4e: Text 4 plus some English stuff page contents

4e: Text 4 plus some English stuff page contents

4e: Text 4 plus some English stuff
page
contents
2
3
4
German text
Model translation with highlighted points
Selected language notes from the class:
discourse markers, syntax, aspect
Matching English articles (highlighted)
5 onwards
Edward Martin
Institut für Anglistik
T2: Staatsexamensklausurenkurs SS 2008
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Any alternative translations of individual words and phrases will be ignored.
Numbers and signs: numbers, signs (% etc), words remain numbers, signs and words.
Questions about the meaning of the German text are not permitted. However, you may consult the
German dictionary provided by the person invigilating the exam.
Translation aids. You are allowed to use any two of the following monolingual English dictionaries (no
older editions are permitted):
Longman's Dictionary of Contemporary English (4th edition, 2003, or revised edition 2005);
Macmillan's English Dictionary for Advanced Learners (2nd edition, 2007); Oxford Advanced
Learner's Dictionary (7th edition, 2005); Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary (2003)
plus
Oxford Collocations Dictionary for Students of English (2002)
Please leave a wide margin on each side and a wide space between each line. At the top of the page, write
your name, the name of your dictionaries (eg OALD7 / DCE 4 + OCD), and the variety of English you
think you write (US, GB, AUS or CAN).
Please treat this as an official exam: work in silence, do not confer with anyone or attempt to look at
anyone's work, and do not let anyone look at your work.
If you finish early, you may not leave the room until 10 minutes before the finishing time (and then no
one is allowed to leave the room for a break). If you leave early, please leave quietly after handing in your
translation and homework.
Text 4, Type B (general language):
Endstation Hochzeit
Worum geht es in der bis 2004 ausgestrahlten Serie – und natürlich auch in dem Spielfilm?
Um die H-Frage: So geistig wie finanziell unabhängig sich die vier Hauptfiguren auch geben,
natürlich träumen sie im Grund ihres Herzens doch vom Heiraten. Von dem Mann fürs
Leben, dem verlässlichen Kerl und sensiblen Lover.
Die Ausgangssituation: Nach zehn Jahren harter Beziehungsarbeit wollen Carrie und ihr Mr.
Big tatsächlich heiraten. Sofort schleicht sich Abendroutine bei dem Paar ein, man sitzt im
Bett, er blättert im „Wall Street Journal“, sie in einem Buch aus der Leihbibliothek,
„Liebesbriefe großer Männer, Band 1“. Was haben Voltaire, Napoleon und Beethoven für
ewig gültige Worte gefunden, um ihren Angebeteten das Gefühl zu geben, „the one“ zu sein!
Selbstverständlich kann sich die in Beziehungsdingen manisch masochistische Carrie die
Bemerkungen nicht verkneifen, dass er ihr niemals amouröse Post geschickt habe. Noch nicht
einmal eine SMS. Das muss natürlich schief gehen. Mr. Big hat die Hosen gestrichen voll.
Aber dieser Film ist sehr brav geworden. Wo sind die Dildos und Bonmots, die
männermordenden Kommentare, die politisch unkorrekten Seitenhiebe, die tabulosen
Sexszenen? Überhaupt: Wo ist New York? Dieser Film könnte überall spielen, die Stadt der
Städte, in der Serie stets die Fünfte im Bunde, hat nur eine Nebenrolle abbekommen.
(Erschienen im gedruckten Tagesspiegel vom 27.05.2008)
ca. 200 words
highlighted: punctuation and spelling, vocabulary, grammar & syntax, discourse markers
Destination Marriage/ A Streetcar Named Wedding
What’s it (all) about, this series, which was aired/broadcast until 2004
— and the movie too, of course? It’s about the M-question: no matter
how mentally and financially independent the four protagonists like to
come across/ appear, in their heart of hearts/from the bottom of
their hearts they naturally do still dream about marriage. About Mr.
Right/ the man of their lives, the dependable guy and sensitive lover.
The starting point: after /After[AmE] ten years of hard work on
their relationship, Carrie and her Mr. Big actually want to get married.
In no time, routine begins to creep into the couple’s evenings: sitting
in bed, he leafs through the Wall Street Journal and she (leafs) through
a book from the (lending) library, Love Letters of/by Great Men,
Volume 1. Oh, what eternally true words Voltaire, Napoleon and
Beethoven found to give their beloved the feeling of being ‘the one’! It
goes without saying that Carrie, (who is) manically masochistic in
relationship matters, can’t help/resist remarking that he has never
sent her any amorous mail. Not even a text (message). Clearly, this is
bound to go awry/wrong. Mr. Big is scared out of his wits.
But this film has turned out to be very innocuous/well-behaved.
Where are the dildos/dildoes and bons mots/one-liners, the malemurdering remarks, the politically incorrect digs/sideswipes, the
unbridled sex scenes? Actually: where/Where[AmE] is New York?
This film could be set anywhere; the city of cities, always the fifth
main character in the series, has been fobbed off with only a
supporting role.
B-texts: Discourse Markers, Syntax and Aspect
B-texts tend to create translation problems in the three areas above. Keep
notes on all of them. Three examples from this week’s text.
Discourse markers: überhaupt
DM are difficult to translate because their precise meaning often only becomes clear in
context. The best thing is to think about their function (Swan looks at them from this
angle).
Wo sind die Dildos und Bonmots, die männermordenden Kommentare, die politisch
unkorrekten Seitenhiebe, die tabulosen Sexszenen? Überhaupt: Wo ist New York?
Überhaupt: it is introducing and emphasising a very important point connected with
what has just been said. This means that “generally”, “besides”, “anyway”, “by the
way”, “indeed” – words that you used in your translations – are all inappropriate.
“actually” can be used in this attention-grabbing way, to focus on a new point
connected with something you’ve been talking about.
Actually: where is New York?
Syntax for emphasis
Was haben Voltaire, Napoleon und Beethoven für ewig gültige Worte gefunden, um ihren
Angebeteten das Gefühl zu geben, „the one“ zu sein!
The punctuation tells us this is an exclamation, not a question.
It’s like: Was für einen tollen Tag wir hatten! What a great day we had!
What eternally true words Voltaire, Napoleon and Beethoven found…
Aspect
B-texts often describe the events of a story, using the simple present to relate the
narrative, one event after another. This is the case in the text above.
Sofort schleicht sich Abendroutine bei dem Paar ein, man sitzt im Bett, er blättert im „Wall
Street Journal“, sie in einem Buch aus der Leihbibliothek, „Liebesbriefe großer Männer,
Band 1“.
The emphasis is also on routine here, things done again and again, simple aspect:
In no time, routine begins to creep into the couple’s evenings: sitting in bed, he leafs
through the Wall Street Journal and she (leafs) through a book
Note the elegant use of a participle clause “sitting in bed” to replace “they sit in bed”.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sex_and_the_City:_The_Movie
Plot
Set five years after the events of "An American Girl in Paris, Part Deux", the film begins with Carrie
and Big viewing apartments with the intention of moving in together. Carrie falls in love with a
penthouse suite, well outside their original price range, but Big immediately agrees to pay for it.
However, Carrie experiences doubts over the sensibility of this arrangement, explaining that they are
not married, and as such she would have no legal rights to their home in the event of a separation.
Quelling her worry, Big suggests that they get married.
Miranda is finding balancing her home, work and social lives ever more difficult, and confesses that
she hasn’t slept with Steve for six months. She is devastated when Steve reveals he has slept with
another woman, and immediately separates from him, moving out of the family home in Brooklyn
and back to Manhattan. Samantha has moved to L.A. with Smith, who has a successful television
career, but she is finding it difficult to take time for herself. She is traveling frequently between L.A.
and New York, and grappling with her persistent desire for sex with other men, particularly their next
door neighbor.
Carrie'
s wedding plans escalate into such a lavish event that Big begins to experience doubts. He is
also reminded of his two failed marriages. After an argument with Steve at the rehearsal dinner,
Miranda tells Big bluntly that he and Carrie are crazy to be getting married. On the day of the
ceremony, he decides he cannot go through with it. He changes his mind and returns to the venue (the
New York Public Library) in time to catch Carrie as she leaves, but she has already been left
devastated. She and the girls take the honeymoon that Carrie had booked to Mexico, where they destress and collect themselves.
On her return to New York, Carrie hires an assistant, Louise, to help her move back into her old
apartment and manage her administration. Charlotte is delighted to learn she is pregnant, although for
several months is concerned that something might happen to the baby, as her life with Harry and their
adopted daughter Lily seems to be too perfect. After reflecting on an argument she has with Carrie,
Miranda agrees to attend couples counseling with Steve, and they are eventually able to reconcile.
Samantha begins overeating to keep her from cheating on Smith, but eventually realizes that their
relationship is simply not working, and that she needs to put herself first. The two break up, and she
moves back to New York.
A surprise encounter with Big leaves Charlotte so furious she goes into labor. Big delivers her to the
hospital, and waits until the baby, Rose, is born, hoping to see Carrie. Harry passes on the message
that he would like her to call him, and that he has written to her frequently, but never received a reply.
Carrie searches her correspondence, before realizing that Louise has kept his emails password
protected from her, after she earlier announced she wished to sever all communication with him. She
finds that he has sent her dozens of letters copied from a book she showed him in the weeks before
their wedding, "Love Letters of Great Men", culminating with one of his own, telling her he is sorry
and will always love her.
One hour before the locks are due to be changed on their shared apartment, Carrie travels to the home
Big had bought for them to collect a pair of Manolo Blahnik shoes she had left there. She finds Big in
the walk-in closet he had built for her, and the moment she sees him, her anger at his betrayal
dissipates. She runs into his arms and they share a passionate kiss. After spending the final hour in
their apartment together, talking and apologizing to one another, Big proposes to Carrie properly,
using one of her shoes in place of a ring. They later marry alone, in a simple wedding in New York
City Hall, followed by a get-together at a local diner with friends. The movie ends with the four girls
around a table in a restaurant celebrating Samantha'
s fiftieth birthday, and making a toast to the next
fifty. Carrie ends the movie commenting that love is the best label of all.
Critical reception
The film received mixed reviews from critics. As of June 8, 2008, the review aggregator Rotten
Tomatoes reported that 53% of critics gave the film positive reviews, based on 121 reviews — with
the consensus that "Sex and the City loses steam in the transition to the big screen, but will still thrill
fans of the show."[15] Metacritic reported the film had an average score of 54 out of 100, based on 35
reviews.[16] The movie received an average score of 65.9% from 60 film critics according to Movie
Tab. [17] It has a 4.8 score from 11,651 voters on the IMDB as of June 3, 2008.
Brian Lowry of Variety said the film "..feels a trifle half-hearted",[18] while Carina Chocano of the
Los Angeles Times stated "[the film] tackles weighty issues with grace but is still very funny". She
praised Michael Patrick King'
s work saying very few movies "are willing to go to such dark places
while remaining a comedy in the Shakespearean sense".[19] Colin Bertram of the New York Daily
News dubbed the film a "great reunion", and was happy with the return of "The '
Oh, my God, they did
not just do that!'moments, the nudity, the swearing, the unabashed love of human frailty and
downright wackiness".[20] The Chicago Tribune's Jessica Reeves described it as "Witty, effervescent
and unexpectedly thoughtful."[21] Michael Rechtshaffen at The Hollywood Reporter praised the
performances of the four leading ladies and said the film kept the essence of the series, but resembled
a super-sized episode.[22]
Manohla Dargis of The New York Times found the film "a vulgar, shrill, deeply shallow — and, at 2
hours and 22 turgid minutes, overlong — addendum to a show", [23] while The Daily Telegraph's
Sukhdev Sandhu panned the film saying "[the ladies] have become frozen, Spice Girls-style types angsty, neurotic, predatory, princess - rather than individuals who might evolve or surprise us".[24]
Rick Groen of The Globe and Mail agreed, adding that he found the blatant product placement to be
disconcerting. He gave the film zero stars out of four.[25]