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Schliemann Method - AFRIKAANS | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| Romanist Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5284 days ago 261 posts - 366 votes  Studies: Italian | Message 1 of 34 02 December 2010 at 1:23pm | IP Logged | ||
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This log is my own Afrikaans version of the "January Dutch Challenge" which Sprachprofi and several other forum members are planning to do. My intended learning method is inspired by OlafP's Russian experiment (and, of course, by Heinrich Schliemann who first gave his name to this approach.) It is going to be simple, but - hopefully - a very efficient use of a limited amount of time. I have a crime novel in Afrikaans by Deon Meyer, "Infanta", and I'm basically going to see how much of this I can learn by heart! (NOTE OF INTEREST: Deon Meyer is a bestselling author, but his readership is mostly in English, French and German; many of his fans most probably don't even know that the original versions of his books are written and published in Afrikaans!) To begin with I will be using other resources as well (e.g. "Teach Yourself") in order to get the Afrikaans pronunciation at least vaguely right. However, I'm not going to be too hung up about pronunciation, to be quite honest... If I can figure out how the heck to do it, I may upload some MP3 soundfiles of me reading the passages which I have learned - we'll see. I will also try to add daily translation notes from the passages that I'm working on. The fact that I have dabbled a little with Afrikaans in the past, together with my high level of reading comprehension in English and German, mean that Afrikaans texts are already about 65% or 70% transparent for me - so hopefully this work shouldn't be too labour-intensive. If and when I feel able to do so, I will also start to post comments in Afrikaans. The timeframe for this log is about 6 weeks from mid December onwards - so I may not get to a very high level as regards active writing skills, but I'll do my best. Wish me luck! Edited by Romanist on 03 December 2010 at 2:48pm 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Romanist Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5284 days ago 261 posts - 366 votes Studies: Italian | Message 2 of 34 03 December 2010 at 3:37pm | IP Logged | ||
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I’ve been thinking, maybe I should work together with the English (or German) version of this book? Maybe that would speed things up a little bit? From Deon Meyer's own website, here are some quotes taken from the opening page of the English version of "Infanta": “My name is Benny Griessel and I am an alcoholic.” "Hello, Benny," said thirty-two voices in a happy chorus. "Last night I drank a whole bottle of Jack Daniels and I hit my wife. This morning she kicked me out the house. I have gone one day without drinking. I am here because I can't control my drinking. I am here because I want my wife and children and my life back." But getting his life back won't be easy for Detective Inspector Benny Griessel of Cape Town's Serious and Violent Crimes Unit, because there is a vigilante killer on the loose - a ruthless executioner with a personal vendetta against the scum committing crimes against children. With the media screaming, politicians turning up the heat, his young, inexperienced colleagues bumbling, and the body count rising, Griessel has to resort to the desperate measure of setting a trap. But his brilliant plan does not quite take into account the love of a sex worker for her child, the ruthlessness of the deadly Sangrenegra drug cartel or his own passion for the healing powers of the bottle. THE SAME QUOTES IN THE AFRIKAANS VERSION: “My naam is Bennie Griessel en ek is ’n alkoholis.” “Hallo, Bennie”, sê die twee en dertig stemme in ’n blymoedige koor. “Ek het gisteraand ’n bottel Jack Daniels uitgesuip en my vrou geslaan. Sy het my vanoggend uit die huis uit gesit. Ek is nou en dag sonder drank. Ek is hier omdat ek nie my drinkery kan beheer nie. Ek is hier omdat ek my vrou en my kinders en my lewe wil terughê.” Maar om sy lewe terug te kry, moet speurder-insekteur Griessel van die Ernstige en Geweldsmisdaadeenheid eers vir Artemis keer: die vigilante wat die doodstraf teruggebring het, wat besig is om misdaad teen kinders met ’n lang lem en ’n skrikwekkende meedoenloosheid te wreek. En met die media wat skree, die politici wat druk toepas, ’n span onbeholpe jong speurders en verskeie kollegas wat hom in die rug steek, stel Bennie Griessel ’n lokval. Maar hy het nie rekening gehou met die liefde van ’n sekswerker vir haar kind, die haat van die Sangrenegro-dwelmkartel en sy eie smagting na die helende kragte van die bottel nie. (Interestingly enough, the English version seems to be quite ‘free’ – i.e. not a very direct or exact translation.) Edited by Romanist on 04 December 2010 at 11:58am 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Romanist Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5284 days ago 261 posts - 366 votes Studies: Italian | Message 3 of 34 03 December 2010 at 4:19pm | IP Logged | ||
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Here it is again with the parts underlined which wouldn't have been clear to me without seeing the English version: “My naam is Bennie Griessel en ek is ’n alkoholis.” “Hallo, Bennie”, sê die twee en dertig stemme in ’n blymoedige koor. “Ek het gisteraand ’n bottel Jack Daniels uitgesuip en my vrou geslaan. Sy het my vanoggend uit die huis uit gesit. Ek is nou en dag sonder drank. Ek is hier omdat ek nie my drinkery kan beheer nie. Ek is hier omdat ek my vrou en my kinders en my lewe wil terughê.” Maar om sy lewe terug te kry, moet speurder-insekteur Griessel van die Ernstige en Geweldsmisdaadeenheid eers vir Artemis keer: die vigilante wat die doodstraf teruggebring het, wat besig is om misdaad teen kinders met ’n lang lem en ’n skrikwekkende meedoenloosheid te wreek. En met die media wat skree, die politici wat druk toepas, ’n span onbeholpe jong speurders en verskeie kollegas wat hom in die rug steek, stel Bennie Griessel ’n lokval. Maar hy het nie rekening gehou met die liefde van ’n sekswerker vir haar kind, die haat van die Sangrenegro-dwelmkartel en sy eie smagting na die helende kragte van die bottel nie. So this will be the first passage to assimilate and internalize, I guess. Here goes! Edited by Romanist on 04 December 2010 at 11:59am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Doitsujin Diglot Senior Member Germany Joined 5322 days ago 1256 posts - 2363 votes Speaks: German*, English | Message 4 of 34 03 December 2010 at 4:54pm | IP Logged | ||
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BTW, the German translation "Der Atem des Jägers" by Ulrich Hoffmann was based on the English translation not the Afrikaans original. IMHO, a translation of a translation is usually not as good as a translation from the original, unless the first translation is very good, that is.
Also, note to self, apparently there aren't enough Afrikaans to German translators. :-) As for the blurb text, even though I only studied Dutch, I could get the gist of it. I could even spot some German cognates that you might have missed. ernstig = ernst (serious) Geweldsmisdaadeenheid = geweld = Gewalt (violence), misdaad = Missetat (crimes), eenheid = einheit (unit) onbeholpe = unbeholfen (clumsy) helend = heilend (healing) kragte = Kräfte (powers) Good luck with your challenge! Edited by Doitsujin on 03 December 2010 at 5:39pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Romanist Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5284 days ago 261 posts - 366 votes Studies: Italian | Message 5 of 34 03 December 2010 at 5:12pm | IP Logged | ||
This is an interesting point. I believe there is a video interview with Deon Meyer on the Krimicouch.de website, where he is asked about precisely this point. (If I remember rightly, he says that he works together very closely with his Afrikaans-to-English translator - so that the English version can almost be regarded as a kind of 'second original'.) But I think you're right - it would be even better if there someone out there who could translate directly from Afrikaans into German. UPDATE Here is the link to the Krimicouch.de video interview with Deon Meyer: http://www.krimi-couch.de/krimis/video-interview-mit-deon-me yer.html UPDATE II For some dumb reason, the forum software keeps putting a blank space into the above link! (There should be no gap between "me" and "yer".) Edited by Romanist on 03 December 2010 at 5:25pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Romanist Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5284 days ago 261 posts - 366 votes Studies: Italian | Message 6 of 34 03 December 2010 at 7:30pm | IP Logged | ||
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Many thanks to Doitsujin for pointing out the following cognates. ernstig = ernst (serious) Geweldsmisdaadeenheid = geweld = Gewalt (violence), misdaad = Missetat (crimes), eenheid = einheit (unit) onbeholpe = unbeholfen (clumsy) helend = heilend (healing) kragte = Kräfte (powers) I have also managed to research the following words: meedoenloosheid = ruthlessness wreek = avenge toepas = apply verskeie = various (GER: "verschiedene") haat = hatred, malice dwelm = illegal drug "vir Artemis keer" would seem to be an idiom, but I can't find its exact meaning. "lem" seems to mean knife or blade - but I'm not 100% sure. Edited by Romanist on 04 December 2010 at 11:55am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Romanist Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5284 days ago 261 posts - 366 votes Studies: Italian | Message 7 of 34 04 December 2010 at 11:45am | IP Logged | ||
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Oops! Silly me! :-O
Reading on a little further, it quickly becomes clear that "Artemis" is actually a police codeword used in the story. Hence "vir Artmis keer" must mean "clear up the Artemis case", or something like that. (It's just so weird trying to read Afrikaans. There are whole chunks of text which are 99% transparent due to similarities with German or English - but then suddenly there will be a key word or phrase that I can't get.) 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Romanist Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5284 days ago 261 posts - 366 votes Studies: Italian | Message 8 of 34 05 December 2010 at 12:30pm | IP Logged | ||
Having dusted off my box of Afrikaans resources, I'm inclined to use my 1980s version of Linguaphone Afrikaans rather than TY. The audio content from Linguaphone isn't quite the same crisp CD-quality as TY - but there is a lot more of it. I also have the older version of Ling. Afrikaans, which is IMO even better, but alas I never got around to remastering those tapes as MP3 files. (If anyone has ever done this, they will realize that it is a surprisingly time consuming process!) The Schliemann-challenge is going to start in about two weeks time from now. Before then I'm going to spend a lot of time listening to my Ling. audio, so as to try and get my Afrikaans pronunciation up to a reasonable level. (However - as I've said before - I'm not one of those people who is completely anal about pronunciation! My main interest is in reading. And anyway, I'm never realistically going to sound exactly like an Afrikaaner, I think.) Edited by Romanist on 05 December 2010 at 12:32pm 1 person has voted this message useful |
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