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 the especially Sonder-book, Der Orden der Seltsamen Sonderlinge, which is the translation of The Order of Odd-fish, by James Kennedy.
Last time, I left off in the middle of Chapter 23, page 314, in English, Seite 399 auf Deutsch.
Here’s the sentence that begins the section:
“The sun sank behind the trees, and the sky darkened, but the festival went on.”
= Die Sonne versank hinter den Bäumen und es wurde dunkel, aber das Fest ging weiter.
“A sweaty man by nature”
= Der Ritter neigte ohnehin zu Schweißausbrüchen
(“The knight tended anyway to sweat-outbreaks”)
“particularly damp” = besonders verschwitzt
“golden swimsuit” = goldfarbenen Badeanzug
“Stroke him, reassure him.” = Streichelt ihn, beruhigt ihn.
“pinching” = zwackt
A good sentence to know:
“Now you’re just being silly.”
= Jetzt sind Sie aber wirklich albern.
And you thought we’d never learn how to say this!
“ridiculous farts and burps” = alberne Fürze und Rülpser
Ha! I caught a mistake in the translation! The English says:
“It was difficult to believe the music was grunts and snorts forced out of a giant worm.”
But the translation says:
dass es schwer zu glauben war, diese Musik würde aus Grunzen, Schnauben, Fürzen und Rülpsern eines gigantischen Wurms bestehen.
See what they’ve done? Although when Sir Alasdair began playing the Urk-Ack by climbing inside it and pinching its organs at first all that came out was farts and burps. Now he has progressed and is giving a lovely concert – but the translator put the farts and burps back in! Oops!
“like a blob of pink putty” = wie ein rosafarbener Gummiball
You should be able to say this:
“This is my moment of triumph!”
= Das ist mein Augenblick des Triumphes!
“explosive” = Sprengstoff
“roguishly” = schelmisch
“candy wrappers” = Bonbonpapier
“reckless zeal” = rücksichtslosem Eifer
“The audience was booing.” = Die Zuschauer buhten.
“caterwauling” = jaulenden
“adoring fans” = hingebungsvollen Anhänger
“jeers” = die höhnischen Zwischenrufe (“the sneery calls”)
“the stage” = der Bühne
“savior” = Retter
“pusillanimous” = kleinkarierten
“Consarn it” = Sapperlot
“handyman” = Faktotum
“tousling” = verwuselte
“whirlwind” = Wirbelwind
“parachutes” = Fallschirmen
“conductor” = Dirigenten
“shoved aside” = beseitegeschoben worden
Here’s a good sentence to know:
“I expect you to solve all my problems!”
= Ich erwarte, dass Sie alle meine Probleme lösen!
“waved” = wedelte
“crumpled papers” = zerknüllter Blätter
“cameo” = Nebenrolle
“unbutton” = aufzuknüpfen
“grunting and grinning” = grunzend und grinsend
“footlights” = Rampenlichter
“waggled his hips” = wackelte mit seinen Hüften
“a throbbing, squirming mass of blubber and muscle”
= eine pulsierende, wabernde Masse von Speck und Muskeln
And that brings us to the end of Chapter 23!
I think it’s fun how little these phrases give away the plot – I hope they tantalize the reader to want to know the details!
Bis bald!