahmed, in the attack, but helped his family and many of his relatives and fellow villager cross the desert to reach the relative safety of a border refugee camp.

Daoud Hari is not a person to stand around and do nothing. Despite the danger, he felt compelled to put his English skills to use as a translator for genocide investigators and reporters, in an attempt to get the word out about the genocide, to bring the ethnic cleansing of his people into your living room, so their voices could be heard. His memoir largely follows his work from 2003 until 2006, when he received protection as a refugee in the United States. It is a remarkable story of one man's determination to help his people, risking his life over and over again to fight the injustice that he has witnessed.

"In his moving memoir, The Translator, Daoud Hari illuminates the complexities of the conflict [in Darfur]..., but his book's modest scope is perhaps its greatest strength. In its intimacy, quiet humor and compassion, The Translator is more like a conversation with a friend than a call to action. The plight of someone close to you can pierce you, and Hari keeps his readers close.” Los Angeles Times

“The Translator, by Daoud Hari, a native Darfurian, may be the biggest small book of this year, or any year. In roughly 200 pages of simple, lucid prose, it lays open the Darfur genocide more intimately and powerfully than do a dozen books by journalists or academic experts. Hari and his co-writers achieve this in a voice that is restrained, generous, gentle and—astonishingly—humorous.” Washington Post Book World

The publicity campaign for the online operator Mobile Vikings uses the word
for Flemish people, ‘les Flamands’ alongside adjectives such as ‘cretin’, ‘pig’
and ‘bimbo’ and ‘moron’.

The jury for ethical advertising has called for the company to withdraw its
ten advertisements.

On Mobile Vikings posters and beer mats, slogans such as “Free, its for the
morons” or “Free, its for the Flemish” can be found. In the north of the country,
the word ‘Flamands’ is replaced by ‘Hollandais’.

“The advert is controversial, but Mobile Vikings is unlike other mobile operators”,
explained Koen Delvaux, head of the company. “Our image is a little bit more
daring and our adverts reflect this.”

The company have since agreed to remove the more offensive slogans.
“We respect the decision of the jury, but it is a shame that a single complaint
has the power to block a whole advertising campaign such as ours. We have
only received one complaint from a person in the Wallon region who felt
discriminated against”, Delvaux added.

Le Soir/Expatica

Learning a language is no easy task, and maintaining fluency is, for most, a constant struggle. However, there are some individuals capable of commanding great skill in several languages. These are the world’s polyglots.

One of the more surprising and recent cases of the hyperpolyglot phenomenon is that of young German-born Sebastian Heine, who has been dubbed the “Human Tower of Babel.” By the time he was 22 years old, this student of Indo-German philology could communicate in no fewer than 35 distinct languages, of which he prefers Pashto, spoken by a Middle-Eastern ethnic minority.

While many have labeled him a prodigy, Sebastian affirms that he’s no genius—merely an individual dedicated to the study of languages. His love of language began at only 7 years old when he was introduced to Greek, approaching it almost as a game. Today Heine has set a “modest” goal for himself: learn two new languages a year.

The case of Jorge Fernandez, while he hasn’t mastered nearly as many languages as Heine, is still incredible. At only 18 years old, this Peruvian could speak and fluently write in a dozen languages, including Spanish, English, French, German, Swiss, Romanian, Italian, Portuguese, Dutch, Catalan, Gallego, and Mandarin.

According to Jorge, his obsession with languages began when his mom punished him for getting bad grades in high school by taking away his phone privileges. Fernandez suddenly found that he had more time on his hands—and a desire to communicate.

One required French course awakened Fernandez’s curiosity, and he then continued with Italian and Romanian on his own. The next nine languages came shortly afterward, and now the young Fernandez says he aims for fluency in 25 languages some day.

Mastery of over 30 languages is certainly impressive, but who is the biggest polyglot in the world? How many languages can one human mind master? More than 40. More than even 50. Ziad Youssef Fazah holds a basic understanding of at least 60 distinct languages. Of course, as Clarisa stated above, “to understand a language isn't the same as living it.” The same applies to Fazah, who must regularly exercise his skill in these acquired languages so that he doesn’t lose what he’s learned.

Great Polyglots in History

It seems that whenever we have an understanding of the limits of the human mind, there are always a few people who are able to go beyond it. When it comes to multilingual proficiency, Cardinal Giuseppe Caspar Mezzofanti and linguist John Bowring are two such individuals who had far surpassed what many thought was possible.

The cardinal was born on September 17, 1774. He was able to command fluency in 38 languages and nearly 100 dialects, and he possessed a basic understanding in many more languages. It has been determined that, in total, the cardinal knew approximately 100 distinct forms of communication.

It can be said that Bowring was one of the most scholarly linguists ever known. He demonstrated a basic understanding of over 200 languages and was fluent in about 100. Bowring was born in 1792. He was governor of Hong Kong as well as an author and world traveler. He received the title Gentleman of the Bath Order and was a member of the Royal Society and the Royal Geographical Society. Up to today, no one has known a better interpreter of language than Bowring.

Expanding Communication

While they may not have mastered as many languages as the incredible hyperpolyglots mentioned above, several contemporary historical figures can also boast fluency in multiple languages. It is no surprise that these individuals are also known as great communicators.

The papacy has a long history of multilingualism, and the tradition has carried up through today with the most recent popes: John Paul II and Benedict XVI. The former could fluently speak Polish, Classic Greek, Latin, Italian, French, Spanish, Portuguese, English, Esperanto, and German, and had basic knowledge in Czech, Lithuanian, Russian, Hungarian, Japanese, Tagalog, and some African languages. The latter possesses fluency in at least a dozen languages.
 
Polyglot writers James Joyce and J.R.R. Tolkien each knew 13 languages.

The archeologist Jean-Francois Champollion—who also commanded fluency in 13 languages—helped decipher ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics by translating the Rosetta Stone in 1822, thanks to his extensive knowledge of Coptic.

Among the other great language prodigies is linguist Kenneth Locke Hale, who demonstrated an incredible skill at learning languages quickly and precisely. During his studies of syntax and lexicons at MIT, Hale set his sights on unstudied and endangered languages, such as those of the Hopi, Navajo, and Australian Walpiri. In total, Hale ended up mastering 50 distinct languages.

The world of languages is fascinating, and there are many benefits to acquiring fluency in more than just one. In fact, there are more multilingual individuals in the world then there are monolinguals, as the United States is one of the few countries in the world that doesn’t require learning a second language in school.

Learning new languages not only brings us closer to the rest of the world; it can also offer linguistic insights that might never be found in our native tongue. But if you want to learn a new language, it’s best to start early. Studies show that the younger you are, the easier it is to pick up a new language.

Source: The Epoch Times

Where can a man buy a cap for his knee,
Or the key to a lock of his hair?
Can his eyes be called an academy
Because there are pupils there?

Is the crown of your head where jewels are found?
Who travels the bridge of your nose?
If you wanted to shingle the roof of your mouth,
Would you use the nails on your toes?

Can you sit in the shade of the palm of your hand,
Or beat on the drum of your ear?
Can the calf in your leg eat the corn off your toe?
Then why not grow corn on the ear?

Can the crook in your elbow be sent to jail?
If so, just what did he do?
How can you sharpen your shoulder blades?
I'll be darned if I know - do you?

Avoid alliteration. Always.
Prepositions are not words to end sentences with.
Avoid clichés like the plague. (They're old hat.)
Comparisons are as bad as clichés.
Be more or less specific.
One should never generalize.
Parenthetical remarks (however relevant) are unnecessary.
It is wrong to ever split an infinitive.
Contractions aren't necessary.
Foreign words and phrases are not apropos.
Eliminate quotations. As Ralph Waldo Emerson said, "I hate quotations. Tell me what you know."
Employ the vernacular.
Don't be redundant; don't use more words than necessary; it's highly superfluous.
One-word sentences? Eliminate.
Understatement is always best.
Eschew ampersands & abbreviations, etc.
Analogies in writing are like feathers on a snake.
The passive voice is to be avoided.
Go around the barn at high noon to avoid colloquialisms.
Even if a mixed metaphor sings, it should be derailed.
Who needs rhetorical questions?