thinking over things in thieves' kitchens
first: i finally have tumblr! feel free to follow me and/or tell me your handle.
i've been meaning to post something for about two months, but that hasn't happened. for someone who is constantly on the internet, i sure don't make it look that way. i think tumblr's great for that reason: you can be visibly present without much effort. i do exist, i swear. i've been having a hard time demonstrating that in real life, though. uni is absolutely crazy; i'm taking a full load of classes (because i purposely put myself behind in my first year. good job, nikki) and i've made moves to be more active within my department. i'm a german-language tutor like i was last semester, but i'm a german-language lab assistant now, too. that's four more hours (two hours tutoring, two hours lab) added to my schedule. and just today, i received conformation that i will, in fact, be a student representative for international languages for the entire academic year. meaning: meetings! meetings! meetings! i'm also the only student rep. on a committee made up of SEVEN profs.
the shit you do in preparation for grad school. which i am constantly thinking about. it's one thing to commit yourself to pursuing your master's/phd in any field, but it's another to choose to do it when it hinges on you being fluent in a language you only started learning two-and-a-half years ago. have i ever talked about what i want to do after my undergrad? i'm an english-german major, first of all, and i've firmly decided to pursue my master's in translation with english as my a-language and german as my b-language. fun fact: i'm not actually fluent in german. this isn't to say that i'm not competent in german because, well, i am (see above!). but am i at a level to be a competent text translator or oral interpreter? not yet. i have about two years before i need to attempt the Zertifikat Deutsch. ideally, i'd like to try for the c1 level. the specs:
1. Written examination held in groups (190 minutes)
-- You will read factual texts from books as well as commentaries, reviews and/or reports. In the associated exercises, you will show that you can cope with larger amounts of text, e.g. by reproducing excerpts.
-- You will listen to dialogues, telephone conversations, interviews or radio reports, make notes on them and categorize statements.
-- You express yourself in a well structured text on a topic. You will receive information on this in the form of a diagram.
2. Oral examination held individually or in twos (15 or 10 minutes)
-- In the first part of the examination, you will comment briefly on a short text.
-- In a dialogue with your conversation partner, you will then try to find a solution in a project.
this seems completely doable to me, especially if i start making more of an effort to speak. i hold myself to unrealistic standards, however, and think i should be at the c2 level (complete fluency) by the time i start applying, even though having my c1 would waive any sort of entrance examination i would have to take. i would, ultimately, like to study in germany. the better i am at the language, the easier it'll be for me in school and in everyday life. and like, i can take translation here in canada, but only one university offers the sort of program i'm looking for. if you're not up-to-date on canada's idea of translation, it's english-french. i can think of more than five schools (of our rather limited number) that offer french-oriented translation programs and, yet despite considering ourselves a multicultural society, we have one general translation program. COME ON, CANADA.
anyways, the point is: i have a lot of anxiety about a rather large aspect of my future plans. i keep thinking that i could do more and more and more, but a person only has so much energy. plus, today was a good day. i turned out a semantics paper that was, apparently, worth an 89%. NOT BAD, SELF. NOT BAD AT ALL. BRING ON THE ARTIST-MODEL RELATIONSHIP IN ROSSETTI'S, "IN THE ARTIST'S STUDIO".
eta i've recently discovered the 11Freunde-Liveticker and it is the most amazing thing ever:
Held der ersten Minuten: Holger Badstuber. Der Mann sieht aus wie eine Nivea-Werbung. Rein, sauber und ohne Sünden. Er trägt keine Tattoos (finden wir: toll!), dafür einen Vornamen, den in den achtziger und neunziger Jahren eigentlich nur Onkel um die 40 oder 50 trugen (finden wir auch: toll!). Die dazugehörige Tante hieß übrigens meist: Gerda.
and the english translation (see, i bitch about being barely qualified for such a thing and yet):
Hero of the first few minutes: Holger Badstuber. He looks like someone out of a Nivea ad: pure, clean, and without sin. He has no tattoos (which we find fantastic), and a name that only middle-aged uncles back in the eighties and ninties had (which we also find fantastic). The aunts were usually named Gerda.
wonderful.
i've been meaning to post something for about two months, but that hasn't happened. for someone who is constantly on the internet, i sure don't make it look that way. i think tumblr's great for that reason: you can be visibly present without much effort. i do exist, i swear. i've been having a hard time demonstrating that in real life, though. uni is absolutely crazy; i'm taking a full load of classes (because i purposely put myself behind in my first year. good job, nikki) and i've made moves to be more active within my department. i'm a german-language tutor like i was last semester, but i'm a german-language lab assistant now, too. that's four more hours (two hours tutoring, two hours lab) added to my schedule. and just today, i received conformation that i will, in fact, be a student representative for international languages for the entire academic year. meaning: meetings! meetings! meetings! i'm also the only student rep. on a committee made up of SEVEN profs.
the shit you do in preparation for grad school. which i am constantly thinking about. it's one thing to commit yourself to pursuing your master's/phd in any field, but it's another to choose to do it when it hinges on you being fluent in a language you only started learning two-and-a-half years ago. have i ever talked about what i want to do after my undergrad? i'm an english-german major, first of all, and i've firmly decided to pursue my master's in translation with english as my a-language and german as my b-language. fun fact: i'm not actually fluent in german. this isn't to say that i'm not competent in german because, well, i am (see above!). but am i at a level to be a competent text translator or oral interpreter? not yet. i have about two years before i need to attempt the Zertifikat Deutsch. ideally, i'd like to try for the c1 level. the specs:
1. Written examination held in groups (190 minutes)
-- You will read factual texts from books as well as commentaries, reviews and/or reports. In the associated exercises, you will show that you can cope with larger amounts of text, e.g. by reproducing excerpts.
-- You will listen to dialogues, telephone conversations, interviews or radio reports, make notes on them and categorize statements.
-- You express yourself in a well structured text on a topic. You will receive information on this in the form of a diagram.
2. Oral examination held individually or in twos (15 or 10 minutes)
-- In the first part of the examination, you will comment briefly on a short text.
-- In a dialogue with your conversation partner, you will then try to find a solution in a project.
this seems completely doable to me, especially if i start making more of an effort to speak. i hold myself to unrealistic standards, however, and think i should be at the c2 level (complete fluency) by the time i start applying, even though having my c1 would waive any sort of entrance examination i would have to take. i would, ultimately, like to study in germany. the better i am at the language, the easier it'll be for me in school and in everyday life. and like, i can take translation here in canada, but only one university offers the sort of program i'm looking for. if you're not up-to-date on canada's idea of translation, it's english-french. i can think of more than five schools (of our rather limited number) that offer french-oriented translation programs and, yet despite considering ourselves a multicultural society, we have one general translation program. COME ON, CANADA.
anyways, the point is: i have a lot of anxiety about a rather large aspect of my future plans. i keep thinking that i could do more and more and more, but a person only has so much energy. plus, today was a good day. i turned out a semantics paper that was, apparently, worth an 89%. NOT BAD, SELF. NOT BAD AT ALL. BRING ON THE ARTIST-MODEL RELATIONSHIP IN ROSSETTI'S, "IN THE ARTIST'S STUDIO".
eta i've recently discovered the 11Freunde-Liveticker and it is the most amazing thing ever:
Held der ersten Minuten: Holger Badstuber. Der Mann sieht aus wie eine Nivea-Werbung. Rein, sauber und ohne Sünden. Er trägt keine Tattoos (finden wir: toll!), dafür einen Vornamen, den in den achtziger und neunziger Jahren eigentlich nur Onkel um die 40 oder 50 trugen (finden wir auch: toll!). Die dazugehörige Tante hieß übrigens meist: Gerda.
and the english translation (see, i bitch about being barely qualified for such a thing and yet):
Hero of the first few minutes: Holger Badstuber. He looks like someone out of a Nivea ad: pure, clean, and without sin. He has no tattoos (which we find fantastic), and a name that only middle-aged uncles back in the eighties and ninties had (which we also find fantastic). The aunts were usually named Gerda.
wonderful.