My List of Useful Foreign Phrases and Words I Like

(Photo above: with Juliane)

Finished and sent off an article for an online publication as well as a query for a print publication yesterday. Getting back to work on my novel today in addition to the usual nonfiction stuff; now that the whole househunting and moving thing is basically over (with the exception of some unpacking) I'm focusing on getting my mss finished and sent off to my agent. My next convention is GAfilk in January; it'll be a lowkey weekend of no con commitments, just hanging out with friends. The next Urban Tapestry convention (where all three of us will be attending) will be FilKONtario next March. No Urban Tapestry conventions outside of Toronto planned next year so far.

Unfortunately limited time and finances make it difficult for the three of us to make out-of-town conventions as a group these days. Many thanks again to the Filkcontinental concom for inviting us out to Germany this year! Not only did it give us a chance to have fun performing together again, but Allison, Jodi and I very much enjoyed meeting more of the German filk community as well as learning more about their music. Also way fun to see the British filkers again! :-)


(Photo above: Allison listens to Franklin play the piano
on the morning we left the castle.)

If you're thinking about attending Filkcontinental, be sure to book far in advance. Apparently memberships for next year's convention are sold out already, so you'll have to plan for the year after that.

Speaking of German filkers...Aryana and friends have set up an English section in their Hogwarts Pack Board for filk-related discussion. Just scroll down to the "Filk for our English speaking guests" section and introduce yourself! There are other areas in the board to discuss filk in German, of course, or you can visit the Let's Filk About discussion forums.

Yesterday I listed some useful foreign phrases sent to me by Thesilée. Here are some more useful phrases, courtesy Paul Kwinn of Puzzlebox:

"In the fun foreign phrases department, my two favorite to toss
willy-nilly (both from Franklin's translation of 'It Ain't Easy'):

'Ich bin Niedlich.' ('I'm the cute one.') and the ever-useful: 'Ich will ein kind von dir.' ('I want to bear your child.')"


(Photo above: Juliane introduced us to this
wonderfully cheesy German sf tv show.)

This is wonderful! My "Useful Foreign Phrase" collection is growing nicely. If any of you other there has a useful phrase or two in a foreign language to contribute, I'd much appreciate you posting them in LJ or Blatherchat:

Debbie's List of Useful Foreign Phrases
and Words She Likes

From Lastalda. Rika helped confirm the word meaning breakdown.)

Der ZwerchfellmuskelKater
(literally means "diaphram muscle ache", in context of a laughing fit)

Kirstin's photos

Photo to the right: A button I designed to help raise funds to fly The N'Early Music Consort to FilKONtario in 2007, printed up by Raoul Benefiche (aka "Blind Lemming Chiffon"). Valerie Housden was selling them at Filkcontinental, so I bought one since I hadn't seen it in button form yet. For those curious: FKO = FilKONtario, IF = Interfilk (partnering with FKO for this endeavour), nMC = n'Early Music Consort.

At Filkcontinental, I chatted with Thesilée of Lord Landless about impressive-sounding foreign phrases to throw into casual conversation; she knew a lot more than I did and promised to send me some. Here are a few:

"Il seno e grande." [Il SAYnoh ay grranday] ("These breasts are huge")

"Il letto e sofice." [Ill letto ay sofeechay] ("This bed is soft")

"Sono stufo di andare a piedi." [Sonno stoofoh dee anDAHrreh ah
pee-AY-dee] ("I am fed up with walking")

And a very, very brief Welsh version of Cyrano:
"Mae trwyn da chi." (You have got a nose)

Thanks for these helpful phrases, Thesilée! :-D

And for those who didn't see my LJ posting, I got very briefly mentioned in a Newsweek article while I was in Germany. To clarify: I don't believe the Internet can easily replace a good literary agent. I love mine (Virginia Knowlton at Curtis Brown Ltd.) and wouldn't give her up for anything.



(Above photo: I took this during a hike up at the cottage.)

Just a reminder that the online ballot for the 2005 Pegasus Awards will be closing next Monday. The Pegasus Awards were founded to recognize and honor excellence in filking. These awards are given annually at the Ohio Valley Filk Fest (or OVFF). Anyone with an interest in filk can nominate songs or individuals for the awards, and anyone can vote. You do not need to be a member of the convention to be involved in the nomination and voting process.

No, I'm not on the ballot...which is why I feel more comfortable encouraging people to vote this year. :-) In fact, even if you don't plan to vote but are curious about filk, I encourage you to check out this year's nominees as well as past winners. All recent nominees/winners have MP3 clips; I've found this a great way to hear at least a sample of songs and musicians I haven't had the opportunity to come across in person.

Anyway, here is a list of this year's nominees.



The rest of the photos on this page were taken by Kirstin Tanger (see Kirstin on the left in the photo above, husband Volker is on the right), reprinted here with permission. Kirstin was on the Filkcontinental concom and is also one of the Webmasters of the Let's Filk About Homepage.

Like most other avid trip photographers out there, I tend to get left out of most of my own photo collections because I'm always the one with the camera. That's why I was grateful that both Allison and Kirstin were taking photos as well, especially after the convention when a technical glitch caused the loss of some of my Hamburg pictures. And since Allison and I take a lot photos, we very rarely get photos of all three of us together. So thank you, Kirstin!

Allison and I during "Neurotic Love Song":

Allison and Jodi look at Beckett's and Paul's birthday message at the surprise party:

Me, on the flute. I'm wearing a top I bought in Frankfurt:

Gary performs the German version of the Hockey Monkey song in our concert:

Jodi, Allison and me, in Hamburg:

I love this picture that Kirstin took of Katy and Steve:

During the Hockey Monkey song:

Dozing in Hamburg:

The answer to Urban Tapestry's question, "Wo ist der Bahnhof?!":

Thanks so much for letting me reprint some of your photos, Kirstin!

You can find the rest of Kirstin's trip photos here. Allison's are here and mine are here.

Oct/2005 comments: Read Blatherchat | Post in Blatherchat | Livejournal comments

German CDs

While I was in Germany, I was impressed by the level of talent at Filkcontinental. Here are a few of the CDs I picked up while I was at the convention (if I have any of the facts wrong, please do let me know!):

---

Album: DEMONS

Artist: Christine Hintermeyer / Nella Darren

Many thanks to Christine for helping Juliane pick us up at the airport at such an ungodly hour in Frankfurt. I immediately loved her wicked sense of humour, which came through especially in her trying to teach us a new German word, "Eichhörnchen," which she insisted was a swear word but which we later found out meant "squirrel." :-D

Yes, that's Christine on the front cover of her CD. Many of the tracks of Christine's CDs are in English, several an intriguing mix of English and German. My favourites: "Restless" (bittersweet, gorgeous melody & acoustic guitar accompaniment), "Dancer in the Dark" (Spike song, in open filk everyone sang the instrumental bridge), and especially "Demons" (insanely catchy tune, esp. love the 'shoobie doo wah wah wah...').

The CD, by the way, was produced by Ju's husband, Harry Sawatzki.

Web site: no Web site that I'm aware of, sorry.


With Christine at a Frankfurt ice cream shop.
L to R: Allison, Juliane, Christine, Jodi.

---

Album: WIR ASSIMILIEREN ALLES

Artist: GeBORGt

This group was immensely entertaining to watch in performance; they all seemed to have such FUN. They sang both English and German songs, serious and humorous, with a wonderful variety of voices. Fun to see their repertoire affected by the new addition to Sabine's and Michael's family; their song "Baby Wizard" was performed in the Request Concert on the last day, complete with custom-made t-shirts and pacifier props. :-)

We were also lucky enough to hear various incarnations of the group throughout the weekend since members also obviously enjoyed making music with other filkers as well as their own group. I was thrilled to be given a signed geBORGt t-shirt during the last day of the convention. Thank you, geBORGt! :-) Sabine was kind enough to bake a cake for Allison's and Jodi's surprise birthday party, and also introduced us to an enormously addictive chocolate liqueur called Black Batida with cocoa, hazelnut cream and Batida de Coco. On the last day, she gave Allison a giant box of chocolates.

My favourite track on this CD was "Liebeslied" even though I couldn't understand the lyrics...I loved the rhythm of the German words and interesting change of pace/harmonic structure several times throughout the song. Other favourite tracks include "Past Life's Temptation" -- gorgeous counterpoint harmonies in an a capella setting, "Skalish" (moving lyrics, beautiful melody).

Members: (Sa)Bine "Tarish", Michael "Astaron", Sandra, Jan-Hendrik "D'Chan", and Kris "Aryana."

Web site: http://geborgt.aryana-filk.de/

Unfortunately I missed getting a photo with all the group members performing. If anyone out there has a good one online, could you please send me the URL so I can post it here? Thanks.

(Update: From Lastalda - "Lisande managed to take a nice photo of all 5 members of geBORGt. It should be here.")



Aryana singing in open filk with Lisande:

---

Album: UMWEGE

Group: Milchstrassenstreuner

This group performed all in German, but I still very much enjoyed their concert and open filk performances. The lead singer, Silke Kovàr, has a wonderfully richly-textured voice. I've been told that their lyrics are more "word paintings" than stories, and I'm looking forward to gradually translating them.

Even though I didn't understand the lyrics yet, I found all the songs extremely pleasant to listen to because of the wonderful arrangements of voice and instrumentation. This album is going on my "work music" list along with my Italian progressive rock music from Parki.

One of my favourites on this album: Asphaltsommer. Love the easygoing, catchy melody and harmonies.

Members (but see below): Sven Bothe (guitar), Daniel Horn (keyboard), Silke Kovàr (voice, fiddle), Daniel Lohausen (percussion).

Correction: Silke just posted: "Hey, thank you so much! *blush* I love your CDs as well and I was/ am so delighted about your interest! (PS The members are right as far as the record is concerned, but we have a 'new' piano player instead of Daniel Horn for 3 and a half years: Svante von Erichsen.)."

http://www.milchstrassenstreuner.de/

---

Album: GARDEN OF THE LOST

Group: Lord Landless

Unfortunately final edition CDs weren't available at the convention, but Kirstin was kind enough to give me a promo copy until my own arrives.

Lord Landless consists of Silva, Thesilee, Kjenjo and Peredar. Before their concert at Freusburg, they handed out booklets which contained the lyrics to the songs they were performing. I found this immensely helpful for their German songs since it gave me more of a chance of translating some of the words. Some lovely harmonies and tunes; I'm looking forward to getting my CD!

---

Album: CELTIC CHAKRA LIVE

Group: Celtic Chakra

Juliane Honisch's husband, Harry Sawatzi, plays the bodhran in a professional Irish band. Being interested in traditional Irish music myself, I had to buy this CD, of course. I'm thoroughly enjoying it, and will definitely be putting this on my "frequent listen" list.


Below: Allison and Harry.

---

Wo Ist der Bahnhof?! (Part 4)

(Above photo: A page from an ice cream parlour menu in Frankfurt that Juliane took us to. Yes, those dishes are all concocted from ice cream!)

Just got back from the cottage. Now to sorting out the chaos that is my office; I still have to finish unpacking from Germany, then back to general unpacking from our move. I have an article due at the end of this week; I also hope to get a query or two out as well, and resume work on my novel (which has been sadly neglected since I left for Germany).

I took my giant German Toblerone bar to the cottage to share with my nieces and nephews; they were very impressed. And I've started learning Italian in anticipation of a trip Jeff and I are taking (courtesy his mom) next year! My main challenge is that German words keep popping into my head when I'm trying to think of Italian. I'm going to try my best to compartmentalize my German language efforts so as not to mix them up. That would REALLY confuse the natives, I think. And me.

(Photo above: At the Hamburg airport with Steve and Katy.)

Thanks to Gary McGath for sending me the German translation of The Hockey Monkey Song:

THE HOCKEY MONKEY SONG
Translated into German by Gary McGath,
with help from several German filkers
(Original music/words by James Kochalka)


Die Wissenschaftler suchen sein Gesicht.
Sie suchen den Affen, doch sie finden ihn nicht.
Denn er ist an dem Teich, mit den Kindern Hockey spielen.

Und die Mütter suchen jeden kleinen Wicht.
Sie suchen die Kinder, doch sie finden sie nicht.
Denn sie sind an dem Teich, mit dem Affen Hockey spielen.

Es ist eins, zwei, drei, der Affe ist frei.
Und mit vier, fünf, sechs, Hockey spielen ist ein Klacks.
Und sieben, acht, neun, niemand wird's bereuen.

Die Polizei sucht suchen sein Gesicht.
Sie suchen den Affen, doch sie finden ihn nicht.
Denn er ist an dem Teich, mit den Kindern Hockey spielen.

Und die Lehrer suchen jeden kleinen Wicht.
Sie suchen die Kinder, doch sie finden sie nicht.
Denn sie sind an dem Teich, mit dem Affen Hockey spielen.

Es ist eins, zwei, drei, der Affe ist frei.
Und mit vier, fünf, sechs, Hockey spielen ist ein Klacks.
Und sieben, acht, neun, niemand wird's bereuen. ... Ja!!

We pulled Gary on stage with us during this song so he could do his German version. Gary did a wonderful job despite having no warning that we were going to do this. :-)



I've added some more photos to my Flickr Germany/Filkcontinental photo set, by the way. The one above, for example, is of Lissa reading my sister's newest book, "And You Can Come Too," to her son Alex. I very much enjoyed meeting Alex and Amy for the first time; I had only seen them inside their Mom's tummy before this. :-)



Above picture: only part of the enormous breakfast spread generously provided by Juliane Honisch on our first day in Germany. Holy toledo. This woman certainly keeps her guests well-fed! Breakfast included various types of German meats, cheese, freshly-baked breads, crispy bacon, scrambled eggs, tea, coffee, juices, and a wide variety of jams (including quince jam!) and spreads.

One of my favourite food experiences of the trip:



Sadly, I don't think you can get it here, though I'm going to look around for it anyway. Juliane suggested I try making it myself: "Find ripe (very ripe!!!! Leave sitting on window sill for a couple of days if it is not very ripe) and pungent camenbert type cheese. Squish with fork, mix with a little soft butter, add clove of garlic (crushed), onion (finely chopped), salt, pepper and paprika powder. Mix and blend all ingredients into a paste. (Some people add a tablespoonful or two of beer) Sprinkle over with fresh chives (finely chopped)."

Another favourite food experience was Katy's fantastic homemade salmon casserole. Here's a photo that Allison took of me helpfully assisting in the preparations at Katy's place.

Other favourite German food experiences this trip included:

- Cherry juice at a restaurant that Katy and Steve took us to in Hamburg.

- Ice cream fest with Ju, Christine, Allison and Jodi in Frankfurt.

- Checking out German supermarkets.

- Sabine's cake for Jodi and Allison.

- Sampling different kinds of chocolate in Germany.

- Eating at a traditional Hessian restaurant with Ju, Harry, Christine, Allison and Jodi. I had the Frankfurter Sepcialittätenteller: 1 Handkäs mit Musik, Grüne Sosse mit zwei halben Eiern, Salzkartoffeln, einkleines Rippchen mit Kraut, Brot und Senf. I liked everything except the Handkäs mit Musik.

- Sampling cakes, courtesy Ju and Harry! See below (Harry, Juliane, Franklin, Jodi and Allison):



This photo and the ones of the cakes and ice cream were taken especially for Joey Shoji. :-) Click on the photos to see Joey's comments.

Oct/2005 comments: Read Blatherchat | Post in Blatherchat | Livejournal comments

Wo Ist der Bahnhof?! (Part 3)

Part One of my German trip highlights...

One of the highlights for me during the trip was the German language. I've always loved foreign languages...not just trying to learn them, but being surrounded by them. It's one of things I enjoy so much about living in Toronto, where you can sit on a subway train and can sometimes hear three or four conversations going on that you can't understand.

Some people hate this sort of thing; it makes them feel insecure and out-of-place. Are they being talked about? What are they missing out on? For me, it's a glimpse of the unknown, a reminder not to get too complacent, that not everyone lives in the same small world that I do.

It's one of the reasons I like travelling. Sometimes it's too easy to fall into the trap of letting everything and everyone come to you, to expect others to conform to your own safe space, letting them take all the risks. Trying to learn their language, even a feeble attempt to do so, is enlightening in ways that go far beyond a mere need to communicate.



During my visit in Germany, several people I met commented that my attempts at speaking German weren't as abysmal as I make them out to be. I'm not sure if they were just being kind (I suspect they were :-)), but I did sense that I had improved since my visit to Austria last year...I didn't have to rely as much on sign language and drawings, for example, but can now often get across a simple concept with an extremely primitive mishmash of English and mangled German words.

When I was at the post office in a Karstadt (large department store chain) in Frankfurt, for example, I managed to communicate with someone who nervously said she didn't know English by laboriously coming up with the following words in German: "I need...stamps, please. For Canada, airmail. Twenty. Thank you." The clerk understood me perfectly, and at the end of our exchange she and I smiled broadly at each other, nodding. So much in that nod said "Hey! We did it!"



Some people have told me I have an affinity for learning languages. I feel the opposite most days I'm struggling to study a language; I think the more accurate statement would be that I'm not afraid as most people of making a fool of myself. I know that I haven't yet mastered the proper articles for each noun, badly bungle or completely miss most declensions, quite often misuse words. But at least I'm giving it a shot, and I figure I have a non-zero chance of getting across what I mean, of making a connection I would not have otherwise.

But that brings me to a question that I'm sure many North American filkers considering a visit to Filkcontinental might wonder:

How hard is it for a non-German speaker to get around at the convention? How can I enjoy the con if I don't understand the language?

The answer the first question: If you're willing to sometimes ask for help, not hard at all. Most people at the convention spoke English, some better than others. I found the Germans more than willing to help out the Brits and North Americans.



Answer to the second question: Depends on your attitude. If you're the type that gets angry or upset when people are saying something you don't understand, then you should best stay at home. BUT if you're open to new experiences and can appreciate music apart from the lyrics, then you're in for a treat. I found the general talent level at Filkcontinental quite high, both in concerts and in open filk. Many of the Germans would offer a brief explanation in English before they launched into a German song, but I still found I was usually able to enjoy the music even if I didn't understand the lyrics.

Allison brought cross-stitch and I brought a sketchbook to work on during concerts and open filks where we figured there would be long stretches of music we didn't understand, but both of us ended up leaving these in our room. Several of Summer and Fall's pieces had me teary-eyed, for example, even though I didn't understand the words; the harmonies and instrumentation were so beautiful. We have to get these two over to North America somehow!

Plus many of the German filkers do perform songs in English. That plus the number of English-speakers at the convention (I recall someone told me that 1/3 of the members were British) resulted in a surprisingly high percentage of English content throughout the convention...I'd say at least 1/3; to others who regularly attend Filkcontinental: please do correct me if I'm wrong. Announcements at the convention were made in both German and English.

But for me, all this was captured in a single moment at the convention, during one of the dinners. Two little boys were running around with some toy cars, one British and one German. Neither spoke the other's language, yet each was happily chattering to the other. It didn't really matter...they still understood each other, at least enough to enjoy each other's company. And that's really all that mattered. :-)

Some pics from the trip...

Franklin and Molly help with Gary's translation of the Hockey Monkey song into German:


From a postcard that Lissa's mom was kind enough to give me. The castle Freusburg:


View out our window the first morning at the castle:


Anke offers Allison advice during a spinning workshop:


The following photo is of an impromptu music session that sprang up on Sunday morning after breakfast at the castle. I loved this. Everywhere you went in this place, someone was playing music or drawing or songwriting or writing. Much of it wasn't planned; it just happened. Many thanks to the Filkcontinental concom for nurturing such a creative environment:


Mike Richards doing some songwriting in the stairwell:


Surprise birthday party for Allison and Jodi - thanks to the concom for arranging this, and to Sabine (of the German filk group geBORGt) for baking such a scrumptious cake! Note that Allison is still carrying the wool from Anke's spinning workshop:


Allison auctions off an inukshuk from a Canadiana package from Judith Hayman (who is the Special Guest next year!) at the Filk Fund auction:


I've finished uploading my Filkcontinental pictures; you can see them here. I've nixed any that I thought were too repetitive or personal or unflattering. If you'd like any removed, please let me know. I also left out most of my photos of children; if you're a parent and don't mind me including photos of your children if I leave out names, please let me know.

Unfortunately because of a technical glitch, I lost many of my Hamburg photos. Fortunately Allison and Kirstin have lots. :-)

To you Canadians out there: HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Oct/2005 comments: Read Blatherchat | Post in Blatherchat | Livejournal comments