Questions tagged [german-to-english]
Übersetzung Deutsch nach Englisch - Questions on translations of a single word or phrase from German to English.
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What’s the difference between “Ich habe dich lieb” and “Ich liebe dich”?
What’s the difference between Ich habe dich lieb and Ich liebe dich?
Both are defined as “I love you” in many dictionaries, as I’ve checked.
user508
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2
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Meaning and origin of 'Ich verstehe nur Bahnhof'
What does the following sentence mean and what is its origin?
Ich verstehe nur Bahnhof.
I've heard this expression from some friends – I guess it's what you say when you don't really understand ...
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Meaning of 0815 and ger/eng alternatives?
Does 0815 simply mean something is very standard and common, or does it carry any connotations? Where can one use it, e.g. for description of processes, objects, persons? Can you give alternative ...
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What's the meaning of "Deine Mudda"?
In Germany, I hear a lot of jokes containing "Deine Mudda", but I don't understand them. What does this mean and what kind of jokes are containing them?
user1145
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Is unwillkürlich the opposite of willkürlich?
My dictionary translates willkürlich as arbitrary and unwillkürlich as involuntary. I do not understand in what sense these concepts are opposites. Could someone give an example where this becomes ...
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What means my car's displayed diagnosis "KÜHLMITTLE NIEDR MOTOR ABSTELLEN"?
I'm French and I purchased a used (2001) Volvo V70 which was initially buyed in Switzerland, and where diagnosis are displayed in German, so for me it's often a painful task to understand what the ...
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3
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How come that “stimmt so” means “keep the change”?
I would like to know how do those 2 words, stimmt and so, when used together, mean keep the change?
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"So" in German - meanings and usages
Does "so" have similar usage and meaning in English and German?
so ein schönes Lied!
das tut uns [ja] so leid!
so? Das wäre aber sonderbar
du darfst nehmen, so viel wie du willst.
...
user508
18
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9
answers
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How would you translate “fremdschämen”?
I was hanging out with friends tonight and we were watching a documentary on (Australian) TV. There was this obnoxious main character. For all her actions habe ich mich fremdgeschämt, but I wasn’t ...
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11
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How to express "fizzle out" in German
I'm am struggling with the right way to express, "to fizzle out", in German. Let me give some example sentences:
We were very good friends at first, but over the years, our friendship fizzled out.
...
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What is the most appropriate word in German to describe "to deploy"?
What is the most appropriate word in German to describe "to deploy" when it comes to technology?
I have read about "bereitstellen" and "einsetzen". What would be the ...
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5
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Blicke mir nicht in die Lieder
I recently got a Deutsche Grammophon CD with recordings of songs by Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau. When reading the texts, I noticed the translation of the title of one of the songs. Intuitively I knew it ...
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14
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2
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Help with making out handwriting-like engraving on a silver cigarette case
Bought a silver cigarette case with this engraved on it:
I tried to translate it myself, but I don't know the language at all and couldn't really match up any letters.
I believe it's German ...
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14
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2
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"Verwesern" title, what does it mean? [closed]
I recently needed to translate some old texts from King Frederick I of Prussia and his son Frederick William I.
I saw several times a word Verwesern between a list of honorifics, but translating this ...
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2
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"anders" vs "unterschiedlich" vs "verschieden"
What exactly is the difference between these three? They all seem to mean 'different' although in different ways, and I can't quite work out what the difference is.
My understanding at the moment is ...
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1
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Need help to read Fraktur from a 18th century book
I am reading Euler's German translation of his work on differential calculus entitled Vollständige Anleitung zur Differentialrechnung (Complete instruction on Differential Calculus). I am struggling ...
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What is "Zum Tragen kein Problem" on the bag of a Swiss bakery trying to tell me?
What is this text on the bag of a Swiss bakery trying to tell me?
Die Verpackung aus Papier:
Zum Tragen kein Problem.
L'emballage en papier:
Un moyen de transport.
I don't get what they ...
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6
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Translation of "Deutschländisch" into English
How would you translate "Deutschländisch" or "deutschländische Deutsch" into English? Example context from Sprachpflege an Schulen: Österreich kämpft gegen deutschländisches Deutsch
Darin geht es ...
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13
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1
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Use of the common English abbreviation for German term
In my text I have a German term "Entscheidungsbaum" for which there is no common abbreviation. Much better known is the English term "Decision Tree" and its abbreviation "DT&...
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8
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"Du hast es gut", small talk meaning?
A colleague of mine at work is from time to time saying me just "Du hast es gut" and laughing...
I asked him a couple of times what does it mean as I am not native and couldn't find any info regarding ...
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4
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Can "Kristall" mean "broken glass"?
The loanword "Kristallnacht" is most frequently described in English as "the night of broken glass". It's also called "crystal night", but that doesn't make sense to me because the night didn't ...
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3
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When we will use "Halli-Hallo" Word?
I have a question regarding the German word Halli-Hallo.
Wann benutzen wir dieses Wort:
Halli-Hallo
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What is the meaning of "heutig" in this sentence?
A recent Slow German Podcast contains the following sentence:
Das Mittelalter dauerte im heutigen Deutschland von ungefähr 800 bis ungefähr 1500.
I do not understand the use of the word heutig in ...
user38158
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5
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How to correctly translate ‘einfallen’?
I’ve almost never encountered the word einfallen before, so it’s no wonder I don’t understand its meaning in the sentence:
Mir fällt die Telefonnummer einfach nicht ein.
Dictionaries do everything ...
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5
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Structure of weird sentence
Wofür so ein Sturm nicht alles gut ist!
It's about a story in which a storm happened and it wrecked the balcony of the neighbors who didn't know each other before. Because of the chaos created by the ...
- 2,609
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3
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What do colleagues say to each other before lunch time?
I am working as an intern in a company in Germany. I noticed that as the lunch break starts, everyone says something to each other before going to the canteen, which sounds something like "Macht Zeit" ...
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3
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What does "beanspruchungsgerecht" mean?
This is the context:
Vorteile des Werkstoffs: Grauguß
Im Gießverfahren leicht formbar, deshalb kann man Gußgestelle ohne
Mehrkosten beanspruchungsgerecht gestalten
I understand that beanspruch can ...
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How do you translate German wordplay into English? [closed]
This is a somewhat generic issue, I suppose, in that it affects both English-to-German and German-to-English translation.
Today I came across what I thought was an example of good German wordplay:
...
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1
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Translate late 1800's postcard to English
I have a postcard from the family of my 3-times-great grandmother written in old German that was sent to some of their family that came to America.
The picture was taken in Hechingen, Germany. My 3-...
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2
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What is the appropriate usage of "Gemütlichkeit"?
"Gemütlichkeit" ist für die Deutschen ein positives Wort aber es gibt nicht nur eine Erklärung für das Wort, Alle haben eine individuelle Lösung.
Here are my questions about the term:
I'd translate ...
user508
12
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1
answer
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"Sie bleiben überhaupt gern unter sich."
What is the difference between the following two sentences?
Die Meiers bleiben sehr gern unter sich.
Die Meiers bleiben überhaupt sehr gern unter sich.
I know that both mean something like
The ...
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11
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2
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Can anyone translate the writing on the back of this postcard from 1936?
It is a postcard from 1936, with Hitler shaking hands with a lady with the military behind them.
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7
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Is there a non-regional German expression for the Swabian term "Gschmäckle"?
Is this term only well-known in Southern Germany or also in the deep North? Is there short alternatives for modern High German? Does anyone know a similar English short expression?
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What's the meaning of "Man weiß halt gefühlt nichts"?
I came across this sentence on twitter:
Man weiß halt gefühlt nichts.
I can't quite work out the meaning implied here, is it: One feels like he knows nothing, or One knows he feels nothing??
And I ...
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What is the meaning of "Das wärmste Jäckchen ist das Cognac-chen"?
I have heard this from my German friend. I know what it means in English but I don't understand the context in German. They said it's really hard to explain properly.
Is it bad? I hope not.
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How does "zuerst glühen wir vor" translate to "first, we'll have predrinks"?
I found the sentence
Zuerst glühen wir bei mir vor.
in Memrise. According to them, it translates to
First, we'll have predrinks at my place.
and the literal translation
First, glow we by me ...
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11
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4
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What does "die Augen aufschlugen" mean?
Native English speaker here, trying to learn more German by reading Harry Potter und der Stein der Weisen, and I came across this sentence:
Als Mr. und Mrs. Dursley an dem trüben und grauen ...
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How to translate "schön blöd" in English?
What does "schön blöd" mean?
Is it offending, but meant as a joke? Or does it mean someone is awfully stupid? In which situation would/could Germans use it?
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What does the verb 'wegpurzeln' mean? [context inside]
I am translating a Till Eulenspiegel story from German to English, and I came across the following sentence (source link):
"Im nächsten Augenblick lagen beide am Boden und rangen und schlugen ...
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When did pathetic and pathetisch divert in meaning?
It seems clear that the two words have the same origin, yet pathetic and pathetisch seem to have significantly different meanings (or don't they?).
Pathetic is very negative with synonyms like ...
11
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2
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What is the meaning of "Schlängelgang"?
What does "Schlängelgang" mean? I wasn't able to find it anywhere. This is from Fontane's Stine:
Ich verstehe mich ein bißchen auf das menschliche Herz; denn sieh, wer jahrelang auf dem Krankenbett ...
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3
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Cultural context for "Abendland" and "Rettung" in this song lyric
What does "das Abendland und seine Rettung" really mean in this context?
I'm listening to "Alice and Sarah" by The Broilers (fuill songtext on Genius). It is largely a song telling ...
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What does the author want to convey by ending his letter with »Tschüssikowsky«?
The article “Ich hab Urlaub - und Sie nicht” from Der Spiegel provides examples of Christmas out-of-office autoresponder email messages. One example, illustrating a potential ending to an email ...
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Does the phrase "hast du nicht gesehen" have any idiomatic meaning? [context inside]
I am translating a story about Till Eulenspiegel from German to English. The entire text can be found here, but I am interested in the following paragraph (from the first story about how he was ...
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What does »an der Hacke« mean?
The expression an der Hacke appears in the name of this article from Der Spiegel: “Schulz und die SPD. Richtig was an der Hacke”. It appears again in the following paragraph:
"Jetzt haben wir erst ...
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How to translate “Tanzverbot” to English?
How would you translate the German word Tanzverbot? More interestingly,
why can’t I find any (“official”) translation online, nor a Wikipedia article about the issue, even though (probably) Germany is ...
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3
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Origin and meaning of "Toten Hosen"?
There is a German music band called "Die Toten Hosen". Is it a metaphor or just a creation by this band with no deeper meaning?
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2
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What does "Spuren der kurzen Nacht" mean?
What does "Spuren der kurzen Nacht" mean?
Found here:
Rund um den Deutschen Steuerberatertag bringen wir Sie und Ihr Team
aber nicht nur fachlich und organisatorisch in Bestform – auch
...
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Translation of "gut x kilometer"
What's the English translation of "gut dreißig Kilometer"? As in:
Es befindet sich gut dreißig Kilometer außerhalb von London?
I'm not sure whether it's 'a good thirty kilometres' or 'some thirty ...
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