[Fwd: Re: Principles-law-be prepared in German]

Michael M Pannwitz mmpanne at boscop.de
Fri Oct 13 12:58:07 PDT 2006


Dear colleagues,
I am taking the liberty to send you this exchange with the always-on-the 
-road-never tiring- enthusiastic - you fill in here -
Lisa Heft
cheers from Berlin
mmp

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Re: Principles-law-be prepared in German
Date: Fri, 13 Oct 2006 21:54:59 +0200
From: Michael M Pannwitz <mmpanne at boscop.de>
To: lisaheft at openingspace.net
CC: michaeljr at boscop.de,  mareikiele at web.de,  'Erich Kolenaty' 
<e.kolenaty at transformation.at>,  mmpanne at snafu.de
References: <009701c6eee3$dec5a700$6601a8c0 at Lisa>

Dear Lisa,
liebe Lisa,
here are the transliterations into German, I think a translation in the
common meaning of the concept does not work well, its important to catch
both the meaning and the language/culture of the language you use the
stuff in.
First of all, I used to translate
Principles with the word Grundsätze.
As I moved in open space for a number of years and by now having been
involved in some 170 occasions as facilitator and trainer I frequently
use the term
Facts of Life or, in German,
Tatsachen des Lebens
for what I used to call principles or Grundsätze.
This has partially to do with the fact that when I delved into the
principles it seemed to me that they are in fact not principles in the
narrow sense (Webster mentions: law, doctrine, assumed truth, etc.,
which I think paves the road to calling the principles "rules" which
quite a few of German facilitators tend to do...)but they are
observations of how things usually are, very basic.

And here are the German versions of the "Tatsachen des Lebens" as I use
them and as they are being used - from my observation - by an increasing
number of germanspeaking facilitators. I welcome and appreciate this
development as open space spreads so that it is commonly recognizable
while at the same time I do think it would be agains my basis
understanding of open space to in any way insist that these renderings
are the "truth". There has been a lot of discussions and reflections on
these in trainings, Learning Exchanges and regional OSonOS...so its in a
way a common product.

Whoever comes is the right people
Die da sind, sind genau die Richtigen

Whatever happens...
Was auch immer geschieht: Es ist das Einzige, was geschehen konnte

Whenever it starts...
Es fängt an, wenn die Zeit reif ist
(I think this German idiom expresses the sense of the this fact of life
well in the sense that it is not arbitrary or accidental when things
begin but when "the time is ripe")

When its....
Vorbei ist vorbei / Nicht vorbei ist nicht vorbei
(this is one of the few examples of the German being shorter than the
English, Mark Twain would be surprised...)

The Law of Two Feet
Das Gesetz der zwei Füße
Here, I have developed the habit of drawing not just two stationary feet
on the poster visualizing the Law but depicting footsteps crossing the
poster. Its usually half a footstep on the left side of the poster
entering followed by two fullsized footsteps in the center and half a
footstep at the right leaving the poster ...like walking across. That
gives you the motion aspect.
When it is clear that there are differently abled participants I have a
wheelchair on the poster, too.
Often, I add in my introduction some sentences under the heading
Law of Mobility
Gesetz der Mobilität.
The responsibility part I talk about, its not implicitely mentioned or
contained in the translation or in the poster...I wish someone would
come up with a good idea to include it, but it needs to be kiss.
I also think that the Law can stand for itself quite well as a sort of
provocation which is then picked up by the facilitator in her
introduction to the process.

Be prepared to be surprised!
Augen auf! Mit Überraschungen ist zu rechnen!

Thanks for doing this work, Lisa, which I think is much more than just
offering "translations" but an important and basic contribution to
spreading open space on this planet.

I take the liberty of sending this note also to oslist and the
germanlanguage list serve (there are now 240 colleagues gathered there)

Love and Peace
mmp

Lisa Heft wrote:
> Hi, fabulous folks –
> 
>  
> 
> I thought I had this translation – but I found that I do not.  If you 
> see this message I am hoping to print out some German signs within a few 
> hours of my sending this message so if you have a moment to 
> quick-respond, that would be great.
> 
>  
> 
> If one of you happens to be looking at your email right now by chance, 
> can you do me a favor and give me the German 
> translation/interpretation/version of these principles, law, etc.? And I 
> not only shall I be able to offer this language on my signs in a 
> multi-language Open Space I am about to do, but I will post these in my 
> little growing international Glossary of terms and phrases at my website 
> for our other colleagues to use and share…
> 
>  
> 
> Thank you,
> 
>  
> 
> Lisa
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
> Whoever comes is the right person --
> 
> Whatever happens is the only thing that could have --
> 
> Whenever it starts is the right time --
> 
> When it’s over, it’s over --
> 
>  
> 
> The Law of Two Feet  -- 
> 
> (motion and responsibility) --
> 
>  
> 
> Be Prepared to Be Surprised  -- 
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 

*
*
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