{"id":15696,"date":"2012-12-02T22:07:52","date_gmt":"2012-12-03T02:07:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/?p=15696"},"modified":"2012-12-02T22:54:05","modified_gmt":"2012-12-03T02:54:05","slug":"sonderling-sunday-finishing-elfte-kapitel-through-the-city","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/?p=15696","title":{"rendered":"Sonderling Sunday – Finishing Elfte Kapitel – Through the City"},"content":{"rendered":"

It’s Sonderling Sunday! When I play with language by looking at the German translation of odd phrases from children’s books. This is the week I’m back with the book that started it all – Der Orden der Seltsamen Sonderlinge<\/em> by James Kennedy<\/a>, the translation of The Order of Odd-Fish<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

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We left off last time<\/a> on page 131 in English, which is Seite 167 in the German edition. Jo and Ian are about to ride elephants through the city.<\/p>\n

In the very first paragraph, we’ve got some phrases you must have always wanted to hear translated (without knowing it):<\/p>\n

“The elephants were painted with colorful, swirling designs.” =
\nDie Elefanten wurden mit bunten, blumigen Mustern bemalt.<\/em><\/p>\n

“brass necklaces” = Messingshalsketten<\/em> (“brass neck chains”)<\/p>\n

“jewel-studded bracelets” = juwelenbesetzten Fu?kettchen<\/em> (“jewel-beset foot-chainlets” – these are bracelets on elephants, so it would be around their feet, after all.)<\/p>\n

“a lush garden” = ein \u00fcppiger Garten<\/em><\/p>\n

“huge bulbous trees” = riesiger, knolliger B\u00e4ume<\/em><\/p>\n

“flimsy shacks” = bauf\u00e4lligen Baracken<\/em><\/p>\n

“smoky” = verqualmt<\/em><\/p>\n

“shuffling heaps of rags” = wandelnden Lumpenb\u00fcndeln<\/em><\/p>\n

“seething” = brodelnde<\/em><\/p>\n

“crushing, surging throngs of people” = wogenden Menschenmassen<\/em> (“surging mass of mankind”)<\/p>\n

“iguanas” = Eidechsen<\/em><\/p>\n

“clanking and clattering” = klappernd und scheppernd<\/em><\/p>\n

“wispy mustache” = flaumigen Schnurrbart<\/em><\/p>\n

“Municipal Squires Authority” = St\u00e4dtischen Knappenbeh\u00f6rde<\/em><\/p>\n

“gnarled trees” = knorrigen B\u00e4umen<\/em><\/p>\n

I dare you to pronounce this one! Maybe just spit:
\n“spliced” = gepfropft<\/em><\/p>\n

“change the subject” = das Thema wechseln<\/em><\/p>\n

That’s it for chapter 11!<\/p>\n

Hmm. This week’s wasn’t too terribly exciting, only I know now how to describe certain flaumigen Schnurrbart<\/em> I’ve seen lately. (November was No Shave November at the College of William and Mary. Are those two things related? Maybe.) And now I can say not just that I don’t like crowds, but that I don’t like Menschenmassen<\/em>. But bottomline, I will probably spend the next week trying to pronounce gepfropft<\/em>.<\/p>\n

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