{"id":28352,"date":"2015-09-06T23:04:23","date_gmt":"2015-09-07T03:04:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/?p=28352"},"modified":"2015-09-06T23:04:23","modified_gmt":"2015-09-07T03:04:23","slug":"sonderling-sunday-we-need-to-talk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/?p=28352","title":{"rendered":"Sonderling Sunday – We Need to Talk!"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s time for Sonderling Sunday<\/a>! That time of the week when I play with language by looking at the German translation of children\u2019s books. Sort of a Traveler\u2019s Phrasebook for Very Silly People.<\/p>\n

\"Sonderlinge3\"<\/a><\/p>\n

This week we’re back to the book that started it all, The Order of Odd-Fish<\/a><\/em>, by James Kennedy<\/a>, otherwise known as Der Orden der seltsamen Sonderlinge<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n

We left off last time<\/a> in the middle of chapter 18 on page 239, Seite 303<\/em>, with Nora about to whisper the immortal words, “We need to talk.”<\/p>\n

Confess! Don’t you think it would be useful to know how to say this in German? And yet, I’m guessing you won’t find it in your normal run-of-the-mill traveler’s phrasebook. (What a travesty!)<\/p>\n

And the translation is:
\nWir m\u00fcssen uns unterhalten.<\/em><\/p>\n

Here’s a not-surprising response to that:
\n“Jo was in no mood for it.”
\n= Jo war eigentlich nicht in der richtigen Stimmung daf\u00fcr.<\/em><\/p>\n

“Nora insisted” = Nora blieb hartn\u00e4ckig<\/em> (“Nora stayed obstinate.”)
\n(This looks to me as if it’s related to hard-naked, but I don’t think it actually is.)<\/p>\n

“floorboards” = Bodenbretter<\/em><\/p>\n

“crawl spaces” = Kriechr\u00e4ume<\/em><\/p>\n

“chimney” = Schornstein<\/em><\/p>\n

“She was exhausted, her nerves frayed.”
\n= Sie war ersch\u00f6pft und angespannt.<\/em>
\n(“She was exhausted and tense.”)<\/p>\n

And who knows when you might need to say this?
\n“underground cathedral” = unterirdische Kathedrale<\/em><\/p>\n

This one’s handy:
\n“just in case” = Sicherheitshalber<\/em>
\n(“Safety’s sake”)<\/p>\n

The translator sacrificed some flair here:
\n“Fear dripped slowly into Jo’s heart.”
\n= Furcht durchstr\u00f6mte Jo.<\/em>
\n(“Fear flowed through Jo.”)<\/p>\n

“All-Devouring” = All-Verschlingenden<\/em><\/p>\n

“favorite topic” = Lieblingsthema<\/em><\/p>\n

“stitch her back together” = sie wieder zusammenflicken<\/em><\/p>\n

“disturbing” = ersch\u00fctternd<\/em><\/p>\n

“fuse” = verschmelzen<\/em><\/p>\n

This seems like a long way to say it:
\n“And here’s how”
\n= Und zwar folgenderma\u00dfen<\/em>
\n(“And indeed follows-reasonably”)<\/p>\n

I hope you never need to say this:
\n“They sucked out all his blood”
\n= Sie saugten ihm all sein Blut aus<\/em><\/p>\n

“unpredictable powers” = unvorstellbare Macht<\/em><\/p>\n

“boiling over” = \u00fcbergekocht ist<\/em><\/p>\n

“It drove him crazy.”
\n= Sie hat ihn in den Wahnsinn getrieben.<\/em><\/p>\n

“stinger” = Stachel<\/em><\/p>\n

This could be useful:
\n“I know it doesn’t make sense”
\n= Ich wei\u00df, dass es nicht logisch klingt<\/em><\/p>\n

“beak” = Schnaubel<\/em><\/p>\n

“Her fear hardened into anger.”
\n= Dann schlug ihre Furcht in Wut um.<\/em><\/p>\n

“thighs” = Schenkel<\/em><\/p>\n

“revenge” = Rache<\/em><\/p>\n

“coffin” = Sarg<\/em><\/p>\n

“revulsion” = Ekel<\/em><\/p>\n

“shrank” = schrumpfen<\/em><\/p>\n

“helpless feeling” = ohnm\u00e4chtigen Gef\u00fchl<\/em> (“without-power feeling”)<\/p>\n

This sounds grand:
\n“Jo suspected her choices counted for nothing”
\n= Jo vermutete, dass ihre Entscheidungen keinerlei Konsequenzen hatten<\/em>
\n(“Jo suspected that her decisions no consequences had”)<\/p>\n

“quietly panicked” = k\u00e4mpfte stumm gegen ihre Panik<\/em>
\n(“fought silently against her panic”)<\/p>\n

I hope you won’t need to say this:
\n“a moist sucking sound” = ein feuchtes, saugendes Ger\u00e4usch<\/em><\/p>\n

“snoring” = schnarchten<\/em> (Isn’t that a much better word for “snoring”?)<\/p>\n

“The snuffling got louder.” = Das Schniefen wurde lauter.<\/em><\/p>\n

“engorged” = vergr\u00f6\u00dfert<\/em><\/p>\n

“a shapeless mass of skin and fat and veins”
\n= eine formlose Masse aus Haut und Fett und Adern<\/em><\/p>\n

“something long, pale, and scabby”
\n= etwas Langes, Blasses und Schuppiges<\/em><\/p>\n

You can see how this had to be changed:
\n“inched out”
\n= Zentimeter um Zentimeter herauskam<\/em>
\n(“centimeter by centimeter came out”)<\/p>\n

And I’ve finished up Chapter 18. Here’s hoping that knowing how to say these things will invoke Murphy’s Law, and you’ll never have occasion to say them! Aber Sicherheitshalber…<\/em><\/p>\n

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