Let's Get to Work Again

After the two-months break, I'm feeling much more rejuvenated! The second phase of the translations will begin tomorrow.

This time I'm getting to those translations with the skills of a 10-month German beginner instead of a 4-month German beginner. I'll be revamping some of the earliest translations and aim to eliminate the italics in them, with any context I can find (including in the comments) cited.

I'll also be having a go at translating the introduction to 'Messer', written by the late Gert Hof, and the final mini-biographical notes at the end of the book, giving the entire text a more permanent sense of completion.

There will be no specific point where this phase might 'end' - the more I learn, the more I'll be able to better my translations. It'll also be somewhat slower and the differences might be minimal, but every little bit helps.

So let's get to it again. I'm back.

Till Lindemann's 'Messer' - Mid-Progress Thoughts

So as of 19th April and a little over two months since I began this project, twenty poems out of Till's fifty-two listed in 'Messer' are left. I've done over half of them, and as of April I have six months' worth of German language experience.

Not bad, I say. Not bad.

I don't know who is reading all of those poems, but I know links come from Deviantart, Facebook and other sites that link here. No comments have been made for any of my translations yet, though, and I would still appreciate some because I'm still so much of an amateur. But it's okay. I'd like to thank everyone for reading and appreciating Till Lindemann's beautiful poems.

My skills are very lacking, but still lots of people visit this blog and read my translations. That makes me very happy.

After I'm finished with the entire set, I think I may go back through some of the translations and re-translate/update them. As I discovered throughout the process of going through those poems, quite a lot of them can be linked to Rammstein songs as well (whether entire lines of poems making it into lyrics, or thematically similar), and I believe I might make a little note of those references too. And the rhyme scheme. I have a lot of work to do in that sense.

So, thank you very much, again. I will do my best.

Till Lindemann's 'Messer' - Translation Series

Haven't written here for ages. Got no excuse except for 'life', really. I shall not bore anyone who might be reading this with stories of how weird my life became after exams in mid-2011. Long story short, I am in university now, and yes it was Durham. Wooo! I also fell hard in love with industrial metal and German music and am also properly learning German. A years-long dream come true. *happy sobs*

I've become twice as more active on DA lately because of Rammstein fanfiction that I'm putting over there. Daily ramblings and weird stuff go there now, mostly. I'm going to keep updating the fanfic list, especially seeing as I've got major additions to make there - it's quite out of date now - and in the meanwhile this blog will now be flooded with my horrible translations of Till Lindemann's book of poetry, 'Messer', that was published in 2002. I figure seeing as it's been about ten years, perhaps it's safer to stick some translations in a blog.

Every translated poem will come with a disclaimer. They will be devoid of the original pictures or the German text because that is just pushing it a wee bit too far into copyright, and even then, I can't guarantee that the translations will always be here. I'd like to just make it clear that if there's ever a cease-and-desist, they're all going to be deleted and I'm prepared for that possibility. Otherwise, everybody can laugh at my horrible efforts at translating poetry I will perhaps never fully understand in ten years, let alone five months (which is how long I've been learning German). I was fourteen when I discovered a love for English poetry and by then had been learning English for over ten years. It took me longer for plays and metafiction. I hope to gain an artistic/poetic understanding of German eventually, so it should be good practice.

Goodbye, Sweet Sixteen

My birthday is tomorrow, the eighteenth of June. In fact, it's less than two hours away.

Well, congratulations, Kimby. What probably should have been your most lively year, and the most carefree one, was actually one riddled with alternating struggles and rays of happiness. You lived half of your sixteenth year on your own, surviving and being free for the first time in your life, and found a wonderful sweetheart who will take care of you whenever you're in need. Also part of your experience was losing loved ones - your parents, in a way, your previous friends, adjusting to an all-new environment forty minutes away by bus. Commuting two hours each day, forwards and back, to college.

So what has this year taught me?

Love. Learning to cope. That there are truly accepting people in this world. That sometimes, it's best to let it all out and cry.

And I survived. You're on your own now, Kimby, for the most part. But don't worry; friends and loves will take care of you, and you don't have to be unwanted and alone any more. You've earned all of this throughout the whole year. And that, in its entirety, is fair enough gift for a young girl to treasure all her life.

Aequam memento rebus in arduis servare mentem - 'remember when life's path is steep to keep your mind even'. And this will be a lesson to keep with you all your life.

You did well, girl. You did well.

Peppermint Orange

First update in about two months. Epic fail. x.x

'Peppermint Orange' is a piece of original fiction I did when I was in Year 10, and submitted for coursework. I got full marks for it. Happiness was created. And even now, after lots of fanfiction stories and countless chapters published online, Peppermint Orange was the first that felt like it was 'mine', truly and fully. It felt complete to me, and to this day I cherish this piece.

Maybe one day I'll get a fictionpress or something and put it up. But for now, up in my sweet little blog it goes. It's not a sad story, no - it's a fulfilling one. I'd like to think so. Clicky below for story.