2 German sentence: write your English translation before looking at p. 3

Transkript

1 page Edward Martin, Institut für Anglistik, Universität Koblenz-Landau, Campus Koblenz 2 German sentence: write your English translation before looking at p. 3 3 German sentence analysed in colour coding; "diagnosis" of syntax problems - after reading this, look at your translation, improving it if necessary 4 A student's translation with comments and emendations 5 A model English translation for comparison with your own translation

2 German sentence #3 Seems like a Chinese box (verschachtelt), but is it? - please write your translation before moving on to page 3 - Danach, in den letzten zehn Minuten, zahlt Spielberg die Schulden zurück, die er zuvor angehäuft hat, bei dem US-Militär, das ihn großzügig unterstützte, bei der Game-Generation, die mehr Aliens explodieren sehen möchte, und bei den Rufern nach einem allumfassenden Happy-End, egal wie unglaubwürdig. (Die Welt, 29 June 2005) (42 words)

3 Colour-coded analysis and diagnosis please read the detailed syntactic analysis in "Practise your syntax 1" to understand the colour codes and terminology used here please read this analysis and diagnosis and then, if necessary, re-write your translation before looking at the student's translation Syntactic analysis Main clause highlighted Danach, in den letzten zehn Minuten, zahlt Spielberg die Schulden zurück, die er Relative clauses highlighted Danach, in den letzten zehn Minuten, zahlt Spielberg die Schulden zurück, die er Relative clauses highlighted and typified 1) die er zuvor angehäuft hat - relates to Schulden, identifying 2) das ihn großzügig unterstützte - relates to US-Militär, non-identifying 3) die Aliens explodieren sehen möchte - relates to G-Generation, non-ident. Adverbials highlighted Danach, in den letzten zehn Minuten, zahlt Spielberg die Schulden zurück, die er Adverbials isolated and typified 1. danach, in den letzten 10 Minuten, time: relates to zahlt zurück 2. zuvor, time: relates to angehäuft hat 3. bei dem..., bei der..., bei den..., place: relates to angehäuft hat 4. großzügig, manner: relates to unterstützte 5. seitdem, time: relates to messen...müssen Only one verb - angehäuft hat - has more than one adverb; place normally comes before time, but here place is clearly more important than time and so it comes last. There are no long adverbials interrupting the subject-verb-object structure of the main clause or the relative clauses. T-man's diagnosis and assessment. Not as complicated as it first seems. In fact, this is an uncomplicated, orderly series of clauses. The only long adverbial phrase comes neatly at the beginning of the clause in German and it can go in the same place in English. There should be no problems syntactically.

4 Student's translation After that, in the last ten minutes, Spielberg repays the debts he has accumulated before to the U.S. military, which supported him generously, to the game generation, which would like to see more aliens exploding, and to the voices of an all-embracing happy ending, no matter how incredible. T-man's emendations and comments After that, in the last ten minutes, Spielberg repays the debts he has accumulated before to (accumulate sth with sb; and zuvor is better translated as previously; it can be put with the verb so as to give the verb a stronger place in the clause, i.e. after the adverb) the U.S. military, which supported him generously, to the game generation, which would like to see more aliens exploding, and to the voices of? the ending doesn't have a voice an all-embracing happy ending, no matter how incredible. Problems I didn't have any problems here concerning syntax after all. surprise, surprise...

5 After that, in the last ten minutes, Spielberg repays the debts he has previously accumulated with the U.S. military, which supported him generously, with the game generation, who would like to see more aliens exploding, and with the voices calling for an all-embracing happy ending, no matter how incredible. (49 words)