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Cake day: June 6th, 2023

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  • He said, “Sag mal, wie lange wollt ihr bei dem Scheiß bleiben?” He said the problem was that Trump was rambling (this part of the speech was unscripted). Article is in German. Here’s a partial translation by DeepL, tweaked by me:

    His interjection should not be interpreted as a political statement. “No, that would be completely wrong. The political content is not the problem,“ says Deja, adding: ”I interpret all the time for people whose political statements I don’t agree with. The problem with Trump was that he suddenly started associating freely or saying the same thing three times in a row. The difficulty when interpreting is following these confusing leaps of thought.” He explains: “If a speaker has organized thoughts, then as soon as the sentence has started, you can roughly guess what will come next. You can keep surfing that wave. But that’s impossible with Trump.”

    I believe it, because simultaneous interpreting is really hard, intense work. You have to listen, remember it word for word, understand it, and give an accurate, natural sounding translation pretty much instantly. You have to try to convey the tone, understand cultural differences, and figure out how to say things that just don’t translate well. It’s so much work that interpreters often work in teams so they can relieve each other every 30 minutes or so.






  • People began to rejoice in their ability to speak freely. Furious debates over the country’s future ensued. In cafes, over cups of coffee and cigarettes, furious arguments were taking place about the direction the rebel-led government would take, voices raised as people tested the new limits of their freedoms.

    Still, it was not easy to shake off the idea that the regime was watching. During an interview with a public-sector employee who preferred to remain anonymous, the employee paused as they were asked about their opinion about the new government. They excused themselves and went to the next room, where they threw up.

    Returning to the interview with red-rimmed eyes, the employee apologised.

    “You ask me if I’m afraid? Of course, I am afraid. I am 53 years old. And in 53 years, this is the first time that I am speaking freely,” they said.


  • Both ways can work. Looking up words, and trying to guess the meaning from context. I use both, depending on my mood and the situation.

    I like trying to guess the meaning because you have to think things through. That helps you remember the answer. Doesn’t matter if you got it right or wrong. It’s not always easy, but it gets better with practice.

    You can usually look at the situation and narrow it down to a few possibilities. If my guess seems decent enough to get the gist, I keep going. Usually, you’ll find something that helps you figure out if you were right.

    If I see a word several times, I usually look it up. Otherwise, it’s probably not that important (unless I happen to be curious).

    And if I look up a word and forget it, no big deal. Happens all the time. I’ll either come across it again, or it wasn’t that important.

    It can be slow going, no matter what option you choose. But if you keep at it, you can get to a point where you rarely have to look things up.


  • It’s colloquial and you’ll hear it when people talk about making food. Like if you’re making a sandwich. You put mayo on the bread, then you put the cheese, then you add meat and lettuce or whatever.

    It’s kind of like “on” is implied and you don’t bother to say it. I just mentioned it, so I don’t need to say it again. That’s how it feels to me anyway.

    I could see myself saying “First you put mayo, then you put cheese.” That would be like if someone was standing next to me, watching me make the sandwich. They can see exactly where I’m putting things. But normally you do want to specify where you’re putting something.