{"id":21198,"date":"2013-07-21T20:46:25","date_gmt":"2013-07-22T00:46:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/?p=21198"},"modified":"2013-07-21T22:05:44","modified_gmt":"2013-07-22T02:05:44","slug":"sonderling-sunday-another-dimension","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/?p=21198","title":{"rendered":"Sonderling Sunday – Another Dimension"},"content":{"rendered":"

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It’s time for Sonderling Sunday<\/a>! That time of the week when I play with language by looking at the German translation of children’s books, in this case the one I keep coming back to, the one that started it all, Der Orden der Seltsamen Sonderlinge<\/a><\/em>, James Kennedy<\/a>‘s The Order of Odd-Fish<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n

Last time, we left off in the middle of Chapter 14, on page 172 in the English version, Seite 218 in the German edition.<\/p>\n

Think of this as one of those German-learning tapes, with useful phrases for you to learn before you go to Germany, and I hope it will make you laugh. (I’d totally do it as a podcast, but I seriously doubt my ability to pronounce the German even close to correctly.)<\/p>\n

“It was sad but true” = Es war traurig, aber wahr<\/em><\/p>\n

“utterly tedious” = au?erordentlich langweilig<\/em><\/p>\n

“threat” = Drohung<\/em><\/p>\n

“to teach… about discredited metaphysics” = verrufene Metaphysiken aufzukl\u00e4ren<\/em><\/p>\n

I like saying this:
\n“drag herself out of bed” = aus dem Bett schleppen<\/em><\/p>\n

“stumble down the hall” = in die Halle herunterstolpern<\/em><\/p>\n

“excruciatingly dull lessons” = entsetzlich langweiligen Vorlesungen<\/em><\/p>\n

“babble away happily” = plapperte gl\u00fccklich<\/em><\/p>\n

“an intriguing<\/em> question” = eine h\u00f6chst faszinierende Frage<\/em><\/p>\n

“with silent apprehension” = mit stummer Sorge<\/em><\/p>\n

Going for a record-length word:
\n“wondering what she’d gotten herself into”
\n= w\u00e4hrend sie sich fragte, in was sie sich jetzt wieder hineinman\u00f6vriert hatte<\/em>
\n(“during which she asked herself, in what had she herself now into-maneuvered”)<\/p>\n

“tilted her head” = legte den Kopf schief<\/em> (“laid the head crooked”)<\/p>\n

“small, disconnected bits” = kleine, zusammenhanglose Bruchst\u00fccke<\/em>
\n(“small, together-hang-less broken-pieces”)<\/p>\n

“furry hands” = runzligen H\u00e4nden<\/em><\/p>\n

“crumpled it into a wad” = zerkn\u00fcllte sie zu einem Ball<\/em><\/p>\n

“Sir Oort waved her silent.”
\n= Sir Oort brachte sie mit einer Handbewegung zum Schweigen.<\/em>
\n(“Sir Oort brought her with a hand-waving to silence.”)<\/p>\n

“crumpled-up map” = zusammengekn\u00fcllten Landkarte<\/em><\/p>\n

“crawling around” = herumgekrabbelt<\/em><\/p>\n

“realized” = begriffen<\/em><\/p>\n

Here English is much more efficient:
\n“Sir Oort uncrumpled the map.”
\n= Sir Oort faltete die Karte auseinander und gl\u00e4ttete sie.<\/em>
\n(“Sir Oort folded the map apart [out-one-another] and smoothed it.”)<\/p>\n

“Jo’s mind wrestled with the concept”
\n= Jo versuchte, diese Vorstellung zu verarbeiten<\/em>
\n(“Jo sought, this notion to work through”)<\/p>\n

“mildly” = nachsichtig<\/em><\/p>\n

“rebuke” = Tadel<\/em><\/p>\n

“inspiring” = angeregt<\/em><\/p>\n

“rang out like a bell” = klang glasklar<\/em> (“rang glass-clear”)<\/p>\n

And the final paragraph of this section is worth quoting:
\n“‘As an Odd-Fish, it is not my job to be right,’ said Sir Oort. ‘It is my job to be wrong in new and exciting ways.'”
\n= \u00bbAls ein Seltsamer Sonderling ist es nicht meine Aufgabe, etwas Richtiges zu finden\u00ab, erkl\u00e4rte Sir Oort, \u00bbsondern meine Aufgabe besteht darin, auf m\u00f6glichst neue und aufregende Weisen falschzuliegen.\u00ab<\/em><\/p>\n

There you have it. If my translations and explanations tonight aren’t perfect, I hope I’m at least being wrong in new and exciting ways. We’ll take up the story in a couple weeks in the middle, still, of Chapter 14.<\/p>\n

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