Questions tagged [translation]

Übersetzung - Questions on issues while translating from or to German. Use with care as these questions are very likely to be closed as a translation request, which would be off topic. Don't use this tag on phrase requests or proverb analogies.

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6 answers
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How can I translate the adverb "doch" in sentences?

What is the difference between "Dann mach doch das Fenster zu" and "Dann mach das Fenster zu"? Further examples: Ich fahre doch nur 90. Sieh doch im Korb nach.
Mill's user avatar
  • 293
30 votes
2 answers
20k views

Difference between "Es sind" and "Es gibt" for asserting existence of something

In English we say There are... and I know that I've seen es gibt used in German. I've also seen es sind. Are these phrases identical? There are many flowers in the garden = Es gibt viele Blumen im ...
kokirii's user avatar
  • 1,889
11 votes
3 answers
1k views

"zum Zahnarzt" or "zur Zahnärztin" for female dentist?

I'm going to see the dentist today. If the dentist is female, should I say (a) Ich gehe heute zur Zahnärztin. or (b) Ich gehe heute zum Zahnarzt. I think (a) should be the correct version, ...
boaten's user avatar
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11 votes
3 answers
1k views

"irgendwo hinfliegen" oder "irgendwohin fliegen"

I think he will fly somewhere next week, but I can't remember where. Wie übersetzt man das ins Deutsche? (a) Ich glaube, er wird nächste Woche irgendwo hinfliegen, aber ich kann mich nicht ...
boaten's user avatar
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9 votes
8 answers
27k views

Is there any other way to say "I don't care" in German

Is there any other phrase to express "Das ist mir egal" (I don't care) in German?
idioten's user avatar
  • 99
14 votes
3 answers
10k views

How to differentiate Sie (they) or Sie (you)?

Sie haben meine Brieftasche. This sentence has 2 different meanings - They have my wallet. or You have my wallet. How can I know which is intended?
mihirjoshi's user avatar
11 votes
4 answers
3k views

"Es hat": synonym for "es gibt"?

A teacher, I once had (native German), said there are three translations for English "there is/are": es ist (ein Auto auf der Strasse) es gibt (ein Auto auf der Strasse) es hat (ein Auto auf der ...
Matt Fenwick's user avatar
  • 2,318
5 votes
2 answers
346 views

Hinkommen - Sprachgebrauch

Ich habe oftmals wie kommt man da hin? gehört. Darf man da durch einen bestimmen Ort (in Verbindung mit irgendeiner passenden Präposition) ersetzen? Es ist mir auch aufgefallen, dass die wie kommt ...
neutronhammer's user avatar
29 votes
5 answers
35k views

Difference between Erfahrung and Erlebnis?

They both translate into "experience" in English.
Sean's user avatar
  • 547
20 votes
5 answers
870 views

German translation of "case sensitive"

As a translation of case sensitive dict.cc offered Groß- / Kleinschreibung-unterscheidend schreibungsabhängig, and Groß- / Kleinschreibung (beachten)! None of these are as elegant as the English ...
serv-inc's user avatar
  • 307
14 votes
4 answers
13k views

What should I reply for "Sorry" / "Entschuldigung"?

This question also has an answer here (in German): Erwiderung auf eine Entschuldigung? To make it more clear: I am not asking how I should apologize, but how to respond to an apology. I have heard ...
Vini's user avatar
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11 votes
5 answers
20k views

What should be correct translation for “it’s me”?

As far as my little German goes, translation for this should be: Es ist ich. But here it says: Ich bin’s. Is my translation correct?
mihirjoshi's user avatar
11 votes
2 answers
4k views

What is the particle “irgend” used for, or what concept/sentiment does it convey?

I wonder what irgend means? I’ve seen so many words with it as a prefix, like irgendein, irgendwas and irgendwo. What do they have in common that irgend expresses? The explanations in the Duden ...
Zach's user avatar
  • 509
10 votes
4 answers
4k views

How to translate "to make no sense"?

How would you say "to make no sense" in German? I've seen uses with machen and haben: Das macht keinen Sinn. Es hat keinen Sinn, mit Ihnen zu streiten.
Luis Sep's user avatar
  • 950
4 votes
6 answers
1k views

Does German have Third Person Gender Neutral Pronoun?

Does German have a gender neutral third person pronoun? In English, there is he/she. However, English does not have a Gender neutral/apathetic pronoun, where a person can be referred to without any ...
mattsmith5's user avatar
35 votes
9 answers
93k views

How would you say, "I speak a little bit German"?

I put this into Google Translate, and it came up with, Ich spreche ein wenig Deutsch. Is this correct? I doubt so. When I look up wenig I find that it's an adjective, not an adverb, and obviously ...
ktm5124's user avatar
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27 votes
5 answers
38k 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 ...
Tim's user avatar
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25 votes
5 answers
53k 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 "...
Johannes Schaub - litb's user avatar
25 votes
12 answers
4k views

Was ist eine angemessene Übersetzung für "shitstorm"?

Was ist eine angemessene Übersetzung für "shitstorm"? Gibt es dafür ein deutsches Wort?
swegi's user avatar
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21 votes
7 answers
5k views

How bad does it sound in German *not* to separate separable verbs?

More to get a feeling of the severity of this error, how bad does it sound when someone makes the mistake of not separating a separable verb? For example: "Ich bereite mich auf eine Prüfung vor.&...
user1284631's user avatar
16 votes
5 answers
5k 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.
bernd_k's user avatar
  • 7,553
14 votes
3 answers
267 views

Gibt es eine Übersetzung von "blackboard bold"?

Wie nennt man Buchstaben mit Doppelstrichen, wie sie in der Mathematik für die verschiedenen Grundmengen (natürliche Zahlen, reelle Zahlen usw.) verwendet werden? In der englischen Sprache gibt es die ...
Florian's user avatar
  • 241
13 votes
6 answers
38k views

“High school” in German?

I’m trying to translate the term high school into German. However this is proving to be difficult since the school systems in the U.S. are different from Germany. Using Dict.cc and Linguee, I’ve ...
Ilei's user avatar
  • 147
13 votes
7 answers
127k views

What is the accurate translation of "Best Regards" to finish a letter?

To finish up a letter addressed to a client, I use Best Regards, followed by my signature. I've looked around for a direct translation, and came up with: ┌────────────────────────────────┬───────────...
Zuul's user avatar
  • 447
12 votes
2 answers
7k views

How does the crew address the captain in "Das Boot"?

In the movie Das Boot, the crew address the captain with a word I don't understand. I think it may be "Kaleun", which I assume is short for "Kapitan Leutnant". Am I right? Is that a real word?
Matt Fenwick's user avatar
  • 2,318
11 votes
4 answers
1k 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 ...
Takkat's user avatar
  • 70.1k
10 votes
3 answers
466 views

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 ...
neetso's user avatar
  • 197
9 votes
10 answers
3k views

Translation of "I couldn't care less"

What would be the closest translation to the sentence "I couldn't care less." It is similar in meaning to Es ist mir egal. (It doesn't matter to me) but I think it's not quite the same. ...
Mika H.'s user avatar
  • 4,377
8 votes
1 answer
2k views

German word for "thesis reviewer" and "thesis examiner"

Maybe this is something specific to the French doctorate, but a thesis committee is made of different types of members: An advisor (directeur) is a person that supervised the doctoral work. They ...
scozy's user avatar
  • 215
6 votes
4 answers
1k views

Double genitive in German (including a proper name)

The following sentence contains a double genitive construction including one proper name: This is the score of Chopin's first piano concerto. How can I express this in German? Is it ok to write ...
user avatar
6 votes
2 answers
4k views

German Pangrams

Do you know any German pangrams that use special characters like ö, ä etc? If possible, with their english translation and transliteration in ASCII characters.
5 votes
5 answers
847 views

How to translate "aber" in a negative question?

Deine Schwester wohnt aber nicht in Kiel, oder? I would suggest that it means "Your sister doesn't live in Kiel, right?". But the aber is a real pain. I looked everywhere on the Internet and nothing ...
Lora85's user avatar
  • 139
5 votes
2 answers
2k views

What do these words mean as German language knowledge level?

Can you please help me to know what these words mean exactly as German proficiency level: Foreign language A1, A2, B1, B2, C1, C2? Because while I’m looking for any job vacancy I see these words and ...
Programing - Love's user avatar
3 votes
1 answer
3k views

why is here "Namen" instead of "Name" [closed]

99 Prozent der Anwälte geben dem Rest einen schlechten Namen. 99 percent of lawyers give the rest a bad name. Edit: Shouldn't it be "einen schlechten Name", if this is accusative. Why is -n added?
zud's user avatar
  • 1,019
3 votes
2 answers
172 views

Slawische Aspekte: Perfektiv (dok. сов.,...) und Imperfektiv (niedok, несов.,...)

Im slawischen Sprachraum unterscheidet man zwei Verbaspekte: Perfektiv und Imperfektiv. Sie entsprechen einer vollendeten und unvollendeten Version derselben Tätigkeit: Perfektiv Ich habe einen ...
c.p.'s user avatar
  • 30.6k
3 votes
3 answers
1k views

Translation of "It could have worked"

You suggested an idea to your boss to solve a problem that your team was facing. Your boss ignored your idea, and instead implemented her own idea. It failed. You would like to say to your friend that ...
boaten's user avatar
  • 14.6k
0 votes
2 answers
208 views

Understanding an old handwritten document from 1850

I have some documents written in German. I can barely make out some of the words. May be someone could read or understand what kind of document this is?
Аня Крамер's user avatar
31 votes
3 answers
3k 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 ...
Alexander Rühl's user avatar
28 votes
5 answers
7k views

German equivalents to the prefix "re"?

I was working with a translator and asked her to translate "Resend code", she gave me the translation of Code erneut senden I thought that was really long. I typed in "resend" into google translate ...
JGallardo's user avatar
  • 1,768
26 votes
6 answers
6k 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 ...
Tom Au's user avatar
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20 votes
2 answers
3k views

"Mir war nicht danach."

I happen to know that Mir war nicht danach. ... translates to I didn't feel like it. ... but I would have never been able to figure it out on my own. Is it short for something?
kjo's user avatar
  • 3,485
19 votes
2 answers
2k 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?
Takkat's user avatar
  • 70.1k
18 votes
6 answers
42k views

Is there any difference between “aber” und “sondern” (as “Konnektoren”)?

I’m trying to study and understand how to use aber und sondern (as “Konnektoren”). In my language (Italian) there is no difference in translation; both mean something like but. I can say for example: ...
E.V.'s user avatar
  • 4,807
18 votes
4 answers
30k views

What is the best way to say “gentle reminder” in German?

I need to use this phrase in formal correspondence with a business customer but don’t seem to be able to find enough verifiable sources on the internet with an appropriate German equivalent. ...
Kit's user avatar
  • 281
18 votes
4 answers
2k 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 ...
bernd_k's user avatar
  • 7,553
17 votes
6 answers
3k views

What is "das Schulabschlusszeugnis" in this context?

I am trying to understand the meaning of the following: Das originalsprachige Schulabschlusszeugnis, das den Hochschulzugang eröffnet My initial "translation" for this phrase intended only ...
Sriotchilism O'Zaic's user avatar
16 votes
9 answers
22k 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 ...
Ben Weiss's user avatar
  • 813
16 votes
5 answers
13k views

Wo liegt der Unterschied zwischen "nun" und "jetzt"?

Diese Frage wurde auch hier (auf Englisch) beantwortet: What is the difference between "nun" and "jetzt"? Ich übersetzte die beiden als "now", aber ich vermute, dass es ...
Calogero's user avatar
  • 693
15 votes
9 answers
4k 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?
Phira's user avatar
  • 13.6k
14 votes
3 answers
8k 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 ...
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