It’s time for Sonderling Sunday! That time of the week when I play with language by looking at the German translation of children’s books. And my comments work again this time!
This week, it’s back to my stand-by, the book that inspired me to start Sonderling Sunday, Der Orden der Seltsamen Sonderlinge, by James Kennedy, otherwise known as The Order of Odd-fish.
Last time, we left off right around the halfway point, on page 208 in the English version, and Seite 262 auf Deutsch.
Just to set the stage, I’m going to write out the whole first paragraph of this section.
Jo and Ian searched the neighborhood, but they didn’t really know what they were looking for. It wasn’t clear what “Duddler Yarue” would look like, and anyway, the streets were almost deserted. After a half hour of wandering, Jo despaired of ever making any headway, and was ready to give up when they saw an effeminate boy smoking a cigarette on the corner. He watched Jo and Ian idly.
Auf Deutsch:
Jo und Ian suchten das ganze Viertel ab, aber sie wussten nicht einmal genau, wonach sie eigentlich suchen sollten. Es war nicht klar, wie dieser »Duddler Yarue« eigentlich ausschaute, und außerdem waren die Straßen beinahe vollkommen menschenleer. Nachdem sie eine halbe Stunde herumgeirrt waren, glaubte Jo nicht mehr daran, dass sie noch irgendetwas erreichen würden. Sie wollte schon aufgeben, als sie einen etwas affektierten Jungen an der Ecke stehen sah, der eine Zigarette rauchte. Er beobachtete Jo und Ian gelangweilt.
“suspicious” = Verdächtiges
“clue” = Spur (“trail”)
“to boil over” = die Beherrschung zu verlieren (“the mastery to lose”)
“rude” = unhöflich
“street wisdom” = Straßenweisheit
“some guy” = irgendein Bursche
“snapped his fingers” = schnippte mit den Fingern (I just like that one.)
“startled and a little pleased” = erschrocken und zugegebenermaßen auch ein bisschen erfreut
(“frightened and admittedly also a little bit pleased”)
“the sights” = Sehenswürdigkeiten
“secret places” = geheime Orte
“I wouldn’t want you to miss it.” = Ich möchte nicht, dass du das versäumst.
“rather enjoying Ian’s jealousy” = genoss Ians Eifersucht
“teetered back and forth” = zögerte unschlüssig (“hesitated indecisively”)
“turnstile” = Drehkreuz
“Ian bought three tokens and went through properly.”
= Der kaufte drei Münzen und warf sie ordnungsgemäß in den Schlitz.
(“He bought three coins and threw them properly in the slot.”)
And that’s it for tonight! A short one, but it’s nice to get back in the swing of it. After all, Ich möchte nicht, dass du das versäumst.
Great to see the series continuing! I’ve been off the Internet for a few weeks but I wanted to pop in and say how much I appreciate and enjoy this series. I’m hypnotized by the phrase “the mastery to lose.”
Thanks, James! My comments weren’t working for the longest time without me realizing it. And last week (two Sundays), I was on vacation myself. But while in Oregon, I went to Powell’s — and picked up Der Lorax in German! 🙂