If you create a blog for an international film festival, you also want a lot of people from all over the world to understand what you write about the movies, the events and the artists. German, even if it is the biggest language in the European Union by the number of mother tongue speakers, can only reach a limited amount of world\u2019s population. \u00a0By now English has become the Lingua franca in international business, so that normally every text only needs to be translated into one language. That makes a lot of things easier.<\/p>\n
At the same time you should never underestimate the vagaries of translating, because very easily you can get into unexpected troubles. For example a friend of mine was asked not to long ago in Sweden, if he knew the Swedish national anthem: \u201cJa, jag vill leva, jag vill d\u00f6 i norden…\u201d (Yes, I want to live, I want to die in the north…). For sure he learned this sentence before he went on the journey and so he said yes and said: \u201cJag vill leva, jag vill d\u00f6da h\u00e4r i norden…\u201d which sounds quite similar, but unfortunately it meant something rather different: I want to live, I want to kill here in the north. Later he told me, he didn\u2019t succeed in making any friends during his trip.<\/p>\n
Worse, it seems somehow, is the situation in Denmark<\/a> though, where even Danes among each other hardly manage to communicate. But here we didn\u2019t want to talk about translations from German to Swedish or from Danish to Danish, but about transferring German texts into English. Also this can be quite difficult: So, what do you do, if it makes total sense to a German if an acrobat makes a double screw in the air? A double twist sounds rather unfamiliar for the German ear. Also the \u201cplayjoy\u201d of an actress who enjoys being on stage might be misleading. Some Germans would even ask the Dear Mr. Singingclub for some help.<\/p>\n And the other way around? How do you translate for example \u2018queer\u2019 into German? Do you use the German word for dizzy? Or even \u201cto be spoiled\u201d? Unexpected associations might appear in the reader\u2019s mind. And what about \u201cstraight\u201c? Maybe you could use the German word for \u201ceven\u201c or \u201csmooth\u201c? But also that could be misleading. Or, as a friend of mine suggested: \u201cJust write boring! It\u2019s the same anyways.\u201c Well, a German would say that she just wanted to take someone on her arm\u00a0\u2013 instead of pulling a leg \u2013, but on our blog this would be rather politically incorrect \u2013 then I wouldn\u2019t be allowed to write anymore and all that would be left for me to say, would be: There we have the salad. So, I guess, I will simply stay lost in translation with my oversittings.<\/p>\n Up to now almost, If you create a blog for an international film festival, you also want a lot of people from all over the world to understand what you write about the movies, the events and the artists. German, even if it is the biggest language in the European Union by the number of mother tongue speakers, can … Continue reading Oversittings<\/span>
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