Munich

Robert Gibson's recent rail trips allowed him to take in different cultures — and arrive on time, unlike his colleagues who insisted on driving. 

A recent visit to Munich's 200th Oktoberfest reminded me how unimportant our names are in many situations. That may sound odd, but we often have conversations without introducing ourselves until the end — if at all.

The Munich beer festival started last weekend. Anyone who manages to get a seat inside or outside the tents will have to sing the “Wies’n Anthem” at some point: “Ein Prosit der Gemütlichkeit”. How do you best translate Gemütlichkeit?

What’s interesting about Bono is that he doesn’t just expect an interpreter to interpret his statements from English to a foreign language; he expects the interpreter to help him to interpret the mood of the country in which he’s performing, too.