Authoritative Comments

The 2017 Israeli Translators Association Conference has come and gone. It has left me a strong feeling of camaraderie, especially with my fellow legal translators.  There was a strange sense of a bar in the sense of a group of law people, not the watering spot. The lectures regarding legal translations, those of Emanuel Weisgras and Sue Leschen, became free, fascinating discussions of various issues that left, as they say in Hebrew, of a taste of "ode", the regret that there wasn't more time. Contrary to the old adage about lawyers according to which you can only have one lawyer change a light bulb because no room is big enough for the egos of two lawyers, legal translators disagree but are not 110% certain of their opinion.  All in all, they were productive and entertaining sessions.

Still, my highlights were the two plenary lectures by the invited writers, Yannets Levi and Amos. The first is the author of the Dod Arie (Uncle Leo in English) children stories. He spoke about the birth of his successful series of books. Like J.K. Rowling, he originally made up the tales as stories for his nieces and nephews. They were so successful that he wrote them down. He then discussed the various directions the translation took.  In particular, he mentioned that in Korea, the book was taken various seriously as a tool for installing Israeli creativity in Korean children. On a similar vein, Japanese children apparently require more visual images to follow the stories, possibly because of the complexity of and time required to learn Japanese. By the way, I also began as a translator, albeit unknowing, by translating impromptu the four first Harry Potter books into Hebrew to my young daughter.

The lecture by Amos Oz was also of note. He discussed his creative process, elaborating on his early morning walks and café observing as he tried to imagine the thoughts and history of all those around him, a bit like Sherlock Holmes. He then discussed several terms that he and his English translator struggled with. It emphasized that creativity is no less than important than language knowledge in translation.

In summary, the program was rich and satisfying. I return to work tired but filled with esteem for translators and writers alike. As Walter Konkrite used to say, "and that is way it is."

Singing nostalgic

Last Saturday, my wife and I went to a concert of French chansons in Karmiel arranged by the local French society. The singer, Brigitte Haviv, accompanied skillfully by an accordion, guitar and bass, sang songs from the Golden era of French songs, including golden oldies (as they say) by Jacques Brel, Edith Piaf, Charles Asnavour and Yves Montand. The small auditorium was packed. My wife and I, in our fifties, lowered the average age of the audience. However, what was lacking in youth was more than made up for in enthusiasm. People even dressed up elegantly, a rare sight in this part of the woods. The concert, more than an hour and a half, was a great success both for the singer and the audience. A good time was had by all.

That said, I had a very sad thought. If a non-French outside of France were asked to name a current French singer, band, or even song, I strongly doubt that even the most cosmopolitan would succeed. I am not saying that current French music is poor. Since it is not exported, it simply doesn't exist outside France. It may be due to the policy of foreign radio stations to play music in English and local languages but no more. It may be because that the French music has lost its identity. It even may be a result of the poor quality of music in France today.  I cannot say. What I do fear is that in some 40 years nobody is going to gather in an auditorium in a provincial town far way and listen nostalgically to the great French  songs of the early 21^st century. As a proud half-Frenchman, that makes me sad. I suppose the best thing I could do is to listen to some more Brel or Piaf. It would make me feel better but not change the reality. Isn't that the definition of nostalgia?

Bare necessities - uncovering the meaning

A baby is born naked, that is say without clothes or saying it chooses to be that way, but merely a statement of fact. By contrast, if someone is nude, there is underlying purpose, whether sexual or artistic, to this state of affairs. Going one step farther, exposing yourself in public in most parts of the world can lead to an interview with a police officer, at minimum. The term unclad emphasizes the lack of clothing, not the result.

How a person reaches this state is also a matter of vocabulary. Being stripped is generally by another person, often by force. By contrast, many people sleep undressed, especially in the summer, removing their own garments.

Euphemisms have various nuances. Going au naturel sounds adventurous, as in going to a nude beach, while being in your birthday suit is quite innocent, without any intention before or afterwards. If you are walking around in the house in the buff, you have no neighbors or don't care what they see. By contrast, being caught without a stitch can occur while you are changing clothes and the doorbell rings, i.e., without any intention at all.

I hope this helps you uncover the implications of these threadbare terms

Dyslexic enablement

This week, a cousin of mine, David Rifkind, died at the early age of 51. He was a very successful real estate promoter in Los Angeles. During our last conversation in the summer at his house, we discussed dyslexia and its effects on our lives.  It turns out that we also had that "disability" in common. His comments expressed my feelings exactly and hopefully can serve as an inspiration to those who have it and those who work with them.

He enthusiastically stated that dyslexia was the key to his success.  Specifically, he noted that his ability to think differently allowed him to find solutions that "normal" people could not imagine. Instead of handicapping him, it gave him a leg up. If a task needed more analytical and less intuitional skills, he hired the appropriate person. So, dyslexia is not a curse but a blessing in many situations.

Naturally, depending on the type of dyslexia, other tasks can become difficult or even almost impossible. Dyslexics require great concentration to execute specific routine tasks. On the other hand, everybody finds certain simple jobs quite complicated. Most dyslexics find a way, granted unconventional, to attain reasonable success in these deficiencies. These strategies include proper scheduling, extra time, and no multitasking, to name just a few. Ultimately, dyslexics can achieve their goals no less successfully than others, sometimes on their own and sometimes with the help of others. The road is not always smooth or conventional but does lead to Rome.

Depending on the level and type of dyslexia, working with dyslexics may involve showing some flexibility and understanding. The price is well worth it. In a rapidly changing world, every company needs people that grasp the situation quickly and think outside the box.

So, to all those feeling frustrated by dyslexia or using it as an excuse for failure, I suggest that you embrace it and appreciate your unique approach to the world. Accentuate the positive, overcome the negative and find the niche in which your special talents will shine.

In memory of David Rifkind

Ultimate justice

I am a great believer in ultimate justice. It is sometimes the only ray of light in a depressing situation. I insist on being sure that those who consciously do ill to others will eventually pay the price in some manner. In my case, it is not any belief in the justice of some god but instead much closer to the concept of karma, i.e.  what goes around comes around.

This ultimate justice can be in both the personal and political spheres. I had a relative, who shall remain anonymous out of respect to his offspring, who created by acts of omission and commission great pain to the closest people in his family. I agree with my mother that it is right that he had a long, painful life if only on the basis of his choice to run away from responsibility. I have seen nasty bosses been unfairly treated by their bosses, showing that two unfairs make one fair. In politics, Stalin, Hitler and Mao are remembered by most people as murderous tyrants, not as the visionary leaders they supposedly strove to be.

I recognized that ultimate justice has a fundamental fault. Like all justice systems, it is notoriously slow, taking years or even decades to happen. In the meantime, hundreds, thousands or even millions suffer. Also, there is an intrinsic dichotomy between the suffering caused to others and that experienced by the evildoer. Still, the faith that some kind of justice will eventually be given is a candle in the dark. Today, as I see too many similarities between the Tolkien landscape in the middle of the third book and the current international policies situation dominated by Putin, Trump and Erdogan, to name just a few, I strongly hold on to my main hope: they too shall pay.

Israeli Training

I have chosen to live in the quiet north of Israel, affectionately called the "periphery" by official sources, for many reasons. One of them is the fact that the roads here are generally (still) open most of the day, rendering driving and breathing much healthier. Yet, I am occasionally obliged to descend to the center of the country for a day. To avoid the pleasure and fatigue of crawling in traffic jams, I take the train, which shall become even more convenient in a year when the train line to Karmiel is completed.

As any baseball statistician can tell you, nothing is perfect.  Even taking the train has its negative sides. Common with many systems, parking is often in shortage at the stations while the trains are often late. In other words, you know you are not in Northern Europe. An even more striking difference is the behavior of the passengers. As a measure of comparison, I remember taking a TGV from Paris to Quimper (Brittany), a trip of some four hours. The carriage was comfortable and quiet. In fact, I only noticed that there were quite a few children near me after almost three hours when I looked around. I recall thinking that the parents must have slipped their children some tranquilizer to get them to sit so quietly and for so long. Of course, the children's behavior followed societal expectations, which require even adults to avoid loud conversations and disturbing their fellow travelers.

Back to the Acco-Tel Aviv line, we have quite a different story. To be direct, children would be more tranquil than your average Israeli adult. Not that it is all negative. Upon a returning from a long flight abroad on a train from the airport, our train was stuck in the train station for almost an hour due to a suicide on the tracks (for which the train management was not responsible, clearly). The reaction of our fellow travelers was quite genial. Everybody took out some snacks and shared travel stories. If we could have lit a campfire, we would have done that. It was a rather happy delay.

Unfortunately, this openness is frequently not so positive. It is hard to identify which behavior is the most annoying. The candidates are long personal conversations about breakups or surgery conducted in the "privacy" of the carriage; personal attacks on train representatives with the poor luck of being in the carriage during a train delay; soldiers and students that create obstacle courses in the aisle by placing their cumbersome bags in strategic locations; parents that don't care if their children play noisy games on telephones or portable computers as long as they leave them in peace; and groups of youth that profit from the lack of parental supervision to sow their oats.

Don't get me wrong. With the correct attitude, any of the above actions can be entertaining and help the time go wrong. Also, many trips are quite unremarkable. To be fair, this behavior is not unique to Israel. Still, for me, the best solution is to limit my trips to Tel Aviv to the minimum and enjoy my quiet life in the north.

Head and shoulders, knees and toes

Every child learns the names of the body parts very early in life, often by song. Later on in life, they learn that these same words for body parts have meanings as verbs. The latter use is generally but not always related to the body part itself.

Starting at the top, to head a project is to run it while to head a ball in European football is to hit with your head, of course. To be scalped is to lose your head, literally, while scalping is privately selling tickets at higher price. Staying in the area, people must face their problems in order to solve them, i.e., deal with them directly. If someone is eyeing you, you are being observed while nosing around involves asking questions. Bad mouthing is making unpleasant references whereas teething is process of babies growing, well, teeth. While cheeky is not a verb, it is definitely not polite.  For that matter, chin-chin refers to the sound of glasses clinking (for a toast) and has nothing to do with the body part. Finally, as long as an argument is limited to jawing, the police will not intervene as it is all talk.

Descending, necking is what teenagers do in the back of the car or on a bench seat, i.e., long kisses, probably because of the various angles the neck takes (Interesting to know whether and how teenage giraffes do it). To shoulder a load is to bear it, as any backpacker knows. It is real fun to rib people, to make fun of them, as long as you know they have a sense of humor, with the other direction significantly less amusing. To arm people is provide them a weapon, something more dangerous than what nature provided them. For getting through crowds, you need to know how to elbow your way through, which involves using that joint aggressively. Handing something over does involve that appendix but not necessarily in a friendly way, even sometimes at gun point. If you are fingered, you should feel identified or insulted, as applicable. Thumbing is hitching for ride, which is signaled in the United States putting out your thump. Finally, couples need to back each other when dealing with children by supporting the other's decision.

On to the southern hemisphere, to be hip (grantedly not a verb) is to be cool and up to date, at least in the language of the a few generations ago. Once upon a time, when you ran out of gas in a remote location, you had to leg it to the next gas station, meaning to walk. Being kneed is very painful because the knee is a very hard joint. If you have to foot the bill, you pay out of your wallet. Getting your dog to heel on command is a basic part of canine training.  Finally, to toe the line (not tow!) is obey the rules and not go over the line.

Some of these examples are clearly prime material for Amelia Bedelia while others are child's play, so to speak.