How to translate interjections/sounds like "whoa" and "gulp" into German?

Question

I have already asked about a few German interjections here, but there are more terms in the same translation project which I am not sure about.

Cough! Cough!: I am not sure how the sound of a cough is supposed to be rendered in German. Is it "hust" or "Huster?"

Gulp: this is a sound effect to indicate fear; a little boy is being confronted by a troll. Does it make sense to translate the word "gulp" into German, i.e. "Schluck?"

Hmmm?: I know it is possible to say "hmm" in German in the same sense it is usually used in English, i.e. to indicate thinking. But in this case it is someone who has just been woken up and is lazily expressing something to the effect of "yes?" or "what do you want?" Can I still say "hmm" in that case in German?

Whoa: This is translated several ways in the dictionary (e.g. langsam, oh, hoppla), but I am not sure which to use. The context is that a beggar girl is asking a valkyrie for help and she responds by offering to train her in battle. The beggar responds with "whoa, miss, that was not what I meant!"

Answer 1

I agree with the other answers that you pretty much nailed the first 3 (except "Huster" is not something I'd expect to read in that context)

Concerning "whoa", I would like to give you some more options, since I am not quite satisfied with the answers so far. It seems to me that the beggar might be overwhelmed by the answer of the Valkyrie, since they did not really want to fight. In this case "langsam" is the only word you propose that somehow fits, however with the caveat Dodezv gives. Two better alternatives in my eyes are "Holla" and "Hui".

"Holla" might just come from "Hold up" since the meaning is so similar, except it can also express that you are impressed, especially in the long form "Holla, die Waldfee". It just might be a little bit of an old expression.

"Hui" goes in a similar direction as "Hoppla" or "Huch", but does not usually express that you made a mistake, just that something didn't go as planned. I like it particularly here because it works, whether the beggar accepts the offer in the end or not. It can also be used as an expression of compassion, especially in the long form "Huiuiui", but I think it is quite clear here that this is not meant, so it should be fine.

Using "whoa" or "wow" is another option, but they can be easily misinterpreted to mean "that's a better offer than I expected".

Answer 2

The problem of the translation of such interjections that are very often verbs is exactly the problem that the German translator Erika Fuchs had to solve when she was asked by the Walt Disney Company in 1951 to translate the first Mickey Mouse comics to be sold in Germany, Austria and Switzerland (which she then did until 1988). Erika Fuchs decided to use a form that is called inflective. In all verbs that I can think of at the moment this form is identical to the imperative form of the verb in active voice for 2^nd person singular in the tense Präsens without the trailing -e that already is often omitted in colloquial speech:

• cough = hust

  Jetzt hust(e) doch bitte!

• gulp = schluck

  Schluck nicht so schnell!

• wheeze = röchel

  Bitte röchel nicht so laut!

Also: clank = schepper, snore = schnarch, groan = ächz, moan = stöhn, ...

But of course, when used as interjections, these forms are not interpreted as imperative forms, and that's why these forms, when used as interjections, are not called imperative forms but inflective forms. In honour of Erika Fuchs, who did not invent this form but used it intensively, thus having a great influence on the German language, this form is also called the Erikative.

Those interjections that are not verbs most often just don't have any meaning on their own. They are just sounds, and those sounds work in all languages, sometimes with some variations. So, Englisch »hmmm« is identical to German »hmmm« and to »hmmm« in most other languages. Also the sound »whoa« is very similar in all languages. But while in English you usually start with an already open mouth and open it wider while producing that sound (which turns the »o« into an »a«), in German you usually start with a closed mouth, so that the consonant at the beginning is not a [v]-sound, but a [b]-sound: »boah« (And yes, the spelling in written language is different, but that is a consequence of the different ways how English and German encode sequences of sounds as sequences of letters.)

But be careful! While »whoa« is often (not always) interpreted as a sound that expresses surprise plus rejection, German »boah« means just surprise without any connotation of rejection. So, when a 4 years old German speaking girl sees the brightly lit Christmas tree at Christmas eve, she might say »boah!« and an English speaking girls might say »whoa!« in the same situation.

But supposed, that the beggar from your story don't want to be trained by the valkyrie, it perfectly fits that she says »Whoa, miss, that was not what I meant. Go away and leave me alone!« But for a German speaking beggar the word »boah« doesn't fit very well here because it lacks the negative emotion of rejection that often is contained in »whoa«. This is what I would let the beggar girl say in this situation:

He, he, stop, nicht so schnell! Das ist nicht, was ich wollte. Geh weg und lass mich in Ruhe!

But, if the beggar wants to be trained, she could say this:

Boah, echt? Cool! Das ist zwar nicht das, was ich eigentlich wollte, aber, ja, cool, bring's mir bei!

Answer 3

You're throwing two different things together: onomatopoeia and actual interjections. The boy is not saying "gulp" (that would be funny), he is gulping. These two things have to be treated differently!

Onomatopoeia

In English, onomatopoeia is usually both a verb and a noun. "The boy gulped" and "The boy heard a gulp." In German, it's only a verb, and the noun is just the infinitive of the verb. "Der Junge schluckte.", "Der Junge hörte ein Schlucken."

How you express onomatopoeia depends heavily on the format. If you're writing prose, you're usually stuck to just using it as a verb: "Der Junge schluckte." with the added benefit of being able to describe it: "Der Junge musste laut schlucken" etc.

In comics, you can use the inflective (usually outside of the speech bubbles), which is just the verb without ending, like "schluck". This form is very limited, it can only be used on its own. It is informal, but this could be used in prose, too.

In dialog-based writing (like in a game) you can use the inflected verb in asterisks, like *hustet*.

Actual interjections

Disclaimer: Actual interjections exist outside the normal phonetical rules of a language and are therefore hard to write. Really hard. Furthermore, they are informal, so they differ by speaker. A lot.

Hmm /hm:/: Yes, this can be used as some kind of all-purpose question. In your case, I would probably just say mm /m:/, without a /h/ at the beginning. For me, this /h/ indicates deeper thinking, wondering about something etc. But for writing, I would stick to "Hmm" because "Mm" (however you write it) can mean a ton of other things based on intonation, from "leave me alone" to "I have no time" to an eager "Yes".

Whoa: I'd say a simple "Nein" is best here. The most canonical answer to a misunderstanding is always "nein".

Why not "langsam"? It has a bit of a reprimanding tone. If the beggar was significantly older than the valkyrie, or there were close, it would be fine. Else I would feel like the beggar is overstepping her bounds and being slightly rude.

Why not "boah" (pronunciation is like "Bor", not like the snake "Boa"). "Boah" is a surprise that is either very positive or negative, but never neutral. The beggar is obviously not super hyped, so "boah" would come out as annoyed.

English "whoa" would also be understood. The main problem with that is that the most sensible way to write this in German would be "wow", which overlaps with "wow" /wau/ which in turn can't be written "Wau" because this is already the sound of the dog /vau/. On the other hand, writing "whoa" would not always be understood: I had to google "whoa" because I always assumed it was pronounced /wa:/ (pleasant surprise, written "wah").

Answer 4

For anything derived from a verb (like "cough" and "gulp"), just use the "inflective" (jokingly "Erikativ"), i.e. "hust", "schluck". Many of us read Disney comics when we were children, so are familiar with this.

"Hmmm" works in German as is, in all meanings it has in English.

For "whoa", you want "boah".