Wednesday 16 January 2008

Our OB's New Year interview

Our revered Oberbürgermeister Herr Dietz gave a series of e-mail interviews to the Badische Zeitung recently. Here's the first one he gave (in German, of course). The remaining three interviews (dated 9, 10 and 11 January) can be located in the Aktuell section of the website. I must say, he seems to be doing an alright job, our Herr Dietz. He's due to stand for re-election this coming April, though I'm not sure whether anyone will bother to stand against him. At least no one has thrown their hat into the ring so far.

Anyway, that reminds me: one of my pet hates as translator is when German speakers complain when I use the word "current" as the English for the German adjective "aktuell". It's because they mistakenly think that "aktuell" must mean "actual" (which, in German, is usually translated with the adjectives "effektiv", "eigentlich" or "tatsächlich"). It's just another example of what the French call faux amis ("false friends"), but it's one that particularly irritates.

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