von Christine Burgmer | Okt. 14, 2026 | Sparks |
Nobody asked you to apologise „I’m sorry, my English isn’t very good.“ Then forty minutes of clear, precise English. Good sentences. Exactly the right word for the thing they do every day. When I say so afterwards, they nod politely. They think...
von Christine Burgmer | Okt. 13, 2026 | Sparks |
I understood nothing. He was speaking English. Years ago the local open-air museum asked me to step in as an interpreter. One of theirs had fallen ill. The subject was farming, which I know nothing about, and the speaker was American. I understood almost none of it....
von Christine Burgmer | Okt. 12, 2026 | Sparks |
She looked almost disappointed The goal was never to keep you around. The measure of a good coach is the day you stop needing one. This business is built to make me replaceable. Not the most sensible career plan, I’ll admit. A client asked me last week how long...
von Christine Burgmer | Okt. 9, 2026 | Sparks |
Will I ever stop translating in my head? „I think it in German first. Then I translate. By the time I’m ready, the conversation has moved on.“ I hear this in first sessions more than anything else. It’s exhausting. And underneath it...
von Christine Burgmer | Okt. 8, 2026 | Sparks |
„Wir laufen dahin,“ I said in Vienna. In Germany, where I live, that means we’ll walk there. In Austria it means we’ll run. I had just suggested we jog to dinner. Somebody laughed, explained, and the evening carried on. I came home with Semmel...
von Christine Burgmer | Okt. 6, 2026 | Sparks |
Two questions before you speak There’s a moment before you speak when you rehearse the sentence. Once for the grammar. Once for the word you’re not sure about. By the third run, the conversation has moved on. That’s der innere Kontrolleur, checking...
