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. Okay, really it’s way past time. I got called in to work this afternoon, so I didn’t have a chance to start this until late. So how about a really short one, just looking at a little bit of my stand-by, The Order of Odd-Fish, Der Orden der Seltsamen Sonderlinge, by James Kennedy.
Last time, we left off on page 193, which is Seite 244 auf Deutsch. We ended with a fairly dramatic sentence, so this week let’s begin with the next one, also dramatic:
“Jo didn’t even have time to scream before another tentacle pushed into her mouth.”
= Jo kam nicht einmal dazu, zu schreien, weil ein weiterer Tentakel sich über ihren Mund legte.
This one’s not as catchy:
“She turned, kicked, and struggled”
= Sie drehte sich um, trat zu und wehrte sich
“something soft and gooey” = etwas Weichem, Klebrigem
“bag of jelly” = Beutel mit Wackelpudding
“burst with a liquid noise” = mit einem flüssigen Knall platzte
“went limp” = wurden schlaff
“Her skin was pocked with little welts from the suckers.”
= Auf ihrer Haut hatten sich kleine Blasen von den Saugnäpfen gebildet.
“injuries” = Verletzungen
“reins” = Zügeln
This is so good it has to be repeated from last time.
“Apology Gun” = Entschuldigungspistole
(I’m happy. I was able to spell that out without referring back to the book.)
“cruel” = Grausamkeit (“cruelty”; “grayness”)
“flipped” = kippte
“squealing lizard-dogs” = jaulenden Echsenhunde
“limping” = humpelnden
“bristly” = struppig
“to throw away” = vergeuden
“Her lips wavered on the edge of a sneer”
= Sie verzog höhnisch die Lippen
(“She made scornful the lips”)
Also not as catchy:
“You don’t have the guts.”
= Für so etwas hast du nicht genug Mumm.
“anticipation” = erwartungsvoll (“waiting-full”)
“Fiona sensed the weakness” = Fiona spürte ihre Schwäche
“an almost inaudible bip.” = einem fast unhörbaren Ploppen
“angry bellow” = wütenden Brüllen
“surrounded by the purple-cloaked, yellow-scarf-wearing, steel-goggled squires”
= von violet gekleideten, mit gelben Schals geschmückten und stählernen Brillen geschützten Knappen umgeben
That’s all I have time for tonight! If I stay up any later, I’ll feel like a Beutel mit Wackelpudding!