Translation 1 (E. Martin, Anglistik) – Winter 2007/08
7e: Text 7 plus some English stuff
page
contents
2
3
4
German text
Model translation with highlighted points
Language notes: extended reported speech without backshift;
adjective order
Matching English article
5 onwards
Translation 1 (E. Martin, Anglistik) – Winter 2007/08
Translation 1 (E. Martin, Anglistik) – Winter 2007/08
Text 7
Translate the following newspaper text into English
Tip 1: Try and find MAs that relate to this debate in the US. However, they will probably
only help you with the second paragraph, if at all, and not with the humorous, personal
viewpoint expressed in the rest of the text, so don’t spend too long hunting for words
such as Knubbelnasen in English… But you can use Google and Google News for
terminology like Waldbrände and Iran-Strategie.
Tip 2: As usual, be careful with journalese, reported speech and tricky bits.
Tip 3: Have fun! |-) (Check out the URL if you’d like to read the whole article.)
Tip 4: Don’t have a big breakfast next Thursday. Remember, we’ll be enjoying Stolen
Cake, Glue Wine and – an English speciality that I’m providing thanks to Anne’s great
tip – mince pies. Yummy.
Always write your translation on a computer and bring a complete print-out to class
next week together with the highlighted matching English texts you have used.
Nikolaus ist viel zu fett!
Am Wochenende diskutierten Journalisten des Newssenders Fox über ein brisantes
Thema - nein, nicht wie sonst über die Iran-Strategie von George W. Bush, das Duell
zwischen Obama und Clinton oder die Waldbrände in Kalifornien. Sie sprachen über das
Gewicht von Santa Claus.
Der Nikolaus muss dünner werden, so der einhellige Tenor! Ein dicker Mann mit
weißem Rauschebart und zotteligen Haaren sei schließlich kein Vorbild für die
amerikanische Jugend, so die Experten von Fox News. Der Weihnachtsmann sei
Geschäftsführer eines florierenden Unternehmens am Nordpol. Der moderne CEO - und
als solchen müsse man den Nikolaus sehen - sei ein vitaler Mann Ende 40. Er treibe
viermal pro Woche Sport, sei glattrasiert und benutze regelmäßig Feuchtigkeitscremes.
Wo kämen wir denn hin, wenn Kinder denken, dass ein fetter Bartträger mit Ludwigvan-Beethoven-Frisur heutzutage erfolgreich sein kann? Eine prima Idee, wie wir finden,
nur geht sie nicht weit genug. Es ist doch nicht damit getan, dass sich der gute Mann auf
ein Laufband stellt und abspeckt. Eine Ganzkörper-Radikalkur muss her, ein NikolausRecycling-Center oder am allerbesten ein Weihnachtsmann-Bootcamp. Der Mann muss
zum Friseur, er benötigt ein Peeling und ein Augenbrauen-Zupfen wäre auch nicht
schlecht. Die Knubbelnase könnte man dabei auch gleich korrigieren. Und wo wir schon
mal dabei sind: diese Klamotten! Unmöglich!
10 December 2007 http://www.sueddeutsche.de/gesundheit/artikel/742/147397/
Translation 1 (E. Martin, Anglistik) – Winter 2007/08
highlighted points: punctuation and spelling, vocabulary, grammar and syntax
Santa / St. Nick (AmE) is far too fat!
Fox News journalists/ Journalists from the Fox News channel were discussing a hot/ very
controversial topic at the weekend – no, not the usual stuff about George W. Bush’s
Iran policy/ strategy on Iran, the duel between Obama and Clinton, or the Californian
wildfires/ the forest fires in California. They were talking about how much Santa Claus
weighs / about Santa Claus’s (Claus’ –AmE) weight.
Santa has to get thinner/ slim down/ shed some weight, they all agreed. / It was the
unanimous view that Santa should slim down. After all, a fat man with a big white bushy
beard and shaggy hair couldn’t be a model for American youth, said the Fox News
experts. Father Christmas is the manager of a booming business at/ in (AmE) the North
Pole. The modern CEO – and Santa has to be regarded as such – is a virile man in his late
forties. He does sport/ works out four times a week, is clean-shaven and regularly uses
moisturisers (moisturizers–AmE)/ moisturising creams. What would become of us if
children thought that a bearded fat man with a Ludwig van Beethoven haircut/hairstyle
could be successful these days?
A great idea, we think, but it doesn’t go far enough/ go the distance. It’s not enough for the
good man to get on/onto a treadmill and shed some weight/ slim down. He needs a
complete make-over/ a kill-or-cure whole-body treatment, a Santa-recycling centre
(center –AmE) or, best of all, a Father Christmas boot camp. The man simply has to go to
the hairdresser’s/ barber’s, he needs a facial/ a peel, and plucked eyebrows wouldn’t be
bad either. They could fix/correct his podgy/pug/snub nose at the same time, too. And
while we’re at it: those clothes! Preposterous/Ridiculous!
Note on punctuation: contractions (e.g. it’s instead of it is) are not normally used in
journalese texts reporting on events. This text, however, is more of a feature article than a
report, and it is expressing a personal, humorous opinion in an informal way.
Contractions here are good because they enhance the relaxed style of the piece, make it
sound more like spoken English than written English.
Translation 1 (E. Martin, Anglistik) – Winter 2007/08
Reported Speech
Extended passages / Reported events still part of the present
Extended passages of reported speech
The second paragraph of the text shows that when we have an extended
passage of reported speech, with a series of statements from the same source,
we do not repeat the reporting verb after each statement because it is
clear from the context that it is not the journalist speaking.
Reported events still part of the present
The second paragraph also shows that even if your reporting verb is in the past
tense (“they all agreed”), you do not always have to backshift the tenses of the
verbs you are reporting under one condition: that by retaining the tenses of the
original words you are not creating any confusion about the time of the
actions.
In this case, everything that was said about Santa at the weekend is still part
of the present at the time of reporting, so we can retain the present tense. We
can backshift if the reporting verb is in the past tense, but we don’t have to. In
fact, by retaining the present tense we are making the text sound more relevant
and up-to-date, less distanced, so it is very appropriate when we are discussing
a “hot topic”.
For a more detailed explanation, see Sammon and Swan on reported/indirect speech.
Adjective order
big white bushy beard
In English, size comes before colour, and colour comes before common
collocations like “bushy beard”.
bearded fat man
“fat man” is a more common collocation than “bearded man”, so “fat” has to
come closer to the noun “man”. Another way of looking at it is that “fat man”
is a more common category than “bearded man”, so “fat bearded man” would
sound unusual.
For more information, see Swan on adjective order.
Translation 1 (E. Martin, Anglistik) – Winter 2007/08
Bad Santa: Should St. Nick Slim Down?
Monday , December 03, 2007
This is a rush transcript from "Hannity & Colmes," November 30, 2007. This copy may not be in its final form and
may be updated.
ALAN COLMES, CO-HOST: Acting U.S. Surgeon General Steven Galston is telling St. Nick
he needs to slim down in an effort to fight obesity in American children. Galson said, quote, "It is
really important to the people who kids look up to as role models are in god shape. Eating well
and getting exercise is absolutely critical," end quote.
But is changing the look of Santa rally going to encourage kids to slim down?
Joining us now, the president of National Action Against Obesity, Meme Roth. Meme, welcome.
Good to have you with us.
MEME ROTH, PRESIDENT, NATIONAL ACTION AGAINST OBESITY: Thank you.
COLMES: So is this — I mean the surgeon general'
s job is to make sure we stay healthy, to
preach from that pulpit.
ROTH: Right.
COLMES: So nothing wrong with saying — should we really slim down Santa, get a slim suit?
ROTH: Here'
s some information. Santa'
s having a rough year. He'
s maybe, what, 256 pounds.
COLMES: He'
s gone up in weight a little bit.
ROTH: Yes, the average Santa really is 256 pounds, and is about 5'
10" or 5'
9". That is obese, and
really, it'
s close to morbidly obese when you'
re looking at 100 pounds.
COLMES: I know the traditionalist will weigh in in a moment. You know, Santa'
s supposed to
— but he'
ll get down a lot more chimneys if he'
s thinner. Right? I mean, I would think that there'
s
some — he'
s got to get into some tight areas.
SEAN HANNITY, CO-HOST: Except your liberal, global-warming friends want to shut down
chimneys so they have carbon offsets for their private jets.
COLMES: You never let up, do you?
HANNITY: Nope. I never do.
COLMES: You really don'
t. You just want to use Santa to beat Al Gore over the head. Can you
believe that?
ROTH: We'
re talking about Santa right now. We'
re not talking about Santa from the old cartoons.
COLMES: Right.
Translation 1 (E. Martin, Anglistik) – Winter 2007/08
ROTH: We'
re talking about this Santa. The fat Coca-Cola Santa.
COLMES: What is that? Is that the Coca-Cola Santa? Is that Diet Coke?
ROTH: This has been — let me just emphasize something. The Santa that we imagine is the one
that advertising from Coca-Cola has cemented into our mind.
But I love this packaging. Let me tell you why. You may see a Christmas ornament...
COLMES: You came prepared with props and everything.
ROTH: But I see a warning label. Drink this, and look how your body will look.
(CROSSTALK)
COLMES: Wait a minute. Hold on, hold on. Wait a minute.
ROTH: And his is about ten teaspoons of sugar in that alone.
COLMES: Excuse me. How are you going to get Santa to slim down?
This is empty! It'
s empty. You drank this. You drank this.
ROTH: You caught me. I drank it in the Green Room. You know, here'
s the thing.
COLMES: Go ahead.
ROTH: We'
re teasing about Santa. But we all agree obesity is an issue. We have 1.3 billion
overweight people
COLMES: All right, but is Santa the role model? To say, if we see a thin Santa, kids are going to
all of a sudden start eating better because Santa is?
ROTH: Here'
s the deal.
COLMES: Is Santa going to eat vegetables on Christmas Eve?
ROTH: Well, I think that we can agree that Santa'
s a marketing device...
COLMES: Going to be some coal in your stocking this year, I think.
ROTH: Santa'
s a marketing device that pushes, what, $470 billion in merchandise every
Christmas in the states alone.
COLMES: Right.
ROTH: So I think we can agree that, hey, he'
s a marketing device that could be used to model,
maybe, healthier living. And I can assume it'
s been a long time and maybe never since you'
ve sat
on the lap of a giant fat man, but he should be "ho, ho, hoing," not wheezing like Tony Soprano.
COLMES: Santa — Santa needs a big lap for all the kids to sit on.
HANNITY: Let me say something. You need to lighten up. And I don'
t mean that literally.
Translation 1 (E. Martin, Anglistik) – Winter 2007/08
COLMES: You want a prop?
HANNITY: Yes, here. Thanks. In all honesty here, this is Santa Claus. Santa Claus is an old
heavy, jolly old guy. So what?
Look, I agree with you. I have two young children. I make sure they exercise. I make sure they eat
right. You know what? I don'
t give them much fast food. I don'
t give them trans-fats. I try and fed
them a healthy diet.
ROTH: Right.
HANNITY: You know what? Sometimes you know what? I give them treats. Do you have
children?
ROTH: Yes, and of course my kids get treats. I try to avoid the stuff that'
s full of chemicals.
But...
HANNITY: Do you give them tofu or...
ROTH: You can go to decent places that don'
t have high fructose corn syrup and transfats.
COLMES: What would be a treat in your house?
ROTH: Cookies would be a treat, but not with transfat and not with high fructose corn syrup. As
well as other things. But look...
HANNITY: You'
re getting a little too hung up on this. I think — I think what you'
ve got to do is
generally have a diet that is healthy for kids. We know that it is fruits, vegetables, limit the
quantities, a good healthy exercise program.
You know what? We'
re not raising our kids to be Santa. And just because Santa'
s heavy doesn'
t
mean they'
re going to be heavy.
ROTH: No, you make a great point. But even the associations, and there are associations for
Santa Claus, they'
re telling their own people you'
re not just a little overweight. We'
re talking
morbid obesity, which is not jolly. And they'
ve asked them to be a little more careful and be
responsive to the fact that the global obesity issue is a real problem.
HANNITY: One of the — recently, we'
ve got friends of ours here from Orlando tonight. And the
last time I was at Disney I did notice, on average, as Americans, we'
re a little heavy. And I'
m right
there in that category.
ROTH: No. Do you know that they had to revamp the "It'
s a Small World" ride?
HANNITY: I'
ve got two chins. I'
ve got a stomach.
COLMES: You want to play Santa at the Christmas party this year?
HANNITY: Thanks a lot, Colmes.
COLMES: But all they'
re trying to do is trying to be a little more responsible, that we do have an
obesity crisis.
Translation 1 (E. Martin, Anglistik) – Winter 2007/08
HANNITY: Everyone that'
s got an agenda has to attack Santa Claus. Why don'
t you make your
case and leave Santa and the kids alone? How about that?
COLMES: Well, this is their own association is asking them to not be morbidly obese, just be a
little healthier. That'
s all they'
re asking.
HANNITY: Let me tell everybody here.
ROTH: How about a Jack La Lanne Santa? You mentioned earlier, the guy'
s got a lot to do.
HANNITY: You attack Coca-Cola. I love Coca-Cola. I think it'
s a great product.
ROTH: Are you looking for an endorsement?
HANNITY: I like it. I drink it. And you know what?
COLMES: Is this a commercial?
ROTH: I know.
HANNITY: That'
s my new Christmas ornament, right here.
COLMES: There you go.
HANNITY: That'
s is. Thank you for being here, Meme. Appreciate it.
ROTH: No, thank you.
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