Archive for Abril, 2006
Friends / Amigos,
Today’s Q&J message is slightly different: we are offering a fairly long quote for which a translation of some of the words is provided. It is also interesting to note how little has changed in 116 years!
Hoy la nota Q&J será un poco distinta: presentamos un texto, del que por ser un poco largo sólo traduciremos las palabras más interesantes. ¡Constatemos lo poco que han cambiado las cosas en 116 años!
…[The humorous, one-act play by Dennis Stephens of the University of Alaska Fairbanks], “Being a Librarian”, is an adaptation of an article by Horace Kephart, Cornell’s first cataloger, who was hired in 1882. A deeper look into the 1890 Library Journal (LJ) issue containing Kephart’s article reveals that Kephart’s “Being a Librarian” was the last in a series of articles of that name published that year in the July through November issues. As is revealed in the series as well as in Kephart’s comic treatment of the subject, the professional librarian of the day needed perseverance; an excellent education and an intelligent, open mind; a wide knowledge of languages, literatures and cultures; the ability to provide both public and technical services; business savvy and a knowledge of the book trade; facility with many aspects of library operations; and management skills.
A further perusal of the LJ issues for 1890 reveals much in common with today’s worries that without guidance, information-seekers often fail to discover the most reliable, current, and accurate resources.
“Being a Librarian: Metadata and Metadata Specialists in the Twenty-first Century“. Karen Calhoun, Preprint 17 December 2004
Vocabulario:
- play = comedia
- being a librarian = ser bibliotecario (fijémonos en el artículo a = un, que siempre se pone en las profesiones y calificativos de personas: Es arquitecto pero tiene poco talento = He is an architect but he is a narrow-minded person.
- hire = contratar; alquilar. Este segundo uso es más común en Gran Bretaña. En Estados Unidos se suele utilizar únicamente para la contratación de una persona. En este caso obviamente “was hired” se traduciría por “fue contratado” [¡en español no acostumbramos a decir “alquilar un trabajador”!]
- ability to provide = capacidad para proveer
- business savvy = inteligencia para los negocios y las empresas
- book trade = comercialización o mercado del libro
- management skills = habilidades directivas o de gestión
- further perusal = examen (o lectura cuidadosa) más a fondo
- worries = preocupaciones
- information-seekers = los que buscan información
- fail to discover the most reliable = no consiguen encontrar los más fiables
- current = actual
- accurate = exacto, cuidadoso
We hope you will be savvy enough to choose a good, current play for the weekend, after a perusal of the newspaper listings which, we assume, will be accurate.
Good morning everybody,
One more week, one more Friday, one more bit of English…:
The action is set again in the Mallville Public Library. As you will remember from our last message, Mel, the library director, decided for the librarians to weed damaged books, as well as those that were never borrowed. Dewey continues looking for excuses in order not to have to clean out his section. Today, one of his reasons is that all of his books circulate. However, after a short reflection, he comes up with a quick solution: throw out all the longer books, because, as he argues, bigger books have less chance of being read.
http://www.overduemedia.com/archive.aspx?strip=20060330
Mel: - Have you removed the damaged books?
Dewey: - Yes.
Mel: - How about the ones that don’t get checked out?
Dewey: - They all get checked out.
Dewey (continuing): - You know, the larger the book the less likely it will actually be read.
Mel: - You can’t weed by size!
Dewey (thoughtful): - I’d make exceptions for the thicker vampire novels.
Traducción:
Una semana más, un viernes más, un trocito de inglés más…:
La acción transcurre nuevamente en la Biblioteca Pública de Mallville. Como recordaréis del día pasado, Mel, la directora, decide que los bibliotecarios expurguen los libros estropeados y los que no tienen éxito en el préstamo. Dewey sigue buscando excusas para no tener que limpiar su sección. Hoy uno de sus argumentos es que todos sus libros salen en préstamo, aunque luego recapacita y ofrece una “solución” rápida: tirar los libros más gruesos, ya que, según él, es menos probable que se lean.
Mel: - ¿Has quitado los libros estropeados?
Dewey: - Sí.
Mel: - Qué pasa con los que no salen en préstamo?
Dewey: - Todos salen en préstamo.
Dewey (continúa): - Ya sabes, cuanto mayor es el libro menor es la probabilidad real de que sea leído.
Mel: - ¡No puedes expurgar por el tamaño!
Dewey (pensando): - Haría excepciones con las novelas más gruesas de vampiros.
Sobre el inglés:
Recordemos este vocabulario de hace 2 semanas:
to weed = expurgar (fig.); quitar las malas hierbas (literal). A weed = mala hierba, hierbajo.
to check out = sacar un libro en préstamo. También, to check out a book for someone = gestionar el préstamo de un libro para alguien.
Expresiones nuevas en este texto:
Clean out = vaciar: I cleaned out the storage room this morning.
Otras expresiones con “clean” en sentido figurado:
Clean up = ordenar: Please clean up the brochures on this shelf.
Clean off = quitar: Please clean the papers off your desk before the mayor arrives.
Come up with = sugerir: Dewey came up with a very interesting plan.
Otras expresiones con “come” en sentido figurado:
Come across = encontrar: The researcher came across an important manuscript from the 18th century mixed in with other material.
Come (a)round = ceder: After the publisher representative’s visit, we came around to accept the contract modifications that she proposed.
Come back = volver a la memoria: It came back to me that we had already weeded that section last year.
Come in = resultar: Our old microform reader came in useful for the historian with microfilms of old newspapers.
Come over = sobrevenir; invadir: Nostalgia came over them as they looked at pictures of the old library school.
Come through = pasar por; vencer: She came through her “oposición” exam in good spirits.
Come to = ascender: What did the annual periodicals invoice come to?
Come up = surgir: The topic of adopting MARC21 came up at the meeting.
Come up against = tropezar con algo: Every time we ask for a new photocopy machine, we come up against the budget director.
set in = transcurre en: The action of the film is set in 19th century Madrid.
throw out = echar, tirar: We can throw out the old furniture on Thursday, when the city trucks remove trash. La expression “throw away” tiene un significado parecido: “We threw away all of the papers on the desk”, pero suele referirse a una acción más cotidiana, mientras que la primera expresión se utiliza más cuando se retira material.
Hoy practicaremos también esta construcción inglesa:
“the (adjetivo comparativo) xxx the (adjetivo comparativo) yyy” = “cuanto (adjetivo comparativo) xxx (adjetivo comparativo) yyy”
- The more we all learn about one another, the less we will fight = Cuanto más aprendamos todos unos de los otros, menos nos pelearemos
- The better indexed an article, the better it will be retrieved = Cuanto mejor indexado un artículo mejor será recuperado
- The more people that participate in developing a standard, the more useful it becomes.
- The more controversial an issue, the more interesting it is.
- The better you speak English, the more likely you are to find a good job in England
- The worse you write your CV, the lesser are your chances for finding a job
Bye, bye!
Buenos días:
We know from a previous strip (not commented on in Q&J) that, due to lack of space at the Mallville Public Library, Mel, the library manager, had told Dewey to weed his section. In the present strip, Dewey, as always hoping to exert a minimum amount of effort, tries to resist by claiming the need for more room for his collection:
http://www.overduemedia.com/archive.aspx?strip=20060328
Dewey: - Can’t you give me a little more shelf space? Young adults are our future.
Mel: - I thought children were our future.
Dewey: - Children grow into young adults.
Mel: - By that logic we should only stock titles for seniors.
Dewey: - I retract my argument.
Mel: - Good.
Señor mayor: - Do you have “Chicken soup for the soup lover”? In large print.
Translation:
Sabemos de la tira previa (no comentada en Q&J) que debido a la falta de espacio en la Biblioteca Pública de Mallville, Mel, la bibliotecaria gerente, le dijo a Dewey que debe expurgar su sección. Éste, un gran aficionado a la ley del mínimo esfuerzo, se resiste todo lo que puede a hacerlo, argumentando que necesita más espacio para su colección:
Dewey: - ¿No puedes darme un poco más de espacio en la estantería? Los jóvenes adultos son nuestro futuro.
Mel: - Yo pensaba que nuestro futuro eran los niños.
Dewey: - Lo niños crecen y se convierten en jóvenes adultos.
Mel: - Por este razonamiento sólo deberíamos tener libros para gente mayor.
Dewey: - Retiro mi argumento.
Mel: - Bien.
Señor mayor: - ¿Tienen “Sopa de pollo para el amante de las sopas”? En letra grande.
About the English:
to weed = expurgar (fig.); quitar las malas hierbas (literal). A weed = mala hierba, hierbajo.
to check out = sacar un libro en préstamo. También, to check out for = gestionar el préstamo de un libro. Ej.: “The old man checked out a book on chicken soup”; “Dewey checked out the book on chicken soup for the old man.”
to grow into adults = crecer (convirtiéndose, transformándose) en adultos
to stock = tener (existencias; productos); abastecer; almacenar.
a shelf = estante; repisa; anaquel. Plural: shelves = estanterías; shelving = estanterías (en sentido más general, conjunto de los estantes).
to shelve = poner en un estante; (fig.) dar carpetazo; dejar de lado; arrinconar: “The library assistant has shelved all the books that were returned yesterday”; “Due to lack of space the library had to shelve the idea of enlarging the children’s section”.
off the shelf = de serie, estándar; lo contrario, a medida, de encargo, exprofeso, ad hoc… en inglés podría decirse: customised, custom-built, custom made, made to measure, one-off… “An off-the-shelf computer application is cheaper, but a customised one could adapt better to our needs.”
Our best wishes for a good holiday break. We will be back on April 21st . In the meantime we will try to shelve our thoughts of work to enjoy our time off and hope that you can do the same!
