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 back to Book of a Thousand Days, by Shannon Hale, Das Buch der Tausend Tage.
Last time I looked at this book, I was on Day 31, which is page 26 in the English version, and Seite 37 auf Deutsch.
I think of Sonderling Sunday as a silly phrase book. Imagine coming across these in a phrase book. You know they’re useful phrases, since they’ve actually gotten used in a book!
It begins:
“A few minutes ago, we heard a voice.”
= Vor wenigen Minuten hörten wir eine Stimme.
“hiding her face in my neck” = barg das Gesicht an meinem Hals
“I gasped.” = Ich rang um luft. (“I struggled for breath.”)
“the flap” = die Klappe
“I fetched a wooden spoon and lodged it against the flap to hold it open.”
= Ich klemmte einen Holzlöffel in die Klappe, damit sie offen blieb.
“started to pace and fret and rub her head”
= tigerte umher, rang die Hände und raufte sich die Haare
“Say you are me.” = Behaupte, du wärst ich.
“shook like a rabbit” = bebte wie ein Kaninchen
“her voice was hard and full of the knowledge that she’s gentry”
= war ihre Stimme barsch im vollen Bewusstsein dessen, dass sie hier die Adlige ist
“a sin most gruesome” = eine schlimme Sünde
“stuttered hideously” = stammelte fürchterlich
“my words mimicking my scattered heartbeat”
= meine Worte kamen im Rhythmus meines stockenden Herzschlags
(“my words came in the rhythm of my faltering heartbeats”)
“tip of his boot” = Schuhspitze
“war chief” = Kriegshäuptling
“loads of food” = massenweise Lebensmittel
“salted mutton” = gepökelten Hammel
“I’m relieved.” = Das tröstet mich.
“Feeling as though I had swallowed a great lump of knotted rope”
= Ich fühlte mich, als hätte ich ein großes Stück verknotetes Tau verschluckt
“clank shut” = scheppernd zufiel
That’s it for that day! And for this day. Das tröstet mich to get back to Sonderling Sunday! This week, we’re finishing up judging for the Cybils. Don’t forget to check the announcements on Friday! But it’s fun to squeeze in another frivolous post, even as I’m madly reading!
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