{"id":44161,"date":"2024-08-11T22:46:59","date_gmt":"2024-08-12T02:46:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/?p=44161"},"modified":"2024-08-11T22:55:02","modified_gmt":"2024-08-12T02:55:02","slug":"sonderling-sunday-lockwood-co-into-the-haunted-house","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/?p=44161","title":{"rendered":"Sonderling Sunday – Lockwood & Co – Into the Haunted House"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

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.<\/p>\n

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

Here’s the first sentence of the next section:<\/p>\n

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

“Never hesitate” = Kein Z\u00f6gern<\/em> [“No hesitation”]<\/p>\n

“linger” = unschl\u00fcssiges Verweilen<\/em> [“indecisive lingering”]<\/p>\n

“threshold” = Schwelle<\/em><\/p>\n

“turn and run” = kehrtzumachen und wegzurennen<\/em><\/p>\n

Hmm. This colorful description was translated differently.
\n“your willpower starts draining away through your boots, and the terror starts building in your chest”
\n= versickert der eigene Mut, das Herz beginnt zu rasen, die Kehle schn\u00fcrt sich zu<\/em>
\n[“your courage disappears, your heart starts racing, your throat tightens”]<\/p>\n

“hall” = Diele<\/em><\/p>\n

“the walls were palely papered” = helle Tapeten zierten die W\u00e4nde<\/em> [“light wallpaper decorated the walls”]<\/p>\n

“kink” = Knick<\/em><\/p>\n

“Doorways opened on either side: gaping and choked in darkness.”
\n= Die T\u00fcren auf beiden Seiten des vorderen Teils standen klaffend offen wie schwarze M\u00e4uler.<\/em>
\n[“The doors on either side of the front section stood gaping open like black mouths.”]<\/p>\n

“It dulls the senses and makes you weak and stupid.”
\n= Sie beeinflusst die sinnliche Wahrnehmung negativ.<\/em>
\n[“It negatively influences sensory perception.”]<\/p>\n

“The air had that musty, slightly sour smell”
\n= Es roch muffig und ein bisschen s\u00e4uerlich<\/em>
\n[“It smelled musty and a bit sour”]<\/p>\n

“a china bowl of potpourri”
\n= eine Porzellanschale mit getrockneten Bl\u00fcten<\/em><\/p>\n

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

“innocuous” = allt\u00e4glich<\/em> [“everyday”]<\/p>\n

“pleasant” = einladend<\/em> [“inviting”]<\/p>\n

“skewed coffins”
\n= schiefe S\u00e4rge<\/em><\/p>\n

“shut out morbid thoughts”
\n= verscheuchte die morbiden Gedanken<\/em><\/p>\n

“listened” = lauschte<\/em><\/p>\n

“arteries and airways” = Adern und Atemwege<\/em><\/p>\n

“Echoes of the past, echoes of hidden things”
\n= Es sind Echos aus der Vergangenheit, der Nachhall verborgener Geschehnisse<\/em>
\n[“They are echoes from the past, the reverberation of hidden events”]<\/p>\n

“little knocking sound” = Klopfen<\/em><\/p>\n

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

“death-glow” = Todesschein<\/em><\/p>\n

“tripped” = gestolpert<\/em><\/p>\n

“tumbled down” = heruntergest\u00fcrzt<\/em><\/p>\n

“steep” = steil<\/em><\/p>\n

“I bent low” = Ich ging in die Hocke.<\/em> [“I went into the squat.”]<\/p>\n

“tiles” = Fliesen<\/em><\/p>\n

“jarred my teeth”
\n= mein Z\u00e4hne aufeinanderschlugen<\/em>
\n[“my teeth on-one-another-struck”]<\/p>\n

“rapier” = Degen<\/em><\/p>\n

“eyes staring wildly side to side”
\n= mein Blick huschte panisch umher<\/em>
\n[“my view scurried panicked around”]<\/p>\n

“banister” = Gel\u00e4nderpfosten<\/em> [“railing posts”]<\/p>\n

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

“drops in temperature”
\n= Temperaturschwankungen<\/em><\/p>\n

“ectoplasmic shock” = ektoplasmische Ersch\u00fctterungen<\/em><\/p>\n

And the last sentence of the chapter:
\n“Then we find ourselves a ghost.”
\n= Und danach schnappen wir uns den Geist.<\/em><\/p>\n

Okay, I’m done with Chapter One. These translators, Katharina Orga\u00df 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.)<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, enjoy! Here’s hoping you never have any need to use the phrase schiefe S\u00e4rge<\/em> or ektoplasmische Ersch\u00fctterungen<\/em>. Though I kind of want to find a reason to say fluoreszierendem Zifferblatt<\/em>.<\/p>\n

bis Bald!<\/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. 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 […]<\/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":[425],"class_list":["post-44161","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sonderling-sunday","tag-lockwood-co"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44161","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=44161"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44161\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":44166,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44161\/revisions\/44166"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=44161"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=44161"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=44161"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}