Den Tee und trockenen Humor einmal außer Acht gelassen, sagt man Briten eine Hingebung zum „Booze“, zum Alkohol nach. Außerdem eine Vorliebe für knappe Outfits, einhergehend mit bewundernswerter Kälteresistenz. Früh fangen Briten an, in ihren Pubs zu trinken, früh fallen sie ins Bett. Das Oktoberfest scheint wie für sie gemacht.
From Sueddeutsche.de, 3 October 2017
Translation offered by the translation software:
British left the tea and wry sense of humor once aside, is said to a devotion to the booze, to the alcohol. Also a fondness for tight outfits, walking hand in hand with admirable cold resistance. Early British begin to drink in their pubs, soon they fall into bed. The Oktoberfest seems like for them.
(translation: free-translation.net)
Spotlight translation:
Apart from being known for their dry sense of humour and drinking lots of tea, Brits are said to be devoted to booze. They also have a fondness for scanty outfits and exhibit an admirable resistance to feeling the cold. In their pubs, Brits start drinking early, but they also collapse into bed early. Munich’s Oktoberfest seems tailor-made for them.
Analysis
- As far as the lexical choices are concerned, this computer translation is better than many of the translations we have looked at previously. The phrases “wry sense of humour”, “a fondness for tight outfits” and “a devotion to booze”, for example, are all correct and idiomatic.
- The program failed, however, to analyse the structure of the first sentence properly. It also struggled with the impersonal construction man sagt Briten nach and the fact that the structure of the German sentence is further obscuredverdeckt , undeutlichobscured by the inversion of verb and subject (…., sagt man …).
- Other possible translations here are “Brits are said to have a devotion to…”, “angeblichallegedlyAllegedly, British people are devoted to…” or “The British have a reputation for being devoted to…”. Note the definite article in the plural noun “the British”.
- “Once” can be a correct translation of einmal as an adverb. Here, however, the particle einmal is just a filler word that can safely be ignored.
- Note that, strictly speaking, the German original is slightly flawedfehlerhaft, mangelhaftflawed, which becomes clear when it is rewordedumformuliertreworded: man sagt Briten Tee und einen trockenen Humor nach. While people can be known for their dry humour, “being known for tea” seems to be lacking a verb — which we have added in our suggested translation.
- The second sentence is elliptical, leaving out Man sagt Briten … nach. In English, we wrote a full sentence but also relied on the context to mark it as an allegationBehauptungallegation.
- For readers of the Munich-based Süddeutsche Zeitung, there is only one Oktoberfest. English-speaking readers, on the other hand, might need clarificationErläuterung, Verdeutlichungclarification as to which of the many “Oktoberfests” worldwide we are talking about.
- “Tight” is a good translation of knapp in the sense of eng anliegend. “scantyspärlich, knappScanty” might be better here, as English people are known for not wearing much, even when it’s cold outside.
- You can “fall” or “collapse” into bed, especially when extreme tiredness and alcohol are involved.
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