High-powered 'literary' translation

Here's an article from The Guardian about translating some of Dan Brown's books:

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/apr/30/dan-brown-origin-thriller-da-vinci-code-translation-les-traducteurs

Now, many years ago, I read in The Linguist, the journal of the Chartered Institute of Linguists, that the German translator of the Harry Potter books had had a nervous breakdown. So many puns in the names, for one thing.

I had, however, no idea that translators would be locked away to translate Dan Brown books under such a high level of security.

(By the way, I wrote 'literary' in inverted commas, because Dan Brown doesn't really write literature, but he does write page-turners, that's for sure.)

I found it interesting that the publishers felt they had to get the translations of Brown's books out on exactly the same day as the English version appeared because readers wouldn't wait for the translation and would order the English book instead. It just goes to show how widespread the understanding of English is these days.

A sad day for many Germans

I've suddenly realised what day it is today: the last day of April. This means that tomorrow will be the first day of May, a public holiday in Germany. (This is not the case in the UK, though, which pushes Labour Day onto the first Monday of May - can't interrupt big business, can we?)

What I like about the Germans is their philosophy of "Feste feiern wie sie fallen" - "make hay while the sun shines", but literally translated as "celebrate the parties as they fall".

Germans would not push a public holiday onto any other day, which is why, if May Day falls in the middle of the week, they will still party the evening before.

And Germans like to be organised, which is why they even have a name for the partying on 30 April: Tanz in den Mai ("dancing into May").

Originally, though, the dancing was (still is) part of the celebrations of Walpurgis Night, which is the eve of the Christian feast day of Saint Walpurga, an 8th century abbess canonised on 1 May.

According to Wikipedia: Saint Walpurga was hailed by the Christians of Germany for battling "pest, rabies and whooping cough, as well as against witchcraft." Christians prayed to God through the intercession of Saint Walpurga in order to protect themselves from witchcraft.

If you've ever read Goethe's Faust Part I (I did so last year - don't bother), you will have come across the scene in it where the witches dance around a fire on Walpurgis Night. 

From Wikipedia again: In Germany, Hexennacht ("Witches' Night"), the night from 30 April to 1 May, is the night when witches are reputed to hold a large celebration on the Brocken and await the arrival of spring and is held on the same night as Saint Walpurgis Night (Sankt Walpurgisnacht).

These days, however, people just use 30 April as an excuse to go out dancing until the wee hours of the morning. They literally dance until April turns into May. 

This evening, though, is a very sad day - and not just because the weather has turned cold and overcast. No, because of this virus and the so-called 'lockdown', no-one is going to be partying in any venue this year. Sure, we'll all get the day off tomorrow, but it won't feel the same without the previous night's conviviality.

A less frantic life?

I keep reading on The Guardian website how life has slowed down and become less frantic for many people. One stated "It's lovely to just be, instead of just doing ...".

And I'm perplexed because, once again, I seem to be going against the flow of everyone else.

The workload has become less frantic, that is true. I am, however, still getting new work every day.

The rest of the time, though, is chock full of activities - to fill in all that extra time: I'm embroidering the fifth cloth shopping bag this month. I've crocheted six 'spectacle cocoons' (as I call them) from scrap bits of wool found in my sewing cupboard. I've done a small cross-stitch picture of a coastal scene, I've crocheted 4 or 5 'reading blankets' (as I call them, large enough to cover one's legs). And I've hand-sewn 5 face masks from two old pillowcases.

I've finished some courses on OpenLearn and am going through another one on geology and ecology - with two more lined up after that. Thursdays have become National Theatre Live evenings - the next one is in 3.5 hours' time. Mustn't miss that.

I've been practising languages a bit. I've finished two books by Trollope and four books in French. And a couple in German. More points have been added to my Neopets account from playing online games. I've sent off cards to and telephoned lots of people so that they know they're not forgotten.

The balcony has new plants - including a cherry tomato plant (I've eaten three already). Walks have been taken, exercises with Emi Wong on YouTube performed, healthy meals cooked.

I tell you... My free time is hectic, which is why I make sure I have my evening courses (sketching, sewing, singing). Even the ones I teach are less hectic than my hobbies as I just focus on one thing for 90 minutes. I do my courses and spend my Saturday mornings in the library just so that I relax and unwind for a while.

This 'lockdown' is tiring, I tell you. Even a 20 km walk with the walking group is less strenuous.

Bojo's work record so far

This has been taken from a reader's comment on the Guardian website regarding Johnson's work record so far. Brace yourselves...

Appletea

8h ago 

127128

Apologies in advance as this is copied from a below the line comment on the Guardian yesterday but for those who didn't see it I think it sets out Boris's record perfectly. And its worth repeating. I've shared it with people and I would urge people to do the same.

Boris Johnson became PM 10 months ago he's barely been seen by the public.

In that time, Parliament has met for less than 2 months in total.

He started his premiership from Proroguation of Parliament which was later found illegal so he had to reopen the Parliament.

When Wales and the Midlands were hit by floods caused by Storm Dennis, he spent a day at a Manor House in Kent with his gf without visiting the areas.

He didn't care to visit Fishlake, Yorkshire, until 6 day after it had been flooded.

Since then Parliament was closed again for General Election campaign.

PM promised the nation to Get Brexit Done and and on this promise the party was voted back to power.

Then he jetted off to Mustique with his gf.

The Parliament was reopened after Christmas.

Then when the coronavirus crisis started the Parliament was shut down again.

Boris Johnson was caught like a rabbit in the headlights, gave some incoherent speeches,
'shook hands with coronavirus patients' by his own admissions (which turned out to be a lie) and then he fell ill with the virus he himself had let spread.

He went off sick, got hospitalized resurrected over Easter and was discharged to the country residence of Chequers where he spent time with his pregnant gf.

In 2.5 months when his gf will give birth to his umptieth child, he’s already said he will be on parental leave.

And then there will be summer recess.

He has hardly done any work and instead he's been delegating the work to the Cabinet ministers. So far Dominic Raab, Michael Gove, Matt Hancock, Rishi Sunak, Alok Sharma and Robert Jenrick have been taking turns to stand in for him.

And when will he negotiate and deliver Brexit EU-UK Trade Deal?

He's the worst PM this country has ever had.
He wants power but not responsibilities that come with it.
He should resign.

A perfect summary of Boris's career as Prime Minister.
He was lazy as London Mayor and he's even lazier as PM. As long as he is in 10 Downing Street we are f****d. Hopefully, Tory MPs are waking up to what a lazy useless tosser he is and will ditch him - but I'm not holding my breath

The UK is being hit by A, B, C.

As a Guardian reader pointed out a couple of days ago, the UK is being subjected to A, B and C:

Austerity - over 10 years of government cuts to recoup some of the money lost through the financial crisis of 2008, when they had to spend oodles of dosh rescuing the banks.

Brexit - it's nearly 4 years since the vote in June 2016 and, since then, the UK has slipped from being the 5th largest economy in the world to being the 7th largest (India is ranked 5th and France [another EU country] is in 6th place). And as for a deal... What deal? And yet Brexiters said it was going to be "one of the easiest in human history". And finally, we also have...

Coronavirus - a few months of this and all of a sudden, the government has found a 'magic money tree' and is supposedly going to support the economy by providing all sorts of grants and loans to keep companies and hence the economy going. Who is going to pay for it in the end, though? Take a look at what happened in 2008. It won't be the rich.

The virus has been a godsend to the Conservative party: they have a great excuse not to negotiate any further. They want a 'hard Brexit' and they are on course to have just that in January 2021.

If the government can't, at present, while it is still in the EU, enjoying all the benefits of the EU, sort out the lack of PPE, get enough ventilators, carry out a sufficient number of tests for them to be meaningful, and organise the picking of crops on UK farms, how on earth is it going to cope in January?

Brexiters claim that they are in the best country in the world and can cope with everything with their so-called 'Dunkirk spirit' (failing to appreciate that Dunkirk was a retreat, a withdrawal, an evacuation of troops and not a battle in which the enemy was defeated).

The present situation doesn't bode well for the future.


P.S. I'm just back from a quick early Sunday morning walk before I settle down to kick two texts into shape and before I start to do that, I checked some readers' comments on The Guardian website. I came across this quote cited by one of them and, yes, he really did say that:

Napoleon Bonaparte — 'In politics, stupidity is not a handicap.'

The air is definitely cleaner - here's how I can tell.

Whenever I want to sit out on the balcony, with my feet up on the railing, a cup of coffee in one hand, a book in the other, I have to wipe down the chair and table that are permanently outside.

When I do so, I see black streaks of soot and dirt on the white plastic table top. These days, though, the level of dirt is much reduced. What I wipe off these days is mostly yellow - pollen.

Coronavirus is great for the environment, it seems. But not so great for the economy. You win some, you lose some.

I thought face masks were for the face?

Maybe I'm being a bit obtuse, but I thought face masks were supposed to cover your nose and your mouth completely.

So why am I seeing lots of old people along with lots of frail middle-aged people with face masks on their chin or even their necks? A couple have them pushed high up on their foreheads.

Now Asians.. Asians know how to wear face masks. Even before this crisis, as soon as an Asian person gets a cold, on goes the face mask. It doesn't matter what the weather is like...even when it's hot and sunny, the face mask stays firmly over their nose and mouth. Even the youngest Asian teenager can manage this.

And I'm seeing lots of teenage Germans who know where to place a face mask on their fizzog. And they don't take it off or push it up or down when they're all alone in the street either.

For heaven's sake, if you have to wear a face mask because you're in a high-risk group and you are actually lucky to get your hands on one, then use it properly. Anything else looks ridiculous.