Tag: Blog mehrsprachig

To date, my posts have been published in two languages and this is how it works: I write the text in German. This takes one or more cycles until I'm happy with it. Pictures or photos are added and the post is ready to be published - for the German-language site.

For the post to be done-done, the translation is still pending. To do this, I open my favourite translation websites and put the text into the translation tools. First, I copy the whole text into DeepL; for single words, I use dict.cc and for expressions consisting of several words I use linguee.de. I then copy the text which is spit out into the dedicated space for the English version in the plugin. Then I read through it again and finalise the English text as well. And then the post goes online.

German-english, english-german

After translating several texts, I have made some observations :

• Very often I only realise how strange the original sentence, i.e. the German sentence was, when I read the English translation. Then I write the English version more clearly and then I go back to the German original and change it as well.
• My writing style doesn't come through as much in English as it does in German. I think my writing style has its own personality in German. I have the feeling that I sound a bit flat in English. I can't translate my German tone 1:1 because I don't have the vocabulary to convey the nuances. I don't know what you call it, but I mean subtleties in the form of sentence structures or little words like tja, schon, doch(which have been translated by DeepL as well, yes, yes, yes) that create a certain effect. I don't know them in English, and DeepL is even worse. It goes beyond the technical translation.
  Real example: tja, schon, doch were translated by DeepL as well, yes, yes. 😆
• Often, there are several English translations for a German word and then I have the agony of choice: Which word actually fits the context at hand/would be closest to my German original? Sometimes I feel it, sometimes it's a random pick 😀
• I do have a little feel for the English language (*wipe sweat from forehead*): Some sentences sound very German after the machine-generated translation. I then change them and hope that they sound a bit more English afterwards. If you only knew what sometimes comes out haha
• The German language has a very marvellous thing: compound nouns. Making up necessary words quickly and effectively. One of my hobbies is to give my photos funny titles by slapping various words together. And translating that into English and seeing how it gets mangled again is something between sad, amusing and disillusioning.
• Proverbs & idioms I: Sometimes DeepL doesn't understand that I've used a proverb. Instead of suggesting a comparable proverb in English, it translates 1:1 which sometimes sounds very funny.
• Proverbs & idioms II: On the other hand, proverbs are sometimes difficult for me in German and I make mistakes with proverbs. I once mixed two German proverbs together. But I only realised this because I checked the German proverb to be on the safe side after the English one seemed strange. Thus, I did have doubts about myself *laugh*

As I write this post, I can't help but think of TraLaLit – Magazin für übersetzte Literatur (TraLaLit - Magazine for Translated Literature). It was there that I learnt, above all, what translation work looks like and what the working conditions are like (critical). When we consider the access we have to books because translators do great work, it's questionable to the point of sadness when demands such as being named on the cover are not standard.

Mach's gut (Farewell)

And at the very end I eventually say it: Mach's gut, English version of maipenquynh. I will stop translating my posts into English until further notice. It used to be a pleasure, but lately it has become more and more of a burden. After I touched on the idea about putting an end to the English translation in my last blogger's life , I realised that this thought alone felt like a liberation for me. I don't yet know what I'm going to do with the previous translations. As long as I don't know what I'm going to do, I'll leave the button for switching on the top in the navigation bar. The German version will then also be displayed on the English version of my blog.

In case you were someone who read along on my English page: