Montag, 20. Oktober 2008

Simultantübersetzerin

Neulich in der Staatsoper, 1. Rang rechts, Ballett "Giselle", Pause

Zwei Gäste kommen auf mich zu.
"Excuse me, do you speak English?" -"Yes!" - "You don't have a synopis in English, do yo?" - "No, unfortunately, we don't. Only in German. Usually we do have an English and French translation... I am very sorry." - "Well, can you tell us what's happening in the play?" -"Euhm...Well, ok, give me a second. I'll just get a German version and try to explain the plot." - "Great."- "Alright, sooo, let me see, in the first part Giselle falls in love with beautiful stranger without knowing who he is. And she likes dancing... And there's a party in the village because they've picked the wine, so they celebrate. But her mum doesn't like her dancing, for some reason. Oh, yes - because she is a bit sick and shouldn't really dance that much.... So, her mum calls the.... Wilis..? You know? They seem to be some kind of ghosts or something..?"- "The spirits!"- "Yeeeees, exactly. So? Where was I? Yes, then the duke comes to the village for a hunt. And then somehow it turns out that the duke's daughter is engaged to the stranger... The one that Giselle is in love with. So Giselle dies... Wow, that was sudden... So, that's what you have just seen. The second part is set on the graveyard... where the other guy who was in love with Giselle, is sitting next to her grave at night." -"Which one?" -"I don't know, I've never seen it. The other one, from the village!" -"The one with the beard?" -"Maybe...Anyways, he's bemoaning her death when the clocks strike midnight and the wilis, the spirits, come out and start dancing. They are the lost souls of all kind of women... Women who had men who cheated on them.... And now they want revenge. So they dance with the men. Until they die... Yeah, they dance with them in the woods until they die of exhaustion. And so he dies.. And then the prince turns up as well. Prince? There was no prince before... There was a duke, but no prince. Oh well, the prince dies as well. But in the end he comes back to life. Hä?! Oh well, he comes back to life. I don't know why, really. Sorry, it's a bit confusing to read and understand and translate at the same time..." - "No, don't worry. It was great."- "We asked exactly the right person." - "Did you learn your English in Australia?"

3 Kommentare:

Anonym hat gesagt…

Wie cool - waren das Australier? Klingst du wirklich australisch? (Oder waren es Briten, die eine fremdartige Färbung als australisch einschätzen?)
Schöne Zusammenfassung übrigens. :D

Markus hat gesagt…

very impressive, indeed!
jetzt weiß ich aber auch warum ich so selten in die oper gehe: die ganzen leute sterben andauernd! das muss einen doch depressiv machen!

Anonym hat gesagt…

das mit dem australischen akzent würde ich allerdings auch gern wissen! dabei hasst du noch nicht mal 'no worries' gesagt, das ist das einzige woran ich australier erkennen würde....