It’s Sonderling Sunday again! Tonight I just have time for a very short one, but we’ll see how far I get.
For those just joining me, I’m using the German translation of James Kennedy‘s book, The Order of Odd-Fish as a sort of nerdy phrasebook for all those things you always wanted to be able to say in German, like Balderdash! (Papperlapapp!) or “dangerous companion” (gefährlichen Gefährtin).
Chapter Four begins on page 37 in The Order of Odd-Fish and on Seite 51 in Der Orden der Seltsamen Sonderlinge. As usual, I’d like to start with the first paragraph. By the way, I should say that I’m hoping all these bits from the book will intrigue people enough to gain it new readers — in either language. Here’s how Chapter Four begins:
The gold Mustang tore up the winding desert highway, crashing through the storm. Jo hadn’t had time to put up the convertible’s top, and rain spattered everywhere, soaking through her clothes, blinding her. Jo still had the black box, squeezed between her knees, but it frightened her now. Even the silver ring on her finger seemed threateningly tight. A stab of lightning, the world lit up, Jo looked for the ruby palace —
It wasn’t there.
Auf Deutsch:
Der goldfarbene Mustang raste den kurvigen Wüstenhighway entlang, fra? sich durch den Sturm. Jo hatte nicht einmal Zeit gehabt, das Verdeck des Cabrios zu schlie?en, daher prasselte der Regen ins Auto, durchnässte ihre Kleidung und nahm ihr die Sicht. Sie hatte noch immer die schwarze Schatulle dabei, eingeklemmt zwischen ihren Knien, aber jetzt flö?te ihr dieser Gegenstand Furcht ein. Selbst der Silberring auf ihrem Finger kam ihr bedrohlich eng vor. Ein Blitz zuckte durch die Nacht, erhellte die Welt und Jo blickte hoch, suchte nach dem Rubinpalast . . .
Er war verschwunden.
So, we’ll warm up with that paragraph.
“winding” = kurvigen (See? German’s so easy to understand!)
“crashing through the storm” = fra? sich durch den Sturm
Interesting. Google says Verdeck means “hood,” so in German it’s talking about closing the convertible’s hood, rather than “putting up its top.”
“spattered” = prasselte (“crackled”)
“blinding her” = nahm ihr die Sicht (“took her sight”)
eingeklemmt is the translation of “squeezed between.” Literally, it means “clamped in.”
Let’s read on and find some more interesting phrases before I call it a night.
“arch” is translated Torbogen. This amuses me because I know that regenbogen means “rainbow,” and Tor means “door.” So an arch is a “doorbow.” Logical, nicht Wahr? (“not true?”)
Here’s a nice long German word: durcheinandergebracht, which is the translation of “scrambled,” and Google says means “messed up.” Literally, that comes out as “through one another brought.” All in one word.
“choked” = würgte (Be careful. You might do it if you say it.)
“slashing” = peitschenden
“emerald” (as in the color) = smaragdgrünem
“gabbling” = rumorten (“rumbled”)
The first section is very short, and since it’s late, I’m going to end there, with the last sentence of the section:
Ein Gedanke hämmerte unablässig durch ihr Hirn: Endlich wurde ihr Leben gefährlich.
This means:
One thought kept banging through her brain: her life was finally becoming dangerous.
So, will we find out how the danger will develop? Tune in next time to learn more bits of useful knowledge like closing a convertible’s hood and walking through a doorbow.
Favorite words for tonight: kurvigen, durcheinandergebracht, und smaragdgrünem.