A MEETING TO FIND THE RIGHT PET NAME: MINUTES
By Sinéad Crowe, Isabelle Liber and María Tellechea
The Töchter Issue of the TOLEDO-Journal: Team Meeting
LOCATION: A small, warm Deutscher Übersetzerfonds office, Literarisches Colloquium Berlin
DATE/TIME: 5 March 2020, 2 p.m. (after a delicious risotto in the conservatory – our compliments to the chef, Jürgen Jakob Becker!)
ATTENDEES: Aurélie Maurin (programme director), Kathrin Bach (coordinator), Lucy Fricke (author), Sinéad Crowe (translator), María Tellechea (translator), Isabelle Liber (translator)
AGENDA:
1. Number of seats
2. Coffee and biscuits
3. AOB
4. Appendices
1. Number of seats
The first matter to be discussed was whether the attendees were expected to play musical chairs (a game known as “Journey to Jerusalem” in German) during the meeting.
L. F.: “Really we should be playing Journey to Greece.”
I. L.: “But I love musical chairs!”
A. M. proposed that the attendees fetch another stool and the game be postponed until the next meeting.Motion: We are grown women and should start behaving as such.
Motion passed with one abstention.
2. Coffee and biscuits
K. B. poured coffee. S. C. and I. L. commented on how tasty the biscuits were.
M.T.: “Go on then, I’ll have one more.”By the end of the meeting, the packet was empty.
Motion: The same biscuits – but ideally two packets – should be provided at the next meeting.
Motion passed unanimously.
3. AOB
S. C. requested permission to ask the author a few questions. L. F. was curious; after all, she’d never had a novel translated before, and now Töchter was being translated into several languages at once.
S. C. raised the point that Kurt, Martha’s dying chauvinist father, calls his daughter “Püpplmaus”. S. C. asked about the origins of this pet name. S. C. had never heard it before, it was not in any dictionaries, and even S. C.’s German friends had never heard anyone being called “Püpplmaus”. S. C. therefore wanted to know if L. F. had invented the word.
M. T. read out the following excerpt from Töchter for the record: “Martha standen Tränen im linken Auge, was sie noch wütender machte. ‘Dieser Mann ist völlig unfähig! Ich bin zufrieden, Püpplmaus, ich habe alles, was ich brauche. Ja, Fernsehanschluss, ausfahrbaren Sessel und Bier im Kühlschrank. Zufrieden, Püpplmaus. Das kotzt mich alles an!‘”
L. F.: “Oh, that’s a pet name from when I was a kid. My father was always calling me Püppl, Püppi Püpplmaus. It’s a Northern German thing, I think. Actually, Himmler called his daughter Püpplmaus. It’s old-fashioned, dates to the postwar era. It’s a really embarrassing term of endearment.”
At this, the three translators frowned. If they had spoken their thoughts aloud, this is what they would have said:
S. C.: “For Goodness’ sake, how am I supposed to communicate all those connotations in English? I mean, pet names vary from region to region and even from family to family!”
M. T.: “I wonder if there’s a book on Himmler and his daughter? I could check if it’s been translated into Spanish and how the translator handled Püpplmaus.”
I. L.: “Ooh, this could be an interesting topic for our journal. I have no idea how I’m going to translate Püpplmaus yet, but I’m sure we can write something about it.”
The organisers looked expectantly at the translators. Silence.
L. F. came to the rescue: “Well, what did your fathers call you?”
Suddenly the office was filled Spanish, English and French pet names, and the author felt a headache coming on.
L.F.: “Time for a cigarette break?”
No objections from the translators.
Motion to take a walk through the beautiful surroundings of the L.C.B. passed unanimously
Minute-taker’s note:
Of course, in reality, the meeting was a little different (though the biscuits really were delicious), and none of us took such a cold, matter-of-fact approach to translating the father-daughter relationships in the novel. So thank you, Lucy, for the laughter, the tears, and for helping us to grow a little as daughters ourselves.
4. Appendices
Anlage 1: Brainstorming
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From left to right: lists of French, English and Spanish pet names
Anlage 2: Solutions
1. L’œil gauche de Martha s’était rempli de larmes, ce qui aggravait encore sa colère. « Ce type n’est qu’un incapable ! Je suis content, ma biquette, j’ai tout ce qu’il me faut. Tu parles, la télé, un fauteuil relax électrique, de la bière au frigo. Content, ma biquette. Ça me soulève le cœur ! »
2. There were tears in Martha’s left eye, and this enraged her even more. ‘The man is a dead loss! “I’m content, honey bunny, I have everything I need.” Right. A TV, a reclining armchair and a beer in the fridge. “Content, honey bunny.” God, it makes me sick!’
3. Martha tenía el ojo izquierdo lleno lágrimas, algo que la enfurecía aún más. —¡Este tipo es absolutamente incapaz! Estoy conforme, pichoncita, tengo todo lo que necesito. Sí, claro, televisión por cable, sillón reclinable y cerveza en la heladera. Conforme, pichoncita. ¡Me dan ganas de vomitar!
