How would you translate the sentence "Could you translate this into German?" into German?
(a) Könnten Sie das in Deutsch übersetzen?
(b) Könnten Sie das ins Deutsche übersetzen?
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Related: “von Englisch nach Deutsch” - why not “zu”?– Em1Sep 16, 2013 at 8:39
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I would say "Könnten Sie das auf Deutsch übersetzen"... especially if "it" is short and mundane– EmanuelSep 16, 2013 at 18:20
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1 Answer
b would be right. Man übersetzt ins <Sprache hier>. And your version would be the formal version. A more casual version would be something like:
Könntest du das ins Deutsche übersetzen?
And maybe an even more casual example:
Übersetz das doch mal ins Deutsche
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1Is using the imperative as in your second proposal to be considered "casual"? I'd take this as a different translation, as it is an order and the former version is a request.– alkSep 16, 2013 at 5:35
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2@alk: as the obligatory please is missing in the English source we may indeed assume this was an order rather than a request. This is quite nicely reflected by using imperative in German.– TakkatSep 16, 2013 at 6:31
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2More casual would be: "Was heißt das auf Deutsch?" or "Und jetzt mal in/auf Deutsch bitte."– Em1Sep 16, 2013 at 8:40
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@karoshi german.about.com/od/nounsandcases/a/Adjectives-As-Nouns.htm– user3014Oct 26, 2013 at 21:48