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Für deutsche Fans!!! roxette-translations.de.vu
21 replies
bbrox said on January 9, 2003 00:04:
Es gibt zum ersten mal eine Webseite, mit allen Roxette Songs in deutscher Sprache. Ich habe sie alle selber in den Jahren 1995 bis heute übersetzt. Ein Großteil der Songs ist bereits online!
Schaut doch mal vorbei, und gebt eure Meinung im Gästebuch wieder!!!
Hier der Link: http://www.roxette-translations.de.vu !!!!!
Th_Th said on January 9, 2003 10:26:
(Bitte verstehe mich nun nicht falsch, aber ich muss sagen, bei dem lesen, viele deiner Übersetzungen, läuft mir doch ein leichter Schauer über den Rücken. Weil deine Übersetzungen teilweise die Bedeutung gewisser Lieder sehr ändern!)
Soul deep – In tiefster Seele. You have got the wrong meaning of the Word Soul here. Isn’t it quite obvious, that the meaning of Soul in this song is in relation the Soul of music... You changed Soul deep, into: “In deepest Spirit”.
Surrender – Ausgeliefert A much more fitting word would have been: Ergebung. Otherwise, the song doesn’t really makes sense.
The Look - Sie sieht so gut aus How did you get “She looks so fine, from The Look? The Look translated in German is Das Aussehen
Sleeping Single - Alleine Schlafen. I am sorry, the translation is not: Sleeping alone it is: (Schlafende(r) Single)
Spending my time – Meine Zeit vergeuden. Translating your German Title into English, the Song would be called: Wasting my time.
Never is a long time – Es ist nie eine lange Zeit. Your Title translated into English would be, it is never a long time. A correct translation would have been, Niemals ist eine Lange Zeit.
You can´t put your hands around what´s already gone - Du kannst nicht das Gleiche noch mal tun, was bereits geschehen ist
Your translation would be: You can’t do the same things again, that already happened....
I was so lucky - Ich war so glücklich. If the English Title would be: I was so happy, than your Translation would have been correct...
Bringing me down to my knees - Aus meinen Träumen gerissen. That must be my favourite!!! How did you get: Pulled out of my dreams” from Bringing me down to my knees? Would the original not be something like: Auf die Knie gezwungen?
I don’t even want to go into more details about the Room Service Titles... urgh...
And I don’t want to get started on the Song Contents...
Folks, if you only learned English in School, you will never be able to understand certain meanings in the English language. I am sorry, you have changed the meaning of many songs completely, I had a good laugh though... it was quite funny really! If I would need to give you a “Note” like they do in School, 6 being the Worst in Germany and 1 being the Best, I would have to give you a 4- I am sorry, but that’s the way it is...
Still, I can see, you have put a lot of effort into your site... well done on the site itself.... but the rest... urgh...
pardek said on January 9, 2003 15:50:
ich finds echt cool was du gemacht hast, macht spass das zu lesen, ist wirklich interessant...aber leider muss ich Th_Th recht geben, vieles ist nicht so ganz richtig.
“Hör auf dein Herz, wenn es nach dir ruft!” Versteh hier z.B. nicht wie du auf “es” kommst, heart ist im Englischen etwas sächliches, also = it; soweit ich mich aber erinnern kann heißt es in dem lied “when HE’s calling for you”. naja, egal, trotzdem echt ne nette seite ;-)
pietROxette said on January 9, 2003 15:54:
It’d be awesome if you continued this discussion in the “International” section of SmallTalk, as most TDR readers don’t speak German. Thank you.
StillFar said on January 9, 2003 17:01:
bbrox...cool page and Th Th what’s wrong with you?...did you read the comments of bbrox, explaining that not everything is a word by word translation...well, guess not!
- Sleeping Single - Alleine Schlafen. I am sorry, the translation is not: Sleeping alone it is: (Schlafende(r) Single)
Didn’t know single is a german word
-You can´t put your hands around what´s already gone - Du kannst nicht das Gleiche noch mal tun, was bereits geschehen ist
why don’t you give a better translation?...I think his is pretty good and expresses the meaning of the song.
-I was so lucky - Ich war so glücklich.
Glueck haben, ich war gluecklich...maybe my german is really bad, but in my understanding it means lucky as well as happy
Sorry, just can’t stand the way you’re criticizing!
bbrox, you must have worked a lot, I think you’ve done an amazing job!
HummingBird said on January 9, 2003 18:04:
Well first of all I think it’s great that someone takes on the challenge...for some people out there who are not as fluent in English it may be a really cool thing. And even without that, it’s a nice thing to play around with. But don’t forget - everyone who reads it - any translation is an interpretation, at least when it comes to something as “condensed” as lyrics, where there are metaphors and other stuff which actually only the writer can tell the REAL meaning of - in case there is any (most writers will probably tell you some words just ’come in’, without them realizing why, or what they associate it with).
I think bbrox even states on the front page that the original meaning was sometimes slightly changed in order to obtain something “better-sounding” in German. This is sometimes inevitable - that’s why I occasionally tend to think pop songs should maybe not be translated at all.
I agree with the people here who think that SOME expressions were translated - well I won’t use the word ’wrong’ here, since it’s unfair - different from how a native speaker would understand them, at least as far as details are concerned. E.g. lucky vs. happy - there IS a difference. To be happy refers to a state (of mind or whatever) - to be lucky refers to a certain event, roughly speaking. I don’t even know how to paraphrase that. You’ll notice the difference looking at different uses of the words, and to someone who is “language sensitive” that matters a lot.
BUT: I still think it should be valued that those translations are there, it’s a cool thing to have and anybody criticizing this should first think about the work involved and the good will to create something FOR ALL THE FANS OUT THERE....that beats it I guess.
StillFar said on January 9, 2003 19:11:
hummingbird: I know the difference between being lucky and being happy in english :), but as far as I know, there’s not the same difference in german. While you say ’Ich war gluecklich’ regarding a relationship (happy) for example, you can use the same phrase for winning the lotto (lucky). Am I wrong?
Teach me!
Starrox said on January 9, 2003 19:30:
Actually, I’d say you are wrong - you can say “Ich hatte Glück”, but not “Ich war glücklich” in this case...
HummingBird said on January 9, 2003 20:54:
glücklich, but it doesn’t necessarily correspond to lucky - usually it corresponds to happy only. Wherever you use “lucky” in English you’d have to paraphrase it in German, use a different construction. The only exception I can think of is “Lucky you” - “Du Glückliche(r)”.
HummingBird said on January 10, 2003 00:03:
not really existing, though most people would of course say “glücklich”, but in fact when it occurs in a text you usually have to paraphrase it, describe it in other words to get the meaning right. (There are exceptions as I said before) ;-)
HummingBird said on January 10, 2003 00:05:
And...as to your example: “ich war glücklich” could refer to a relationship, but when winning a lottery you’d say “ich hatte Glück” or “ich habe Glück gehabt”. It looks as though it’s only a tense difference but that shows only how complex language actually is (I LOVE language...;-) )
Starrox said on January 10, 2003 04:05:
Who would have guessed considering what you’re studying at university ;-)
HummingBird said on January 10, 2003 07:30:
Starrox, you simply know me too well :P (although this might be misleading for most other people now LOL...no I’m NOT going to be a translator....nor a teacher that is ;-) )
Th_Th said on January 10, 2003 08:48:
Well, I understand that my comments are a bit harsh. Since I posted my comments, the guy that translated the Songs and I have been in touch and are talking about different ways of translating things... he didn’t take any of my comments personal, as I didn’t put down his work, as I said before, I think the Idea and WebSite are great.
Both of us even wanted to share a translation together... and when I translated “The Look” for myself, to compare it to his later on, we saw, what different styles we really used.
I tried to keep the exact same style from per. For example Pers phrase: she is a juvenile scam. How would you translate that? That is a tough one.
I translated it as “Sie ist die Jugendmasche” now, all the German would say: “Hey, but that doesn’t really make sense!!!” But, as an English speaking Person, I can tell you, it makes just as much sense as juvenile scam! I know, I have got the advantage of being bein both German and English speaking, having grown up in Germany, having lived in England for a while and in Ireland for the last 6 years, I have got a pretty good feeling for both languages.
And I don’t think, translating some of Pers, “Senseless Phrases” into something that makes sense in German, serves Per’s lyrics right, that is not the style they were written in by Per. Benjamin and I discussed that, and I know, every translater has got his or her own style. So I totally respect all of Benjamin’s translations...
But at the same time, there were some major misstakes in the translation of some words. For instance: Never was a quitter, got translated into: War niemals allein (Was never alone...) but quitter is, Aufgegeben, or Aufgeber(in), depends how you use the word, a totally different meaning....
and to get back to the point, that single is not a german word. Well, sure, it is a slang word. If you say to any German, Ich bin single (I am single) they understand! And if you understand the song sleeping single, you know, it is not meant as sleeping alone, but that there is a single person sleeping... I hope this makes sense now.
and if I would have translated Sleeping Single into, “schlafende(r) Alleinstehende(r)” how stupid does that sound? Of course I use the Slang Word, (which is found in some German dictionaries even!), which represents the completely same meaning! And this word, gives you the same feeling for German speakers as the original Titel does to english speakers.
I love languages, I love discussing languages, and of course, I am not saying, I am always right.
twenty7twenty said on January 10, 2003 09:58:
To contribute the discussion concerning the different meanings of ’lucky’ and ’happy’ in German:
lucky: glücklich (im Sinne von: Glück haben, Bsp. Lotto wurde schon genannt)
happy: glücklich (im Sinne von: fröhlich, gut ’drauf’ sein)
Maybe there’s a better translation for ’I was so happy’, but indeed, I think the translations given by bbrox isn’t incorrect.
LittleGirl78 said on January 10, 2003 10:35:
Sorry, I don´t understand what about tell you.
About the importance from the word “Glücklich”?
Yes I´m very happy if I hear Roxette-music *g*
Yes this funny to read this thread, the thread beginn with a translation-side and end with a discussion about the word “Glücklich”
Th_Th said on January 9, 2003 09:25:
I can see that you have put a lot of effort into your translations, but at the same time, it is this funny feeling I have, reading some of your translations...
a lot of your translations change the meaning of the song... for example: