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Is one or the other of these phrases more accurate in terms of meaning? The meaning of the phrase in English is: "a pleasure to be seen."

Een Pläseer to't ansehn.

or

Een Vergnögen to't ansehn.

How to forms of this phrase in Plattdütsch? The intention is that it is spoken to multiple people.

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    I don't recognise the form of Platt you're using here, but I'd say neither convey your English phrase. What I think both of the Platt expressions say is "A pleasure to behold" (something nice to look at), whereas your English phrase to me expresses "someone who takes joy out of being seen".
    – tink
    Dec 17, 2016 at 1:37
  • Thanks, tink. That is helpful and you are right about the meaning I am after here. If you want to offer other suggestions, I would be grateful.
    – Lisa
    Dec 17, 2016 at 1:46
  • Sorry, that's it from me =} ... what Region of Germany is that Platt from?
    – tink
    Dec 17, 2016 at 2:00
  • I'm not sure. I was getting help from someone else and they suggested it. Perhaps it is only Hochdeutsch.
    – Lisa
    Dec 17, 2016 at 2:07
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    Heh. It definitely isn't Hochdeutsch :}
    – tink
    Dec 17, 2016 at 2:08

1 Answer 1

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Plattdeutsch is not a single language/dialect, but rather a group of german dialects with some similarities in writing, vocabulary and pronunciation. Unlike Hochdeutsch however, there is no standard way of spelling, writing, pronouncing or even which vocabulary to use. This can even differ notably from one village to the next.

Your best approach would be to look into the specific regional version of Platt you are after. Mixing several variations can work, if your possible sources do not yield enough examples, but be careful about vocabularies:

While some versions of Platt are notably influenced by French:

Pläseer (platt) <=> plaisir (french)

others are far closer to Hochdeutsch

Vergnögen (platt) <=> Vergnügen (high-german)

The suggested sentences overall seem a bit odd because of the form

to't ansehn

to't seems to be a contraction of to et (also tau et, tau het, again no fixed way of writing/ pronouncing) which means zu dem, zu den (some variations of Platt do not care much about grammatical case or gender)

Following that witch the supposed verb ansehn (look [at something]) does not make a lot of sense. A possibility here would be a transformation into a substantive: Ansehn which means

  1. [the] look [of something], compare: (high-german) Angesicht, [the] look [of someone, esp. face]
  2. [the process of] looking [at something/someone]
  3. [the] reputation [of someone]

Conclusion: Both version by themselves can pass as Platt, but if context (esp. regional context) matters, it gets really difficult to say without additional information.

My additional suggestion would be:

Aan Vergnüje antusehn / antausihn

which is a take on a variation of Harzer Platt. Link: Discussion of these variations (in german)

There is a High-german to Platt online dictionary which your source may have used. However it contains no information which locations the words are used in.

There are Stories in Platt available online (Region around Schortens, Lower Saxony), so you may want read up on some of them to get a feeling for the dialect.

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  • Thank you very much fer-rum. I see this is more interesting and complex the more I learn. I appreciate your time and thorough response. I will keep cross-checking with my other sources and try to get to the closest regional dialect I can figure. The deeper meaning behind "to be seen" is more broadly: to be witnessed, to be accepted, to be acknowledged. Perhaps there are other words in Platt that may better fit this interpretation besides a more literal attempt to translate "seen."
    – Lisa
    Dec 20, 2016 at 21:03
  • Platt varies from town to town noticably. There are huge differences in pronounciation and vocabulary but not much in grammar. Grammar is much closer to Dutch Language than to standard German.
    – elsni
    Dec 21, 2016 at 12:04

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