NaomiJiscanu

I am an Erasmus Student at the University of Freiburg. AnTransit

WEEK	PROCESS	TIME	CHALLENGES
1	Created my account and started translating (with Julia) a section from the article Wahlwort	90 min in class, 90 min at home	After creating my account, I wanted to change my username. In order to do that, I went through a lot of online instructions and links; still, I couldn't manage to change it. Another challenge was translating the section, considering that both German and English are foregin languages for me.
2	The teacher proofreaded the section and we posted the article. At home, I started to translate the article 'Jugendsprache' (with Julia).	90 min in class, 80 min at home	Still learning how to use my wikipedia account; I've learned new words in both English and German. One of the biggest challenge was to (learn how to) use the most suitable synonym in order to avoid repetition.
3	We proofread our section in class. Still working on 'Jugendsprache'.	90 min in class, 140 min at home	Challenges remain the same this week too, adding a the fact that I keep sticking to the German form of the sentences instead of using the English simpler way of expression.
4	Almost finishing 'Jugendsprache'. Started to work on translating a romanian article- 'Parcul National Piatra Craiului'	90 min in class, 90 min at home	Remain the same
5	We published the draft for 'Jugendsprache'. Working on 'Piatra Craiului'.	90 min in class, 60 min at home	I thought working with something from my native language will be easier. Turns out it isn´t.
6	Still working on 'Piatra Craiului'	60 min at home	I've learned new terms that concern rock climbing and mountains (in both Romanian and English)
7	Finished 'Piatra Craiului', had it proofread by the teacher and published the final translation on my page.	60 min at home, 90 min in class	I've seen that a lot of plants and herbs do not have an English name so I had to use their Latin name while translating the article into English. I've also learned that 'Piatra Craiului' wasn't a well written article and I should read an article very carefully before staring to translate it (in order to see if it is worth& the information will be helpful for further readers).
9	Started to work on 'art but fair'	60 min at home, 90 min in class	I wanted to translate this text because it is about an important artistic movement that started in Germany. It has a lot of hard words but it is another challenge.
10	"art but fair"	90 min in class, 90 min at home	The translation process is getting somehow easier but I'm not confident with what I'm translating.
11	"art but fair"	90 min in class, 90 at home	I've decided to use my translation for 'art but fair' as one of my final assignment
12	Almost done with 'art but fair'. Starting to look for a second article. Had my presentation.	90 min in class, 90 min at home	A bit skeptical about my work since I didn't had anyone proofreading it. Had to deal with words like 'undotiert', 'Landeszuschuesse', 'Stiftung' or 'Vertretung'. I also found it very difficult to find a second article to translate. The most interesting ones are usually already translated.
13	Found a second article: 'Karls- und Bärenhöhle'	90 min in class, 60 min at home	Archaeological terminology- very interesting, very hard to understand and translate.
14	Working on `Karls- und Bärenhöhle`	90 min in class, 120 min at home	Article issue: while translating, I`ve noticed that some statements are made twice and at sometime the information was irrelevant or too little.

Wahlwort

(section 3)

Durch Einfügen von Wahlwörtern unterschiedlicher Länge am Anfang oder Ende des Spruchs, gelegentlich auch am Anfang und am Ende, werden die Sprüche auf unterschiedliche Längen gebracht und dem Gegner somit diese Einstiegsmöglichkeit verwehrt oder doch zumindest erschwert. Die Länge eines Wahlworts lag in der Regel zwischen vier und vierzehn Buchstaben. Die deutsche Dienstvorschrift nennt als Beispiele „Wassereimer, Fernsprecher, Eichbaum, Dachfirst, Kleiderschrank“. In der Praxis kamen auch gelegentlich Wahlwörter nur der Länge drei vor wie ABC oder XXX, aber auch sehr lange Wortungetüme wie DONAUDAMPFSQIFFAHRTSGESELLSQAFTSKAPITAEN oder sogar HOTTENTOTENPOTENTATENTANTENATTENTAETER.

By introducing Wahlworts of different lengths at the beginning or the end of the sentence, sometimes both the beginning and the end, the length of the messages will differ, which prevented or at least hindered the enemy from accessing it. The length of a Wahlwort was usually between four and fourteen letters. The German code rule gave examples as "Wassereimer (bucket), Fernsprecher (telephone), Eichbaum (oak tree), Dachfirst (roof ridge), Kleiderschrank (wardrobe)". Wahlworts with only three letters occasionally apperead in the code, such as ABC or XXX, but also very long components as DONAUDAMPFSQIFFAHRTSGESELLSQAFTSKAPITAEN or HOTTENTOTENPOTENTATENTANTENATTENTAETER.

Jugendsprache

Types of Jugendsprache

Over time, a series of terms developed as different forms of Jugendsprache; among them, one can find Comicdeutsch (German comic language), school language, Denglish, army language, university student language, drug scene jargon, graffiti jargon, hip-hop jargon and Internet jargon. These terms are not at all limited to teenage speech, but they are concerned with their particular form of expression, mainly in the field of vocabulary. However, Jugendsprache is manifested on different linguistic levels, such as phonetics,  graphematics and morphosyntax, as well as in stylistics. Ethnic elements from teenagers with a migration background (eg. Balkan-slang, Turkish-German) have emerged over the last years, especially in urban spaces. These elements can be found in individual expressions and phrases, as well as in phonetics and gestures

Characteristics of youth language

First of all it should be noted that there is no standard youth language. Forms  of expression emerge in the communication within a group and therefore the language takes different forms depending on the different  geographic, social and historical context. Researchers maintain that the main function of youth language is to set up boundaries to the adult world and additionally to consolidate the identity of every speaker with the group. Functions of youth language also include the search for identity in relation to roles and status in society, it serves as a secret language, it is emotionally expressive and has a a naming function of the realities that exist in the context of the world of young people.

Features

Vocabulary and stylistics (exaggeration, intensification, word play, irony, provocation) are particularly characteristic of youth language. The alternative vocabulary has inspired researchers to conceive a number of dictionaries, which, however, produce a cliched image of youth language that barely conforms to the way young people speak. Most expressions are short-lived, for example, ‘knorke’ was once used an expression of high approval, later came ‘astrein’, ‘cool’, ‘nice’ or even ‘geil’, often enriched with further emphatic forms (‘oberaffengeil’). For this reason the dictionaries are frequently updated or new ones are published, which, however, linguists in the field are critical of.

The National Park Piatra Craiului

The National Park Piatra Craiului is a protected area corresponding on category number two on IUCN and situated in the territory of Arges and Brasov counties.

Location

The park is extending in the North-East boundary of the Arges county (the territories of Dambovicioara, Dragoslavele and Rucar villages) and Southern boundary of Brasov county (the territories of Fundata, Moieciu and Bran villages and Zarnesti town) near to the road that links the towns Pitesti and Zarnesti. The National Park is located in Piatra Craiului Mountain, part of Southern Carpathians mountain chain that extends on a 15.773 ha surface.

History

The Council of Ministers decided to create the park on March 1938 and published this in The Journal of the Council of Ministers from 1938. The area expanded in the following years, was declared National Park in 1990 and was confirmed again through a legal document from March 2000.

Description

The National Park Piatra Craiului includes a sector of steep peaks (Timbalu Mare Peak- 2,177 m, Timbale Peak- 2,170 m) made of metamorphic rock, limestone cliffs of Jurassic age, screes, alpin hollows, piers (Zarnesti Piers, Vadusca Piers, Dambovicioarei Piers), caves, swamps, rivers or karst areas (Zarnesti Chasms, Botorogs Well, Lords’ Well). The park also includes the nature reserves Cheile Zarnestiului (also known as Zarnesti Piers), Rucar-Bran Cave, Dambovicioara Cave, Grind Cave, the karst area Dambovicioara-Brusturet, Dovresilor Cave, Number 15 Cave, Stanciului Cave and  Uluce Cave.

Habitats

The natural area has many types of habitats: several types of underwoods (Salix, Pinus mugo, Rhododendron myrtifolium, Alysso-Sedion albi), meadows, bushes on the outskirts from the plains and go up to the alpin peaks, mountain grasslands, caves in which public acces is prohibited, alluvial ( Alnus glutinosa and Fraxinus excelsior -Alno-Padion, Alnion incanae, Salicion albae) and beech forests ( Symphyto-Fagion, Luzulo-Fagetum, Cephalanthero-Fagion), rocky slopes with chasmophytic vegetation on silky rocks, herbaceous and woody vegetation on river banks and calcareous screes ( Thlaspietea rotundifolii). All these are home to the various fauna and flora of the park.

Flora

The flora of the national park is represented by plants growing on different altitudes according to geological and geomorphological structure, soil and climate.

Trees and shrubs

Species of conifers: spruce (Picea Abies), fir (Abies alba) , larch (Larix), stone pine (Pinus cembra), yew tree (Taxus baccata) . Species of hardwood: oak (Quercus robur), beech (Fagus sylvatica), hornbeam (Carpinus betulus), sycamore (Acer pseudoplatanus), lime (Tilia cordata), ash (Fraxinus excelsior), chestnut (Aesculus hippocastanum), elm (Ulmus glabra), maple (Acer platanoides), jugastrum (Acer campestre), birch (Betula pendula), aspen (Populus tremula), mountain adler (Alnus viridis), black adler (Alnus glutinosa) , white willow (Salix alba), goose willow (Salix caprea).

Herbs and flowers

The flora diversity is represented by numerous species and subspecies, some of them protected by law. Floral species: Dianthus callizonus ( it grows in Piatra Craiului only, known as “garofita Pietrei Craiului”), Nigrittela rubra, Leontopodium alpinum Cass, Rhododendron, Papaver alpinum, Daphne blagayana, Cypripedium calceolus, Linaria alpina, Pleurospermum austriacum, Heracleum palmatum, Erigeron uniflorus, Erysimum witmannii, Anthemis tinctoria, Campanula patula, Cephalanthera longifolia, Gymnadenia conopsea, Gymnadenia odoratissima, Cephalanthera rubra, Corallorhiza trifida, Dianthus glacialis ssp. gelidus, Dianthus tenuifolius, Dianthus giganteus ssp. banaticus, Dianthus henteri, Erigeron uniflorus, Erigeron atticus,Gentiana clusii, Orchis morio, Orchis ustulata, Phyteuma tetramerum, Pinguicula alpina, Plantago atrata and Pedicularis exaltata.

Fauna

Numerous species of mammals inhabit the park and they are represented by  birds, fish, amphibians and reptiles, some of the protected by law and on the IUCN red list of threatened species.

Mammalians

Species: brown bear (Ursus arctos), deer (Cervus elaphus), roe deer (Capreolus capreolus), chamois (Rupicapra rupicapra), wolf (Canis lupus), lynx (Lynx lynx), marten (Martes martes), fox (Vulpes vulpes), wild boar (Sus scrofa), squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis), different types of bats (Barbastella barbastellus, Miniopterus schreibersii, Myotis myotis, Myotis blythii, Rhinolophus ferrumequinum, Rhinolophus hipposideros) and different types of shrews (Crocidura leucodon, Sorex minutus, Micromys minutus, Sorex araneus, Sorex alpinus).

Birds

Species of birds: Tetrao urogallus, Corvus corax, Tetrastes bonasia, Falco tinnunculus, Phoenicurus ochruros, Falco peregrinus, Prunella collaris, Crex crex, Corvus monedula, Asio otus, Columba palumbus, Alauda arvensis, Aquila pomarina, Aquila chrysaetos, Buteo buteo, Buteo lagopus, Carduelis carduelis, Upupa epops, Cuculus canorus, Turdus merula, Circus cyaneus, Carduelis spinus, Oriolus oriolus, Lanius collurio, Emberiza citrinella, Motacilla alba, Tringa ochropus, Galerida cristata, Sylvia nisoria.

Reptiles, amphibians and fish

Reptiles: Lacerta agilis, Lacerta viridis, Natrix tessellata, Coronella austriaca, Anguis fragilis, Natrix natrix, Vipera berus, Bombina variegata, Triturus cristatus, Triturus alpestris, Triturus vulgaris, Rana dalmatina, Rana temporaria, Hyla arborea, Salamandra salamandra; and three species of fish: Barbus meridionalis, Eudontomyzon mariae, Cottus gobio.

Access

The park can be reached following the national roads DN73A Brasov-Rasnov- Zarnesti or DN73D Pitesti-Campulung- Zarnesti.

art but fair

(work in Progress)

art but fair is the Name of an international movement whose purpose are equitable working conditions and reasonable honoraries for the ones in the area of arts and music. The organisation consists of three other coordinated, non-profit clubs from Germany, Austria and Switzerland with the head offices in Hamburg, Wien and respectively Zürich. The movement came as a result of a cultural initiative founded by musical producer Johannes Maria Schatz on 19 February 2013.

The Facebook page 'Die traurigsten& unverschämsten Künstlergagen und Auditionerlebnisse' ('The saddest & most outrageous artist's fees and audition experiences) pushed the performing artists to a quick feedback. Artists of all categories started to make public their experiences, with the main focus on the working conditions, which despite their education and qualifications, a livelihood with the income from their daily occupation is nearly impossible. The first media report about 'artists´complaining wall' was published in Berliner Zeitung and Frankfurter Rundschau.

The page recieved support from the austrian mezzosopran Elisabeth Kulman who made public the abuses that happen in the 'first league'. She criticzed especially the cancellation of the rehearse funds during the opera production of 'Salzburger Festspiele' directed by Alexander Pereira, the tight schedule without considering singers' capacity to work under pressure and the incompetence and corruption in the deciding comitee. The subject was also picked up by mass media when Elisabeth called the artists to a 'revolution', on 16 March 2013.

Kulman's open critic found support in her opera colleagues Laura Aikin, Marlis Petersen, Markus Brück, Thomas Moser, Jonas Kaufman and Simon Keenlyside. Even the international agent Germinal Hilbert, directors Barrie Kosky, Peter Jonas and Ioan Holender, numerous cultural journalists as well as the psychiatrist Deirde Mahkorn, leader of the first 'Lambenfieber-Ambulanz', agreed that 'the diseased system is harmful to the artists'.

The association 'art but fair' was founded on 7 September 2013 and took a step forward in 2014 with the 'art but fair self commitment'- a moral code for the professional everyday life of the artists. Actors, producers, lecturers and cultural politicians had the opportunity to sign their own self commintment and generate a progress report every year. Model for the self commitment is the Global Compact of the United Nations.
In 2013 and 2014 the club was awarded with 'Die goldene Stechpalme Prize' for 'the saddest and most outrageous incidents in the performing arts and music'. The Internet community organized the nominations and the voting. In 2013, the Ministry of Culture of Sachsen-Anhalt "won" the same prize because of "the reduction of the theatrical and orchestral landscape forced by the reduction of the state grants". In 2014, the award went to Migo-Entertainment, a production company that managed to go insolvent two times with the same musical production. After a break, a new prize, the "art AND fair prize" should go in 2017 to "outstanding archievements and in the fight for fair pay and working conditions in the performing arts and music". As until now, the nomination will be done by the Internet community and the (non-remunerative) prize is to be awarded by a jury.

In 2015 Maximilian Norz initiated "Faire Arbeitsbedingungen in den Darstellenden Künsten und der Musik?"("Fair working conditions in the performing arts and music?"), a survery that was published in May 2016. An "investigation to working conditions, nuisances, as well as suggestions that could improve the working conditions" was organized by Hans Böckler's foundation in collaboration with the organizations Kulturpolitischen Gesellschaft and art but fair.
The survery concluded that although a commitment might 'contribuite to raising awarness about the importance of fair working conditions', it has otherwise 'little potential to motivate the actors to percieve their abilities to alleviate grievances in the working conditions of the artists'. In order to reach these goals, the survery proposes three alternalive tools: collective representation of interests, the seal of quality and coordinated cultural promotion.

Goals
The organisation is following up to:

- make the artists show solidarity among each other for fair working conditions

- policy and transparency when it comes to nuisances in the artistic working field

- to develop a certificat ("Gütesiegels"-'Quality label') for the cultural institutions so that an independent authority can constatly check if they are offering fair working conditions

- the implemetation of this certificat will be done with the help of the conditioned cultural promotion. During the process, the promoters will set certain conditions for funding, for example the ownership of th

Karls- und Bärenhöhle

(work in progress)

The Karls- und Bärenhöhle (also known as Erpfinger Höhle) is situated in Sonnenbühl, district Epfingen, in the rock of the white Jurassic limestone. The name Bärenhöhle (Bear´s Cave) is used colloquially for the whole cave. With an approximate number of 80,000 milions visitors every year, Bärenhöhle is the most visited tourist cave in the Schwäbischen Alb and one of the most visited caves in Germany.

The Karls- und Bärenhöhle is a flowstone cave composed of the Karlshöhe- discovered in 1834, and her extension, Bärenhöhle, discovered in 1949. It is famous due to numerous skeletons that have been found here. Several skulls and bones, as well as a restored bear skelleton are exhibited in the cave. The cave can be walked on over 250 m and impresses both with its beautiful stalactites and celling formations and the stratum that dates back to the Ice Age. The annual temperature is between 8 and 10 °C.

History

The cave´s system developed in aperiod of approximately 5 milion years. Around 20.000 years ago it was frequended by cave bears but also by a (now extinted) Panthera species and rhinoceros. A leisure park- 'Traumland auf der Bärenhöhle' was built above the cave and it is open since 1974.
In the mean time, Bears' Cave is protected as a geotop and since 2017 it is one of the 26 InfoPoints of the Geopark Schwäbische Alb.
The cave was (re)discovered in 1834 by the Erpfinger teacher Fauth during his search for medicinal herbs. His snuff box fell in a crevice and while trying to take it out, Fauth discovered that beneath that fissure there is a cave. In his hounour, the cave entrance recieved the name 'Fauthloch'. This anecdote is still narrated at the beginning of each tour of the cave.
The research has revealed that the cervice was apparently used since Middle Age. In addition to the large number of bear bones were found human skeletons, which proves that the cave was used a burial place for the corpses infested by plague.

In 1949, the cave guide Karl Benz Discovered a small pasage in the back of the cave while observing the bats flying. In this section were found a significant number of bear bones, which is why this fragment is reffered to as 'Bears´ Cave'. In order to make the sightseeing possible, the cave was provided with electric light since 1934. Only a year after the discovery of the second fragment, the entire cave had an accesible path and an artificial tunnel between te two sections. Since the, the cave can be visited on a 271 meters total length.

Color changes due to algae growth
The use of the UV fluorescent lamps caused developments of viridescent decolorations and moos formations on some of the cave rocks. For this reason, the fluorescent tubes are usually not used in caves and the light is turned on during the tours only. For the same reason it is not allowed to take pictures with flashlight in stalactite caves.
The entire old lighting system was replaced with an energy-saving LED system in 2014. Every hall of the Karls- and Bärenhöhle is illuminated in colors.