Proofreading, Translation and Other Things

I thought it was high time that I provided you all with a sample of the German → English translations I offer. This particular piece was done as a favour to my friend, Emma, who is a marine biologist and the Ranger of Sanday . It's quite a sad topic, but interesting nonetheless. The original article can be read here . Eight sperm whales stranded  As many as eight young bulls have perished at the Wadden Sea at Dithmarschen in Schleswig-Holstein. The animals were stranded around two kilometres from the dyke in Upper Kaiser-Wilhelm-Koog - as the Coastal Protection, National Park and Marine Conservation Agency (the LKN) announced on Monday.  Up to eight sperm whales were stranded at the Wadden Sea  By: The German Press Agency dpa  Article posted: Monday, 01.02.2016 17:53  Source: Brunckhorst / LKN.SH / AFP  Kaiser-Wilhelm-Koog. The animals, which were between nine and twelve metres long, were discovered on Sunday evening. An LKN announcement stated t

Note: I actually started drafting this blog post some time ago. Like many others, I was shocked and saddened at the unexpected news of David Bowie's passing. I therefore decided to wait for a while before finally publishing this article in its complete form today (18 July). ---------------------------- It's no secret among those who know me that genealogy is a major passion of mine. When I was a child, my grandmother would often tell me stories about how she'd grown up in rural Wales, evoking images of a way of life that no longer exists. I always had it in the back of my mind to draw up a family tree. Sadly, I never managed to do so during my grandmother's lifetime, mainly because I wasn't sure how to go about it. Building a family tree! That changed in around 2009, when I became aware of the BBC series " W ho Do You Think You Are? ". The premise of it is that they take famous people and trace back their roots, using historical do

As a proofreader and translator, one of my main tasks is to correct English-language documents written by Germans. What surprises me is that these people tend to be more familiar with the mechanics of grammar than so-called "native speakers" are. Indeed, I regularly come across some shocking examples of how poor the general level of literacy is in both the UK and the USA. For that reason, I have decided to devote an article to one particular irritant of mine - misuse of the apostrophe! The apostrophe. Please use it correctly. The first use of the apostrophe is to indicate possession . For example, Emily's book (i.e. the book belonging to Emily) Mr Smith's house (the house belonging to Mr Smith) The company's turnover (the turnover of the company) If you have a  singular possessive noun  that already ends with 's', you can either add an apostrophe on its own or an apostrophe + an extra 's' after it. For instance,

98 years ago today, a hero was born. A man whose genius cracked a seemingly indecipherable Nazi code - providing the Allies with invaluable information and helping to shorten World War II by at least two years.  If you asked others who he was, I daresay the majority of people would come up with the name of Alan Turing. They would, of course, be completely wrong. Professor W. T. (Bill) Tutte This is W. T. Tutte  (also known simply as 'Bill Tutte'). He is a man whom we all should be eternally grateful to. The sad thing is, though, that he and many others who worked at Bletchley Park have been almost forgotten - due to the posthumous accolades heaped on Alan Turing in more recent years. Now, don't misunderstand me. There is no doubt that Alan Turing was an extremely gifted mathematician and his work on German Naval Enigma should be recognised. However, there has been a tendency to overpraise his contribution - to the extent that some people seem to thi

Lest We Forget I, like many others, have been deeply moved by the commemorative display of 888,246 poppies at the Tower of London. Each one represents a British or colonial soldier who fell in the First World War. Today, the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month will mark 96 years since the armistice, after four long years of fighting, the collapse of the Russian, Ottoman, Austro-Hungarian, and German empires, and the deaths of over 37 million people. They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old: Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn. At the going down of the sun and in the morning, We will remember them. ( For the Fallen - Laurence Binyon ) And today I took the opportunity, during the two-minute silence, to think of five fallen soldiers in particular whose stories have captivated, intrigued and/or touched me in some way. Sgt/Warrant Officer Thomas Harper Bond   (1886-1920) My great grandfather Thomas, photographed in February 1915

“The only good thing to do with good advice is pass it on; it is never of any use to oneself.”  Oscar Wilde For my sins, I have been known to stop by Internet forums from time to time to offer my "two penneth" on various subjects. While there is, of course, no obligation to follow my advice, I'd like to think (without wishing to appear arrogant) that I'm pretty knowledgeable. Where the topic of travel is concerned, I am fortunate enough to have been to a number of countries around the world, and have met people from all walks of life.  Germany is probably the place that I am best qualified to comment on. I first visited it almost 20 years ago, and, like Geoff Hurst, have had a kind of "love affair" with "Deutschland" ever since. I went on to study German as part of my degree and have lived/worked there for the best part of a decade. Thus, my responses to Germany-related queries have been selected as the best answers on occasions.