{"id":25210,"date":"2014-08-31T23:10:49","date_gmt":"2014-09-01T03:10:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/?p=25210"},"modified":"2014-08-31T23:14:50","modified_gmt":"2014-09-01T03:14:50","slug":"sonderling-sunday-der-lorax","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/?p=25210","title":{"rendered":"Sonderling Sunday – Der Lorax"},"content":{"rendered":"

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 look what I found at Powell’s books in Portland! A copy of Der Lorax<\/em>!<\/p>\n

\"Lorax\"<\/a><\/p>\n

It’s been many weeks since I last did Sonderling Sunday<\/a>. No, I’m not going to let it fall by the wayside. But I’ve had a busy summer, including a wonderful vacation in Oregon. And I haven’t posted on my website much lately, because this week my computer broke. But I’ve managed to restore the operating system, and I’m hoping to spend my Labor Day restoring files. And fortunately, I can post Sonderling Sunday without having my files back. While I was in Oregon, I visited my oldest son Josh, and we went to Powell’s Books in Portland. I had no idea they had a small German section — and I found Der Lorax.<\/em> <\/p>\n

Later, my younger son Tim and I had a marvelous time taking turns reading pages of the whole thing aloud. He reflected that it’s probably not as hard as you might think to translate Dr. Seuss — a lot of his words are invented, so just invent a word that rhymes as needed. You’ll see what he means….<\/p>\n

And the translation is done by Nadia Budde.<\/p>\n

I like the places where they had to put words in the pictures. “The Street of the Lifted Lorax” fits much more neatly than Weg des Entschwundenen Lorax<\/em>.<\/p>\n

I can’t resist giving you the entire first page and sentence:<\/p>\n

“At the far end of town
\nwhere the Grickle-grass grows
\nand the wind smells slow-and-sour when it blows
\nand no birds ever sing excepting old crows…
\nis the Street of the Lifted Lorax.”<\/p>\n

Auf Deutsch:<\/p>\n

Am Ende der Stadt,
\nwo das Mickergras steht
\nund der Wind fast versauert, wenn er langsam weht,
\nund au\u00dfer den Kr\u00e4hen kein Vogel mehr kr\u00e4ht,
\nliegt der Weg des entschwundenen Lorax.<\/em><\/p>\n

(“At the end of the city, where the Micker-grass stands
\nand the wind almost soured, when it slowly goes,
\nand except the crows no bird more crows,
\nlies the way of the vanished Lorax.”)<\/p>\n

Here the meaning is changed slightly for rhyme:
\n“What was<\/em> the Lorax?
\nAnd why was it there?
\nAnd why was it lifted and taken somewhere…”<\/p>\n

= Was war der Lorax?
\nWarum war er dort?
\nUnd wohin entschwand er? Denn jetzt ist er fort.<\/em><\/p>\n

(That last line is roughly, “And to where did he disappear? For now he is gone.”)<\/p>\n

This translation makes sense:
\n“Once-ler” = Einstler<\/em><\/p>\n

Here’s a section that loses a little something in translation:<\/p>\n

“You won’t see the Once-ler.
\nDon’t knock at his door.
\nHe stays in his Lerkim on top of his store.
\nHe lurks in his Lerkim, cold under the roof,
\nwhere he makes his own clothes out of miff-muffered moof.”<\/p>\n

= Du wirst ihn nicht sehen
\nund klopfst lieber nicht.
\nEr haust ganz oben bei schummrigem Licht.
\nEr lugt durch die Ritzen. Im kalten Mief
\nn\u00e4ht er seine Lumpen,
\nvermuffelt und schief.<\/em><\/p>\n

(“You will him not see
\nand knock better not.
\nHe lives at the top in dim light.
\nHe peeks through the cracks. In cold stale air
\nsews he his rags,
\nvermuffelt and crooked.”)
\nHmm. She didn’t even try to translate “Lerkim.” Not as many made-up words, but it does give the feeling of the Once-ler’s Lerkim.<\/p>\n

“And on special dank midnights in August,
\nhe peeks
\nout of the shutters…”<\/p>\n

= Doch an schw\u00fclen Tagen um Mitternacht
\nwird oben der Sehschlitz gr\u00f6\u00dfer gemacht.<\/em><\/p>\n

(“But on humid days at midnight
\nwill over the see-slit bigger make.”)<\/p>\n

“tin pail” = Eimer<\/em><\/p>\n

“nail” = Zwecke<\/em><\/p>\n

“the shell of a great-great-great-grandfather snail” = das Haus einer Ur-Ur-Ur-Uropaschnecke<\/em><\/p>\n

Here you can see how it’s changed for the sake of rhyme:
\n“Then he pulls up the pail,
\nmakes a most careful count
\nto see if you’ve paid him
\nthe proper amount.”<\/p>\n

= Dann zieht er den Eimer
\nhinauf unters Dach
\nund z\u00e4hlt seinen Lohn
\nnoch hundertmal nach.<\/em><\/p>\n

(“Then he pulls the bucket
\nup to the roof
\nand counts his reward
\na hundred times after.”)<\/p>\n

Again, I don’t think the translation has quite the same charm:
\n“Then he hides what you paid him
\naway in his Snuvv,
\nhis secret strange hole
\nin his gruvvulous glove.”<\/p>\n

= Dann stopft er das alles
\nhinein in sein Schmoch:
\nIm schnorrigen Handschuh
\nEin seltsames Loch.<\/em><\/p>\n

(“Then stuffs he it all
\ninto his Schmoch:
\nIn the schnorrigen glove
\nA strange hole.”)<\/p>\n

“Whisper-ma-phone” = Fl\u00fcsterfon<\/em><\/p>\n

“SLUPP!<\/em>
\nDown slupps the Whisper-ma-phone to your ear
\nand the old Once-ler’s whispers are not very clear,
\nsince they have to come down
\nthrough a snergelly hose,
\nand he sounds
\nas if he had smallish bees up his nose.”<\/p>\n

= SCHLUPP!
\nsaust das Fl\u00fcsterfon ran an dein Ohr.
\nDas Einstler-Genuschel kriecht m\u00fchsam durchs Rohr.
\nHinab durch die Enge,
\nund aus seinem Mund
\nklingt es, als steckten ihm
\nHummeln im Schlund.<\/em><\/p>\n

(“Schlupp!
\nrushes the Fl\u00fcsterfon to your ear.
\nThe Einstler-Genuschel crawls laboriously through the tube.
\nDown through the narrows,
\nand out of his mouth
\nsounds it, as if stuck him
\nBumblebees in the throat.”)<\/p>\n

Ah, and I like this page so much, I have to quote it:<\/p>\n

“Way back in the days when the grass was still green
\nand the pond was still wet
\nand the clouds were still clean,
\nand the song of the Swomee-Swans rang out in space…
\none morning, I came to this glorious place.
\nAnd I first saw the trees!
\nThe Truffula Trees!
\nThe bright-colored tufts of the Truffula Trees!
\nMile after mile in the fresh morning breeze.”<\/p>\n

= Lang, lang ist es her, noch gr\u00fcn war das Gras,
\ndie Wolken ganz wei\u00df
\nund der Teich herrlich nass,
\nund die Schwippschw\u00e4ne sangen, der Wind trug es fort.
\nDa kam ich an diesen herrlichen Ort.
\nUnd ich sah die B\u00e4ume!
\nDie Tr\u00fcffelab\u00e4ume!
\nHier schaukelten sie auf gr\u00fcner Wiese
\ndie knallbunten Tuffs in der Morgenbrise.<\/em><\/p>\n

(“Long, long ago, still green was the grass,
\nthe clouds all white
\nand the pond delightfully wet,
\nand the Schwipp-swans sang, the wind carried it away.
\nThere came I to this glorious place.
\nAnd I saw the trees!
\nThe Tr\u00fcffela-trees!
\nHere swayed they on the green meadow
\nthe brightly colored Tuffs in the morning breeze.”)<\/p>\n

Well, it’s getting late, and I haven’t gotten very far. So I will save the rest for another day. May you experience gr\u00fcn Gras, wei\u00df Wolken, und ein Teich herrlich nass.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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 look what I found at Powell’s books in Portland! A copy of Der Lorax! It’s been many weeks since I last did Sonderling Sunday. No, I’m not going to let […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[184],"tags":[237,346],"class_list":["post-25210","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sonderling-sunday","tag-dr-seuss","tag-the-lorax"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25210","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=25210"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25210\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=25210"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=25210"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=25210"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}