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Den 20. Jänner ging Lenz durchs Gebirg
Thread poster: Vito Smolej
Vito Smolej
Vito Smolej
Germany
Local time: 01:25
Member (2004)
English to Slovenian
+ ...
SITE LOCALIZER
Nov 1, 2009

20. January Lenz went through the mountains. The peaks and high mountain areas in the snow, down the valleys of gray stone, green surfaces, rocks and pines. It was raw; the water trickling down the rocks and jumped across the road. The branches of the fir trees hung heavy down into the damp air. In the sky clouds were gray, but all so close - and then the mist steamed up and ran hard and wet through the bushes, so sluggish, so clumsy. He went on regardless, there was nothing to him on the way... See more
20. January Lenz went through the mountains. The peaks and high mountain areas in the snow, down the valleys of gray stone, green surfaces, rocks and pines. It was raw; the water trickling down the rocks and jumped across the road. The branches of the fir trees hung heavy down into the damp air. In the sky clouds were gray, but all so close - and then the mist steamed up and ran hard and wet through the bushes, so sluggish, so clumsy. He went on regardless, there was nothing to him on the way, soon, soon descending. He felt no fatigue, but it was sometimes unpleasant to him that he could not walk on his head.

This is the verbatim copy of the "Google translate" translation. I feel the translation emanates the same "Poe"tic, silent, manic roar, as does the original. At the first glance I just wanted to change "20. January Lenz was walking through the mountains" and "It was damp and cold; the water trickling down the rocks and jumping across the road."

The times when everybody and his grandmother were ridiculing Machine Translation, are coming to an end, I'd say. No more cognitive dissonance allowed (sg). Of course it is quite possible Google has the translation - not just the original Büchner - but then is this not a point for the machine translation?- who else can memorize all the beauty of things written, sung and said by the human race, if not a machine (*).

For unbelievers, here's the original Büchner: ▲ Collapse
 
Heinrich Pesch
Heinrich Pesch  Identity Verified
Finland
Local time: 02:25
Member (2003)
Finnish to German
+ ...
First try Nov 2, 2009

I took a book from the shelf, a German classic all right:

Ich pflegte mir öfters die Zeit damit zu vertreiben, daß ich mit dem wachhabenden Offizier auf die Bramrahe des hinteren Mastes kletterte und mit ihm Ausguck hielt. Wir hatten uns dort Sitzbacken vom Zimmermann anfertigen lassen und sahen mit guten Gläsern bewaffnet über das Meer hinweg.

Google translate DE-EN:

I used to me several times to kill time so that I climbed with the officer on duty at ... See more
I took a book from the shelf, a German classic all right:

Ich pflegte mir öfters die Zeit damit zu vertreiben, daß ich mit dem wachhabenden Offizier auf die Bramrahe des hinteren Mastes kletterte und mit ihm Ausguck hielt. Wir hatten uns dort Sitzbacken vom Zimmermann anfertigen lassen und sahen mit guten Gläsern bewaffnet über das Meer hinweg.

Google translate DE-EN:

I used to me several times to kill time so that I climbed with the officer on duty at the Bramrahe the posterior pole and with him was lookout. We were there, let us make seat jaws, a carpenter, and looked away, armed with good glasses on the sea.

All is there but...

Google translate DE-FI:

Käytin minulle useita kertoja tappaa aikaa niin, että kiipesin kanssa päivystävä upseeri on Bramrahe takaosaa napa, ja hänen kanssaan oli näköalapaikalta. Olimme siellä, tehkäämme istuin leuassa, puuseppä, ja katseli pois, varustettuna hyvät lasit merelle.

Sounds very much like a foreigner after first year of studying Finnish abroad on his own.

So I believe Vito the good result from Büchner is a citation from a human translation.

You may guess at the author of my excerpt...

Cheers
Heinrich

[Bearbeitet am 2009-11-02 03:30 GMT] ▲ Collapse
 


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Den 20. Jänner ging Lenz durchs Gebirg







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