Tag: Das Buch der Tausend Tage

It’s time for Sonderling Sunday! The time to be nerdy and play with language by looking at the German translation of children’s books – sort of a silly phrasebook for unserious travelers.

Today we’re looking at Das Buch der Tausend Tage, the translation of one of my very favorite books, Shannon Hale‘s Book of a Thousand Days. The German edition is translated by Anne Brauner.

Last time we used this book, we left off on Day 6 of “The Adventure Thereafter,” which is page 118 in English and Seite 130 auf Deutsch. Here’s the first sentence of the new section:

“Is her khan’s land burned down as well?”
= Wurde das Land ihres Khans auch niedergewalzt?
[I looked up walz on Google Translate, and it means “rolling”. Niedergewalzt is literally “down-rolled.”]

“drift from tree shade to tree shade”
= von Baumschatten zu Baumschatten treiben

“swallows people whole”
= die Menschen verschluckt

“queasy” = mulmig

“whispers” = Geflüster

“vessels to carry water”
= Gefäße, in denen wir Wasser aufbewahren können

“pillagers” = Plünderern

“stubborn mare” = störrische Stute

“must dangle my own carrot”
= muss meinen eigenen Köder baumeln lassen

“scratched-out letters” = ausgekratzten Buchstaben

“many a body” = so manche Leiche

“burned bones” = verkohlte Knochen

“missing skulls” = fehlende Schädel

“dread” = Bestürzung

“Both are different shades of darkness.”
= Beide ist Dunkelheit, in unterschiedlichen Schattierungen. (This is why German is longer.)
[“Both are darkness, in different shades.”]

“While I sorted through the rubble”
= Als wir in dem Geröll stocherten

“heap of rubble” = Schutthaufen

“barley meal” = Gerstenmehl

“some rope” = Tauwerk

“ceramic pot” = Keramiktopf

“spout” = Tülle

“sharpen sticks” = Stöcke anspitzen

“rodents” = Nagetiere [“gnaw-animals”]

“spear” = aufspießen

“bubbles up” = lossprudelt

“herd of horses” = Pferdeherde (It rhymes!)

“nuzzles” = schnuppert

“spiced food” = gewürztes Essen

“Stars light my page.”
= Die Sterne beleuchten diese Seite.

“setting sun” = untergehenden Sonne

“No walls trap us now!”
= Mauern mehr in die Falle locken!

“smell of grass and yak”
= Duft von Gras und Yak

And the last sentence of the day:
“The Ancestors will honor such a life as mine, I hope.”
= Ich hoffe, dass die Ahnen ein Leben wie meines ehren werden.

That’s the last sentence of Tag 8, but our narrator doesn’t take up her pen again until Tag 33. Next time!

I do hope the phrases that turn up intrigue you a bit about the book, as well as giving you handy things to say next time you see a Pferdeherde!

It’s time for Sonderling Sunday! The time to be nerdy and play with language by looking at the German translation of children’s books – sort of a silly phrasebook for unserious travelers.

And this time – I actually have a trip booked to go back to Germany for my 60th birthday, happening in a month and a half! So all the more reason to revive these posts! Want to get the tune of German in my head again.

This week, I’m going back to one of my favorite novels of all time, Book of a Thousand Days, by Shannon Hale, in German Das Buch der Tausend Tage.

[And hey, Book of a Thousand Days is one of the best young adult fantasy novels ever written – I mean that completely – and if you’re local to me and have a Fairfax County Public Library card, we just purchased a simultaneous use eaudiobook license for a year to the audiobook on Libby (along with many other backlist titles). This is a full cast production and is amazing. Check it out!]

What I do with Sonderling Sunday is look at sections of the book with interesting German translations. I try not to give away the plot, but do try to pique your curiosity.

Last time we looked at this book, we finished Part One, with the two of them trapped in a tower for not quite a thousand days. We are now on “Part 2 The Adventure Thereafter” = Zweiter Teil Das nachfolgende Abenteuer

“I decided to start numbering the days at one again to mark the time when we began anew.”
= Ich beschloss, mit der Nummerierung der Tage wieder bei Eins anzufangen um den Neubeginn deutlich zu machen.

“Who can sleep when there’s real air to breathe?”
= Wer kann schon schlafen, wenn es richtige Luft zum Atmen gibt?

“the news” = der Neuigkeit

“relieved” = erleichtert

“waffled” = schwankte

“tetchy” = ungeduldig (“impatient”)

“a sulky sheep” = ein unwilliges Schaf (“an unwilling sheep”)

“It was nearly dawn.” = Die Dämmerung nahte.

“My lady kept her eyes squeezed shut.”
= Meine Herrin kniff die Augen zu.

I like that schlepped is really a German word:
“I dragged her inside.”
= Ich schleppte sie wieder in den Turm.

“hoarse” = heiser

Love those long words:
“grain husks” = Getreidehülsen

“tossed” = beiseitewerfen (“beside-threw”)

“brushes and ink” = Pinsel und Tinte

“moan” = jammern

“shadow world” = Schattenwelt

“I draped a blanket over her head”
= Ich legte ihr ein Tuch auf den Kopf

“stumbled” = taumelte

“strange” = sonderbar (I did mention it’s not always a nice meaning of “special”?)

“whispers” = Geflüster

“her brain awry in her head and her understanding tilted steep
= ihr Hirn liegt schief im Kopf und ihr Witz ist hinten rübergekippt
(“her brain is crooked in her head and her wit is backwards”)

“a gray smudge” = eine grau verwischte Linie
(“a gray blurred line”)

A word for this in German:
“the trees that line the road” = der Bäume am Straßenrand

“crept” = schlich

“As I climbed atop the heaping rubble”
= Als ich den Geröllberg erklomm

“teemed” = gewimmelt

Last sentence from Day 5:
“She is not well.”
= Es geht ihr schlecht.

That’s it for today. We’re finishing up on page 118 in the English edition, Seite 130 auf Deutsch.

On my vacation in June, I’m looking forward to seeing der Bäume am Straßenrand!

Bis bald!

Surprise! 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.

Way too many years ago now, I lived in Germany for ten years, and while I was there collected some children’s books in German. I also solicited German translations from certain authors who mentioned their lovely translated books on social media. I like to keep my German a little less rusty by trying to read those German translations. And it reminds me of the silly phrases that appear in phrase books that you would never use, and thought I’d make a silly phrasebook out of children’s book translations, and that’s how the series got started.

It’s a surprise today because I have very much fallen out of the habit of posting these. And since I connected it to Sunday and now go to a gaming group on Sunday afternoons, it’s all too easy to skip. In fact, the last time I used Shannon Hale’s Book of a Thousand Days, Das Buch der Tausend Tage (such a wonderful book!), translated by Anne Brauner, was when the Covid-19 pandemic was just getting started and we could all relate to being confined to a tower.

But here I am today, with my timer set for an hour, so let’s begin!

English text will be in quotes, German in italics and if the Google translate from German is different, that will be in parentheses.

Last time, we left off at the start of Day 928. The Lady and her servant are still trapped in the tower, the servant doing the journaling. Here’s the first sentence:
“If my script wiggles, it’s because my hand won’t be steady.”
= Wenn meine Schrift schwankt, liegt es daran, dass ich die Hand nicht ruhig halten kann.

“bricked up” = zugemauert

“Just ripe for the picking” =
Lasst uns das Blümchen brechen! (“Let us break the flower!”)

“log” = Holzklotz

“weak spot” = Schwachstelle

“wet marks” = Spuren von Nässe (“traces of wetness”)

“rescue” = Rettung

“She’s a ball of trembling”
= Sie ist eine bibbernde Kugel

I like the alliteration here:
“the rats chittering around her”
= die Ratten zischen zwitschernd um sie herum
(“the rats hiss and chirp around her”)

“brave” = tapfer

“run away” = weglaufen

“tear at their eyes” = die Augen auskratzen werde

“more dangerous than a mad rat” = gefährlicher als eine wütende Ratte

“shard of the kitchen knife” = die versehrte Klinge des Küchenmessers
(“the damaged blade of the kitchen knife”)

“battering” = der Sturm auf den Turm (“the storming of the tower” – guess they couldn’t resist the rhyme)

“that’s a blessing” = ein Segen erscheint (“a blessing appears”)

Love those long words!
“tight together on the same mattress”
= aneinandergeschmiegt auf einer Matratze
(“on-one-another-nestled on one matress”)

“the ladder squeaks” = die Leiter knarrt

“In the tar black dark” = In der pechschwarzen Dunkelheit

“dried peas” = Dörrerbsen

“comfort” = Trost

“I wish I had a cat curled up in my lap, his sleep purr singing that everything is all right.”
= Wenn sich bloß ein Kater auf meinem Schoss zusammenrollen würde und sein schläfriges Schnurren summte, dass alles in Ordnung ist.

“crouching” = kauern

“It doesn’t matter.” =Es spielt keine Rolle. (“It plays no role.”)

“salted meat” = Pökelsfleischs

“enough to eat” = genügend Nahrung

“snoring” = Schnarchen

“a ram with a cold” = ein erkälteter Bock

I love it when the German’s shorter than the English:
“wax from a cheese wheel” = Käserinde

“lit” = zündete

“the sound of its claws” = das Kratzen der Krallen

“a stinging breath of late Autumn air” = der beißende Hauch der Herbstluft

And I made it to the end of Part One! This is the last sentence:
“And save my lady, who once said that her mucker maid was her best friend.”
= Und versucht, meine Herrin zu retten, die einst sagte, ihre Aratendienerin wäre ihre beste Freundin.

Okay, that’s enough for today! I very much hope you never sound like ein erkälteter Bock and never be described as eine bibbernde Kugel! Here’s wishing you many Segen.

I’ve got it! The perfect book for Coronavirus Quarantines! In Book of a Thousand Days, by Shannon Hale, the heroine and her lady are walled up in a tower for a thousand days. This will make you feel like your quarantine or self-isolating is nothing at all! So tonight’s choice for Sonderling Sunday is Das Buch der Tausend Tage.

It’s time for Sonderling Sunday, when I look at the German translations of children’s books. You can think of it as a very silly phrasebook, with all the things you never thought you’d need to say in another language, laid out for you here.

Last time, we left off ready to begin Day 795 in the tower, Tag 795. It’s on page 93 in the English edition, Seite 106 auf Deutsch. You can think about ways you might use this first sentence:

“There is an odor about my lady, like a dung heap on a hot day.”
= Meine Herrin hat einen Geruch an sich wie ein Misthaufen an einem heißen Tag.

I like the next sentence, too:

“If my script looks ill, it’s because I closed my eyes as I wrote that.”
= Wenn meine Schrift krakelig aussieht, liegt es daran, dass ich beim Schreiben die Augen geschlossen hatte.

“jailed” = eingesperrt

“tricks” = Streiche

“nibbled” = gepickt

“any quantity of flat bread”
= eine Unmenge Fladenbrot

“grumbles” = grummelt

“like a beast feeding on short grass”
= wie ein Tier, das niedriges Gras abweidet

“Strangely” = Komischerweise

“vomited” = sich erbrach

“stored grain” = gelagertem Mehl

“dump” = kippen

“squeaking madly” = quieken wie verrückt

“just to laugh at me” = nur um mich auszulachen

“limbs” = Glieder

“It’s such a relief!”
= Was für eine Erleichterung!

“We’ll find a way.”
= Wir werden einem Weg finden.

“mortar” = Mörtel

“scraping” = weggekratzt

“Rat meat is not tasty.”
= Rattenfleisch schmeckt nicht himmlisch.

“stringy meat” = sehnige Fleisch

“chewed and swallowed” = kaute und schluckte

Gotta do this one!
“odd” = sonderbar

And I’ll finish up with a sentence at the end of Day 928:
“It makes me smile to think of how brilliant they are at surviving.”
= Ich muss lächeln, weil sie so fantastische Überlebenskünstler sind.

That’s enough for tonight! No matter how long you end up staying home in the coming weeks, I hope you never have occasion to use very many of these phrases! Bis bald!

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, sort of a Very Silly Phrasebook for Travelers.

This week, I’ll be going back to one of my favorite young adult novels, Book of a Thousand Days, by Shannon Hale, known as Das Buch der Tausend Tage in German.

It’s actually been three years since we did a Sonderling Sunday in this book! (This is far, far, too long — more than a thousand days!) We’re “Later” on Day 223, which is page 72 in the English edition, Seite 82 auf Deutsch.

The first sentence of this section is a good place to start.

“There’s a howling outside.”
= Draußen ist großer Radau.
(“Outside is large racket.”)

I like this one:
“curled up” = zusammengerollt

For once it’s shorter in German:
“the lulling song for comfort”
= das einlullende Trostlied

“poppy” = Mohn

“song of healing” = Heilgesang

She’s got picturesque sentences:
“Why does that sound dance like fingernails down my back?”
= Warum tanzt dieser Lärm wie Fingernägel über meinen Rücken?

“howl back” = zurückzuheulen

“they’ve gone quiet” = sind sie mucksmäuschenstill

“It sounds like nightmares.”
= Es klingt wie ein Albtraum.

“hissing” = faucht

“growling and snapping at me” = das knurrend nach mir schnappte

“its mouth was smeared with blood” = mit blutverschmiertem Maul

“blood hungry for battle” = um die Blutrünstigkeit für die Schlacht

“scoot away” = zurückweichen

“crouched, preparing to pounce”
= sich duckte und zum Angriff überging

“my sleek gray cat” = mein schlanker grauer Kater

“No sound from the guards.”
= Kein Geräusch von den Wachen.

“a little hiccup sound in his throat”
= leise Schluckaufgeräusche in der Kehle

“favorite bits” [to eat]
= Leckerbissen

“It’s clumpy and tastes sour”
= Er klumpt und schmeckt sauer

“And worse news” = Und noch eine schlechte Neuigkeit

“scratching and yipping and rustling”
= scharren und piepsen und rascheln

“not fit for gentry”
= für eine Adlige nicht schicklich

I’ll finish with the last sentence of Day 245:
“Rats squeal and skitter around her, and I hear her lips smack, smack, smack.”
= Die Ratten jagen quiekend um sie herum und ich höre ihre Lippen schmatzen, schmatzen, schmatzen.

Und noch eine schlechte Neuigkeit: That’s all for tonight!

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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 it’s already late, but it’s been a long time since I wrote a Sonderling Sunday post, so I’m going to try to do a short one.

I’m going back to one of my favorite books, Book of a Thousand Days, by Shannon Hale, Das Buch der Tausend Tage

[Okay, I just spent way too much time talking on Facebook about our upcoming Winter Storm. Now this post needs to be extra short.]

Last time, I covered Day 160 to 180 of Dashti’s days in the Tower.

Day 223 begins like this:
“This past week I was wishing for something new to happen so I could have a reason to write. It’s bad luck to make a vague wish like that, because Under, god of tricks, is bound to grant it with something unpleasant. And so he did.”
= Letzte Woche wünschte ich mir noch, etwas Neues zu erleben, das ich aufschreiben könnte. Solch schwammige Wünsche bringen nur Unglück, weil Unter, der Gott der Streiche, sie gerne mit etwas Unerfreulichem garniert, wenn er sie erfüllt. Und genau so ist es gekommen.

I love Shannon Hale’s turns of phrase:
“as though he called all the world to dinner”
= als würde er alle Welt zum Essen rufen.

“I want to punch him with all my strength”
= möchte ich ihn mit aller Kraft verprügeln

This has a nice sound in German:
“There was a knock on the flap” = Als jemand an die Klappe klopfte

“clanking and scraping” = klirren und kratzen

“burning straw” = brennende Stroh

“fiery chip” = brennender Span

I like this one:
“fizzled” = verpufften

“bright” = loderte

“ran and stomped and slapped” = rannte, trampelte und schlug

“My lady began to scream hysterics” = Meine Herrin fing an hysterisch zu schreien

“washcloth” = Waschlappen

“if the wood caught fire” = Wenn die Scheite erst mal zündelten

“partly charred mattress” = stellenweise verkohlten Matratze

“greasy black” = triefend schwarz

“willow flower” = Weidenblume

“chamber pot” = Nachttopf

“He hollered” = Er brüllte wie ein Stier

That section ends with:
“Then we lay back together and laughed in a tight way, as though we actually cried.”
= Rücken und bekamen einen Lachanfall, als würden wir heulen.

That’s all for tonight! This was a turning point and dramatic section. May you not need to use most of these phrases. And may all your troubles go verpufften.

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