Tag: Lockwood & Co

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.

This week, I’m going to again use the new book I freshly bought in Germany, Lockwood & Co: Die Seufzende Wendeltreppe, known as The Screaming Staircase in English. Last time, I left off on page 9 in English, Seite 17 auf Deutsch. I’m still in the middle of Chapter 1, Der Geist.

Here’s the first sentence of the next section:

“When entering a house occupied by a Visitor, it’s always best to get in quick.”
= Sobald man ein Haus betritt, in dem sich ein Besucher eingenistet hat, sollte man sich ranhalten.
[Google translate: “As soon as you enter a house where a visitor has taken up residence, you should hurry up.”]

“Never hesitate” = Kein Zögern [“No hesitation”]

“linger” = unschlüssiges Verweilen [“indecisive lingering”]

“threshold” = Schwelle

“turn and run” = kehrtzumachen und wegzurennen

Hmm. This colorful description was translated differently.
“your willpower starts draining away through your boots, and the terror starts building in your chest”
= versickert der eigene Mut, das Herz beginnt zu rasen, die Kehle schnürt sich zu
[“your courage disappears, your heart starts racing, your throat tightens”]

“hall” = Diele

“the walls were palely papered” = helle Tapeten zierten die Wände [“light wallpaper decorated the walls”]

“kink” = Knick

“Doorways opened on either side: gaping and choked in darkness.”
= Die Türen auf beiden Seiten des vorderen Teils standen klaffend offen wie schwarze Mäuler.
[“The doors on either side of the front section stood gaping open like black mouths.”]

“It dulls the senses and makes you weak and stupid.”
= Sie beeinflusst die sinnliche Wahrnehmung negativ.
[“It negatively influences sensory perception.”]

“The air had that musty, slightly sour smell”
= Es roch muffig und ein bisschen säuerlich
[“It smelled musty and a bit sour”]

“a china bowl of potpourri”
= eine Porzellanschale mit getrockneten Blüten

They’re paraphrasing much more than most translators I’ve covered. Look at this one:
“photographs of rolling hills and gentle seas”
= Landschaftsfotos
[“landscape photos”]

“innocuous” = alltäglich [“everyday”]

“pleasant” = einladend [“inviting”]

“skewed coffins”
= schiefe Särge

“shut out morbid thoughts”
= verscheuchte die morbiden Gedanken

“listened” = lauschte

“arteries and airways” = Adern und Atemwege

“Echoes of the past, echoes of hidden things”
= Es sind Echos aus der Vergangenheit, der Nachhall verborgener Geschehnisse
[“They are echoes from the past, the reverberation of hidden events”]

“little knocking sound” = Klopfen

I always like when things are shorter in German:
“I can’t tell where it’s coming from.”
= Ich kann es nicht orten.
[“I can’t locate it.”]

“death-glow” = Todesschein

“tripped” = gestolpert

“tumbled down” = heruntergestürzt

“steep” = steil

“I bent low” = Ich ging in die Hocke. [“I went into the squat.”]

“tiles” = Fliesen

“jarred my teeth”
= mein Zähne aufeinanderschlugen
[“my teeth on-one-another-struck”]

“rapier” = Degen

“eyes staring wildly side to side”
= mein Blick huschte panisch umher
[“my view scurried panicked around”]

“banister” = Geländerpfosten [“railing posts”]

Here’s a nice long phrase:
“a watch with a luminous dial”
= eine Uhr mit fluoreszierendem Zifferblatt
[Ha! Zifferblatt is “digit-leaf,” so I think it’s specifically a watch dial]

“drops in temperature”
= Temperaturschwankungen

“ectoplasmic shock” = ektoplasmische Erschütterungen

And the last sentence of the chapter:
“Then we find ourselves a ghost.”
= Und danach schnappen wir uns den Geist.

Okay, I’m done with Chapter One. These translators, Katharina Orgaß und Gerald Jung, seem to not be doing as strict a sentence-by-sentence translation as some of the other books I’ve covered. That’s why I’ve done more full sentence comparisons, because it’s a little harder to pull out individual words. But I hope it still has the effect of making you wonder what the book is about! (It’s wonderful! They’re still getting ready to try to neutralize a ghost.)

Meanwhile, enjoy! Here’s hoping you never have any need to use the phrase schiefe Särge or ektoplasmische Erschütterungen. Though I kind of want to find a reason to say fluoreszierendem Zifferblatt.

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.

And – I recently traveled to Germany, after being away for 18 years – and purchased a new children’s book in German to use – Lockwood and Co. Book 1, The Screaming Staircase, by Jonathan Stroud! I’m excited to go through another much-loved book.

First, the full German title is Lockwood & Co.: Die Seufzende Wendeltreppe I don’t think it’s nearly as catchy as The Screaming Staircase, but what can you do? There are two translators listed, Katharina Orgaß and Gerald Jung. The English edition has 390 pages, and the German edition has 428 pages.

The chapters do not have titles, but there are five parts to the book, that do have titles. Part I in English is “The Ghost,” which is simply enough translated as Der Geist.

I like to start with the first sentence of chapter 1, which is a nice long one in this case:

“Of the first few hauntings I investigated with Lockwood & Co. I intend to say little, in part to protect the identity of the victims, in part because of the gruesome nature of the incidents, but mainly because, in a variety of ingenious ways, we succeeded in messing them all up.”
= Zu den ersten Fällen, an denen ich bei Lockwood & Co. mitgearbeitet habe, möchte ich hier nicht viel sagen. Einerseits, weil die Opfer anonym bleiben sollen, andererseits, weil die Einzelheiten allzu grausig sind, aber vor allem, weil wir es tatsächlich fertiggebracht haben, diese Aufträge allesamt gründlich zu vermasseln.

Now I’ll cite intriguing phrases:

“Chattering Bones” = Knochenknirscher (I think that’s a much better name for a spook.)

“unnecessary” = vermeidbare [Google translate: “avoidable”]

“creeping shadow” = Heimsuchung [“home-seeking”, “visitation”]

“hemline” = Rocksaum

“unblemished record” = ruhmreiche Bilanz [“fame-rich balance”]

“misty autumn afternoon” = nebligen Nachmittag [they leave out autumn]

I always like finding when Germans have one word for something and English doesn’t:
“rang the bell” = läuteten [To be fair, this is a case where you can figure out what they rang.]

“bell pull” = Klingelzug [“Ring-train”]

“scuffs on the letter box” = der Briefschlitz war verschrammt

“four diamond panes of frosted glass” = vier rautenförmigen Milchglasscheiben

“Don’t blab about everything you see.” = Nicht einfach drauflosreden.

“And, above all, don’t impersonate the client. = Und vor allem: Nicht den Klienten nachäffen!

“It never goes down well.” = Das geht immer schief.

“accents” = Dialekte

“Irish dockworker” = irischer Hafenarbeiter

“speech impediment” = Sprachfehler

“collar of his coat” = Mantelkragen

“vole” = Maulwurf

“clips” = Spangen

“no-nonsense manner” = ziemlich streng [“quite strict”]

“an enormous wool cardigan with sagging pockets at the sides”
= eine viel zu weite Strickjacke mit ausgebeulten Taschen
[“a much too wide knitted-jacket with out-bulging pockets”]

“resentment” = Feindseligkeit

“carefully brushed hair” = sorgfältig gekämmte [Ha! “gekämmte” is the opposite of “unkempt” in English!]

“polished rapiers” = blitzenden Degen [“flashing swords”]

I found a sentence they left out: “It lingered long on our faces.”

“disturbances” = Störungen

“supervisor” = Vorgesetzten

“licenses” = Zulassungsurkunde [“approval-certificates”]

“curfew” = Ausgangssperre [“Going-out-lock”]

“antsy” = kribbelig

“hilt of my rapier” = mein Degenknauf [“my sword-knob”]

And the last sentence of the first section:

“He grinned at me, stepped up to the door and, with a magician’s flourish, turned the key in the lock.”
= Lockwood grinste mich an, steckte den Schlüssel ins Haustürschloss und drehte ihn mit der schwungvollen Gebärde eines Zauberkünstlers herum.

That’s it for tonight! I’m leaving off on page 9 of the English version, Seite 17 in German. (But the German edition began the text on page 11, the English on page 3.) I very much hope that using most of these words will be vermeidbare and that you don’t run into any Knochenknirscher!

Bis bald!