German translation

Lukus

Lukus

Testament to the ghoul lifespan
Orderite
Anyone know any program thingie that can translate this for me, or could mayhap anyone of the germans here do it? It's this song I'm singing at school, and I've got as homework to find out what the lyrics mean so I can.. er.. feel for it more. It's 'Die Mainacht' by Johannes Brahms.

Wann der sil berne Mond
durch die Geusträuche blinkt
und sein schlummerndes Licht
ü berden Rasen streut

Und die nachtigall flötet
wand'l ich trau rig von Busch
zu Busch

Über hül let vom Laub
gi ret ein taubenpaar
sein Entzük ken mir vor
aber ich wen de mich
suche dunklere
Schatten

Unt die einsame träne rinnt

Wann o lächelndes Bild
welches wie Morgen rot
durch die Seele mir strahlt,
find ich auf Erden dich

Und die einsame Träne bebt
mir heisser
heiser die wang her ab.
 
Don't know of any, but be careful with program thingies, least your poem/song finishes looking like " all your base are belong to us "
 
Here you are!

When sil the berne moon
by the Geustraeuche flashes
and its schlummerndes light
ue berden lawns strews

And the nightingale floetet
wand'l I trust rig from shrubs
to shrubs

Over huel let from leaves
gi a pair of deaf ret
its Entzuek ken me forwards
but I whom de me
look for darker
Shade

Unt the lonely waters runs

When o smiling picture
which like mornings red
by the soul me radiates,
find I on ground connection you

And the lonely tear trembles
me hotter
hoarse wang ago off.

Hehe, babelfish is always funny...
 
Luke said:
Wann der sil berne Mond
durch die Geusträuche blinkt
und sein schlummerndes Licht
ü berden Rasen streut

Und die nachtigall flötet
wand'l ich trau rig von Busch
zu Busch

Über hül let vom Laub
gi ret ein taubenpaar
sein Entzük ken mir vor
aber ich wen de mich
suche dunklere
Schatten

Unt die einsame träne rinnt

Wann o lächelndes Bild
welches wie Morgen rot
durch die Seele mir strahlt,
find ich auf Erden dich

Und die einsame Träne bebt
mir heisser
heiser die wang her ab.
Click to expand...


Ok I'll give it a try

When the silver moon
blinks trough the bushes (it is not exactly the word)
and his slumbering light
is spread over the yard

And the nightingale makes noises (couldn't come up with the word, maybe whistles)
I am walking sad from bush
to bush

Covered with leaves
"giret" (hm old word.. beeing greedy for something) a pair of pigeons
their excitement for me (weird?)
but I turn myself
search darker
shadows

And a lonely tear rins

when oh smiling picture (maybe drawing)
which like morning red
shines through my soul
will I find you on earth

And the lonely tear shakes (it's not shake but something like that)
me hotter
hotter down the cheek


----
that should be it.... it sounds a lot better in the german version though...
any questions?

ok ok lots of spelling mistakes... but hey
 
To be honest: I like Myrrdin's translation a lot more than John Volition's. :lol:

Myrrdin said:
When o smiling picture
which like mornings red
by the soul me radiates,
find I on ground connection you
Click to expand...

Gertrude Stein, my friend, couldn't have said it any better! You deserve... a Nobel Prize for contemporary poetry! :clap:
 
Paladin Solo said:
Here you go
Click to expand...

Dude, when you actually ask this translator thingie to translate the German text to English, you get something like this:

When the sil berne moon blinks through the Geusträuche and scatters its schlummerndes light ü berden lawn

And the nightingale pipes trust jutted wall' l I from shrub to shrub

Over hül let of the foliage gi ret a deaf couple its Entzük ken before however I whom de me would seek me
darker shadows

Unt the solitary tear races

When o radiates me smiling picture of which like morning red through the soul, I find you on earths

And the solitary tear quakes me be named hoarsely the wang here off.
Click to expand...

:crazy:

Do you have any idea what that means? It means contemporary poetry can actually be written by a stupid computerprogram! Hm... this could save me lots of time when I feel like publishing a new volume of verse. Thanks! :roll:
 
Wow Paladin Solo, that thing ROCKS!
Waarom ja zou genieten ik van een goede afstraffen met mijn ochtendonkruid. Bedankt!
Zou en u zetten op de habbit van een non bedenken en roepend u zelf "Anna Comnena" terwijl ik het smeermiddel toepas?
:lol:
How accurate are the translations?
Interesting language. I like the simplification (you-u). Now Frisan is closest to English..which is second closest, Dutch, Franksih...?
 
ConstinpatedCraprunner said:
Wow Paladin Solo, that thing ROCKS!
Waarom ja zou genieten ik van een goede afstraffen met mijn ochtendonkruid. Bedankt!
Zou en u zetten op de habbit van een non bedenken en roepend u zelf "Anna Comnena" terwijl ik het smeermiddel toepas?
:lol:
How accurate are the translations?
Click to expand...

Well, if you were saying something in the region of: Yeah, why should I enjoy a good punishment with my morningweed. Thanks! Why should you put yourself on a nun's habit, thinking and screaming to yourself "Anna Comnena" while I apply the lubricant?

:roll: But that's not really what you were saying, eh? :lol:

Now Frisan is closest to English..which is second closest, Dutch, Franksih...?
Click to expand...

I haven't got the slightest idea what you mean with Franksih (French?), but it's as follows:

Frisian is indeed closest to English, but all Germanic languages show lots and lots of close similarities. Dutch is pretty close to English as well, but some dialects (like Flemish, the Dutch dialect spoken in the Flanders) are even closer. German is also a Germanic language, thus you'll find similarities in that language as well. Basically (although this is quite simplified), the closer to the North Sea you get (from the continent), the closer the Germanic languages will be to English (it's a migration thing, actually). You shouldn't forget about the Scandinavic languages, though, since they are Germanic as well (again: lots of similarities).

French (Franksih?) isn't a Germanic language at all. It's a Romanic language, meaning it is more closely related to Latin, Spanish and so on.

The fact that English contains so much French words, should have been taught to you in history class. Flemish (which is only a dialect, mind you) also contains lots and lots of more or less French words and expressions. This is the result of French rulership, influence, power, culture and so on.

Pffffffffff.

Oh, and one last detail: 'you' is not really the same thing as 'u'. The English 'you' should be translated in Dutch with 'je' or 'jij'. 'U' is a very polite form of address, it's very formal, you use it when you talk to someone you don't know very well or someone who is much more important than you yourself are. 'U' is actually a lot closer to the old English 'thou', although 'thou' could also be translated with the Dutch 'gij', which can only be found in old Dutch Bible translations and in some Dutch dialects (East-Flemish, Brabants (sorry, don't know the right translation of 'Brabants', and so on).
 
Not to turn this into some kind of linguist languish, but from the beginning, 'thou' was actually *less* polite than 'you' if I remember my linguistic classes correctly. Note for example Shakespeare's usage of 'thou', it's used (albeit inconsistently) when friends or lovers talk with each other while 'you' is used in more official capacities. :freak:

*Puts on besserwisser cap*
 
Thanks for the help, fellows, now i've got a pretty good picture of what it's about. Didn't know it was all that gloomy.

I'm telling ya, this is the best song ever (the music, though I'm wagering the lyrics are really colorful in german as well).
 
Myrrdin said:
Not to turn this into some kind of linguist languish, but from the beginning, 'thou' was actually *less* polite than 'you' if I remember my linguistic classes correctly. Note for example Shakespeare's usage of 'thou', it's used (albeit inconsistently) when friends or lovers talk with each other while 'you' is used in more official capacities.
Click to expand...


Well, you're right, Myrrdin. I checked some books about the subject and apparently you are right. On the Internet I found this (forgot to copy the url, alas!):

All the sources I have seen, including Leith, who gives a very
good account, agree on the main conclusions. English-speakers began
to use `you' as a respectful singular in the 13th century, probably
under French influence. Except in conditions of intimacy, `you'
quickly became established as the ordinary way for an upper-class
speaker to address an equal, as well as a superior, and by the 16th
century `thou' was all but non-existent in upper-class speech, except
in addressing obvious inferiors. Naturally, this usage began to be
copied by the middle class, and by the 16th century `thou' was
likewise rare in middle-class speech, except in addressing obvious
inferiors. But `thou' lingered long among working-class people,
especially in rural areas, and it still survives today in parts of the
north of England, where it has reportedly become something of a badge
of solidarity.
Click to expand...

There was a semantic shift around 1650, I read somewhere else, and so NOW 'thou' is an old-fashioned, poetic or religious word for 'you'. And 'thou/thee' in Dutch means 'gij/u'. 'You/ye' in Dutch becomes 'jij/je'.

Then, of course, I found out that this semantic shift kind of happened in Dutch as well! Ha! Really: the second person used to be addressed as 'du', and 'jij/gij' was the plural. 'Du' disappeared and 'jij' became the second person singular. 'Gij' became the old-fashioned, poetic, religious word for 'jij'.

BUT... my point still stands, Myrrdin: YOU SHOULD NOT TRANSLATE 'YOU' INTO THE DUTCH 'U'. Maybe you could have done that in the 13th century, but hey: this the 21st century! (No, really, it is.) :wink:
 
http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=FRK

This says it is dead, but I have read otherwhere that it was still spoken by a bout a thousand people. I was thinking that because it would combine so much French, like English, that it would be similar, but apparently the Belgians and the Frisan already have that, something I forgot.

The Scandanavian languages are actually very close to certain Northern England dialects if you listen. I was in Birmingham for a year, half the palce names are in goddamn Swedish.
 
BUT... my point still stands, Myrrdin: YOU SHOULD NOT TRANSLATE 'YOU' INTO THE DUTCH 'U'
Click to expand...
You should when it's needed. There is no difference between 'U' en 'jij' in English. There's only you. And since it's not really good to completely ignore 'U', you'll have to rely on your own judgement.

PS: WHat happens when two countries with the same language split up? You get one counry with an older version of the language, and one country with a newer version.
Belgian v. The Netherlands.
Flemish is really quite interesting, since it's basically old Dutch(Lots of 'Gij' en 'U').
 
Sounds quite diffirent, even to me. Though most of my expiriance is from Eco's Island of the Day Before, which is mostly set on a Wallon Ship (I dont want to say Belgian, not sure if that is right).

EDIT: Flemish?
 
Sounds quite diffirent, even to me. Though most of my expiriance is from Eco's Island of the Day Before, which is mostly set on a Wallon Ship (I dont want to say Belgian, not sure if that is right).

EDIT: Flemish?
Click to expand...
Flemish is simply Belgian Dutch. It's just a dialect, and it's spoken in the northern part of Belgium. The southern part is Wallonia, and they speak French there.

If you're talking about Flemish and Dutch sounding quite different, you're right. The accents of the Flemish and the Dutch are completely different, and due to some rather subtle differences in word-choice they can sound completely different.
 
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