I was on an assignment in Toronto during the horrific van attack, and am still thinking about the victims of this senseless violence and their families. That afternoon, looking out from my hotel window towards the lake, the police officer who arrested the perpetrator without resorting to force was also on my mind.
I always say that non-violence is not the weapon of the weak. It is the weapon of the strong.
What is the city but the people? (William Shakespeare)
“Spring drew on…and a greenness grew over those brown beds, which, freshening daily, suggested the thought that Hope traversed them at night, and left each morning brighter traces of her steps.”
― Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre
In all things of nature
there is something
of the marvelous.
ARISTOTLE
Hi everyone,
Inspired by Malinda Kathleen Reese and her very funny google translate sings (e.g. “Shape of You” by Ed Sheeran), I wanted to share the google translate version of the German Christmas carol “Oh Tannenbaum” with you today.
Why not use these lyrics at your family get-together this year? A lot more entertaining than the proper translation… Merry ho-ho-ho and enjoy the holidays!
Your Traveling Translator
O Christmas Tree O Christmas Tree,
How loyal are your leaves!
You do not only green at summer time,
no, even in winter, when it’s snowing.
O Christmas Tree O Christmas Tree,
How loyal are your leaves!
O Christmas Tree O Christmas Tree,
I like you very much!
How often does not have at Christmas time
a tree of you rejoices me!
O Christmas Tree O Christmas Tree,
I like you very much!
O Christmas Tree O Christmas Tree,
your dress wants to teach me something:
The hope and permanence
gives comfort and strength at all times,
O Christmas Tree O Christmas Tree,
Your dress wants to teach me something.
(by google translate)
This one is for all my (conference) interpretation colleagues out there.
We interpreters (translators who deliver spoken translations either simultaneously using interpretation equipment or consecutively, i.e. after the speaker has spoken) know, why ‘computer translation’ of speech doesn’t work properly and why.
Take a look at this video next time you need to remind someone why it pays to hire a professional interpreter.
The tech folks at an American news station tested a translation device with earbuds to be used instead of an interpreter a few days ago and this is what happened:
If you were born without wings, do nothing to prevent them from growing. –Coco Chanel
