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Das Liebesbuch: A translation?
June 13, 2017 at 11:49 pm
(This post was last modified: June 13, 2017 at 11:50 pm by Rev. Rye.)
Well, I just decided to try and translate "The Book of Love" into German. For those of you who don't know, I'm talking about the song by The Magnetic Fields, most notably covered by Peter Gabriel:
I'm not sure exactly why I decided to try this, but I think it's such a simple and beautiful song and I think I can put a little of my nicht so gut German skills into a translation. Maybe take away some of the sting that the language has acquired as a result of The War.
Knowing we've got some German natives here, I figure I may as well ask them for their feedback. I know I've kind of messed with the lyrics (though, given many other cases I've found, it seems pretty straight), and in a few cases, I've kind of fudged with the grammar to make it fit the rhyme scheme (such as it is), and, while transcribing it for this forum, I have to admit that I didn't actually bother to find the proper codes for the umlauts and eszetts, but here it is:
Das Liebesbuch ist sehr langweilig
Es is zu gross zu heben
Es is voller Fakten und Zahlen
Wie auch tanzen Anweisungen
A...ber ich, Ich liebe wenn du mir lesen,
Und Du... lese zu mir alle Leben.
Das Liebesbuch enhaelt Musik,
Tatsaclich, Musik war in geboren
Mansche Musik ist transzendentale
Mansche Musik ist sehr nuechtern
(Chorus, as before, except "lesen" is replaced with "Singen")
Das Liebesbuch ist sehr langweilig
Es war am Anfang verfassen
Sie hat Blumen, Herzen, und Sachen
Wir sind viel zu jung, zu wissen.
(I haven't even been able to do the last variation of the chorus).
Anyone know any way to improve it (at least while still keeping it singable?)
Comparing the Universal Oneness of All Life to Yo Mama since 2010.
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RE: Das Liebesbuch: A translation?
June 14, 2017 at 12:55 am
Lol
The fool hath said in his heart, There is a God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good.
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RE: Das Liebesbuch: A translation?
June 14, 2017 at 12:56 am
(This post was last modified: June 14, 2017 at 1:02 am by Alex K.)
tanzen Anweisungen -> Tanzanweisungen
du mir lesen -> du mir vorliest
singst->vorsingst
The fool hath said in his heart, There is a God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good.
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RE: Das Liebesbuch: A translation?
June 14, 2017 at 12:59 am
Vorliest hehe
(August 21, 2017 at 11:31 pm)KevinM1 Wrote: "I'm not a troll"
Religious Views: He gay
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Hammy Wrote:and we also have a sheep on our bed underneath as well
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RE: Das Liebesbuch: A translation?
June 14, 2017 at 1:00 am
Is this song about hairy janitors?
(August 21, 2017 at 11:31 pm)KevinM1 Wrote: "I'm not a troll"
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Hammy Wrote:and we also have a sheep on our bed underneath as well
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RE: Das Liebesbuch: A translation?
June 14, 2017 at 1:03 am
(June 14, 2017 at 1:00 am)Losty Wrote: Is this song about hairy janitors?
I was thinking it as I was typing it. Maybe it is. Do we know for sure that it isn't?
The fool hath said in his heart, There is a God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good.
Psalm 14, KJV revised edition
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RE: Das Liebesbuch: A translation?
June 14, 2017 at 1:05 am
lese zu mir alle Leben -> kannst mir alles vorlesen
The fool hath said in his heart, There is a God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good.
Psalm 14, KJV revised edition
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RE: Das Liebesbuch: A translation?
June 14, 2017 at 1:12 am
war in geboren -> ward so geboren (ward is poetic german for wurde)
Es war am Anfang verfassen -> und wurd' vor langer Zeit verfasst
Sie hat-> Enthält
The fool hath said in his heart, There is a God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good.
Psalm 14, KJV revised edition
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RE: Das Liebesbuch: A translation?
June 14, 2017 at 9:00 am
(This post was last modified: June 14, 2017 at 9:01 am by Rev. Rye.)
And with Alex's fixes in mind...
Das Liebesbuch ist sehr langweilig
Es is zu gross zu heben
Es is voller Fakten und Zahlen
Wie auch Tanzanweisungen
A...ber ich, Ich liebe wenn du mir vorliest
Und Du... kannst mir alles vorlesen
Das Liebesbuch enhaelt Musik,
Tatsaclich, Musik ward so geboren
Mansche Musik ist transzendentale
Mansche Musik ist sehr nuechtern
(Chorus, as before, except "vorliest" is replaced with "Vorsingst")
Das Liebesbuch ist sehr langweilig
und wurd' vor langer Zeit verfasst
Enthaelt Blumen, Herzen, und Sachen
Wir sind viel zu jung, zu wissen.
I must admit, that some of the rhyme is lost and I'm not sure about whether that's good or not. Then again, it still fits with the meter. This may be why so many translations of songs tend to change the lyrics beyond recognition.
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RE: Das Liebesbuch: A translation?
June 14, 2017 at 10:32 am
I was talking to a member of a model train club at a train show several years ago and asked about a carnival feature on their layout. I noted there was a apparently a small speaker concealed in that area of there layout and it was carrying realistic carnival sounds and noises, a neat effect.
The club member laughed at that and said that was the second sound effects recording they used. The first was a German carnival recording and it was soon evident when the side show barker started his spiel it changed the entire effect of the recoding. He said at first it sounded like the crowd noise was laughter and cheering, but when the barker started suddenly the entire recording sounded like horror movie shot in a concentration camp. The crowd sounds sounded like people screaming and the barker sounded like a soldier or commandant informing the crowd of their forthcoming horrible fate. He laughed and said it was the most horrible thing he'd ever encountered in model railroading.
And no, they didn't use the German carnival recording anywhere else on the layout either.
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