|
I haven't lived in Germany for almost ten years, so I'm somewhat amazed at what is considered acceptable German these days. I remember how, in the early days of the Internet, we used to make cruel fun of the word "downloaden," considering it no better than Hogan's Heroes German. And here it is, being used in a perfectly normal manner...
Having translated software and documentation for a living myself, I am also intrigued by the tough choices translators have to make; for example, assigning a grammatical gender to the Iliad. I always considered mine male, but these guys went for neuter ("der Iliad" vs. "das Iliad"). Why? I guess you could discuss both choices till your teeth fall out....
Also: "Wipptaste" for "flipbar." Love it! Never heard it before. Did they come up with it or has it been around for other gadgets?
Still as terrible as ten years ago: "selektieren" instead of "auswaehlen"; "das Template" instead of "die Formatvorlage"; and such strange things as "spendierte Funktionalitaeten". And if you want me to, I could talk all night about why "screen" covers a much wider range of technology than "Bildschirm" and why therefore a new word should be coined for an e-ink display... I guess that as with anything Irex-related, this German documentation is a work in progress, too.
Ah well - translators get old, but they never fade away ... I'll shut up now....
|