Christophe Fricker's translation shortlisted for book award: voting open

Happy news! My colleague Dr Christophe Fricker's translation into German of Hugh Aldersey-Williams’s Tide (in German Flut) has been shortlisted for the Austrian 'Wissenschaftsbuch des Jahres' or science book of the year award:

Many congratulations to both Christophe and Mr Aldersey-Williams!

The winning books are selected via an open vote, and German speakers please note, anyone can vote at http://www.wissenschaftsbuch.at/ (page is in German). :)

Subtitling 'Du' and 'Sie'

I was just watching Michael Verhoeven's 1990 film Das schreckliche Mädchen [The Nasty Girl] and I was struck by this exchange between the protagonist Sonja and her crush Martin, a trainee teacher.

MARTIN: Wenn ich mein Staatsexamen hab' komm'ich zurück zu dir...vielmehr - zu Ihnen. [Pause.] Wollen wir nicht Du sagen zueinander?
SONJA: Doch, schon.
MARTIN: Ich heiß' Martin.
SONJA: Weiß schon...

Translating the shift from formal to informal address, which is standard in many languages but somehow not in English, is always tricky. (And not just in subtitling either. For a great discussion about this, sparked by an ingenious solution of Ros Schwartz's, see this languagehat post.)

A rough translation of Martin's remark would be something like: When I pass my state teaching exam, I'll come back to you [informal]...or rather [correcting himself] - to you [formal]. [Pause.] Can't we address each other as you [informal]?.

Multimodal elements of this scene will have to be taken into account. Kinetics, mise en scène, sound and rhythm may reinforce, undercut or otherwise inflect what's happening with the dialogue. A distinct change of mood occurs when Martin sees Sonja's secret framed photograph of him. He takes off his glasses. The scene opens with him standing while she sits. When he catches sight of the picture he crouches down to see better. She stands up so that she is momentarily taller than him; he stands and is again taller than her. His face is surprised, then serious; hers is quizzical. There's a short pause before he corrects Du to Sie and then a longer pause before he suggests that they call each other Du. All these things contribute to how the scene signifies, and may act as a guide (consciously or intuitively) to the subtitler.

Obviously, English uses the same word for both Du and Sie, so if transposed directly Martin's self-correction would make no sense, and there is no corresponding English expression for the question abut using Du.

The subtitler of this clip on the Miramax Youtube channel solves the problem as follows:

The subtitler changes the emphasis of Martin's line. Instead of correcting himself, he starts by saying that he will come back (implied, to the school), and then corrects himself that he will come back to her, specifically. You can see the whole clip here (it's at 2 mins 24 secs):

My 1992 VCI videocassette edition has, presumably, a different (unnamed) subtitler, and a different solution. The subtitler in fact has done the opposite of what the Miramax subtitler did:

This solution actually fits more closely with the dynamic of this scene, since he moves from a more intimate register (back to you) to a more 'formal' register in that 'to all of you' re-situates her as just a girl in his class. The long pause gives him time to gather his courage to request that they start using Du (and, by implication, that they begin a romantic relationship). The rather awkwardly formal 'Shall we be on Christian-name terms' is not out of keeping with the film's register.

So, a nice example of how opposite approaches by two translators can both work, in the moment.

More on translating formal and informal address, in a future post. Meanwhile if anybody has a copy of this film to hand, in any language, with a different subtitling solution, I'd love to hear about it.

UPDATE 20 August 2016: I rewrote and extended this post because on re-viewing the clips I realised I'd missed a couple of important things. (That will teach me to blog late at night.)

UPDATE 24 August 2016: The wonderful 20th-Century Flicks in Bristol turns out to have yet another subtitled version of the film, distributed by Arrow on Region 2 DVD (dated 2005). It has quite a different take on this scene again. The subtitles are by Lotti Mardell and Peter Templeton for SBS Australia, dated 2002:

This solution works very well to get across the levels of formality, though there's a lack of correspondence between the audio, where the proper names are not heard, and the subtitles. The trade-off seems worth it in this instance.

Any more versions out there...? Any information that might help me identify the subtitlers of the first two versions?

German translation event, Bristol: Night Without Mercy, Friday 6 May

This event organised by the Bristol German department looks excellent:

Bristol's department of German is pleased to invite you to a bi-lingual reading of selected works by the renowned author Matthias Politycki and his translators: our colleagues Professor Robert Vilain and Dr Christophe Fricker, and Bristol students of German. Together, they will present sonnets and other poetry in German and English. The reading will be followed by a conversation with the author and his translators, and a wine reception.

Staff, students, and members of the public from Bristol and beyond are all welcome to attend. Knowledge of German is not required.

More information on the event is available here: http://www.aufenthalte.info/politycki-translation/

Matthias’ website can be accessed here: http://matthias-politycki.de/politycki-englisch.php

Please do not hesitate to get in touch, should you have any queries. We are looking forward to seeing you on Friday 6 May 2016 at 6 pm in Lecture Theatre 1, 43 Woodland Road, Bristol BS8 1UU. 

Please note that this is not part of the Woodland Road Arts Complex, but is in the old Baptist College building at the top of University Road. Here's a map:

 

Matthias Politycki in conversation, 19 May, University of Bristol

We are delighted to announce the visit of German novelist Matthias Politycki to the University of Bristol. On Tuesday 19 May, he will give a reading from his 2013 novel Samarkand Samarkand in an English translation by Anthea Bell. For a review of the novel from New Books in German, see:

The reading will take place on Tuesday, 19 May 2015, at 6pm in Lecture Theatre 1, University of Bristol, School of Arts, 43 Woodland Road. Please note this is *not* the Arts Complex, it's the building further towards town. No knowledge of German is necessary to enjoy this event. 

The reading will be followed by a conversation with the author about his travels in Central Asia that inspired the novel, and his experience of being translated. There will also be a wine reception. Entry is free, but spaces are limited, so it is recommended that you register in advance by emailing Dr Margit Dirscherl at margit.dirscherl at bristol.ac.uk.

Even fuller details are below:

Internship for German-English translator, Freiburg, Germany

This may be of interest to readers working from German.

Looking for work experience? 

We run a translation service in Freiburg (Southern Germany) and are currently offering an internship to a language graduate (preferably with an MA in translation) with the possibility of subsequent employment after the internship.

During the internship you’ll get a feel for the day-to-day work of a translator, including translating into your native language (English) as well into a foreign language, terminology work, research, project management, organizing interpreting assignments, tendering offers etc.

You must be a native speaker of English with excellent knowledge of German; we welcome French, Italian or Spanish as second languages. You should have some experience in translating technical (legal, economic,…) texts. Finally, we expect applicants to be competent at word-processing and using the web as a research tool.

If you are committed, passionate about languages, and would like to live in Freiburg for a longer period, we look forward to receiving your application along with a CV by e-mail.

To find out more about us, please go to our website at www.peschel-communications.de.

Übersetzungsbüro Peschel

c/o Anja Peschel

Wallstraße 9

D-79098 Freiburg

Tel. +49 (0) 761/380969-0

E-mail: peschel at peschel-communications.de

Happy St. Jerome's Day: untranslatable words

You get those little 'untranslatable words' meme going round at intervals. I'm always a bit suspicious - though I did like the word 'poronkusema' which is apparently, according to the interwebs, a distance of about 7.5km in Finland, equal to how far a reindeer can travel without stopping to urinate. 

But what about words which are untranslatable not because they mean something so specific, but because they mean so many things? My favourite (if, OK, fictional) example is Flann O'Brien's panegyric on the meanings of the Irish verb 'cur' [to put]:

There is scarcely a single word in the Irish (barring, possibly, Sasanach) that is simple and explicit. Apart from words with endless shades of cognate meaning, there are many with so complete a spectrum of graduated ambiguity that each of them can be made to express two directly contrary meanings, as well as a plethora of intermediate concepts that have no bearing on either. And all this strictly within the linguistic field. Superimpose on all that the miasma of ironic usage, poetic licence, oxymoron, plamás, Celtic evasion, Irish bullery and Paddy Whackery, and it a safe bet that you will find yourself very far from home. Here is an example copied from Dinneen and from more authentic sources known only to my little self:

Cur, g. curtha and cuirthe, m.—act of putting, sending, sowing, raining, discussing, burying, vomiting, hammering into the ground, throwing through the air, rejecting, shooting, the setting or clamp in a rick of turf, selling, addressing, the crown of cast-iron buttons which have been made bright by contact with cliff-faces, the stench of congealing badger's suet, the luminance of glue-lice, a noise made in an empty house by an unauthorised person, a heron's boil, a leprachaun's denture, a sheep-biscuit, the act of inflating hare's offal with a bicycle pump, a leak in a spirit level, the whine of a sewage farm windmill, a corncrake's clapper, the scum on the eye of a senile ram, a dustman's dumpling, a beetle's faggot, the act of loading every rift with ore, a dumb man's curse, a blasket, a 'kur', a fiddler's occupational disease, a fairy godmother's father, a hawk's vertigo, the art of predicting past events, a wooden coat, a custard-mincer, a blue-bottle's 'farm', a gravy flask, a timber-mine, a toy craw, a porridge-mill, a fair-day donnybrook with nothing barred, a stoat's stomach-pump, a broken—

But what is the use? One could go on and on without reaching anywhere in particular.

                                                 (from Flann O'Brien, The Best of Myles, pp.278-279)

Myles na Gopaleen is joking (I think) but in a very nice 2012 article called "Honor Thine Author" (paywalled) the translator Fiona Elliot puts in a plea to her authors not to use the German word aufheben because 

What English verb could match “aufheben,” meaning to pick something up from the floor, to save something up for later, to close a meeting, to terminate a siege, to remove restrictions, to cancel or annul, to repeal or revoke, to compensate, neutralize, offset, or elevate? (Actually, at the latest count there are forty-seven separate translations for it online at dict.cc.).

         (Fiona Elliott, "Honor Thine Author". Art in Translation 4:1 (2012), pp.89-98)

Happy St. Jerome's Day!

Job opening: in-house translator from French and German to English

In-house Translator from French and German to English

Additional languages would be an advantage and a background in science and/or technology would be an asset
 
We are a small translation agency based in Colchester, Essex, specialising in intellectual property. We pride ourselves on our customer service and in particular on the high quality of translations we produce, and we are now seeking a new colleague who will enjoy working to these values.

Responsibilities will include:
• translation and checking of texts (patents, trademark documentation, oppositions, appeals, judgments, scientific articles) from French and German into English.
• coordination of incoming work and assignment of texts to translators.
• dealing with clients in French and German.
• administration related to translation tasks.

The ideal candidate will:
• be qualified to postgraduate level in translation (essential)
• speak English to native-speaker level (essential)
• be able to translate from French and German into English (applicants with only one of these two language combinations may still be considered)
• have experience in a scientific and/or technological field (desirable)
• have excellent attention to detail
• work well both independently and as part of a team
• be able to work to deadlines without compromising quality of work.

Permanent position on successful completion of three-month probationary period.
Training provided in a friendly, team-orientated company, with opportunity to develop areas of interest and expertise.
Salary commensurate with experience.
Part-time options may be available – please state your availability when applying.

Closing Date: 17th October 2014.

To apply, please send a CV and covering letter to Priory Translations
By e-mail: careers[at]priorytranslations.co.uk (please include the reference "In-house Translator" in the subject line)
By post: Careers
Priory Translations Limited
Graphic House
11 Magdalen Street
Colchester
Essex
CO1 2JT

Original post is on the company website here. 

STEM visuals in translation: project seeks co-researchers

Maybe of interest to some readers of this blog:

I saw on the European Society for Translation Studies Facebook page that a Lisbon- and New Mexico Tech-based research project, VISTAC (Visualising Science and Technology Across Cultures), is seeking co-researchers to look at STEM visuals in translation. They want to disseminate a survey in the main internet languages and are particularly interested in hearing from researchers who speak Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Japanese, Korean, Russian or Spanish.

The last thing I read on this topic was a fascinating article by Liangyu Fu entitled 'Indigenizing visualized knowledge: translating Western science illustrations in China, 1870-1910' which is currently free to read on the Translation Studies website. But it would be great to read something more up to date too!

PhD studentship, University of Bristol (Stefan Zweig Archive, British Library)

Lots of scope for a translation-focused project here, I think:

AHRC Doctoral Studentship

Stefan Zweig Collection Literary Manuscripts

University of Bristol and the British Library

The British Library and Bristol University’s School of Modern Languages invite applications for a fully-funded PhD studentship to work on the Stefan Zweig Collection Literary Manuscripts, funded under the AHRC’s Collaborative Doctoral Partnerships scheme, to commence on 1 October 2014.

The Zweig Collection, of literary and musical autograph manuscripts, was the passionate work of one of Austria’s foremost twentieth-century authors and represents a panorama of European culture. The student will on the one hand pursue PhD research, supervised in Bristol, on a topic rooted in the literary autographs, and on the other hand work at the Library on a project to digitise the collection and raise its profile among academic and non-academic audiences. This is an excellent opportunity to experience two complementary institutions and professions at the core of humanities research, and to develop a project as academic scholarship on the one hand and for public impact on the other.

The collection invites research from a wealth of disciplinary angles, and we welcome proposals that engage with it from across that range: Austrian/German literary studies, exile studies, musicology and/or history. With significant literary manuscripts in French (e.g. of Balzac, Baudelaire and Mallarmé) and further important items in other languages (such as a fragment of Tolstoy’s Kreutzer Sonata) the collection would also reward comparative literary research and could suit graduates in two languages or joint subjects who wish to pursue their interests in both disciplines for the PhD.

Further details of the studentship are available here:

http://www.bristol.ac.uk/arts/gradschool/funding/#research

Informal enquiries are welcome and may be addressed to Dr Steffan Davies (steffan.davies at bristol.ac.uk), who can also provide further details of the Zweig Collection holdings.

Closing date for applications: 24 March 2014. We envisage that interviews of shortlisted candidates will take place in London on 8 April.

#translationquery: The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet

Well what do you know, more random thoughts about form in translation...

This spring I read David Mitchell's The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet - absorbing, absolutely unputdownable book by a preposterously gifted writer - and as I laid into chapter 39, I found this:

Gulls wheel through spokes of sunlight over gracious roofs and dowdy thatch, snatching entrails at the marketplace and escaping over cloistered gardens, spike topped walls and treble-bolted doors. Gulls alight on whitewashed gables, creaking pagodas and dung-ripe stables; circle over towers and cavernous bells and over hidden squares where urns of urine sit by covered wells, watched by mule-drivers, mules and wolf-snouted dogs, ignored by hunchbacked makers of clogs; gather speed up the stoned-in Nakashima River and fly beneath the arches of its bridges, glimpsed from kitchen doors, watched by farmers walking high, stony ridges. Gulls fly through clouds of steam from laundries' vats; over kites unthreading corpses of cats; over scholars glimpsing truth in fragile patterns; over bath-house adulterers, heartbroken slatterns; fishwives dismembering lobsters and crabs; their husbands gutting mackerel on slabs; woodcutters' sons sharpening axes; candle-makers, rolling waxes; flint-eyed officials milking taxes; etiolated lacquerers; mottle-skinned dyers; imprecise soothsayers; unblinking liars; weavers of mats; cutters of rushes; ink-lipped calligraphers dipping brushes; booksellers ruined by unsold books; ladies-in-waiting; tasters; dressers; filching page-boys; runny-nosed cooks; sunless attic nooks where seamstresses prick calloused fingers; limping malingerers; swineherds; swindlers; lip-chewed debtors rich in excuses; heard-it-all creditors tightening nooses; prisoners haunted by happier lives and ageing rakes by other men's wives; skeletal tutors goaded to fits; firemen-turned-looters when occasion permits; tongue-tied witnesses; purchased judges; mothers-in-law nurturing briars and grudges; apothecaries grinding powders with mortars; palanquins carrying not-yet-wed daughters; silent nuns; nine-year-old whores; the once-were-beautiful gnawed by sores; statues of Jizo anointed with posies; syphilitics sneezing through rotted-off noses; potters; barbers; hawkers of oil; tanners; cutlers; carters of night-soil; gate-keepers; bee-keepers; blacksmiths and drapers; torturers; wet-nurses; perjurers; cut-purses; the newborn; the growing; the strong-willed and pliant; the ailing; the dying; the weak and defiant; over the roof of a painter withdrawn first from the world, then his family, and down into a masterpiece that has, in the end, withdrawn from its creator; and around again, where their flight began, over the balcony of the Room of the Last Chrysanthemum, where a puddle from last night's rain is evaporating; a puddle in which Magistrate Shiroyama observes the blurred reflections of gulls wheeling through spokes of sunlight. This world, he thinks, contains just one masterpiece, and that is itself. 

The rhyme sneaks in so sweetly that it was several lines before I realised what I was reading. And then it disappears again as seamlessly as it appeared. The use of rhyme in the passage doesn't seem structurally or thematically motivated, as far as I can see - it is not repeated elsewhere in the novel, it apparently just happens, because of reasons.

I am curious to know how the translators rendered this amazing passage.
If any well-disposed readers of this blog happen to have a copy to hand of the French translation by Manuel Berri (Éditions Alto, 2012)

or of the Italian translation by Maurizio Bartocci (Frassinelli, 2010) (not that I would know the translator's name from the publisher's website because it appears not to be listed, tsk)

or of the German translation by Volker Oldenburg (Rowohlt, 2012)

or of the Spanish translation by Víctor V. Úbeda (Duomo Ediciones, 2011) (not that I would know the translator's name from the publisher's website because, grrrrrrrrr, etc......)

please feel free to get in touch with a comment about it - or better yet, share it. Indeed, if you have access to any translation of this passage please do feel free to write in; although I would need a back-translation into English to make any sense at all of translations into other languages, I am still curious. 

PhD funding for Arthur Schnitzler project (Bristol and UCL)

Two AHRC-funded PhD studentships are available (2104-17) as part of the project ‘Digital Critical Edition of Middle-Period Works by Arthur Schnitzler (1862-1931)’

Two three-year PhD studentships are available from 1 October 2014, as part of the AHRC-funded project ‘Digital Critical Edition of Middle-Period Works by Arthur Schnitzler (1862-1931)’, which runs for five years from January 2014. 

The core project team comprises Professor Andrew Webber (University of Cambridge, principal investigator), Dr Judith Beniston (UCL, co-investigator), Professor Robert Vilain (University of Bristol, co-investigator) and Dr Annja Neumann (University of Cambridge, research associate). 

One PhD student will be based at University College London and supervised by Dr Beniston; the other will be based at the University of Bristol and supervised by Professor Vilain.

Arthur Schnitzler is one of the leading figures in European and German-language Modernism, and unique for a writer of his stature in not having a critical edition devoted to him. Schnitzler’s papers were saved from likely confiscation and destruction in Vienna in 1938 and brought to Cambridge, where the larger part of them is now held in the University Library. The archive includes early versions of many published works, and the aim is to make this rich and fascinating resource available to a wide range of users. In the course of this five-year project, scheduled to run January 2014–December 2018, the UK team will produce digital editions of a set of works from Schnitzler’s middle period, transcribing manuscript material and developing an extensive critical apparatus. The corpus comprises the novel Der Weg ins Freie, the plays Professor Bernhardi and Das weite Land, and a set of less well-known puppet plays. The edition will be hosted on the website of Cambridge University Library. Alongside open access to the edited works and their apparatus, the findings of the project will be presented through international conferences and workshops, theatre productions and other events, and through publications in book and journal form.

The focus of the UCL studentship is ‘Schnitzler in Britain’, exploring reception, translation and processes of cultural mobility. The Bristol studentship will focus on ‘Schnitzler and Modernist Drama: Puppets, Dolls, Automata’. Both PhD students will be fully integrated into the AHRC collaboration, with the opportunity to contribute  to the development of the online ‘Schnitzler-Portal’ and to the organization of workshops and other events related to their strand of the project.

Full details of the research project and studentships, the person specification and the application procedures, can be found at these links:

https://www.ucl.ac.uk/selcs/prospective-students/postgraduate/funding/ahrc-schnitzler-award

http://www.bristol.ac.uk/arts/gradschool/financial-aid/#research

The deadline for applications is 5pm on 31 January 2014.

Please share widely! Thank you.

Judith Beniston and Robert Vilain

Translatable! Workshop, translation slam, and prizegiving, Bristol, 17 December 2013

 For our German and non-German-speaking readers within reach of Bristol:

 

Translatable!

Translation Workshop with Thomas Friese, Translation Slam, and Prizegiving Ceremony

 

School of Modern Languages, University of Bristol

Lecture Theatre 1, 43 Woodland Road, Clifton, Bristol

17 December 2013

All are welcome to an afternoon of translation events on 17 December 2013 at the University of Bristol on the occasion of the prizegiving for the 2013 Ernst Jünger Translation Competition, organised by the School of Modern Languages with support from the EU.

Schedule: 

2pm: workshop with distinguished Canadian translator Thomas Friese

4pm: translation slam showcasing two winners of the Ernst Jünger Translation Competition

5pm: prizegiving ceremony

Registration is free, and all are welcome. All events will take place in 43 Woodland Road, LT1.

If you would like to attend the workshop and/or the translation slam, please e-mail Dr Christophe Fricker (christophe.fricker [at] bristol.ac.uk) in advance. Knowledge of German is not required to enjoy either event.

Six translators will receive awards or commendations for their entries to the Competition: 

Joint 1st prize of £300 each will be awarded to Nigel Cooper and Jack Davis for their translations from Jünger’s Am Sarazenenturm (By the Saracen Tower). 

Third prize of £100 will be awarded to Iwona Luszowicz and Steve Laird for their collaborative translation from Jünger’s Atlantische Fahrt (Atlantic Voyage). 

The entries of Julian Reidy and Simon Pare will also be commended at the event. 

The competition’s undergraduate prize of £100 will be awarded to Joseph Prestwich; Constance Cramp will receive a special commendation. 

The three commended entrants will receive a copy of Heimo Schwilk’s Ernst Jüngers Leben und Werk in Bildern und Texten, and thanks to the generosity of Klett-Cotta Verlag, all participants will receive a copy of Heinz Ludwig Arnold’s Jünger reader, Ein abenteuerliches Herz.

The competition was judged by writer and translator Julian Evans, Dr Christophe Fricker (Bristol), Jünger’s translator Thomas Friese, Dr Petra Rau (UEA), and Professor Robert Vilain (Bristol). Sixty-four entries were received from 11 different countries and four continents. Participants were asked to translate an 8-page excerpt of their choice from one of three books of Jünger’s travel writings: Atlantische Fahrt, Am Sarazenenturm, or Zweimal Halley (Halley Revisited). 

Funding for the competition was provided as part of an EU-funded Marie Curie project on Ernst Jünger’s intercultural encounters, currently being carried out by Christophe Fricker at the University of Bristol.

Post for German to English translator in Bonn (deadline 3 November 2013)

A job advertisement, recently circulated:

Für unsere Sonderstelle Sprachendienst suchen wir für den Standort Bonn eine Übersetzerin / einen Übersetzer für die englische Sprache als Referenten (m/w).

Das Aufgabenfeld umfasst im Wesentlichen:

 Fertigen schriftlicher Übersetzungen von schwierigen Texten juristischer, betriebswirtschaftlicher und technischer Art aus dem Deutschen und einer weiteren europäischen Fremdsprache ins Englische
 Terminologiearbeit

Wir erwarten von Ihnen:

 Ein einschlägiges Universitätsstudium (Master oder Diplom)
 Englisch als Muttersprache
 Deutsch als erste Fremdsprache
 Eine weitere europäische Fremdsprache als zweite Fremdsprache
 Fähigkeit zur raschen Einarbeitung in neue Themenbereiche
 Sichere Beherrschung der gängigen MS-Office-Anwendungen
 Fähigkeit zur eigenständigen termingebundenen Arbeit
 Hohe Leistungsbereitschaft und Belastbarkeit sowie Teamfähigkeit
 Interesse an den Aufgabengebieten der Bundesnetzagentur
 Erfahrung im Umgang mit SDL Trados Translation Tools ist von Vorteil
 Einschlägige Berufserfahrung ist erwünscht, jedoch erhalten auch interessierte Berufseinsteigerinnen/Berufseinsteiger eine Chance

Wir bieten Ihnen:

 Als Beamtin/Beamter Übernahme bis zur Besoldungsgruppe A 14 Bundesbesoldungsordnung
 Eine befristete Beschäftigung von in der Regel 24 Monaten mit einer Eingruppierung nach Entgeltgruppe 13 Tarifvertrag für den öffentlichen Dienst (TVöD); bei mehrjähriger einschlägiger Berufserfahrung ist eine Eingruppierung bis Entgeltgruppe 14 TVöD möglich; die Übernahme in ein unbefristetes Beschäftigungsverhältnis wird angestrebt
 Selbständiges, eigenverantwortliches und teamorientiertes Arbeiten auf interessanten und entwicklungsfähigen Gebieten

Bewerbungen von Frauen sind besonders erwünscht. Wir begrüßen ausdrücklich Bewerbungen von schwerbehinderten Menschen; sie werden bei gleicher Eignung im Rahmen der Regelungen des Bundesgleichstellungsgesetzes vorrangig eingestellt. Die Bundesnetzagentur unterstützt die Vereinbarkeit von Familie und Beruf, z. B. durch flexible Arbeitszeitmodelle.

Haben wir Ihr Interesse geweckt? Dann senden Sie Ihre vollständigen Bewerbungsunterlagen bitte bis zum 3. November 2013 an die

Bundesnetzagentur für Elektrizität, Gas, Telekommunikation, Post und Eisenbahnen
Z 12-4, Kennziffer Sprachendienst
Postfach 80 01
53105 Bonn

oder per Mail (Bitte als zusammengefasste Datei im doc.- oder pdf.- Format) an:
Bewerbungen_Z12-4 at BNetzA.de

Informationen zum TVöD erhalten Sie auf den Internetseiten des Bundesministeriums des Innern.

Translation competition roundup: current competitions

These may interest some blog readers; please do pass the links along.  In order of entry deadline. 

Times Stephen Spender Poetry Translation Prize:

Translate a poem from any language, classical or modern, into English.

• Cash prizes
• Selected winning entries published in The Times
• All winning entries published in a booklet
• Closing date Friday 24 May 2013 

Full details at the Stephen Spender Trust website.  


American-Scandinavian Foundation Translation Prizes:

The annual ASF translation competition is awarded for the most outstanding translations of poetry, fiction, drama or literary prose written by a Scandinavian author born after 1800.

The Nadia Christensen Prize includes a $2000 award, publication of an excerpt in Scandinavian Review, and a commemorative bronze medallion.

The Leif and Inger Sjöberg Award, given to an individual whose literature translations have not previously been published, includes a $1,000 award, publication of an excerpt in Scandinavian Review, and a commemorative bronze medallion.

Entry deadline is 7 June 2013. Full details at www.amscan.org/translation.html. 


Ernst Juenger Translation Competition: 

As part of an EU-funded research project hosted by the German Department at the University of Bristol, we invite translations of extracts from some of Ernst Jünger’s travel writings. Prize money will be given to FOUR entries, with one category limited to entries from current undergraduate students, and numerous book prizes will also be awarded.  The aim is to promote the study of Ernst Jünger’s works in English. The deadline for submission of entries is 1 July 2013. 

Full details here. 

Harvill Secker Young Translators' Prize: 

The Harvill Secker Young Translators’ Prize was launched in 2010 to recognise the achievements of young translators at the start of their careers. This year our language of focus will be Portuguese. The winner’s name will be announced in October 2013, and he or she will receive £1000 and a selection of Harvill Secker titles. The winner will also participate in the British Centre for Literary Translation mentorship scheme, working with Margaret Jull Costa, and he or she will take part in Crossing Border festival in November 2013.

Entrants will be asked to translate the short story ‘O sucesso’ by Brazilian author Adriana Lisboa, and my fellow judges will be author Naomi Alderman, translator Margaret Jull Costa and literary reviewer Ángel Gurría-Quintana. The prize is open to anyone between the ages of 18 and 34, with no restriction on country of residence, and the deadline for entries is 2^nd August 2013.

 

The short story and details on how to enter are available at www.youngtranslatorsprize.com.

Post-doctoral position, poetry translation, Norwich

An opportunity on an interesting-sounding research project:

Senior Research Associate (60%FTE)

Project: Translating the Poetry of the Holocaust

University of East Anglia -School of Literature, Drama and Creative Writing

Ref: RA913 
£30,424 to £36,298 per annum, pro rata 

Applications are invited for the post of Research Associate to work with Professor Jean Boase-Beier on the AHRC-funded project Translating the Poetry of the Holocaust. This part-time post (60%FTE), which is available from 1 August 2013 to 31 January 2014, will involve multiple tasks including: locating and evaluating examples of Holocaust poetry in languages other than German or English; organising public events in Norwich and London; attending project meetings. You must have a reading knowledge of one European language besides English (and other than German), a first degree in a relevant subject, and a PhD (or equivalent research experience) in a related field.

Closing date: 12 noon on 22 February 2013.

More details here. 

In-house posts available at Amazon Europe

Amazon in Luxembourg are advertising a number of in-house posts in translation and editing.

The contracts are fixed-term for one year, and the offered salary is €36,000 gross. Amazon are looking for native speakers of English (DE-EN), French, German, Italian and Spanish. Requirements and language combinations for each position vary slightly.