Sonderling Sunday – Seltsamen Sonderlinge Kapitel 25
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. This week, we’re back to the book that started it all, The Order of Odd-Fish, by James Kennedy, otherwise known as Der Orden der Seltsamen Sonderlinge.
Last time, we left off ready to begin Chapter Twenty-Five! There are twenty-eight chapters in the book, so we have almost given tidbits from the entire book — without giving away the plot, I might add. I hope I have merely tantalized my readers, while giving them handy phrases to use the next time they travel to Germany. This first sentence, for example, could come in handy:
“Jo didn’t remember how she got back to the lodge.”
= Jo konnte sich nicht daran erinnern, wie sie zum Logenhaus zurückgekommen war.
“crumpled” = zerknittert
“boiled furiously” = kochte brodelnd
“twisting up her guts” = verdrehte ihr die Gedärme
“exhausted” = erschöpft
Sometimes the translator just had to draw out and explain the playful English:
“Her brain itched with needles and worms and fizzing sparks”
= Nadeln schienen sie ins Hirn zu stechen, Würmer wanden sich und Funken stoben
(“Needles seemed her in the brain to pierce, worms writhed and sparks flew”)
“pleaded” = angefleht
“slosh around” = herumschwappte
“rattled and bounced” = ratternd und schaukelnd
“exciting” = aufregend
“enticing” = verlockende
“exuberant crowd” = ausgelassene Menge
“disinfectant” = Desinfektionsmittel
“opposite corner” = gegenüberliegenden Ecke
I hope you’ll never say this, but here it is if you need it:
“If you die, too bad.”
= Wenn ihr sterbt, Pech gehabt.
“Razzle-dazzle” = Tamtam
“Deceit” = Arglist
“left big toe” = linken dicken Zeh
“thigh” = Oberschenkel
“show of respect” = Respektbezeugungen
“fondling” = liebkoste
That’s all for tonight! If you encounter any ausgelassene Menge this week, I hope you will find it aufregend and verlockend, but that you won’t be too erschöpft for some Tamtam! Bis bald!