… our complementary view to the busy side of life
“Zigger-zagger, zigger-zagger, oi oi oi!” is a battle cry that has been used for ages in sports and booze-ups. (Apparently originating in Germany and since adopted by Chelsea FC supporters.) Here now especially adapted for open air sex: ” Zigger-zagger, zigger-zagger hay hay hay”.
Probably precaution rather than experience. Neither in 2018 nor in 2019 were there any reports of death from haute couture. But there were a number of base jumper fatalities – but you can’t really say they look that well-dressed.
The Harlequin team says goodbye for the summer holidays. We wish you and ourselves a great time – and lots of inspiration for new contributions. Once again this year we‘ll publish a short article every Friday during the holidays, this time with the motto “Snapshots en route”. Here the first one:
… you stop in fascination when strolling by. I am often out and about in the woods in all seasons, this was my first encounter with this trend in nature.
Apparently nature moves with the times too.
English translation of all snapshot texts: BCO
In my series on Dutch “specialities” I have so far owed you the frikandel. That will change today.
The frikandel is the most commonly consumed fried snack in the Netherlands (it even beats croquettes and bitter bal!s) and the first thing you need to know about it is that it has absolutely nothing to do with the German Frikadel!e (For the unitiated: the Frikadelle is a kind of fried meatball) The frikandel is a kind of sausage without skin and for many years it was considered a “guilty pleasure”, because all sorts of questionable ingredients were attributed to it. Among other things, it was said to have cow’s eyes, ears and udders.
Continue reading “The sausage without skin – interesting facts about the Dutch “frikandel“”
What an awful term, it has been haunting me for some time now. Why? Well, I find it highly problematic – and I would like to share the background to it with you.
Continue reading “The new normality?”
When I read the quote from Karl Valentin this morning, I had to think of us Harlequins and our Harlequin.blog. Because even small works of art are a lot of work.
For more than 3 years we have been writing, inexperienced but eager-to-learn “fumblers in the dartk”, and have published a new text every Friday. Each author follows his own path. Some look at IT and change projects with their consulting glasses, others discover stylistic howlers in (real?) life and others philosophise about all the world and his wife. With time we have built a list of guest authors who like writing for our Harlekin.Blog.
Continue reading “Art is beautiful, but it’s a lot of work.”
The author of the following article is Caterina Berger. She works as a freelancer for the translation agency Linguation in the field of content creation and online marketing. She majored in Japanese Studies and is working towards a doctorate in General Linguistics. Her favourite area is sociolinguistics and intercultural communication. We are pleased to have her as a guest author.
Admittedly, my title is not exactly original, but there are good reasons for that. In fact it is hard to describe life as a translator more accurately. Between clients who question every syllable of their ten-year-old internship testimony and those who would like to have their 500-page dissertation translated into Chinese by the end of the week, we have the pleasure of coping with unpaid invoices, unclear instructions and corrupt file formats.
Continue reading “Lost in Translation”
During my exchanges with friends about the Corona restrictions in our countries of residence and the way in which these are communicated to the citizens, I have found that we have a trump card here in the Netherlands that is not to be found in any other country: We have Irma!
Continue reading “Everyone loves Irma!”
You probably missed the short article last week that related how the UK was funding a programme to explore the feasibility of dogs recognizing Covid-19 from its scent. Labradores, Spaniels and other smart-nosed breeds are already deployed to sniff out contraband, drugs, even apples if you dare to smuggle one into the States in your lunch box. They can also spot cancer, multiple sclerosis and Parkinson’s, though you wonder why bother with the last what with the striking visual clues of the disease.
Continue reading “Harlekin Exclusive: Artificial Intellisense”
It would be nice if I could tell you my core message right at the beginning and thus enable you to decide right here whether it is worth reading on.
But things are different. For the moment I am glad to have overcome this inhibition in front of a blank page. Just as Heinrich von Kleist expressed himself about the gradual development of thoughts while speaking, so I am writing here about a gradual development of my own thoughts while writing.
The title promises something like a journey, a thought journey. I invite you to accompany me. I love travelling and moreover it is a beautiful metaphor.
Continue reading “From learning to knowing and back”