Tirsdag den 10. oktober 2017

10:00 Min ven ”Magyar” Mike ringer på og vi studerer  ungarsk i en time.  Vi bruger vores nye lærebog igen, Assimils ”Ungarsk uden besvær”, som vi for nogle år siden afprøvede.

Mike (til venstre) sammen med sin barnebarn, Stephen,

og sin kone. ”Magyar” Mary.

Assimil: den nye lærebog ”Magyar” Mike og jeg

har besluttet at afprøve igen

Det er umiddelbart klar, at bogen er lidt frankocentrisk, hvilket er lidt usædvanligt. Jeg har gjort lidt forskning på nettet, og opdaget, at Assimil var et fransk selskab, grundlagt i 1929 af en mand, der hed Alphonse Chérel, hvilket lyder meget fransk, ingen tvivl om det. Fransk humor er helt anderledes fra vores, og jeg har svært ved at forstå bogens illustrationer. Men jeg trøster mig selv ved at kigge på den som et to i et kursus – hovedfag i ungarsk og bifag i fransk humor, hvilket lyder meget sjovt.

Jeg tror, vi langsomt vænner os til bogens typisk franske stil, og vi er begyndt at nyde bogens lidt udtraditionelle humor. Vi har bemærket, at bogens illlustrator nogen gange har lidt af en fræk tankegang.

et typisk frækt billede fra lærebogen.

To mænd påstår, at de bare beundrer skønheden 

af vinduerne ha ha ha

I dag bryder vi vores hjerner over vores nuværende lektions billede af en lille mand, der sidder mellem to enorme kvinder  i en ungarsk sporvogn. Vi prøver at beslutte, om billedet har en skjult, fræk betydning, men vi synes, manden bare er lidt sur på, at han ikke har nok plads til at åbne sin avis, hvilket er lidt af en lettelse.

for engangs skyld kan vi ikke finde beviser for

en fræk eller sjofel tankegang i billedet – uha!

Hvis jeg skulle skrive en billedunderskrift på engelsk, ville jeg sige bare, for eksempel, ”Mrs Kovacs and Mrs Szabo pictured here with their latest squeeze”.

Eksempelsætninger i lærebogen er også lidt bizarre, men vi tager dem i stiv arm nu. Jeg tror inderligt, at vi kan nu rejse i Frankrig uden frygt, hvilket er en overraskende biprodukt af vores studie.

Eksempelsætninger er også lidt bizarre,

men vi tager dem i stiv arm nu. Jeg tror inderligt,

at vi nu kan rejse i Frankrig uden frygt,

hvilket er en overraskende biprodukt af vores studie.

Mike, der bor lige udenfor den lille by Nailsworth,  har lidt af et usædvanligt problem for tiden. Hans nabo, Peter, flyttede væk fra sit hus for nogle måneder siden – han fortalte Mike, han skulle bo imidlertidigt i Bath-området i nogle måneder. Han efterlod hos Mike nøglen til den udvendige hoveddøren, så Mike kunne opsamle og opbevare posten.

I begyndelsen smuttede Peter nu og da tilbage hjem for at hente og klare posten, men Mike har ikke set ham nu i nogle måneder. Peter besvarer ikke Mikes telefonopkald. Nu er et nyt problem dukket op i huset – vandet fra køkkenhanen løber nu konstant ind i afløbet lige under køkkenvinduet.  Mike har ikke en nøgle til den indvendige hoveddøren, så han ikke kan prøve at løse problemet.

Derudover bliver Peters have mere og mere overgroet, og andre naboer er begyndt at gå til Mike of beklage sig over det. Du godeste – stakkels Mike!!!!  

Mange folk ville lige fralægge sig alt ansvar for problemet, men Mike er samvittighedsfuld  og han har tendens til at bekymre sig over det hele. Stakkels Mike!!!!

Jeg googler Peter på nettet, og jeg finder ud af, at Peters navn stadig står på den nuværende vælgerlist på samme adressen, men jeg kan ikke grave yderligere oplysninger frem. Pokkers!

Men er Peter måske en gangster? Det virker usandsynligt i  Nailsworth, men vi bor i en skør verden!!!

11:00 Mike skal af sted.  Jeg slapper af med en kop kaffe, men noget generer mig. Mine tanker vender tilbage til billedet i vores ungarske lærebog, og min lille ”joke” med min engelske billedunderskrift, ”Mrs Kovacs and Mrs Szabo pictured here with their latest squeeze”. Hvordan skal man bedst oversætte denne sætning til dansk?

Det største problem er med det engelske ord ”squeeze”, der betyder, jeg tror, en slags kæreste eller elsker, eller nogle gange bare en bolleven. Det bedste jeg kan forslå, er ”klemmedyr”, et tøjdyr til at klemme, men ville den almindelige dansker griner af dette? Det er jeg ikke helt sikker på.

”Fru Kovacs og Fru Szabo sammen med deres seneste ’klemmedyr’ ” 

(ha ha ha????)

et typisk dansk klemmedyr.

På den anden side synes ’Fru Kovacs og fru Szabo sammen med deres seneste ”stressbold”’ ikke desto mindre at give det forkerte image, på en eller anden måde.

Måske ville det være det bedste at bruge det engelske ord, ”Fru Kovacs og Fru Szabo sammen med deres seneste squeeze”. Jeg finder et enkelt eksempel på nettet, hvor en dansker bruger det engelske ord i denne betydning, og det handler om (hvem ellers?) vores egen Prins Harry.

Prins Harrys ”seneste squeeze” (årgang 2012)

Cressida Bonas 

Jeg overvejer i et øjeblik at udarbejde et brev til instituttet for lingvistik i København, men jeg  beslutter endelig at opgive idéen: den tager overhånd muligvis. Så derfor er juryen stadig ude om det.

Det ovennævnte er et godt eksempel på, hvad jeg har tendens til at spilde min tid på – du godeste, jeg er sådan en skovl ha ha ha.

12:00 Lois er i køkkenet i fuld gang med at lave ca 8 pund courgette/zucchini chutney, af hjemmedyrket courgette/zucchini. Nam nam !!!! Vi synes altid at få en overflod af zucchini i køkkenhaven, en slags Brexit-zucchinibjerge, så dette er en god måde at bruge, hvad vi ikk kan spise eller give til naboerne.

Lois’s opskrift på hjemmelavet zucchini chutney

13:00 Jeg skynder mig ind i køkkenet og laver frokost: to portioner pochet æg og haslet på toast med vandkrys – nam nam! Bagefter går jeg i seng for at tage mig en gigantisk eftermiddagslur. Jeg står op kl 16 og går ned i køkkenet. Jeg finder, at Lois er færdig med at lave sine 8 pund courgette chutney – nam nam!

mens jeg sov, nåede Lois at lave 8 pund

hjemmelavet zucchini chutney – nam nam!

18:00 Vi spiser aftensmad og bruger aftenen på at se lidt fjernsyn og lytte til radio (ikke samtidigt). Vi hører det sidste afsnit af Tim Vines radio-talkshow.

Vi kan godt lide Tim Vine, fordi han prøver at bringe ordspillet tilbage til moden. Hans åbende monolog, for eksempel:

Jeg spiste forleden på denne indiske restaurant. Jeg tænkte, ”det her dufter bekendt”. Det var en ”déjà vindaloo”. Tjeneren dukkede op. Han sagde, “Karry okay?”. Jeg sagde, “måske skal jeg synge ‘Summer Loving’ senere, efter jeg er færdig med at spise det her”.

Men det er mere den måde, han fortæller dem på ha ha ha.

21:30 Vi går i seng lidt tidligere, end normalt.

English translation

10:00 My friend "Magyar" Mike rings at the door and we study Hungarian for an hour. We use our new textbook again, Assimil's "Hungarian With Ease", which we first tried out a few years ago.

"Magyar" Mike (Ieft) with his grandson Stephen 

and his wife, “Magyar” Mary

Assimil: The new textbook "Magyar" Mike and I

have decided to try out again

It is immediately clear that the book is a bit francocentric, which is a little unusual. I have done some research online and found that Assimil was a French company, founded in 1929 by a man named Alphonse Chérel, which sounds very French, no doubt about that. French humor is completely different from ours and I find it hard to understand the book's illustrations. But I comfort myself by looking at it as a two-in-one course - majoring in Hungarian and minoring in French humor, which sounds like a lot of fun to try.

I think we are slowly getting used to the book's typically French style, and we have begun to enjoy the book's slightly quirky humor. We have noticed that the book's illustrator often shows a bit of a saucy take on the pictures.

a typically saucy picture from the text book.

Two men claim  they are admiring the beauty of the windows ha ha ha

Today we bust our brains over our current lesson's picture of a little man sitting between two huge women in a Hungarian tram. We try to decide if the image has a hidden, naughty meaning,  but we think the man is probably just a little worried that he does not have enough room to open his newspaper, which is a bit of a relief.

for once we cannot find evidence for

a saucy double meaning in the picture - oh dear!

If I were to write a caption in English, I would just say, for example, "Mrs Kovacs and Mrs Szabo pictured here with their latest squeeze".

Sample sentences in the textbook are also a bit bizarre, but we are taking them in our stride now. I sincerely believe that we can now travel in France without fear, which is a surprising byproduct of our study.

Sample sentences are also a little bizarre,

but we take them in our stride now. I sincerely believe

that we can now travel in France without fear,

which is a surprising byproduct of our study.

Mike, who lives just outside the small town of Nailsworth, has a bit of an unusual problem at the moment. His neighbor, Peter, moved away from his house a few months ago - he told Mike he would be staying in the Bath area for a few months. He left Mike with the key to the outside front door, so Mike could collect and store his post.

In the beginning, Peter occasionally used to pop home to pick up and deal with the post, but Mike has not seen him now for a few months. Peter does not answer Mike's phone calls. Now a new problem has emerged in the house - the water from the kitchen tap is constantly flowing into the drain just below the kitchen window. Mike does not have a key to the inner front door so he cannot do anything to solve the problem.

In addition, Peter's garden is becoming more and more overgrown and other neighbors have begun going to Mike to complain about it. My god - poor Mike !!!!

Many people would just wash their hands of the problem, but Mike is conscientious and he tends to worry about it all. Poor Mike !!!!

I google Peter online, and I find out that Peter's name is still on the current voter list at the same address, but I cannot dig out any further information. Damn!

But is Peter perhaps a gangster? It seems unlikely in Nailsworth, but we live in a crazy world!!!

11:00 Mike has to leave. I drink another cup of coffee, but something is bothering  me. My thoughts return to the picture in our Hungarian textbook, and my little "joke" about my English caption, "Mrs Kovacs and Mrs Szabo pictured here with their latest squeeze". How would you translate this sentence into Danish?

The biggest problem is with the English word 'squeeze', which means I think some kind of boyfriend or lover, possibly a “friend with benefits”. The best thing I can think of is the word "klemmedyr", a toy for squeezing, but would the average Dane laugh at this? I'm not entirely sure.

"Mrs. Kovacs and Mrs. Szabo with their latest "klemmedyr" (squeeze-toy)"

(ha ha ha ????)

a typical Danish squeeze-toy.

On the other hand ‘Mrs Kovacs and Mrs Szabo with their latest “stressball”’ seems to create the wrong image somehow.

Perhaps it would be best to just use the English word "squeeze" itself, "Fru Kovacs og Fru Szabo sammen med deres seneste squeeze". I find one single example on the web where a Dane uses the English word in this sense and it's all about (who else?) our very own Prince Harry.

Prince Harry's "Latest Squeeze" (Vintage 2012)

Cressida Bonas

I consider drafting a letter to the linguistics institute in Copenhagen, but I finally decide to abandon the idea: it may be going over the top. So the jury is still out on this.

The above is a good example of what I tend to waste my time on - my god, I'm such a prick ha ha ha.

12:00 Lois is in the kitchen going hell for leather  making about 8 pounds of courgette / zucchini chutney, from homegrown courgette / zucchini. Yum yum !!!! We always seem to get a glut of zucchini in the vegetable garden, a kind of Brexit zucchini mountain, so this is a good way to use up what we cannot eat or give to the neighbors.

Lois's recipe for homemade zucchini chutney

13:00 I hurry into the kitchen and make lunch: two servings of poached egg and and haslet on toast with watercress - yum yum! Afterwards I go to bed and take a gigantic afternoon nap. I get up at 4pm and go down to the kitchen. I find that Lois has finished making her 8 pounds of courgette chutney

While I was sleeping, Lois managed to make 8 pounds

of homemade zucchini chutney

18:00 We have dinner and spend the evening watching television and listening to the radio (not at the same time). We hear the latest episode of Tim Vine's radio chat show.

We like Tim Vine because he is trying to bring the pun back into fashion. His opening monologue, for example:

So I went to this Indian restaurant. I thought, "This smells familiar." It was a "déjà vindaloo". And the waiter came up. He said, "Curry okay?". I said, "I might do 'Summer Loving' when I've finished this."

But it’s the way he tells them ha ha ha.

21:30 We go to bed a little earlier than usual.