Friday, 17 May 2013
Finding the Right Language.
I just watched the charge of the Rohirrim at the Battle of the Pellinore
Fields in German. Hey, it’s good!
Very Wagnerian! Hearing old Theodens spouting his pre-battle speech in the most
guttural language on earth really works. And when the crumply-faced bad guy
down in the valley yells Fire! the German
version has Fi-yer!, which is much
more exciting.
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2 comments:
Dear JJ Beazley,
this is interesting: phonetically, only using ones own understanding of what letters sound like, a german fellow like myself would yell Feu-ja! (Feuer!), while you describe the same sound as Fi-yer!.
By the way:
Della is my better half (which would mean I'm the lesser one, oh dear …) and she thoroughly enjoys your insights and often shares them with me. She got me hooked too now and you can count me in as one of your fans.
PS.
I’m afraid I'm rather obsessed with typography and I teach my students that for good reading white text on a black background is not ideal. Much more pleasant is an off-white background with black writing, or white background with dark grey letters. I know that you are far too wise by now to be in need of a teacher :-)
You had me worried for a minute there, Martin.
‘Oh no! A German has left a comment on that post, and we’ve demolished all the air raid shelters!’
(We used to have some old shelters at the top of my primary school grounds, you know. I used to like going down into them. They were dark and crumbling, and smelt of stale urine for some reason. I wondered whether the smell had been put there deliberately so nobody would notice when people pee’d themselves.)
So anyway, it sounds like ‘fi-yer’ to me, but I gather accents vary considerably from one part of Germany to another. And by an odd coincidence, the people where I was brought up pronounce it ‘fi-yer’ as well. So either the voice actor was a Bavarian or something, or I was hearing what I wanted to hear. This is the clip if you want have a listen:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A7jMX_jLeQc
As for the white text on a black background, I do it simply because it suits my slightly perverse nature, even though I know it’s a little less comfortable to read. And it might not be possible to change it now, since some of the customising options are no longer functioning with the old-style, simple template.
Thank you for leaving a comment, Martin. Much appreciated. And do say ‘hugs’ to Della for me, if you would. I often wonder how the family are faring these days.
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