It’s time for Sonderling Sunday, that time of the week when I play with language by looking at silly phrases in the German translations of children’s books.
Tonight, we’re back to Der Orden der Seltsamen Sonderling, The Order of Odd-Fish, by James Kennedy. We’re still so close to the end – and yet so far! Let’s get a little bit closer.
Last time we looked at this book, we left off on page 366, Seite 464 in German (Yes, German is longer.) with the approach of the Silent Sisters, die Stummen Schwestern. Here’s the first sentence of the next section:
“They glowed in the darkness, veils and gowns rippling in an invisible wind, holding out their clutching bony hands.”
= Sie schimmerten dunkelblau in der Finsternis; ihre Schleier und die Gewänder wehten in einem unsichtbaren Wind, während sie ihre knorrigen Hände nach ihr ausstrecken.
“chilly fingertip” = eiskalte Fingerspitze
“Jo yelled and tore up the stairs, three at a time.”
= Jo schrie auf, die Treppe hoch und nahm drei Stufen auf einmal.
“fluttering up the stairs”
= die Stufen hinaufschwebten
“The city was in a pandemonium.”
= In der Stadt war die Hölle los.
(“All hell broke loose in the city.”)
“Flames leaped”
= Flammen loderten
(“Flames blazed”)
“bobbing” = hüpfte (“hopped”)
“mob” = Meute
“their faces ugly with rage”
= die Gesichter vor Hass zu hässlichen Fratzen verzogen
(“their faces from hate to ugly grimaces twisted”)
“Jo was trapped.”
= Sie saß in die Falle
(“She sat in the trap.”)
Hmm. Not at all sure about this translation:
“sedan” = Limousine (Though yes, Google confirms that “sedan” is a legit translation.)
“skidded” = schleuderte
Another version of this one:
“mob” = Menschenmenge (“crowd”)
“the door flew open” = die Beifahrertür flog auf (“the by-driver [passenger] door flew open”)
“bricks and rocks” = Ziegelsteine und Felsbrocken (“brick-stones and rock-chunks”)
“Audrey floored it.” = Audrey gab Vollgas.
“I slipped away.” = Ich bin schnell hinausgeschlüpft
“after this blows over”
= wenn Gras über diese Sache gewachsen ist
(“when grass grows over these things”)
“deserted and in shambles” = verlassen and verwüstet
“wedged into the twisted door frame”
= in dem verbogenen Rahmen klemmte
“shattered” = zerschmettert
“a panel in the wall” = eine Holzvertäfelung an der Wand
“hidden door” = Geheimtür
“narrow” = schmaler
“poking around” = herumgeschnüffelt (“sniffing around” — I like this word!)
“crawl space” = Kriechraum
“Don’t ask!” = Stell keine Fragen!
“reluctantly” = zögernd
Oh, here’s a phrase every traveler should know:
“sucking up her blood” = ihr Blut aufsaugte
And a sad last sentence for the section:
“Maybe she was born evil.”
= Vieleicht war sie von Geburt an böse.
That’s it for tonight! We’re leaving off on Seite 468, page 370, at a section break. Only two chapters and a small section to go!
Meanwhile, I hope you will never need most of the above phrases in your travels, but isn’t it good to be prepared? And one that I may use on the Autobahn is giving the car Vollgas.
Bis nächste Woche!