Re: Multilingual translation exercise, part 1

> Here is the first text.  The French, English, and German versions are
> (as they say in treaties) equally authentic.

Hmmm.  The first thing that catches my eye in the German version is
the inconsistent use of tense, and grammatically incorrect reported
speech.  Futhermore, the use of "ward" for "wurde" is very archaic,
but I don't know how old the translation is.

As for specific mistranslations...



> Trois cardinaux, un rabbin, un amiral franc-maçon, un trio d'insignifiants
> politicards soumis au bon plaisir d'un trust anglo-saxon,
---

> Kardinal, Rabbi und Admiral, also Führungstrio null und nichtig und darum
> völlig abhängig vom Ami-Trust,
Somehow the eight people mentioned in the French version got collapsed
into three.  An understandable mistake IMHO, since the French version
has no "et" to signify the end of the enumeration of people, making
the noun phrases appear like appositions to the initial "trois
cardinaux".  That impression is further bolstered by the fact that
the number three is picked up again by the "trio".

Of course, a cardinal who is also a rabbi should have appeared
suspicious to the translator.  ;-)



> qu'on risquait la mort par inanition.
---

> daß Nahrungsnot und damit Tod aufs Volk zukommt.
Tod durch Nahrungsnot, rather.  That could pass under artistic freedom,
though.  The sense stays intact.



> « Nous voulons du pain »
---

> «Gib uns das tägliche Brot»
Not literal, but rhetorically clever:  It now sounds like a quote from
the Lord's prayer.



> Ça complotait, ça conspirait partout.
---

> Konspiration ward ganz normal, Komplott üblich.
The French text merely assesses that those things happen everywhere,
while the German text claims that they become common and customary.
That's not the same.



> A Rocamadour, on pilla un stock : on y trouva du thon, du lait, du chocolat
> par kilos, du maïs par quintaux, mais tout avait l'air pourri.
---

> In Rocamadour gabs Mundraub sogar am Tag:
> man fand dort Thunfisch, Milch, und Schokobonbons im Kilopack, Waggons voll
> Mais, obwohl schon richtig faulig.
Ouch.  The French version reports how people break into a stock
warehouse and take the food they find there, while the German version
just speaks of "Mundraub sogar am Tag" (theft of food in broad
daylight), without mentioning the warehouse, thus suggesting that
people steal from each other.  The second sentence telling us how
"one found tuna, milk, etc..." makes no sense in this context.



> on guillotina sur un rond-point vingt-six magistrats d'un coup,
---

> fünfundzwanzig Mann schob man dort aufs Schafott,
The German version saved one person from certain death.  Kinda
laudable.



> Partout on prit d'assaut docks, hangars, ou magasins.
---

> Ringsum
> griff man Docks an, Bootshaus und Munitionsmagazin.
I assume "magasins" refers to shops rather than ammunition warehouses
here.



-- Christian Thalmann

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