(Untitled)

[_jems_]

As a translator I have a few language pet peeves. One of them is that Swedes tend to write words that are supposed to be one word as two words. I just found one of the funniest examples of how wrong you can go when you don't know Swedish well enough. I'm reading an ad for a camera and it says "lätt använd". Translation:

Lätt använd - slightly used

Comments

[sexycereal]

It could have been worse. At least it was for a camera and not... a condom or a tampon. Ew.

[_jems_]

Oh my god, I think the mental pictures have scarred me for life. EWWWWWWWWW!

[sexycereal]

*salutes*

All in a day's work.

[_jems_]

I'm also kinda wondering how a condom can be "slightly used".

[_jems_]

Yes, I enjoy it. I've been a translator for...five years or so, so it's very much a longterm thing. The type of translating I do is a bit different than just regular translating since there's a technical component that you also have to master.

The job is kind of isolating. I do work at home by choice, but even when I worked at an office there wasn't much interaction when working because you kinda have to be in your own headspace a lot. So if you're a people person I'd definitely advice against it as a career.

But hey, I get paid for watching TV all day, so I'm not complaining. Even when I have to do godawful stuff, like the movie I'm translating now. Though it may be so bad as to make it good. The jury is still out on that.

[vash_the_slayer]

I completely agree with you on the painful subject of särskrivningar. Also, my ex husband was one of the founders of skrivihop.nu, so I think I've been confronted with every possible aspect of the subject...

[_jems_]

One of my favorite pet peeves before this one was (is?) Coop's insistance on writing "kort erbjudande" instead of "korterbjudande". No matter how many times I saw that it always took me a minute to remember that I didn't have a card with them and that it wasn't, in fact, a limited time offer. It annoyed me so much that I kinda quit going to that store. Ah, the power incorrect grammar has over me.

I have to check out that web site.

[vash_the_slayer]

Actually, the organization skrivihop.nu is no more, but the web site and all the archives are still there. Bizarrely enough it became an insanely popular movement before it ended in 2003. More than 26 000 people joined skrivihop, and the site was mentioned in media a lot. I guess people do care about language after all...

My problem is that I easily get annoyed about some linguistic errors, while not really being good enough at grammatical stuff myself to feel like I have the right to complain. My pet peeves however, apart from särskrivningar, is bad online language. People who, for example, write e instead of är or use horrible lunarstorm terms like *kjamiz* give me a bad impression. The choice of language is a part of the image a person projects, and that kind of language tells me "hi, I'm a retarded fjortis".

[abyssal]

I love such mistakes :)

[_jems_]

They are funny, but I despair for the future of the Swedish language. Almost as much as I despair for the future of the English language.

[abyssal]

Yeah, I agree. The same goes for the german language. The younger people use chat slang or they talk as if they were writing a text message so that you can hardly understand them. And they tend to use way too many english words.

[meko00]

*snorts* Hee. And yes, I knew about skrivihop.nu. I love my pet peeves. :-)

Re: BSG, I need the character bits as well. I do think part of the reason why Home II was a bit lacking was that they only had material for 1½ episode (supposedly, this is mentioned in the podcast) - but there were so many character moments they could have kept! We were given quite a lot of Tigh character development in the earlier episodes, but although I don't hate him per se I can't say he's the reason why I watch. I really enjoy the ensemble part of the show, so I hope it will improve now that everyone is in the same place again. Couldn't fathom that people didn't recognise Tricia Helfer in the fatigues or sweats or whatever you'd like to call it. Another peeve, it's Tricia, not Trisha, dammit. It's not like the show doesn't have her name in the title credits.

[_jems_]

I remember the stickers from that site, I'd just forgotten about it until now

[meko00]

Mmm, the line between archetypes (keeping it close to the mythologcial aspects, which I thought you enjoyed, funny atheist that you are) and caricatures is not always clear, and it's not a very large marginal for error, either. I haven't given up hope yet, though.

Oh, I know. And I think that it's good to practise just writing without obsessing over the right words to choose, as I have a tendency to second guess myself. Hee. I think there ought to be more compound words in English, actually.

Yes, definitely. I have some space left, too. Must do something about that.

[_jems_]

But the thing about archetypes is that it's a framework for a character, not the sum total. It's when the framework is the sum total that the character becomes a caricature. And they're close to letting that be true for BSG. At least in my opinion.

the mythologcial aspects, which I thought you enjoyed, funny atheist that you are
Funnily enough, I often find that atheists and agnostics are even more interested in that stuff than the ordinary believers. You kinda have to know what you're arguing against, you know?

And I think that it's good to practise just writing without obsessing over the right words to choose
I'm more prone to not being able to find the exact right word to use in Swedish, I'll have to go through a lot in my head until I remember the right word.

I still have 13 icon spaces left, but I've basically uploaded every icon I've made in the past few weeks, so there are a lot there that I could delete without any hesitation.