Hi Jamie, it turned out that a colleague of my mother has a daughter who works for the Behr group in Detroit. I remember you mentioned you do translations for car companies in Detroit and I thought you might know the Behr group. Have you ever worked with them? I’m asking because the world seems to be quite small. My mother’s colleague is so excited now, in May she is going to fly to Detroit for the third time in a row and she has purchased a booklet called ‘Crazy Cat’ (I don’t recall the exact title) but my mother told me the book contains pictures of cats with hilarious captions. Another of my mother’s colleagues bought the same book but the German version and they compared the titles and some of the captions and were so surprised to see that didn’t match - at least that’s they thought.
I don’t exactly know what crazy cats have in common with your possible translations for the Behr group but as this forum allows me to talk about anything as long as it is in English I guess I’m not breaking any rules?
Actually, I have worked on a lot of catalogues and training materials for car companies in Detroit, but I haven’t done any translations for them. The majority of my translation involves businesses in other parts of the world. Most of my contact with German, Austrian and Japanese companies in this area involves giving English lessons to people from the interns all the way up to the CFO. “The Germans” now own a large part of Detroit industry, so there’s a lot to do.
I do know the Behr Group, but only because I drive by one of their facilities frequently and have seen some of their machinery. I have no idea what they do.
As for the captions in that cat book, I think that’s normal. Some things just aren’t funny when you translate them, and you have to make up something new. A well-known case of that is the American TV show called Hogan’s Heros. When they first dubbed into German, the direct translation wasn’t funny. Years later the Germans wrote new dialogue for it, and I understand it was funny and got rather popular.
At first I thought you meant Krazy Kat, which is a famous comic strip that ran from 1913 to 1944. I think it’s very funny. Here’s the Wikipedia article on it: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krazy_Kat
First of all, my civil name is Michael! Why i had choosen this username you can learn at the forum New Members Messages, if you would like.
But that is not the theme of my post. I would like to learn if “Hogan?s Heros” incidentally might be that sitcom which is titled in German “An awfully kind family”?
You think that i am crazy? May be, but i think that the actor Ed O?Neill had done as Al Bundy the job of his life. To perform a sales clerk for lady shoes who had four “Touch Downs” in one game as college football player and now having no more chance for a pleasent live because he?s married and having two kids in such a kidding way with all his gestures and mimings he had very well done.
And as stupid as the story may seem you can find out a little bit reality evereywhere.
No, that show was called “Married…With Children” in English. “Hogan’s Heroes” is called “Ein K?fig voller Helden” in German.
It was worse. The character’s claim to fame was that he’d had those touch downs in HIGH SCHOOL. He’d stayed fixated on that one game since. Some career coaches use that character as an example of a guy who found a winning formula in life, and then stuck with it even after he started losing with it.
What I liked was when Ed O’Neil took a completely different type of role, as the main character in the revived detective drama Dragnet. He was perfect in the part, but I don’t think the show lasted long.
My favorite TV character who is not in a cartoon is Detective Sipowitz from NYPD Blue.
if i would have thought about the title “Hogan?s heroes” a little bit more, i could have come to the conclusion that it might not be “Eine schrecklich nette Familie” myself. Sorry for that silly question and thank you for the enlightenment.
And you are right, he didn?t play in a college team - the name of the school has been “Polk High”.
But regarding your explanation that career coaches take the character Al Bundy for a bad example is an evidence for Ed O?Neills well doing. I think otherwise it couldn?t become as well known as it is.
Unfortunately Ed O?Neill isn?t so well known here! I myself only remember him in a film about two cops who hunted an escaped prisoner in an unlucky way. Perhaps that film had been shown so late that night that i?ve got tired and have fallen to sleep, so that i couldn?t follow it to the end. I hope it doesn?t matter to you if it was one of your more favorite characters. Please let me know.