On 15 September 2018 – for the second time in the year – I attended a seminar on German spelling. This time, it was a more comprehensive and systematic presentation of the revised rules for German spelling that came into force in June 2017, including many practical tips, exercises and a complementary module on proofreading techniques.
The seminar was held by the German Federal Association of Translators and Interpreters (BDÜ), Rhineland-Palatinate chapter, whose highly informative and professionally organised seminars I’ve been attending for 3 years and value very much. It took place in Ludwigshafen, and the presenter was Lisa Walgenbach, a specialist in German studies.
Table of Contents
The new German spelling: rules and exceptions
Ms Walgenbach firstly talked about the goals, scope and significance of the German Spelling Reform. After that she spoke extensively on the revised body of German spelling rules in the areas of syllabification, punctuation, loan words, upper/lower case, separate/joint spelling for compound words and hyphenation. She explained not only the reasoning behind every rule, but also the improvements and exceptions. The content of her presentation was constantly put into practice with exercises, which increased the seminar’s usefulness enormously. When answering participants’ many questions, the presenter demonstrated competence and absolute command of the subject matter.
Resources for systematic proofreading
An especially interesting part of the seminar was when the presenter suggested a systematic proofreading workflow based both on spelling and on formal aspects such as abbreviations, syllabification, enumeration, dashes and proper nouns.
Useful seminar handout for translators
Seminar participants received a comprehensive handout with the seminar’s content for us to study at home, as well as useful recommendations of books on German Spelling. Once again, BDÜ’s Rhineland-Palatinate proved to be a provider of first-class continuing professional development events for translators.
Event details
| Type of event | one-day seminar held in German |
| Title | “Neue deutsche Rechtschreibung für die Praxis: aktueller Stand nach der Reform 2017 (mit Zusatzmodul: Techniken des Korrekturlesens)” [The New German Spelling Reform for practitioners: current body of rules since the June 2017 revision (including a complementary module on proofreading techniques)] |
| Event organiser | German Federal Association of Translators and Interpreters, Rhineland-Palatinate chapter |
| Facilitators / Presenters | Lisa Walgenbach |
| Date | 15 September 2018 |
| Place | Best Western Leoso Hotel • Pasadenaallee 4 • 67059 Ludwigshafen • Germany |
| Main topics | • Goals, scope and significance of the German spelling reform • The new spelling rules that came into force in June 2017 • Detailed presentation of the new German Spelling Reform, including syllabification, punctuation, loan words, upper/lower case, separate/joint spelling for compound words • Proofreading techniques with a systematic workflow • Exercises and discussions of attendees’ questions on German spelling |
