Sonderling Sunday – Hooray for the World Cup!
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. Think of it as a handy-dandy phrasebook of phrases as *actually used* to tell a story.
Today, in honor of Germany winning the World Cup (Woo-hoo!!!!), I’m going to look at the scene in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire where they witness the Quidditch World Cup. Because what phrases could be more appropriate?
Last time, we covered the Pregame Show. The actual Quidditch World Cup begins on page 106 in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, and Seite 113 in Harry Potter und die Feuerkelch.
The first sentence is an appropriate way to begin:
“‘Theeeeeeeey’re OFF!’ screamed Bagman.”
= »Looooooos geht’s!«, schrie Bagman.
They have a name for this:
“bridge of his nose” = Nasenwurzel (“Nose root”)
“slow motion” = Zeitlupe (“Time magnifier”)
“the noise of the crowd pounded against his eardrums”
= das Toben der Menge gegen seine Trommelfelle pochte
(“The roar of the multitude against his drumskins pounded”)
“Hawkshead Attacking Formation” = Falkenkopf-Angriff
“zoom closely together” = dicht nebeneinander dahinschwebten
(“close near-one-another there-in-floated”)
“ploy” = Täuschung
“who was dancing up and down, waving her arms in the air”
= mit schlackernden Armen umhertanzte
“lap of honor” = Ehrenrunde
“sulkily” = schmollend
“seamless” = nahtlos
“causing a thunderous tide of roars and applause from the green-clad supporters”
= was bei den grün gekleideten Fans eine wahre Springflut aus Jubelschreien und Händeklatschen auslöste
“scatter” = zerstreuen
“goal” = Tor
“gasped” = stöhnten
“parachutes” = Fallschirme (“Fall-umbrellas”)
“descent” = Sturzflug (“drop-flight”)
“huge groan” = markerschütterndes Stöhnen
“time-out” = Auszeit
“Firebolt” = Feuerblitz
“new heart” = frischen Mut
“scream of rage” = Wutschrei
“takes to task” = knüpft
“cobbing” = Schrammens (“scarring”)
“penalty” = Freiwurf
“referee” = Schiedsrichter
“looking mutinous” = rebellisch gestikulierten
“cruel-beaked bird heads” = Vogelköpfen mit grausamen Schnäbeln
“scaly” = schuppige
“deafening” = ohrenbetäubendes
“broom tail” = Besenschweif
“most exciting” = aufregendste
“had no idea” = war schleierhaft (“was veiled”)
“roared” = polterte
“tremendous force” = enormer Wucht
“horde” = Meute
“scoreboard” = Anzeigetafel
“brave” = tapfer
“surlier” = verdrießlicher
“team members” = Mannschaftskamaraden
“blared” = dudelte
“shrinking” = schrumpften
“forlorn” = elend
“shrugging” = achselzuckend (“armpit-twitching”)
“Quidditch World Cup itself” = Quidditch-Weltmeisterschaftspokal
“appreciatively” = anerkennend
“black eyes” = Veilchen
“bloody face” = blutunterlaufenen Gesicht (“blood-under-accumulated face”)
“slightly duck-footed” = watschelte ein wenig (“waddled a bit”)
“ear-splitting” = ohrenzerfetzendes
“hoarsely” = heiser
“twist” = Wendung
And that’s it for Chapter Eight: Irland gewinnt!
So, with these words you can relive the Fußball Weltmeisterschaft. You can talk about the Springflut aus Jubelschreien when Deutschland gewinnt. You can even discuss the memorable blutunterlaufenen Gesicht and the Tor in Overtime.
