Fun with German hobbits!
Apr. 4th, 2004 02:50 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
annathepiperI just translated my way through the first paragraph of Der kleine Hobbit, and am pleased; I managed to figure out most of it with the help of my dictionary and my verb book, and even figured out the expression 'nach etwas riechen', which is 'to smell of something', though it was rendered in past tense in the text. The most interesting part of this exercise was seeing that the translator had put in a few extra words that aren't in the English... sort of rewriting the text in his or her own words, while keeping what seems to me a fair rendition of Tolkien's voice. For comparison purposes:
Original English: In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit. Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole, filled with the ends of worms and an oozy smell, nor yet a dry, bare, sandy hole with nothing in it to sit down on or to eat: it was a hobbit-hole, and that means comfort.
German: In einer Höhle in der Erde, da lebte ein Hobbit. Nicht in einem scmutzigen, nassen Loch, in das die Enden von irgendwelchen Würmen herabbaumelten und das nach Schlamm und Moder roch. Auch nicht etwa in einer trockenen Kieshöhle, die so kahl war, dass man sich nicht einmal niedersetzen oder gemütlich frühstücken konnte. Es war ein Hobbithöhle, und das bedeutet Behaglichkeit.
Translated English, as near as I can tell: In a cave in the ground, there lived a hobbit. Not in a dirty, wet hole, in which the ends of any worms dangled down and which smelled of mud and mold. Also not in a dry gravel-hole, that was so bare, that one could not even sit down or have breakfast. It was a hobbit cave, and that means comfort.
I expect this is going to take me a while, because the translation will be slow going, and so will reading the text out loud to try to remind myself of how to pronounce things as well as to try to make the words stick in my head. But it's going to be fun!
Original English: In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit. Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole, filled with the ends of worms and an oozy smell, nor yet a dry, bare, sandy hole with nothing in it to sit down on or to eat: it was a hobbit-hole, and that means comfort.
German: In einer Höhle in der Erde, da lebte ein Hobbit. Nicht in einem scmutzigen, nassen Loch, in das die Enden von irgendwelchen Würmen herabbaumelten und das nach Schlamm und Moder roch. Auch nicht etwa in einer trockenen Kieshöhle, die so kahl war, dass man sich nicht einmal niedersetzen oder gemütlich frühstücken konnte. Es war ein Hobbithöhle, und das bedeutet Behaglichkeit.
Translated English, as near as I can tell: In a cave in the ground, there lived a hobbit. Not in a dirty, wet hole, in which the ends of any worms dangled down and which smelled of mud and mold. Also not in a dry gravel-hole, that was so bare, that one could not even sit down or have breakfast. It was a hobbit cave, and that means comfort.
I expect this is going to take me a while, because the translation will be slow going, and so will reading the text out loud to try to remind myself of how to pronounce things as well as to try to make the words stick in my head. But it's going to be fun!
no subject
Date: 2004-04-04 05:46 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-04-04 08:59 pm (UTC)Ich muss Deutsch sprechen, Deutsch /zu/ lernen. :)
Not to nitpick. :) Just to help. :)
no subject
Date: 2004-04-04 09:05 pm (UTC)