Random #21

[rodo]

☞ Before I forget it a fourth time: Many thanks to the anonymous person who gifted me with a paid DW account. I am incredibly grateful that I can edit comments again. I always manage to make a mistake, even if the damn thing is only three words long. Thank you!

☞ The Archive Roadmap needs to die a slow and painful death. It is evil, pure and utter evil. Betaing the translation was rather enlightening, though. The English language sucks. If you want to explain something very precisely, it just isn't the best option. German, on the other hand, is a rather precise language. Which leads to an insane amount of problems when translating. Gender is just one of those problems.

☞ Sometimes, the German fandom is really slow at picking things up. It took the Diana Gabaldon controversy about two weeks to reach ff.de. The strange part: A significant amount of fanwriters there a) want to be published some day and b) intend to be anti-fanfic when they are. I really, really don't get that attitude.

☞ Reading material in case you need something to be angry at. It's a ffrantsrants post about something more or less unimportant, but for some reason, people think using Hitler icons is A OK, even after being told that mockery and Hitler only go together when Hitler is the one being mocked. I'm desensitized and rather apathetic towards "grammar nazi", but I fully understand why it's NOT FUNNY. Giving "feminazi" as another example why it's okay to use "nazi" this way? NOT FUNNY EITHER!

☞ And now something NOTFUNNY that's actually funny.

Comments

[anehan]

I didn't even try to translate the Archive Roadmap at this point. I took a look at it and backed the hell off. :D

[rodo]

You're smart, then.

[jaaaarne]

German, on the other hand, is a rather precise language.

Ah, so it's not just a stereotype about Germans being accurate and precise to the point of being pedantic! :D The language certainly has to reflect the national mentality.

The strange part: A significant amount of fanwriters there a) want to be published some day and b) intend to be anti-fanfic when they are.

Don't get this either. Seems pretty hypocritical to me. I mean, I will continue doing this and that with others' characters and universe, but I don't want to share my characters and universe with others. And to say you the truth, I get the same reaction when I see fic writers demand that their fellow fans ask their permission in order to use their OCs or write a fanfic to a fanfic. It just... feels so wrong.

for some reason, people think using Hitler icons is A OK

Some people are just plain dumb and fail to understand that there are some things that you cannot carelessly joke about.

[rodo]

Ah, so it's not just a stereotype about Germans being accurate and precise to the point of being pedantic! :D The language certainly has to reflect the national mentality.

I wouldn't be so sure. I heard French is rather precise as well. And you evidently never had to deal with German workers. But German has prefixes for verbs that sometimes have to be used to indicate in which direction something moves and a lot of words just aren't as ambiguous as English words.

Seems pretty hypocritical to me.

To me too. I think most of them are afraid of badfic, slash and OMG what are you doing to my babies!!! And then there's this whole misinformation about getting sued by ficwriters.

[jaaaarne]

Prefixes for directions? Um. Could you give an example, because I am now really curious for how it might look. :)

As for the vocabulary, it really can be an issue every now and then. I'm judging by my own language. :) Sometimes there is one English word and several Russian equivalents giving different accents depending on a context. And then sometimes there is one Russian word and several English equivalents meaning different things depending on a context. :) Guess that's inevitable in every language. Makes translators' work a bit tricky sometimes. :D

[rodo]

"heraufgehen" & "herabgehen" (go up/down and towards the narrator), "hinaufgehen" & "hinabgehen (go up/down and away from the narrator), "hinausgehen" & "herausgehen" (go out and away from the narrator & go out and towards the narrator). "Hin", means towards something but away from the narrator. "Her" means towards the narrator.

What I find difficult to translate to German are mostly verbs. German doesn't have verbs that are as specific as English verbs and you have to specify with phrasems or adverbs a lot. "Smirk", for example, is often translated as "adverb + grinsen". I guess that's why I don't really get the English writing rule that says you shouldn't use adverbs in most cases.

[jaaaarne]

Um. That's lots of nuances, indeed. But then, it probably helps to convey more using less words?

As for the writing rules, I guess they cannot be absolutely universal for every language. Something that will work for English might not work for German simply because of the differences between the languages. And that certainly doesn't mean you're doing something wrong. It means that there should be German writing rules. :)

By the way, this "grin/smirk" thing works just the same in Russian. :) There is only one word for both, so the adverbs are inevitable if you want to convey the right nuance. *gg*

[rodo]

But then, it probably helps to convey more using less words?

It does indeed, but I still have to think which is appropriate sometimes. I didn't know about the subtle difference until I learned about it in university.

It means that there should be German writing rules. :)

In journalism, it's "please be careful with the nouns". Official language is very noun-heavy, but that also makes it difficult to understand.

[jaaaarne]

Actually, I can kind of relate to the "OMG what are you doing to my babies" part. I used to feel the same kind of jealousy when people had written about my favourite rare pairings. Sounds stupid in itself, but still. :) It's just this feeling that they're mine, all mine and nobody has the right to touch them, because nobody will know them and love them the way I do.

I don't know where this feeling comes from, and I certainly don't allow it to take over me, but it is always there, hovering in the shadows. That's probably the reason why I subconsciously choose the characters nobody else is interested in. :) That guarantees the jealousy monster to stay quiet and satisfied. The moment a character or a pairing becomes mainstream I start drifting away from them. I no longer feel they're mine. Most times it's one hell of a painful breakup, because I do love these characters and miss them badly. :/

So yeah, I really get the "OMG what are you doing to my babies" part. It's an angsty and a painful thing, and it's very strong. Still, it doesn't excuse hypocrisy. I just don't have any moral right to call someone a thief as long as I give people a reason to call me the same back. You either play by the rules, or you stop calling others out on not doing it.

[rodo]

I can relate to that too, not so much for fanfic characters because I often stick to popular characters and pairings and see what others do to them all the time, but I do write originals as well.

A feeling is a feeling and it's legitimate, but I expect people to use their minds before they react to such a thing. Yeah, if someone took my characters and did something ugly to them, it really wouldn't feel nice. I don't have to like it either. But that doesn't mean that other people shouldn't do something I don't like. I'm not the definite moral authority on anything, after all.

You either play by the rules, or you stop calling others out on not doing it.

That's pretty much it.

[eumelkeks]

A significant amount of fanwriters there a) want to be published some day and b) intend to be anti-fanfic when they are. I really, really don't get that attitude.

What? I can't believe these people exist. Talk about hypocrisy.

[logovo]

Second on the "What" and add a "the hell?"

[rodo]

Well, evidently they are the only ones who can write fanfic that is true to the original spirit of the canon and all those other people wouldn't be able to do that.

[blnchflr]

☞ And now something NOTFUNNY that's actually funny.
Lol. I'm a sucker for humour on this topic, too. (Cf. also this.)

[rodo]

*grins* The humor is definitely better than "Rocks fall, everybody dies."