Tags: editorial | letters | Think Magazine

Letters to the Editor, Issue #27

RETURN OF THE BLACK MUMMY

We are pleased to announce another Halloween masquerade party this year. On Saturday, 30 October at Club Meloun, Michalska 12, Praha 1, starting from 8pm, the Black Mummy will come back to furious life and, wracked by heart-rending nostalgia, perform those haunted songs. Everyone is expected in costume and those without shall be eaten alive. All the Very Best to All

- Daniel Kenney

PS: Costume rental: Hudebni Divadlo Karlin, Krizikova 10, tel: 231 2051, Karneval, Rumunska 27, tel: 691 1086, Ladana, Opatovicka 20, tel: 269 7134

I just had the opportunity to visit your fair city and was wondering if there exists the possibility of receiving your magazine here by mail. I Loved THINK and hope to return to Praha soon! In the meantime I would love to be updated on what's happening over there! Much love!

- Megan Eckert

Well thanx!

'Fair city' is stretching it a bit these days, but kewl... You (or anybody) used to be able to get THINK delivered anywhere outside of the Czech Republic for just $40US (CZ postage = expensive) in any convertible currency by emailing us, but now we only exist online, and so its FREE!

Well, thanks to all our loyal readers who forwarded us letters they sent to Pragueaffair (I think...)

Well you have done it. You have managed to put out a magazine in English that contains more grammatical errors per page than THINK! I would not have thought that possible. Please understand, many native English speakers do not know grammar well at all. You need to find better proofreaders.

Here are three examples, all from one paragraph on p13:

- "She has not managed to LIVE UP WITH her new role yet. ": The expression 'live up with' does not exist in English. You may have meant 'live up to', but that meaning would be uncomplimentary to the subject, Ms. Houdova. You probably meant 'come to terms with', 'settle into' or 'come to feel at home with'.

- "Her carieer (your Spelling Error) started with a sudden decision by putting the application for the competition into the mail box. ": The way this reads, it was her career that put the application into the mailbox, thereby starting itself. What (I believe) you meant to say was, "Her success came only as a result of her decision, on impulse, to enter the competition. "

- "It seems that this was the needed piquancy which gave the turn to judge's decision/thumbs. ": No, no, no. 'Gave the turn to' does not exist. The word 'judges' needs and article, 'the'. And, assuming there was more than one judge, the possessive would be indicated with an apostrophe after the 's', not before it. The judges do not have 'decision thumbs', with or without the '/' 'Decision thumbs' is simply ridiculous. Is there no one in your office who could have construct the sentence: "Perhaps it was this piquancy which decided the judges in Helena's favor. "?

Having done a small amount of translating into English myself during my stay here, a piece like this reminds me clearly of first-draft translations; pieces, that is, which have been written in Czech and translated - often by a Czech speaker - into English. This is a fine, workable process, but it is not the final step. The piece must then be groomed over by a native English speaker - and not just anyone, I stress again, in order to make it a piece of readable English.

Yours is not a comedy magazine, but I believe people will be laughing at it as much as taking information from it, if you retain this level of language. Admittedly, many native English speakers, when faced with a rough translation from Czech, would not be able to come up with better work than this, especially if time were tight. But no native English speaker in the world could follow such a maze of misconstruction, impossible usage and plain errors, and still keep his or her mind on the subject matter.

Yours sincerely, Jeremy Saxon, Prague 1

Just thought you might like to know of two mistakes in Issue no. 3 (Prague Affair) In your article: 'The Empty Monument', you write that Vítkov was last opened in March, when in fact, Stelarc had a performance there after that, in May, I believe.

Secondly, your restaurant review of the TV tower is quite poor. First off, the 60 KC entrance fee is only for the Observation Floor; the restaurant (as of a week ago) is still free. Also, in five years here, the only bad meal I have ever had was there, so your "typical fried goods, etc. " was a bit off. Also, Your website doesn't look at all like what you have printed in your magazine (which, by the way, you write on the left side of the page is address is "http://www.pragueaffair.com" which you don't even have registered, and may not be able to...

Third, Your web-site boasts that you are: "Prague's first and only English-language culture magazine." Are we forgetting about Think? Half the info may be recycled from the net, but it was around before you, and still is an "English-language culture magazine", thus making your claim invalid... just thought you'd like to know...

- Adam Trachtman

(Note: 1/2? Actually, a lot less. I'll admit that occasionally we print some of those ubiquitous email chain-letter office-humor pieces, but we always credit the writers (if known) and look at it as just our way of 'forwarding' it to 10,000+ people without Spamming. -ed.)

Word of wisdom from one who knows

As winter draws the curtains on your days of sunshine, and you begin to batten down the hatches in preparation for a good old Eastern European winter, heed these words of wisdom: Many of you may be living in substandard gritty accommodation and paying three times as much as the Czech geezer across the hall. Maybe you have a gas water heater, maybe your penny pinching landlord has done a bodge job, maybe its leaking a gas that you can't smell or detect. Look out for the signs of Carbon Monoxide poisoning, maybe you've got it. If you have a headache that you just can't shake, if you feel tired, lightheaded and flu like, don't just dismiss it as over partying. It might not be. And don't think it won't happen to you - I thought that. Be careful, have a good Christmas.

- Maie Crumpton

Rant of the Month:

Q: WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A PATHETIC LOSER FROM KLADNO WITH A NORMAL-SIZED BUTT AND ONE WITH A COMPUTER KEYBOARD SHOVED FORCIBLY UP HIS ASS?

A: ABOUT A ONE-HOUR DRIVE

TO ANYBODYI HAVE BEEN CHEATED TO THE SUM OF OVER 400,000Kc. I DON'T KNOW WHAT DO. IT LOOKS LIKE THERE IS NO WAY TO COLLECT THE MONEY DUE ME. I HAVE BEEN TRYING TO COLLECT THIS MONEY FROM A PERSON WHO MAKES OVER 800,000Kc A YEAR OR MORE. I LIVE IN PRAGUE BECAUSE I'M ON DISABILITY. BUT I DON'T EVEN HAVE THE MONEY TO FIX MY TEETH.

THIS MONEY IS VERY NEEDED. I DONT KNOW WHAT TO DO. AND DEAR GOD: YOU SO SUCK. I TRUSTED YOU WITH MY FUCKING LIFE AND YOU HAD THE FUCKING NERVE TO SCREW IT UP. THANKS FOR MAKING ME CRAZY. THANKS FOR RUINING MY LIFE YOU FUCKING ASSHOLE!

I HATE YOU MORE THAN LIFE ITSELF AND I DON'T GIVE TWO FUCKS IF I AM GOING TO HELL BECAUSE IT SURE'D BE BETTER THAN SPENDING ETERNITY WITH A FUCK LIKE YOU. GET SCREWED YOU ASSHOLE I HATE YOU SO MUCH!

LOVE FROM, - YOUR UNFAITHFUL FOLLOWER

Regarding How Cool We Are

I read THINK all the time. I get every issue you send out. What is the problem? What is keeping you guys from coming out regularly? I've been a reader since about last September or so. Maybe even earlier than that. I really enjoy the things that you guys say, and print, in your magazine.

Please don't let this site go the way of so many others. That is to say, don't let THINK die! Do you need help? If so, ask! I don't think I can help too much, I'll bet that someone out there (of all your readers) that would be willing to help you out. Well, best of luck to you. Feel good that someone else wrote you an e-mail.

- Jan D.

Okay.

Well, we come out about 8-10 times a year, plus we make a Czech title called HELE, which puts us in the one magazine a month category. Definetly not Esquire or anything, but their magazines pretty much come pre-packaged on a CD. Then there's the payment cycle thing here; slow behemoths, whiney non-or-late-paying club promoters, and and printers who want it cash-on-delivery. So stick with us, we'll keep coming out and staying free, at least into the next millenium or so. And as far as help, we are currently looking for mafia-type enforcers to make sure nobody steals the toilet paper.

- ed.