Sonderling Sunday – Ken Kiang

At last! It’s again time for Sonderling Sunday, that time of the week when I play with language by looking at the German translation of children’s books. What with Christmas and a vacation in California, it’s been more than a month since my last installment, so I’m happy to get back to it tonight.

And after such a long time off, of course I’m coming back to my stand-by, Der Orden der Seltsamen Sonderlinge, The Order of Odd-Fish, by James Kennedy.

Last time, we finished up chapter 12, so now we begin Chapter 16, which is page 199 in the English original, and Seite 251 auf Deutsch. We are almost to the halfway point! (There are 403 pages in the English version, and 511 pages in the German version.)

The chapter starts with a question we may well ask:

“But what about Ken Kiang?”
= Wie aber war ist Ken Kiang ergangen?
(“But how has Ken Kiang fared?”)

“Ken Kiang was overwhelmed. He was overpowered.”
= Ken Kiang war überwältigt, er war übermannt.

“before he would feel his soul dwindle and teeter on the precipice of being blasted to nothing by the sheer demonic grandeur that was the Belgian Prankster”
= sonst lief er Gefahr, dass seine Seele schrumpfte und er kurz davor war, ins Nichts zu verschwinden, und das allein durch die reine dämonische Größe, die den Belgischen Scherzkeks ausmachte
(“otherwise he was in danger, that his soul shrank and he was shortly into nothing to disappear, and that alone through the pure demonic size, that the Belgian Joke-Cookie achieved.”)

“He had come away baffled and reeling.”
= Vollkommen verdattert und mit schwindelndem Kopf hatte er ihn verlassen.
(“Completely flabbergasted and with dizzy head had he left him.”)

“so hugely, senselessly lawless”
= so Gewaltigem, gefühllos Gesetzlosem

“piddling mischief” = kläglichen Übermut

“unimaginably gargantuan evil” = unvorstellbaren, riesigen Bösen

“a slap in the face” = ein Schlag ins Gesicht

“only play into the schemes of his incalculable foe”
= nur seinem unberechenbaren Feind in die Hände spielte

“bit players” = Statisten

“crackling fire” = knisterndes Feuer

“invincible” = Unbesiegbaren

“inscrutable mechanisms” = unergründlichen Mechanismen

“awesome calculations” = Ehrfurcht einflößenden Berechnungen
“Glory-fear inspiring calculations”)

“minor functionary” = unbedeutendes Rädchen
(“insignificant cog”)

“vainglory” = eitlen Ruhm (“vain fame”)

“vanity” = Eitelkeit

“burned away” = vernichtet

“painstakingly” = pingelig

“Fleet of Fury” = Furiosen Flotte

“moody teenager” = launischer Teenager

“stashed” = verstaut

“crawling chaos” = wimmelndes Chaos

“coaxed” = hervorlockten

“silly props” = albernen Kostüme

“showy fanfare” = schmetternde Fanfare

That’s it for tonight, finishing at the end of page 201, thus being so close to the halfway point of the book.

And tomorrow morning, the Youth Media Awards are announced, including the Newbery and Caldecott Medals! There will be some wonderful schmetternde Fanfare for a situation that is Ehrfurcht einflößenden!

Have a wonderful week! May you avoid both kläglichen Übermut and unvorstellbaren, riesigen Bösen!

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