We are wordsmiths: Ronald Erlandsson-Klein

In this issue: Ronald Erlandsson-Klein, Managing Director

 

• What is your goal for 2021?

I want to maintain flexibility and composure in the face of new surprises every day, so I can effortlessly adapt to whatever demands life throws at me. The digital communicators I work with tend to want to get their message out into the world at light speed.

 

• Over the course of your career, have you noticed specific changes in language usage?

The written word has become something of a parched desert: a project manager makes frugal, functional use of language, not allowing him- or her- or possibly themselves the time to uphold such niceties as proper gendering (which in a world of SharePoint interactions is in any case moot).

It’s a different story when it comes to the art of speaking: when I hear my analogue phone ring, one question always pops into my head – who could possibly be behind this blast from the past?! It seems I’ve become all too accustomed, at the first hint of a pop-up on my computer screen, to hurriedly slipping my headset on and adopting a businesslike pose to ensure I come across as credible on the new normal of a video call. After all, now that so many customers insist on communicating not only with sound but also with pictures, the question of trust is one that arises often. In this brave new world of video conferencing, who hasn’t shuddered at the thought of how the famous phrase “a picture is worth a thousand words” might play out?

 

• What animal are you tempted to translate literally?

One particularly striking example of animal nomenclature is the Hirschbockbirkfuchsauergams (loosely translated, “stag-birch-fox-aurochs-chamois”).

For readers who are unfamiliar with the particularities of Bavarian fauna, this tongue-tickler is the rather grandiose name coined by fin-de-siècle Bavarian author Ludwig Ganghofer for the winged, horned, fanged mammalian chimera endemic to the forests of southern Germany that is more widely known as the Wolpertinger.

 

• Is the glass half full or half empty?

In this regard, I give my instinct for self-preservation full rein, trusting in the phrase:

“For he whose strivings never cease is ours for his redeeming.” (Faust II, Goethe)

 

• Working from home: yes or no?

Definitely yes! If I didn’t work from home, my family of six would be at a loss, not least for want of occasional access to the advanced technical equipment that is part and parcel of a modern, connected, virtual office. The fact that I’m expected to collect teaching materials for my son from three different platforms every day brings a wan smile to my lips.

 

• Lake or ocean?

I find both very appealing – so in the summer I’ll happily take one after the other.

But if push comes to shove, I’d rather splash down in my home waters in the Chiemgau region, in the foothills of the Bavarian Alps.