Baugeist, lost in translation...

"desto freier kann sich menschlicher Baugeist artikulieren"

"the more freedom the architect has to articulate himself"

- Gerhard Auer, Baustoffe sind von Natur aus künstlich, p. 22

This phrase in English and the original German reminded me of why it is good wherever possible to read texts in their original language. My complaint with the translation is that it doesn't address the word 'Baugeist', turning the human spirit of the building into the articulation of the architect. If you were to read the text in English, you would miss out on this extra layer of richness. Perhaps it is an untranslatable word, but then we use other words such as Zeitgeist and Schadenfreude in their original state, so why not use Baugeist too?

The other strange problem with the translation was the curious omission of an entire paragraph (with my translation beneath)...

"Wir erschraken demzufolge vorübergehend vor der Verwitterungsfestigkeit der Plaste; ihre aufdringlich bunte Renitenz galt als Menetekel. Doch die Recycling-Philosophie erteilt jetzt den Sündenfall symbolische Absolution und verwandelt ihn in einen Triumph: Der natürliche Wiederauferstehungskreislauf der Materie ist zu beschleunigen und zu kontrollieren; ewige Reformierung. Unsterblichkeit ist programmierbar geworden." p. 33

We are therefore momentarily alarmed by plastic's resistance to weathering; its brash colourful refractoriness is the writing on the wall. But the philosophy behind recycling grants symbolic absolution to the fall of man and transforms it into a triumph; The natural life cycle (note that Wiederauferstehungskreislauf contains the word Auferstehung - resurrection - so is even more potently charged) of materials is accelerated and controlled; eternal reformation. Immortality has been made programmable.