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. Tonight I’m going to again look at Der Orden der Seltsamen Sonderlinge, The Order of Odd-Fish by James Kennedy.
Last time, we left off on page 195 in the English version, and Seite 247 auf Deutsch. Jo is in a tight spot, surrounded by Wormbeards (Wurmbärte).
Oh, it starts right off with a nice one:
“deafening roar” = ohrenbetäubendes Brüllen
(“ears-numbing bellow”)
“and a powerful force knocked everyone on their backs”
= und eine ungeheuerliche Kraft schleuderte alle zu Boden, wo sie rücklings landeten
(“and a monstrous force hurled all to the ground, where they backwards landed”)
“heightening howls” = gellenden Heulen
“tossed around” = herumgeschleudert
Fun to say:
“paper dolls” = Papierpuppen
“barking and shrieking” = kläfften und heulen
“fences and walls” = Zäune und Wände
“to throw off the lizard-dogs” = um die Echsenhunde abzuschütteln
“A lizard-dog’s jaw nipped at her thigh” = Ein Echsenhund schnappte nach ihrer Wade
“East Squeamings” = Ost-Heikel (“East Squeamish”)
Interesting. In the fish market, the translator translated “squishy blobs” with one word: Quallen, which means “jellyfish.” That’s probably what they were?
“slimy stones” = glitschigen Steinen
“crashing through the stalls” = durch die Buden krachten
“reckless glee” = rücksichtslosem Eifer
“hissing smoke” = zischte und qualmte (“hisses and smokes”)
“swinging clubs” = Knüppel swingend
“surrounded” = umzingelt
“whirled and yanked” = herumgewirbelt und herumgezerrt
“roiling crowd” = keuchende Menge (“coughing mass”)
I like that there’s a word for this:
“mask of scabs” = Schuppenmaske
“riot” = Aufruhr
“cobbled” = gepflasterte
“half-assembled” = zerlegte (Google translates this word as “decomposed.”)
This is fun:
“Woo!” = Juhu!
“a gargantuan, flapping, snorting, screeching bird” = ein riesiger flatternder, schnaubender, kreischender Vogel
“got up” = aufgerappelt
“unreliable weapons” = unzuverlässigen Waffen
“cheeky” = hinterhältig (“underhanded”)
“lost causes” = aussichtlose Aufgaben
And, with lost causes, we wrap up Chapter Fifteen! Juhu!
Now you know that many more useful phrases in German! You know just what to say if you see someone with a Schuppenmaske or you’re in a situation where you need um die Echsenhunde abzuschütteln.