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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8 votes
2 answers
769 views

"Auskopplungen" in musical context

I'm translating a short Wikipedia article about a music band from German to English. I've done most of it with help from Google Translate and my virtually non-existent knowledge of German language, ...
0 votes
0 answers
20 views

Erlernen and Lernen [duplicate]

What is the difference between the nouns Lernen and Erlernen?
3 votes
1 answer
681 views

German word for "suspension" / "suspended harmony" (music theory)

I'm searching for a German word for suspension, referring to music theory. Suspension as in suspended harmony. From Wikipedia: A suspension (SUS) (sometimes referred to as a syncope) occurs when ...
7 votes
2 answers
131 views

Wie habe ich das nur gemacht?

So the question is in the title. Because my German is still very basic, and I only know that "nur" means "only", I was wondering if in this phrasing it acts something like a modal ...
7 votes
7 answers
4k views

Is there a German word for the exercise phenomenon "second wind"?

"Second wind" is an exercise phenomenon, where after hitting a wall, and getting the feeling you need to stop, you are able to rally your body, and find strength again to carry on at good ...
2 votes
2 answers
61 views

What does the phrase "auf die Nase setzen" mean in "Könnt' ich mir doch noch so einen Schurken auf die Nase setzen, wie den Pedrillo" in an Opera

This sentence is found in Mozart's Opera "Die Entführung aus dem Serail". Sample text link you can find this sentence at the first line. Könnt' ich mir doch noch so einen Schurken auf die ...
3 votes
3 answers
417 views

What is the meaning of "vor den Teufel" in this sentence "Mag ich vor den Teufel nicht" in an Opera?

I'm recently trying to understand the lyrics of the Opera "Die Entführung aus dem Serail" by Mozart. In Act 1, Osmin's Aria "Solche hergelaufne Laffen" (one example text and ...
2 votes
3 answers
119 views

What is the meaning of "Gift und Dolch" (in Mozart's Opera Die Entführung aus dem Serail)

Osmin, one of the characters in this Opera said this phrase multiple times. Gift und Dolch For example in here OSMIN Gift und Dolch! was ist das? wer kann ins Haus steigen? Another example in here: ...
11 votes
11 answers
9k views

Do German speakers who would otherwise use "Sie" ever use "du" out of anger?

I am translating a video game into German and I am sometimes unsure whether someone should be using "du" or "Sie." I have heard that "du" is normally used to indicate ...
4 votes
3 answers
188 views

Frage über eine Übersetzung von Celan: die/der/das Wache(n)?

Ich habe in der von Pierre Joris übersetzten Sammlung von Paul-Celan-Gedichten „Breathturn Into Timestead“ die folgende Zeile gelesen (Atemwende, S.12): Dein vom Wachen stößiger Traum. die als ...
3 votes
4 answers
161 views

"baking in the freezer" in Heinrich Böll

I recently read Heinrich Böll's =The Clown= (in English) and stumbled over a passage that appeared to be an inelegant translation. Our narrator is describing making props out of ice for an act in ...
1 vote
2 answers
110 views

"Sätze und satzwertige Infinitivphrasen können Gegenstand von Ausklammerung ins Nachfeld sein."-English translation

Here is a sentence taken from Die Grammatik von Duden: Sätze und satzwertige Infinitivphrasen können Gegenstand von Ausklammerung ins Nachfeld sein. I cannot quite make sense of the English ...
2 votes
5 answers
2k views

Is it possible to say Ändern des Namens?

I am proofreading a translation by someone who is a native German speaker, but who moved away from Germany at a young age. They have translated the phrase "Modify name" as "Ändern des ...
0 votes
1 answer
159 views

Can someone fill in some missing letters?

What I think this says: Friedrich Adel Ferdinand Torsten Graf Posadowsky-Wehner, Freiherr v. Postelwitz Kgl. Preuss Oberst und Kommandeur des (2 Oster.) Gren Rgt. 13 geb. am 12 Aug. 1864 u Rinkowken ...
7 votes
6 answers
4k views

A German equivalent for "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."

I know we get a lot of requests here for translations of idioms and expressions, and many times they don't exist. (Something I often point out myself.) But I thought this might deserve some discussion ...
0 votes
1 answer
116 views

Do Germans find the English phrase "it's giving [x]" confusing?

In German, there's a phrase "es gibt [x]" that is generally translated as "there is/are [x]" in English. (Or at least, that's what Duolingo has led me to believe.) Recently, I've ...
2 votes
1 answer
142 views

Use of "soll" in this headline: Trump-Verbündeter Jim Jordan soll Sprecher des Repräsentantenhauses werden

Here's a link to the full article. By this point I'm familiar with how newspaper articles often use "sollen" combined with the present perfect (i.e. haben/sein with a past participle) to ...
4 votes
2 answers
201 views

Bismarck/Caprivi cigars

I'm not quite sure to what extent this is a language question vs a history/culture question, but here goes... Can anyone explain what's going on in this discussion of cigars/politics? The humour ...
0 votes
3 answers
163 views

"Im Augenblick", but in the past

How would we use "Augenblick" to talk about something that happened extremely recently, but is over now? For instance, in English you can say "I really liked the discussion we had just ...
0 votes
1 answer
74 views

Ab Heute arbeite ich von München aus, is it correct [duplicate]

I like to say "From today I am working from Munich." Bit of context, we are remote company and we have more locations, I want to let my co workers know that from today I will be working from ...
0 votes
2 answers
80 views

Choked on a piece of pumpkin [closed]

Welcher Satz ist korrekt? Ich versuche, den englischen Satz „I choked on a piece of pumpkin again“ ins Deutsche zu übersetzen. Wieder habe ich mich an einem Stück Kürbis verschluckt. Wieder habe ich ...
1 vote
2 answers
169 views

Was ist ein Zeitkonto?

Ein Freund von mir hat einen Newsletter aus Österreich erhalten, der auf ein Jazzfestival in der Schweiz einlädt. Was bedeutet dieser Satz auf Hochdeutsch? Zusätzlich haben wir aber auch noch ein ...
1 vote
2 answers
125 views

„des Leidens herbe Schmach“ - Disgrace or Taste?

In Bach's St Matthew Passion there is an aria in which the lines „sein Mund, der mit Milch und Honig fließet, hat den Grund und des Leidens herbe Schmach durch den ersten Trunk versüßet“ are usually ...
2 votes
2 answers
325 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?
0 votes
6 answers
3k views

How can I explain "heimatdamisch"?

I was swapping YouTube videos with a friend, and I showed Die Heimatdamisch, Kids in Bavaria. Of course, I immediately "won" the "competition" (won one of my own beers). Q: How do ...
-2 votes
1 answer
178 views

Warum wird "Sieg Heil" mit "hail victory" ins Englische übersetzt? [closed]

Da "Heil" eine ganz andere Bedeutung als das englische "hail" (jubeln) hat, warum wird dieser Ausspruch allgemein so übersetzt? Ist es nicht einfach falsch? https://en.wiktionary....
4 votes
6 answers
458 views

Is the sentence "Er trifft seine Mitbewohner im Café jeden Tag" wrong ? Why?

On a German teaching website, the sentence Er trifft seine Mitbewohner im Café jeden Tag was marked wrong as the translation of He meets his roommates at the coffee shop every day. On the other hand, ...
1 vote
2 answers
81 views

zurückhalten von den Leiden der Welt

There is a question on another stackexchange site about the meaning of zurückhalten in this quote (an aphorism by Franz Kafka): Du kannst dich zurückhalten von den Leiden der Welt, das ist dir ...
5 votes
10 answers
3k views

What is the best way to say "a large number of [noun]" in German?

In my current project I want to translate the phrase "a large number of tents are set up." This is part of the text of a video game, specifically the narration. But looking at dict.cc, I see ...
1 vote
1 answer
111 views

Is it considered bad stylistically to end a German sentence with a clause without a verb?

In my current translation project I have several sentences which end with a clause without a verb. I would like to do this in the corresponding German as a way to be concise and avoid putting too many ...
1 vote
1 answer
70 views

Difference between gänzlich and unbedingt?

Like the title says: are these synonyms? I got totally as the translation of gänzlich, and absolutely, definitely for unbedingt. Although, maybe I am using totally too "valleygirlishly"? And ...
2 votes
3 answers
1k views

When is it stylistically appropriate to use the Passive Voice in German?

I have been told that using the passive voice is generally considered bad style in German, possibly even more so than in English. Because of this, when I find English phrases in the passive voice in ...
0 votes
4 answers
128 views

How to say "a man needs..." referring to what people in general need?

In my current translation project I have a line as follows: Sorry, sirrah, but a man needs something to buy food with. This is said by a beggar and thief who is apologizing for robbing the hero, ...
2 votes
2 answers
113 views

How can I say "lying in a heap" in German?

In my current translation project I have the phrase "there appears to be something lying in a heap," referring to a rope ladder which is sitting on the ground at a certain point in an ...
0 votes
1 answer
65 views

How can I say "I'll show you [adjective]" in German?

In English there is an idiom "I'll show you X," for example: A: I think you're crazy. B: Crazy? I'll show you crazy! By this B means that he will give a demonstration of how crazy he is, ...
6 votes
1 answer
703 views

Is it proper grammar to use a single adjective to refer to two nouns of different genders?

If I have two nouns, one feminine and one neuter, can I describe them with the same adjective, inflected to fit with the first of the two? In my current translation project I have this clause: The ...
2 votes
2 answers
226 views

How do I translate "take them down with me" into German?

In English there is an expression: to "take someone down with you." For example if a gangster is fleeing from the police and is expecting a shootout, he might say, I'm taking two of them ...
3 votes
2 answers
204 views

for singular nouns which refer to groups of people, should the corresponding verbs and pronouns in a following sentence be singular or plural?

In my current translation project I have a few lines where I would use a singular noun to refer to a group of people. For example, But be careful around the Fair Folk. They can be fickle, and you do ...
3 votes
2 answers
175 views

How can I translate the English phrase "you need all the X you can get" into German

In English, there is a common expression: to "need all the [noun] you can get," which implies that someone is in a bad situation. For example: But I lost another $10,000, and now the bank ...
4 votes
2 answers
944 views

What is the meaning of "Da ist Liebe"?

I saw someone get a tattoo saying Da ist Liebe. But when I did a Google search, there were no results as to what it means. I know that "ist Liebe" translates as "is love" – but ...
3 votes
2 answers
549 views

When to use the present participle (-nd) in German vs gerund (-ing) in English

I am translating a video game into German and I have many lines which in English use the gerund (-ing form) of a verb. If I understand correctly, in German the present participle (-nd form of a verb) ...
8 votes
4 answers
1k views

Übersetzung für “badger cull”

Der “badger cull” oder auch “- culling” beschreibt die systematische Jagd auf Dachse, um deren Population drastisch zu minimieren (siehe Link für weitere Details). Ich habe allerdings Schwierigkeiten, ...
0 votes
3 answers
103 views

How to translate a sentence that contains is/are being +pp [closed]

Ich lerne Deutsch und meine aktuelles Kenntnisniveau ist B1. Ich möchte bitte wissen, wie man kann die folgenden Sätze übersetzt. Ukrain is being fought against by the Russian soldiers.
2 votes
1 answer
163 views

What is this German nickname?

I am looking for someone to help me translate an old term we used to lovingly call my great-grandfather whose parents emigrated from Austria. When I was a child, I only knew him as Great-Grandpa ...
12 votes
3 answers
2k views

Why do translations of German books read so differently from other books?

I'm unsure whether my question is on-topic here, but it's about the German language, so I've decided to try. I am an undergraduate student from Japan who learns foreign languages and loves reading ...
8 votes
6 answers
433 views

Transkription russischer Namen. Für Чебышёв, welche Norm sollte benutzt werden?

Ich bin dabei ein mathematisches Werk zu verfassen, in dem der Mathematiker Pafnuty Tschebyschov (russ. Чебышёв) zitiert wird. Nun ist mir nicht klar (und auch unserem Lektorat nicht) wie man diesen ...
3 votes
2 answers
126 views

Ka-Binen Sänger - Joke?

Is anyone able to explain the punchline in this anecdote for me please? Ein Bassist war einmal gemeinsam mit M. in Ostende, und beide benutzten zum Baden eine gemeinsame Kabine. In dieser Kabine ...
1 vote
2 answers
197 views

How to translate "ernsten Oper" in Nietzsche

— Sehr verschieden steht es mit der ernsten Oper: 'Serious opera' or 'dramatic opera'? Or opera seria? Or 'tragic opera'? He mentions Rossini, whose operas date from the early 19th century. Here ...
0 votes
1 answer
57 views

Der/die/das as pronoun?

And was it easier for those from the Indian School? (Attempted translation: Und war es einfacher fuer die aus der Indische Schule? This is the translation which came to me. Is it correct? If so, how ...
1 vote
1 answer
112 views

„Ein bisschen Kleber und das wird schon“

I am told that this translates as, “A little glue and it’ll be fine.” I know „schon“ can function both as an adverb meaning “already” and as a modal particle meaning “indeed” in the context of ...

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