Übersetzung - Questions on translation from or to German.
27
votes
2answers
693 views
What is a good translation for “I wish!” ?
Often times, a situation comes up and I want to use the expression "I wish!" For instance, somebody asks me: "Is that brand new car yours?" or "Was that you who I saw winning $1000?"
However, I don't ...
26
votes
9answers
633 views
What is the German equivalent of foo, bar, baz?
The English words foo, bar and baz are often used as placeholder nonsense names in programming. In French, "toto, titi, tata, tutu" are common.
Which words are used for this purpose in German code?
...
21
votes
5answers
790 views
What is the German equivalent of “The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.”?
What is the German equivalent of "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog."?
That is: A phrase used for font selection that contains all the letters of the alphabet.
20
votes
3answers
570 views
How do synchronous interpreters handle long German split verb sentences?
One of the points where German differs from other languages are the split verb sentences where the two parts of a verb form can be placed quite some distance apart, for example:
Ich habe nach ...
17
votes
5answers
940 views
What is the German equivalent of the English “aka”?
In English, the abbreviation aka means "also known as".
A literal German translation might be "auch bekannt wie". Is this, in fact, the correct German equivalent? And is the abbreviation ABW (or the ...
16
votes
2answers
873 views
“Food” in German
When I was looking for the German equivalent of "food" in my dictionary, I've noticed that both "Lebensmittel" and "Nahrung" have same meaning and I've learned "Essen" before.
While I was trying to ...
16
votes
5answers
1k views
How to translate Fernweh to English?
Is there a good English translation for Fernweh? dict.leo.org suggests wanderlust and itchy feet, but they are both more about travelling around rather than going away.
15
votes
2answers
177 views
Meaning of “Lars kam sich unendlich verlassen vor”
I'm reading Kleiner Eisbär, wohin fährst du? von Hans de Beer but I'm puzzled by this sentence:
Lars kam sich unendlich verlassen vor.
If verlassen is a reflexive verb as the word sich suggests, ...
15
votes
1answer
217 views
What are the rules behind this translated phrase: “das, was ihr mich habt tun sehen”?
I came across this when reading the German translation of the Book of Mormon:
Denn das, was ihr mich habt tun sehen, ja, das sollt ihr tun.
The English part reads:
For that which ye have ...
15
votes
2answers
361 views
What are German words like Handy and Homeoffice called?
There are some words in German which sound as if they were English foreign words, but have a completely different meaning in English.
E.g.
Handy - mobile phone
Homeoffice - Working from Home
...
14
votes
8answers
725 views
Was ist eine angemessene Übersetzung für “shitstorm”?
Was ist eine angemessene Übersetzung für "shitstorm"? Gibt es dafür ein deutsches Wort?
14
votes
7answers
262 views
“Wir waren hier gelaufen” vs. “Wir sind hier gelaufen”
I'd sometimes like to indicate a completed action in the past by using the Plusquamperfekt, as indicated in the title. Whenever I do this, I seem to get strange looks. I have a feeling that I am ...
13
votes
4answers
629 views
How would you translate “to judge someone” to German?
In English, "to judge someone" often implies a negative opinion, as in "Don't judge me!".
Is there a German equivalent for this? How would you translate the example?
My dictionary gives "jmdn. ...
13
votes
2answers
283 views
What does “Ich brauch mal Storno” mean?
Ich war heute bei Kaufland und habe
blah blah... ich brauch mal Storno
gehört.
Bedeutet das so etwas wie "Kaffeepause" oder mehr in Richtung "Pinkelpause"? Oder ist die Bedeutung eine ganz ...
13
votes
4answers
1k views
13
votes
4answers
350 views
Übersetzung für “Fusselst Du?”
Ich habe heute im Internet Folgendes gesehen:
und dachte: ehh? Im Wörterbuch konnte ich 'fusseln' nicht finden. Kann mir jemand mit einer Übersetzung helfen?
13
votes
2answers
210 views
What or who is a “Scholli”?
I hear people say:
"Mein lieber Scholli, das war knapp!"
What does "Scholli" mean in this context? Is using this idiom in any way offensive or insulting?
12
votes
3answers
809 views
What is the equivalent of “boyfriend” in German?
In English when a man is in a relationship with another man, he can say he's his boyfriend. In German, saying "Freund" when both are of the same sex is usually understood to mean the equivalent of ...
12
votes
5answers
352 views
Ist “rauf voten” und “runter voten” eine akzeptable Übersetzung für “upvote” und “downvote”?
Was ist eine angemessene deutsche Übersetzung von upvote und downvote?
Das deutsche Verb voten findet man in Duden Online.
Zur englischen Orthografie siehe EL&U.
12
votes
4answers
519 views
Are “friends” and “Freunde” false-friends?
I guess that "Freund" is better translated with "close friend" and "friend" is more our German "Bekannter".
Especially in context with twitter and other social networks one seems to get a lot more ...
12
votes
5answers
369 views
What do you call a “Questions & Answers site” (Q&A) in German?
I am looking for a German term to describe StackExchange - the English term seems to be "Questions & Answers site" (Q&A) which has no equivalent in German (that I'm aware of). The literal ...
11
votes
3answers
196 views
What is a good German translation for the verb “to plateau”?
What is a good German translation for the verb "to plateau"?
I tried searching around, but it seems that online dictionaries such as dict.cc only recognize plateau as a noun.
If I wanted to say ...
11
votes
4answers
453 views
Do we use “Du” or “Sie” to address users in a German operation manual?
When writing or translating an operation manual for software (including game software) or hardware users are mostly addressed by the polite form "Sie". Increasingly however we can also find manuals ...
11
votes
3answers
270 views
What's the right German word to use for the English “troll”?
We do use "Troll" and "trollen" in German forums. But is there another Word that predates the Internet that could be used instead?
11
votes
5answers
321 views
How would you translate “mind you” in German
How would you translate the expression "mind you" in German, a phrase introducing something that should be taken into consideration. For example: "He's very well dressed, but mind you, he's got plenty ...
10
votes
5answers
3k views
What can “passt schon” mean?
I've heard the phrase "passt schon" used to mean:
Never mind: „Ich denke... nee, passt schon.“
No problem: „Entschuldigung!“ „Passt schon.“
OK: „Wie geht's?“ „Passt schon.“
What can it mean in ...
10
votes
7answers
16k views
Prägnante deutsche Übersetzung von “Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.”
In seiner bekannten Rede bei der Absolventenfeier in Stanford 2005 prägte Steve Jobs den Ausdruck
Stay hungry. Stay foolish.
Ich verstehe die Bedeutung der Worte, suche aber eine prägnante ...
10
votes
3answers
789 views
How do German speakers translate sounds that animals make?
I have always been interested in the ways that animal sounds are "translated" in foreign languages. Presumably, the sounds are the same to our ears.
In English:
Dog: woof
Cat: meow
Cow: moo
Duck: ...
10
votes
4answers
193 views
“Noted” in German
What's the German translation of "noted" in the following context:
A: Note that if you have a parenthesis outside the Mathjax immediately following a curly brace inside, the curly brace won’t ...
10
votes
6answers
161 views
resent the implication
How could one translate the phrase "I resent the implication". The way I hear it now and then is as an answer in a conversation and as I understand it, it is polite talk when someone is offended by ...
10
votes
5answers
459 views
Translation of common Australian saying — “If you throw enough shit against a wall, some of it has gotta stick.”
I am looking for a faithful translation of the (common in Australia) saying:
"If you throw enough shit against a wall, some of it has gotta stick."
It is in no way offensive, and means that if you ...
9
votes
3answers
421 views
How rude is “fressen”?
According to this question, I'd assume that "fressen" is insulting cause it's defined "to eat like a pig". Am I right?
Das im Kalender ruhig ist, sonst aber Menschen plagt und frisst.
Does this ...
9
votes
4answers
275 views
How does “wegpissen” translate?
Sometimes I read the following expressions:
Dieses Video ist zum Wegpissen.
Ich könnt mich jedesmal wegpissen!
Obviously "to piss off" does not fit the context. Where does this expression ...
9
votes
3answers
1k views
What does “krass” mean?
During conversations with native German speakers, I have heard the word "krass" used in different contexts. But I still don't know how to translate it.
Any ideas?
9
votes
7answers
2k views
How to translate the word “download” to German?
In German there is runterladen or herunterladen for the term to download.
Is there a common translation for the noun of download that could be used for translating i.g.
the amount of downloads ...
9
votes
3answers
197 views
“Have fun during the exhibition”
I'd like to say:
Have fun during the exhibition.
in German. What I tried to found was "Ausstellungsdauer" meaning "during the exhibition" but my translation doesn't make much sense as it stand:
...
9
votes
2answers
384 views
Is this the correct way to spell the slang term for 'toilet' in German — 'Scheißehaus'?
I'm after a particular slang term for 'toilet' in German but I'm not sure of the spelling of it. I think it's Scheißehaus. If this is the correct term, should it be written as one word, two words or ...
9
votes
2answers
174 views
Proper translation of ahnungslos?
I read a post (in another forum) that said this today:
Das Land der Ahnungslosen
Obviously indicating that individuals from a certain (unspecified) country were "clueless".
Someone responded ...
9
votes
2answers
285 views
Equivalent of “What would you do in my shoes” in German?
How would you state it? Are there alternatives?
If the expression does exist, where does it come from?
9
votes
3answers
132 views
Gibt es Dialekt-Wörterbücher?
Gibt es Dialekt-Wörterbücher, also Wörterbücher für z. B. Deutsch–Bayrisch oder Bayrisch–Hessisch?
Wenn ja, welche könnt ihr empfehlen?
9
votes
4answers
305 views
Which one is a better synonym for “Vordenker”: Vorreiter/Freidenker/Pionier?
I asked this question on EL&U and got some good answers, but tend to accept this answer.
IMHO Visionary doesn't really match Vordenker ("Wer Visionen hat, sollte zum Arzt gehen" Helmut Schmidt), ...
9
votes
4answers
298 views
Wie kann man 気持ちいい am besten auf Deutsch ausdrücken?
Wie kann man das Japanische 気持ちいい kimochi ii am besten auf Deutsch ausdrücken in den folgenden Situationen:
ein kimochi ii Pullover
eine kimochi ii Massage
kimochi ii Wetter
generell kimochi ii, ...
9
votes
1answer
136 views
Übersetzung von “to appear” im Literaturverzeichnis
In Literaturverzeichnissen wissenschaftlicher Arbeiten findet man häufig bei bisher unveröffentlichten Dokumenten den Zusatz "to appear" als Notiz. Ich schreibe gerade eine Diplomarbeit auf deutsch ...
9
votes
2answers
423 views
How to say “take a joke” in German
When pulling a prank on someone or telling a joke that could come across as offensive, usually we say "take a joke" or something along those lines. What is the expression for this in German?
9
votes
2answers
206 views
What is the difference between Bewußtsein and Bewußtheit?
I came across the following passage reading an English version of Nietzsche's The Gay Science:
Consciousness (Bewußtsein)[6] — Consciousness (Bewußtheit) is the latest development of the organic, ...
8
votes
8answers
592 views
Is “Heizölrückstoßabdämpfung” a real word?
I saw "Heizölrückstoßabdämpfung" as an example of a word that is almost a pangramm without repetitition, but is it a real German word?
8
votes
5answers
243 views
How would one say 'I solved the Dirac equation.', and 'You solved the Dirac equation?'?
Given a statement and a question of nigh identical substance, I'm curious how each might be translated, specifically wondering: would they differ based on whether it is me or you concerned?
For ...
8
votes
5answers
956 views
Is “du bist dran” the best translation for “it is your turn”?
Is there a more direct translation of "it is your turn"?
I have used "du bist dran" for card games and the like, but is that a good translation in general? For example how would you translate "it is ...
8
votes
2answers
254 views
What is the meaning of “Affenzirkus”?
I heard someone shout:
"Diesen Affenzirkus hier mache ich nicht länger mit!"
It seemed the person was very annoyed. What would be the meaning of "Affenzirkus" here? Is there a corresponding ...
8
votes
4answers
372 views
How does “used” translate - “benutzt” or “benützt”?
Duden and other resources list both "benutzt", and "benützt" as valid but indicate that "benützt" is used regionally in Switzerland, Austria and southern Germany.
Are translations for Germany ...
