We are wordsmiths: Maria Wolf

In this issue: Maria Wolf, Managing Director, Translator and Interpreter

 

• What is your goal for 2021?

Nothing that I didn’t already intend to do last year and every year before that: make our customers’ lives easier by providing them with outstanding service while trying to become a better person.

Apart from that, I’m nursing the hope that I’ll once again be able to travel, visit friends, and go to the seaside and up into the mountains both here and abroad. I’m also dying to be able to go to restaurants and cultural events and am eager to do my bit to revive those industries.

 

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

One major change was definitely the spelling reform that German underwent in 1996. The idea was to simplify things, but the numerous revisions over the subsequent years (2004, 2006, 2011, 2017, and 2018) coupled with overwhelming resistance from publishers and newspapers showed just how complicated an ill-conceived “simplification” can be. Neither teachers nor students of German found that the reforms made things simpler. It’s hard to follow the many inconsistencies and they’re just as mind-numbing to memorise as the phonetic stumbling blocks of spelling that came before. Here’s an example of the logical inconsistency I’m talking about: According to reformed German, the Schankwirt (barman) in the Schänke (pub) stands at the Ausschank (bar). But when he then goes to pull a pint, instead of ausschänken, he must ausschenken, which sounds the same but shares its root with schenken, the verb for gift giving. If he then gave me the beer as a present, that would at least be some comfort.

 

• What animal are you tempted to translate literally?

Kuscheltier – literally “cuddle animal”, but really “cuddly toy”. The word alone conjures up an endearing sense of warmth and comfort. And don’t tell me it’s not a real animal! All my cuddly toys had exciting lives of their own.

 

• Is the glass half full or half empty?

What counts is what’s already – or still – in the glass. That’s always a heartening way to look at things.

 

• Working from home: Yes or no?

I’ve worked from home for the vast majority of my career. For me it’s heaven. What I do miss are the events and conferences where you meet, laugh, work, eat, and drink with people in three dimensions. I sometimes think that in the long run, holding meetings and maintaining relationships in the two-dimensional online world will become somewhat superficial, with things happening literally only on the surface.

 

• Lake or ocean?

I’d rather be on a lake than on the ocean, but at the ocean rather than at a lake. But I like swimming equally in both. In short, I’d rather have too much than too little of either.