Categories: words, translation
Date: 10 March 2009 12:24:11
...it was nice knowing you...
In some languages there are words which mean both hello and goodbye. I can't think of an equivalent in English (except perhaps "Cheers" which in some contexts can mean "Hello" "Goodbye" and "Goodbye and thank you"). For example, in Austrian German "Servus" can be said both on meeting someone and leaving again. In Danish there is "Hej" - pronounced "Hi". I feel sure I've heard my Danish friends and family say "Hej, Hej" as they leave - but don't quote me on that... Italian has "Ciao" and no doubt there are other examples.
I have just translated a letter from a company with such a name as described. The letter is to the company's clients saying that they have been bought out by a larger company and so now all their dealings will be transferred to the latter. It just struck me as slightly ironic that the liquidated company's name was saying both "hello and goodbye... .
For my part, it has been a very brief* relationship. I haven't translated for the departing company before and more work seems unlikely. They have been taken over by a monster company which may even have its own in-house translation department.
* little linguistic joke there. Brief in English means short... in German it means "letter" (as in correspondence).