Right then ladies and gentlemen, pens down! Following last week’s scintillating batch of brain-busters, let’s have a look at the answers do some explaining. Onwards!
Questions one and two were multiple-choice vocab tests. The correct answers are:
1) The pyramids in Egypt are a) monuments, b) statues, c) alien spaceships. (Although Stargate fans know that answer (c) also holds water). 2) Adam Mickiewicz in Kraków rynek is a a) menorah, b) memorial, c) statue.
The sometimes subtle differences between memorials, statues and monuments can be summarised thusly:
- Monuments for super-large objects, Wonders of the World etc – think of the adjectival form, monumental.
- Statues for smaller objects; figures of people etc. Think Lord Nelson atop his column in London’s Trafalgar Square, or Adam M. In Kraków rynek.
- Memorials for any size object (although usually they’re quite large) which specifically serves to remind viewers of a person or event – think war memorials, or the Fallen Shipyard Workers’ memorial in Gdańsk.
Question three was also a vocab test, and stems from the fact that all too often I see plain vanilla ‘author’ instead of the proper, correct noun for describing artists etc. The correct answers were:
3) Beethoven was a composer. Renoir was an artist. Nabokov was an author. Wit Stwosz was a sculptor. Katarzyna Kozyra is a/an video artist/multimedia artist/yadda yadda.
Yes, you can use author as a verb, and it’s quite a classy usage. But nine times out of ten, you will need to use the correct job description. Using it as a universal, blanket replacement is not good!
Okay, question four is a real bugger. Some of you know this, some of you don’t. This is one of the standard questions on my próbka for new translators, and often, although they understand the difference, they can’t explain it correctly. So:
4) Right or wrong: In this question, we’re comparing e.g. and i.e.
a) More precise equipment, e.g. a Lego microscope adjusted to this type of scanning, is
required before further proof can be given. wrong! (correct answer is i.e.)
b) Ready-made, individual servings of pre-packaged desserts, i.e. the small potted trifles,
puddings and jellies you can find in Tesco, are often of variable quality. wrong! (correct
answer is e.g.)
In a nutshell, e.g. is for giving lists of examples, and i.e. is used to clarify information just given. So, (a) is i.e. because all the info following “More precise equipment” specifies in more detail exactly what kind of equipment might be used. In (b), e.g. is correct, because first of all we make a statement about the quality of desserts, and then we give a list of examples of the kinds of desserts we mean.
Question five is something we’ve covered in detail previously (here): 5) Right or wrong: In this question, we’re comparing inform and announce.
a) ‘We would like to inform that the destination of this bus has changed.’ wrong! (Announce is the correct answer)
b) Poznan City Hall would like to announce that its coffers are now full, and that it will not be applying for any more funds. correct!
Question six is another sore spot, for translators of all ranks and flavours, and again it’s something that many of you who know this, know it without really understanding why, so make a note of this one:
6) Right or wrong:
a) Before he blew himself up, my father always said, ‘It’s worth to remember which wire is live, and which is neutral’.
b) It’s worth to look like you’re interested in what he’s saying, even when you’re not.
What you need to remember is that, essentially, we can’t use the phrase it is worth…. without a verb in the present participle, e.g. it is worth remembering which wire…, it’s worth looking like you’re interested… etc. (Unless we say it is worth it to…., in which case, spoko.
The joke here is that I originally used this explanation in a translator seminar in response to the fact that one or two of the more recidivistic translators had a tendency to paint eyeballs on their eye lids and fall asleep as soon as I’d begun... :D
Question seven is something for the art lovers and culture vultures to remember:
7) Odd one out: One of these geniuses is wrong...
a) Beethoven, Strauss, Chopin, Haendel, Vivaldi.
The accepted English spelling is... Handel!
Finally, question eight tasked you with sharpening a crayon and applying it to the nearest wall in order to correct some faulty phrasing...
8) a) Funding will eventually reach a whole-country scale throughout the EU.
b) Everywhere where you go, bicycle routes criss-cross the lanes and roads.
c) Global warming is an undeniable issue. Conservatory efforts by world governments are
few and far between.
Junior mistakes, but ones that must be made on the road to wisdom. In (8a), we must remember never to use size-hyphen-noun constructions (whole-country, all-nation etc), but instead the proper adjectives – local, regional, national, international, global etc etc. (8b) uses unnecessary, ungrammatical, un-lovely repetition (everywhere where) instead of the correct everywhere that, and (c) is explained here.
Phew! So how did you do? If you were here last week you’ll recall that I invited you to email or Facebook your answers, and one plucky reader did just that! Congratulations to Adam Ł in Warszawa who got all but one right (4a Adam!), and even provided an alternative, correct answer to 8! You can see what he thought of that over here. In the meantime, a suitcase full of unmarked Monopol money is on it’s way north!
A new book (in German) on the topic of pilot judgments has been published. Jörn Eschment has written Musterprozesse vor dem Europäischen Gerichtshof für Menschenrechte. This is the abstract: 
