About this weblog

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I am no longer a legal translator, but I keep remembering things related to that.

Hogarth

The purpose of the blog seems to be at least recalling things I sometimes want to remember. For example, a friend recently wanted to see the Hogarth paintings in Bart’s, since it was recounted in all the papers that NOW we could at last see them. I have not been again yet, and I am sure they are much easier to see and much better lighted, but I did in fact record them in this blog on a hospital visit. The post is titled The Pool of Bethesda and is dated 2015. In the same year, the Spitalfields Life blog had a post called Hogarth at Bart’s Hospital. This seems to have much better information than I did on the various illnesses depicted, which is what I need to prepare for a visit.

Some art historians believe the first represents Cretinism, or Down’s Syndrome to use the contemporary description. Another opinion suggests that the forearms of the two women, side by side, one fat and one thin, illustrate two forms of Consumption or Tuberculosis – whereby the thin woman has Phthisis which causes the body to waste, while the fat woman has the Scrofulous form that causes weight gain.

and so on. “Cretinism” reminds me that a facebook comment in a local group claimed that flytippers are Cretans.

Interpreting at the Nuremberg War Crimes Trials

In Ein Prozess, Vier Sprachen, Richard Schneider reports on an exhibition in Hamburg on the interpreters in the Nuremberg Trials.

Sie waren junge Menschen aus Frankreich, England, der Sowjetunion und den USA. Sie waren Revolutionäre, Aktivisten, Flüchtlinge und KZ-Überlebende. Sie leisteten Unglaubliches und wurden von der Geschichtsschreibung dennoch vielfach übergangen oder schlicht vergessen.

The exhibition is at the Auswanderermuseum and runs till January 20th 2026. I like the title of a talk:

20. Januar 2026, 18:00 Uhr: Alleskönner, Dünnbrettbohrer, Diplomat, Papagei – Erwartungen an Dolmetscher und Ansichten eines Praktikers
Niels Hamdorf von language-matters GbR.

 

 

Marx and Engels as speakers of foreign languages

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On 28.11.25, Friedrich Engels’ birthday, Richard Schneider reported on a book on the importance of foreign languages to them: Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels – Über Sprache, Stil und Übersetzung, edited by Heinz Ruschinski and Bruno Retzlaff-Kresse,  Dietz Verlag.

They wrote about what language is, but also both spoke several languages.  From the introduction:

Von Marx wissen wir, dass er Englisch und Französisch sprach und schrieb, nahezu alle europäischen Sprachen las und auch über gute Kenntnisse des Griechischen und Lateinischen verfügte.

Engels‘ Sprachkenntnisse waren noch umfassender: Er beherrschte etwa 20 Sprachen, davon zwölf aktiv, und kannte von mehreren auch frühere historische Entwicklungsstufen.

Diese intensive Beschäftigung mit Sprachen, die Marx und Engels stets mit dem gründlichen Studium der Geschichte der betreffenden Völker, ihrer Kultur und Literatur verbanden, standen in engstem Zusammenhang mit ihrem publizistischen und theoretischen Schaffen.

Must see statues of Engels in Wuppertal and Manchester.

 

 

Steve Vitek’s Patenttranslator’s Blog

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Steve Vitek started his blog in 2010, he writes. It’s one of the early ones that is still running. After leaving Czechoslovakia and moving to the USA by way of Germany, he worked as a patent translator for Japanese in San Francisco and then Virginia, and is now back in a somewhat changed Czech Republic. For a taster, a post from November 23rd:

I Used to Have a Valuable Skill Set Called Foreign Languages

This valuable skill set, which for the most part I still have, is called knowing foreign languages. I still have it, I think, except that it is no longer considered to be very valuable by many people, at least not very valuable anymore in terms of making money. Yet, this skillset in the parlance of Human Resources employees worked for me quite well for a long time, about half a century.

 

It’s good to see it still running.

Schirach/Collini continued

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A few notes on Der Fall Collini.

A slightly similar and later case was that of Friedrich Engel, who was 95 when treated leniently because of his age but would have been found guilty of murder of 59 Italian partisans under the law in 2004.

There are useful links and further points in online reviews too
Rachel Ward mentioned the blog Mrs Peabody Investigates, by Katharina Hall, which was new to me and very interesting. Useful further links there too. I have the book Crime Fiction in German, which she edited and much of which she wrote. She also translated Schirach’s Strafe.

There is a film of Der Fall Collini, directed by Marco Kreuzpaintner, certainly worth watching. The great thing about it is that it shows the Berlin courts and lawyers. It does not show the archives in Ludwigsburg (the plot is slightly changed so that Leinen’s father does the work there). I found it odd that instead of Leinen growing up as a boarding-school friend of Hans Meyer’s grandson, he was shown as a Turkish child and Meyer as particularly admirable for treating him like a German child. The actor wasn’t Turkish either. Some scenes show the events in Italy in 1944.

Anthea Bell translated Austerlitz by Sebald. Hannah Scheithauer led a seminar on translating Sebald at an Oxford University summer school in 2022 (I think). An essay by Bell was quoted:

Bell opens her essay by questioning the necessity of her own role. She notes that Sebald was completely fluent in English and could easily have self-translated, or indeed written in English in the first place. It was due to personal preference alone, then, that he let his texts pass into the English language through the hands of a translator. In the seminar, we asked ourselves what might have been the reasons for this choice….

Bell suggests that Sebald saw failures in translation as the expression of a more fundamental break within language itself. A sense of deep-seated untranslatability, which is not limited to a text’s movement between languages but relates to all forms of linguistic expression – paradoxically – emerges at the very core of what Austerlitz seeks to express.

Austerlitz is written in German, but its protagonist is a speaker of English (who has forgotten his native language, Czech), and when he reads H.G.Adler’s German account of Theresienstadt, he has difficulty with some of the technical and bureaucratic terminology used by Germans:

 

Und wenn ich die Bedeutung von Bezeichnungen und Begriffen wie Barackenbestandteillager, Zusatzkostenberechnungsschein, Bagatellreparaturwerkstätte, Menagetransportkolonne, Küchenbeschwerdeorgane, Reinlichkeitsreihenuntersuchung oder Entwesungsübersiedlung…englich erschlossen hatte, so musste ich,….

Bell’s translation:

When I had finally discovered the meaning of such terms aand concepts as Barackenbestandteillager, Zusatzkostenberechnungsschein, Bagatellreparaturwerkstätte, Menagetransportkolonne, Küchenbeschwerdeorgane, Reinlichkeitsreihenuntersuchung and Entwesungsübersiedlung…

Leaving the words in German is certainly a valid strategy. A German reading the text in German might, as Scheithauer writes, pass over the terms too quickly. For a German-speaking reader of the English, the general meaning of the terms can be gathered. This would not be the case for other readers. It is likely that this approach was discussed with Sebald.

It’s a long time since I read Austerlitz, and i cannot remember the importance of language in it. I just present this as something to think about.

Servus

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Herr Rau, im LehrerInnZimmer blog, writes about Grußformeln in der Schule. See the comments too. One problem is oral greetings, the other is greetings in writing. In speaking:

„Servus“ geht sehr viel seltener. Zwischen Schülern und Schülerinnen (eher: Schülern) ist das natürlich völlig okay, zwischen Lehrern und Lehrerinnen (eher: Lehrern, und da auch nur von bestimmter Sozialisation) auch. Zwischen Schülerinnen/Schülern und Lehrkräften ist das in der Regel nicht okay, aber zumindest in meiner Gegend verbreitet. Die Schüler und Schülerinnen (eher: Schüler) wissen allerdings nicht, dass das nicht akzeptabel ist.

The comments reminded me how many problems there are in writing emails, for instance, in German and English.

  Richtig sind: Mit freundlichen Grüßen, vielen Grüßen, herzlichen Grüße, und wenn Verhältnis und Inhalt tatsächlich innig sind, dürfen die Grüße natürlich auch lieb sein.

I could never work out whether it was safe to write “Sehr geehrte Damen und Herren” to my bank or to my internet provider. Best to start out that way. In translators’ forums, “Liebe Grüße” is common, yet I don’t know all these people so I rarely use it myself. And I also dislike “sonnige Grüße” etc. It took me a while to write “viele Grüße”.I do quite like writing emails without an ending, in this way avoiding “cheers” and “kind regards”. I’ve never adapted to German non-sexist expressions.

Mit regnerischen Grüßen

Der Fall Collini – translation into English

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I am far from finished with Der Fall Collini – there will be other posts. But first, the translation into English by Anthea Bell, which I managed to borrow from the London Library. One of the reviews of The Collini Case I found was at the complete review, which seems all to be the work of one Austrian living in the US. lt comments “The terminology does give Bell some trouble”, and says this is not her finest work.

I don’t want to run down Bell’s translation, which is very good and does the job, and even if it were not so good, it would certainly be adequate for a reader – OK, translations always lose something, of course. But I wanted to see how the legal terminology would be a problem for her. And in contrast to Schirach’s short stories, this novel has much more to do with lawyers and courts. It follows the training and experience of a young lawyer in the Berlin criminal courts.

I have looked through the translation and found some peculiarities in the legal terms used, which I will try to set out in a table. (The font changes, but at the moment I can’t see how to harmonize it).

It does seem to me that there are some basic legal terms where Bell flounders, for example the meaning of Rechtsprechung or chambers.

Schirach Bell Comment
Liste für den Notdienst der Strafverteidigervereinigung legal-aid rota The reference to legal aid here seems odd. The English equivalent would be “duty solicitor”, which might not work here.
Notdienst der Strafverteidiger, Rechtsanwalt Caspar Leinen. Caspar Leinen here, on standby duty for legal aid
Sie wissen, dass Sie nach der Rechtsprechung nur entpflichtet werden können… You know that legally you can be relieved of the duty to give legal aid only if… I have the feeling that Bell thinks “legal aid” means acting as someone’s lawyer – in fact it means financial support given to parties.(This is a difficult term to translate)
die Kanzlei Leinens Leinen’s chambers Leinen’s office
junge Anwälte young defence counsels “counsel” is the plural for me, no S
Rechtsanwalt Caspar Leinen Caspar Leinen, legal adviser Caspar Leinen, Rechtsanwalt, or Caspar Leinen, lawyer
Ihr erster Schwurgerichtsfall Your first big murder case Good!
schrieben Anträge wrote their pleas wrote/drafted petitions
wenn er in dem Mandat bliebe if he stayed in his brief if he remained instructed? not easy
Post, die kein Richter kontrollieren durfte post uncensored by a magistrate why not judge?
Strafprozessrecht criminal proceedings criminal procedure
Die 12. Große Strafkammer – eines der acht Schwurgerichte am Landgericht Berlin – ließ die Anklage wegen Mordes gegen Collini zu The 12th Criminal Court – one of the eight courts of first instance in the Berlin regional judiciary where serious felonies were tried – authorized the arraignment of Collini for murder. Schwurgericht is a court that deals with the most serious criminal offences. 12th Criminal Chamber..eight courts of first instance for serious criminal offences at the Berlin higher Regional Court…indictment (arraignment is OK) Not sure what “judiciary” is doing here.
ich habe noch eine Besprechung in der Wirtschaftsstrafabteilung I have to see someone in the commercial law department business/commercial crime department
…dass nach der Rechtsprechung nur die höchste Führung der Nazis Mörder waren …that in juridical terminology only the top Nazi leaders were murderers according to German case law
nach der Rechtsprechung …die sogenannten Schreibtischtäter waren…alle nur Gehilfen. Keiner von ihnen galt vor Gericht als Mörder p. 181 According to the juridical definition, the people who organized such things from their desks were all just accessories  according to German case law …
Der Empfang für die Besucher war im sogenannten Berliner Zimmer untergebracht, einem großen Raum mit nur einem Fenster, der Vorderhaus mit Seitenflügeln und Rückgebäude verband. Reception for visitors was in the Berlin Room, as it was called, a large room with only one window. It linked the facade to the lateral wings and the back of the building. I find sogenannt superfluous in the German and “as it was called” even worse in the English. I don’t know why Schirach even needed to define a Berliner Zimmer (I keep reading about them – here is a diagram https://www.tip-berlin.de/stadtleben/architektur/berliner-zimmer/ ) This is probably just part of Schirach’s technique of adding lots of trivial details as if these were evidence of authenticity.
Anwalt der Nebenkläger counsel in the accessory prosecution Romain gives this for Nebenklage, but it might confuse a reader of the English. Hans Meyer was an accessory to murder; this refers to co-prosecution by victims – not easy to translate though.

 

 

 

 

Being longwinded

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Now I have somewhat revived this blog, I find myself getting too prolix. The Collini novel is going to produce several overlong posts. But I intend to be briefer after that.

Many years ago I specifically constructed a concise post. I was actually praised for this. But I never did it again. It always takes more time to be concise.

Ferdinand von Schirach, Der Fall Collini

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Friedrich von Schirach, Der Fall Collini 2011

This novel was recently discussed online by the ITI GerNet book group run by Kate Sotejeff-Wilson. I did write a review of it for the ITI Netzblatt, but if anyone likes reading crime fiction, go ahead and try it. It is well paced and easy to read. From the start we know who the murderer was – the novel is about why Collini killed.

Spoilers may follow.

Schirach was a lawyer when at the age of 45 he first published fiction. He wrote short real-crime stories, and he also wrote theatre productions with audience involvement. All were widely translated and globally successful. But this was his first novel.

The novel was well received in the UK and USA. Reviewers liked the plain style. (This reminds me of the praise heaped on Jenny Erpenbeck’s Kairos). There is more complexity in the German-language reviews.

But rather than repeating my own review and giving away most of the story, I am interested in two points which need not hold the reader up.

Change in German law

Firstly, the main focus of this novel was probably the 1968 German law that changed the time limits for prosecution of accessories to Third-Reich crimes. Suddenly, some time limits were reduced to 20 years, meaning that no prosecutions of these offences could be started later than 1965-ish. Thus, for example, if Italian partisans were killed as revenge, the only person guilty of murder was the person who ordered the killing; the actual killers were seen as accessories to murder and after twenty years had passed, they were now exempt from prosecution.

Unfortunately, it is not easy to embed this law in a crime novel.

And it would be good for readers first to have an overview of the approach of criminal law to Third-Reich atrocities from the very beginning. In both West Germany and East Germany.

The change in time limits is known as the Dreher-Gesetz, after Eduard Dreher, a former Nazi judge who was an official in the Justice Ministry. It was smuggled into a multi-purpose statute called Einführungsgesetz zum Gesetz über Ordnungswidrigkeiten (Introductory Act to the Act on Administrative Offences), which dealt with criminal offences too. It was mainly intended to decriminalize trivial offences, but in fact it also decriminalized some more serious ones.

This is the subparagraph (Absatz) inserted in 1968, as quoted at the end of the novel:

(2) Fehlen besondere persönliche Eigenschaften, Verhältnisse oder Umstände (besondere persönliche Merkmale), welche die Strafbarkeit des Täters begründen, beim Teilnehmer, so ist dessen Strafe nach den Vorschriften über die Bestrafung des Versuchs zu mildern.

In Andrea Bell’s translation:

2. If none of the special personal qualities, circumstances or conditions (special distinguishing features) forming grounds for the penal liability of the perpetrator of a crime are present in an accessory to it, then the accessory’s penalty is to be mitigated in line with the regulations on the penalty for an attempted crime.

(This is OK, but I would rephrase it somewhat.)

The situation was more complex than stated here, in that the West German parliament was in the process of changing the law on limitation: this subparagraph undermined this process, though it was voted through by the Bundestag in 1968, its effect being downplayed or overlooked.

An excellent and full source of information is Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung – here is an article on this subject, Amnestie von NS-Tätern – Das “Dreher-Gesetz” von 1968.

An article by Richard A. Fuchs, Germany’s Justice Ministry and its Nazi past.

This refers to the Rosenburg files, the 2016 result of an investigation into the change of law initiated by Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger in 2012, the year after Der Fall Collini was published.

Comments on the English translation of the novel follow in the next post.

City of London bollard

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A holding post, there is heavier stuff to come.

These bollards mark the City of London – the square mile. (I did not go to the Lady Mayor’s Show today). It seems there is a book about them now, Bollardology. They are described as distinctive black bollards with their red stars and lemon-squeezer tops. I expect there is more to be known.

Last Tuesday I saw something strange in Chiswell Street.