Hi Jacquie [email protected] wrote: > Is there anyone on Arachne Chat who could translate the following German > sentence into a more flowing English equivalent than the one offered. > Apparently > in German there is a play on words with 'time' and 'clock', and this doesn't > work in English? It is for a Block-a-month quilt square with the overall > theme > of time, and this play on words makes it appropriate for this purpose, but it > doesn't work (with her translation anyway) in English. Is there anyone who > can do better? > > This is the original German: > Wer nach der Uhr lebt, muss damit rechen, dass ihm sein Leben mit der Zeit > auf den Wecker geht. > > And this is the English translation offered: > Who lives by the clock, has to reckon that by time, his life will drive him > up the wall.
In my opinion this does not accurately translate the meaning of the German sentence. A literal translation is: (He) who lives by the hour/clock, must reckon that in the course of time his life will annoy him. The word play is that the phrase 'ihm auf den Wecker geht' is a colloquial way to say something annoys him or bugs him, but the literal meaning is to set an alarm clock. I'd say it's pretty much equivalent to 'He who lives by the clock will die by the clock'. Hope this helps Steph At home in Manchester for the weekend but usually in Berlin To unsubscribe send email to [email protected] containing the line: unsubscribe lace-chat [email protected]. For help, write to [email protected].
