LL-L "Resources" 2010.05.17 (02) [EN]

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L O W L A N D S - L - 17 May 2010 - Volume 02
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From: jonny <jonny.meibohm at arcor.de>

Subject: LL-L "Resources" 2010.05.16 (01) [EN-NDS]



Beste Reinhard, beste Holsteyner Naobers,



in your comment to



http://www.schleswig-holstein.de/



you wrote:



In my opinion, the site‘s shortcomings include difficult navigation,
unnecessarily long URLs, and inconspicuous language version links. Also, the
server was down for a few moments each time I connected to the site on
several days - not a good thing for an official site like that.



The same I had to find out - at the moment again no chance to connect. This
may show what little heed they pay to it.



And another point of criticism: the introduction of Mr. Carstensen seems to
be a simple 1:1 translation from Standard German into Low Saxon. The
translators or he himself kept the typical German syntax and use typical
German phrases, though he (Carstensen) should know better, because he is
born in 1947 and grown up in rural, meaning LS sphere. So he should be a
native speaker of LS.

Maybe that the whole text should not sound *'too Plattdeutsch',* with the
intent, that *everybody* even with the slightest knowledge shall be able to
read it. But - used this way Low Saxon looks just like a curious dialect of
Standard German.



As a native speaker I regret the poor quality of the project and seriously
doubt that such half-hearted lip services really help to keep Low Saxon
aspected as a separate language, which is worth to be saved for the
afterworld. Officially published this way it even has contraproductive
effects!



Allerbest!



Jonny Meibohm



Lower Saxony, Germany


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From: R. F. Hahn <sassisch at yahoo.com>

Subject: Resources

Thanks, Jonny.

Further on the official website of Schleswig-Holstein (
http://www.schleswig-holstein.de/), I do agree with you regarding the Low
Saxon ("Low German") version of the speech. Whoever wrote the Low Saxon
version the boy reads also translated practically literally from German, and
there are quite a lot of unauthentic words and phrases in it. This is
something that should and can be rectified by getting a competent speaker
with some translation experience into the act.

There was another problem: mail to one of the addresses listed at the site (
info at schleswig-holstein.de) bounced back as undeliverable. Not good.

Nevertheless, I still maintain that the approach and the intention of the
site are nice. It just needs some help with the execution (translation and
site services).

In contrast, I personally consider the new version of the Hamburg website (
http://english.hamburg.de/) an abomination. It is in German and English only
(whereas before it came in many languages, each featuring subject matter
considered particularly relevant to the various target audiences. Also, it
comes across as shamelessly commerce-oriented and, to add insult, has
advertisements popping up all over the place. This is really, really bad
style for an official administrative site, and I am sure it is as
off-putting to other people as it is to me. (As a native Hamburger, I cringe
in embarrassment.) Among other things, it makes you think that the
government is so impoverished that it had to resort to downsizing the site
and subsidizing it with private enterprise advertisements.



I consider the site of Lower Saxony (
http://www.international.niedersachsen.de/) far superior to that. It comes
in a number of languages, is commercial-free and has an inviting tone.

The site of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania is pretty nice too. It comes in
German, English and Polish, unfortunately not in Low Saxon.


Regards,
Reinhard/Ron
Seattle, USA



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