| Pages in topic: < [1 2 3 4] | How to protect against the end of the Euro? Thread poster: Günter Dannhauer
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opolt 
Germany
Local time: 07:54
English to German
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| What we can take from this, IMHO | Dec 8, 2011 |
As I see it, we as foreign language professionals should be among the true avantgarde of globalization -- not in the narrow (and often rather petty) sense of doing business on an international level only, but above all as specialists in cross-border and cross-culture communication, as mediators between cultural differences. As such, we should be concerned, and should be watching with interest, whatever the outcome.
(I know this will sound too haughty to many of you -- but tha... See more As I see it, we as foreign language professionals should be among the true avantgarde of globalization -- not in the narrow (and often rather petty) sense of doing business on an international level only, but above all as specialists in cross-border and cross-culture communication, as mediators between cultural differences. As such, we should be concerned, and should be watching with interest, whatever the outcome.
(I know this will sound too haughty to many of you -- but that's my opinion anyway).
What was the whole point of insisting that translation and interpreting is such a difficult task, that it requires many years of dedication? The point was (I think) that most languages are nowadays still spoken on a national level, as languages of nation states, or other social entities, and that these states or entities represent cultures, civilizations, ways of living and of thinking and feeling, etc., on a level which goes much deeper than perceived by most people.
Language professionals know about this, because to be a professional in this field requires to be aware of the differences as such. Or, in other words, one way to see how big these differences are, is to delve deeply into a foreign language -- and then to try to mediate between it and your own. There's no better way to ensure that you'll stumble many, many times over. Look at KudoZ if you doubt it :-]
Now as it turns out, integrating such a large number of nations, each with its own identity (and thus language) hundreds of years old, is much, much more difficult than previously thought. Certainly much more difficult than integrating the individual American states at the time, which were nascent states or very young when the union was formed (this is often forgotten by American commentators). They had it easier.
The lesson is (I think) that it requires several generations of learning and adapting, and will be difficult and risky at any rate. There's no guarantee whatsoever that the first experiment in that direction (which the EU represents) won't fail. Because differences between cultures can't be brushed away, like they didn't exist. They must be "de-learned". And translators knew this all along. (So maybe some people should listen to us a bit closer next time.)
This doesn't mean it shouldn't or can't be done. If the whole thing fails, it will be redone sooner rather than later, I think.
But in purely economic terms, unless you can afford to stay more or less disconnected from European languages and economies (sic!), I think there's absolutely no way to protect yourself. The ensuing economic turmoil may be so huge that the exchange rate should be your least concern. Your main concern should be thousands of companies going bust and the whole banking system not working.
As I see it, the current widespread fear that the Euro will disappear reinforces the probability that it will indeed disappear. It remains to be seen whether we can stay cool enough ▲ Collapse
| | | | Carolyn Brice
Greece
Local time: 08:54
Member (2005)
French to English
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| Are you sure? | Dec 9, 2011 |
Charlie Bavington wrote: Clearly there will come a point when Germany will just buy Greece and be done with it, but it hasn't happened yet, has it?
Hasn't it? They sure are working hard on it, that's for sure.
| | | | Nicole Schnell
United States
Local time: 22:54
English to German
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In memoriam
Charlie Bavington wrote:
I'm thinking particularly of the almost monthly discussion we have about how to avoid exchange rate commissions and holding euro-denominated bank accounts in the UK. I appreciate you probably want to avoid this thread getting political, and I think that would be a fair warning to give before it happens (since I don't think it has yet), but it's easy to see why people think euro-related issues are fair game for discussion on here, when they happen all the time without intervention.
Apparently no one seems to bother much in regard to constant US-bashing and ripping any US dollar issues apart in mid-air, up to the point that made the US look like some ridiculous banana republic in our forum.
Like many colleagues I do have bank accounts in the EU as well, and I most definitely consider any currency issues highly important to our industry and our profession.
| | | | | Post removed: This post was hidden by a moderator or staff member because it was not in line with site rule |
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opolt
Germany
Local time: 07:54
English to German
+ ...
| Just to clarify | Dec 9, 2011 |
Nicole Schnell wrote:
Apparently no one seems to bother much in regard to constant US-bashing and ripping any US dollar issues apart in mid-air, up to the point that made the US look like some ridiculous banana republic in our forum.
WRT my own comments, they weren't intended as "US bashing", I was merely stating some well-known facts, in a rather unemotional way. I only wanted to draw attention to the fact that the US has its own economic problems right now (which I believe is only fair to state), and that the EU is quite different from the 50-state union. But if this has been understood as bashing, I apologize.
Besides, even if political discussions weren't frowned upon in ProZ forums, I would say that ProZ should be the last place to suffer from US-bashing, Germany-bashing, or bashing any nation for that matter. That should be a big red taboo in any translator's book, IMHO. In the case of translators, constant change of perspective between the cultures of different nations should be second nature already. It's not in vain that there's the (purported) Italian saying of the translator being a traitor ("Traduttore, traditore"). Translators should be proud traitors of their country, and practise allegiance to humankind only, or to two countries in equal measure, at the bare minimum
I believe that at its core, the Euro crisis is a political problem affecting most developed nations right now. But this being a ProZ forum, it's impossible to discuss it without stepping over the line (and I accept this line).
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