"I don't need any special preparation, because I'm not nervous, I don't have what the Germans call lumpenfever, which is stage fright."
That's from a biography about Peter Ustinov and it was the last straw.
Let's talk a bit about foreign words in books.
You can imagine that I notice the wrong spelling or grammar for German words or phrases in English books more quickly, but this is by no means a problem of the German language only.
I've seen Germans do "interesting" things with the English language, English or German speaking people with the French language and so on, and those are just the languages I know something about.
This isn't going to become one of those "your/you're" discussions (although some things like those can drive me crazy silently, no matter who does it or in which language).
It's not about blogs or social media posts, either. Although I often look up words I'm not sure of at the moment, I make my share of mistakes and typos, no doubt (and correct even really old posts if I come across them again).
I'm talking about books by big publishing houses.
Do you know what lumpenfever means? Nothing. A German "Lump" is a "rascal" and "fever" is not German, it's, surprise, English. The word they meant is "Lampenfieber", literally "lamp fever".
Among the languages Ustinov spoke was German, and although it was not always perfect, which absolutely added to the charm, I wouldn't be surprised if his biographer simply got confused by the German "Lampe" being pronounced like the English "lump" and of course "Fieber" and "fever" sounding very similar.
What I don't understand - and that may be an idea from a mad librarian's brain - is why that kind of information isn't checked before printing.
I think Ustinov's biography pushed me over the edge because it wasn't the only German mistake in it, it was just the most interesting looking one.
Of course it's not only books, but articles, TV shows, movies, news.
I will never not cringe (petty, I know) hearing Geoffrey pronounced with an o for the eo as in George instead of Jeffrey in German dubbings, but that's just the first one that comes to mind because I heard it again in a movie not long ago.
Having non-German actors play Germans can be just as terrible to listen to as can be UK actors playing Americans etc. and the other way round or Germans mangling a regional dialect that isn't their own (which I'm sure also happens in other languages).
I also think it's a matter of respect to learn especially how to pronounce names that are foreign to us and of people doing that professionally I'd expect it even more.
Do you have a pet peeve like that?
By the way, if you write book reviews or blog posts about other book-related matters - even movies based on books - please check out "A Good Book and a Cup of Tea", a monthly bookish blog link party that I host together with Erin from Still Life, With Cracker Crumbs and Lisa from Boondock Ramblings. You can find out more about it here.
It is completely understandable to feel frustrated by this, especially when big publishing houses with dedicated editing teams let such glaring errors slip through to the final print. You would think a simple fact-check or a quick consultation with a native speaker would be standard practice before a book hits the shelves. Hearing a foreign name or dialect completely mangled in a professional movie dubbing or book translation always induces a bit of a cringe, and expecting professional creators to put in that basic level of research and respect is not petty at all.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad I'm not the only one thinking that it shouldn't be difficult to avoid mistakes like that. What bugs me most is that it seems to become worse rather than better.
DeleteI'll be honest. Any kind of error in a book irritates the heck out of me because, just as Melody said, someone should be fact checking. Isn't that what editors are for? Grammar errors (and I make lots) drive me crazy, too. I don't remember my German that well (if at all), so I can't remember if there were lots of grammar rules. I just remember having to learn the genders of certain nouns and such.
ReplyDeletehttps://marshainthemiddle.com/
I know how difficult it can be to eliminate all mistakes. At work we go through our homepage more than once and not just one person and we still miss mistakes sometimes. That's typos, though, and they can happen, even in a book. That doesn't mean they can't drive me crazy, but I'm more lenient about them.
DeleteWrong words in another language, though, wrong spelling for towns, people, etc. make me mad (and of course I'm not talking about actually having a different name for a town, like Milano which you call Milan and we Mailand). It's Heidelberg, not Heidelburg, and Frankfurt, not Frankfort, just to mention the last two that made me roll my eyes.
Oh, and yeah, we have our fair share of grammar rules ...
DeleteI understand this annoys you Cat. You make a good point! My pet peeve is when people do things in books that aren't physically possible.
ReplyDeleteOh yeah, that's a good one, too! It's so easy to make people superhuman on paper instead of thinking it through.
DeleteThis reminds me of a time at work when we were making calendars and the graphic designers were so proud of how the colors, the Pantone shades, and everything else had turned out. And it seemed like nobody cared that there were two March 26ths. I was frantic, because having the correct dates is the whole point of a calendar, isn’t it?
ReplyDeleteYou are of course absolutely right. Basics first and then you can make it pretty!
DeleteOh my gosh, that made me laugh - who cares about that dates? Details! The design is beautiful, that's what matters! Haha. Good thing you caught that...
DeleteI would be irritated 😒 🙄 😤 as well.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure the "lumpenfever" will turn up in some rants from now on (in person, not on here).
DeleteA typo is one thing, but mixing up a foreign word or name feels careless, especially in a book that went through professional editing. It really does take you out of the story for a moment.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely. Although I have also read books that had so many typos that it really made you wonder how much they cared about being professional.
DeleteThat is annoying! My pet peeve is another one that involves not fact-checking: when someone puts in a really specific detail, like a bus number, but then gets the information wrong. I started a book set in Birmingham once and the character got the No. 11 into town. The No. 11 goes in a circle, 4 miles outside the city centre, so you can never get it into town! Gah! Just say "the bus" if you can't be bothered to check!
ReplyDeleteA note, though, that editors don't often do fact-checking. An editor at a publisher will read and do notes and developmental stuff, a line editor like me will do grammar, consistency, etc., and I will flag up anything I notice looks odd, a proofreader will make sure it looks OK on the page, but a fact-checker will check the facts.
I totally get that pet peeve, Liz. I wonder if the author just went with a random number or if they got it wrong, but yeah, if you want to offer specific details, check them beforehand. The author of the Ustinov biography could just have said stage fright and avoid the German word altogether.
DeleteThank you very much for the additional info, that's good to know! I wonder if there will even be fact-checkers in these modern times.
Yes, I get very frustrated when I read or see on TV people trying to speak in Spanish or French and they say something completely off, like nowhere along the process was that checked? I totally understand this pet peeve!
ReplyDeleteIt just feels lazy.
DeleteI find these things frustrating as well. How hard is it to double-check? Maybe pre-Internet would have been some work, but now? I understand a typo. We all do them, but it seems disrespectful to not get foreign words right. Same with names - pronunciation or spelling.
ReplyDeleteI'm afraid we are going to see more and more of it.
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