MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - Help with German to English translation please

Gudy · 03-01-2017, 05:09 AM

"Commerzienrat" is, or was, an honorary title conveyed to business men only after substantial "donations for the common good". So these guys would be rich businessmen who had polished their public image through what one might call today "philanthropic" donations. Modern German writes the word with an inital "K", but I have no idea about the linguistic sensibilities of 1939 Germany. I'm also not entirely sure why he's calling them that, but I imagine it's his impression that they are either too business-oriented to appreciate fine art or simply too full of themselves, or a combination thereof.

"Mendelsvaterenkelism" is a word play. "Mendelssohn" literally means "Mendel's son". "Mendelsvaterenkel" would be "Mendel's father's grandchild", so either Mendel's son or his (half-)sibling or cousins. So the word would be used to describe "Mendelssohnism" and related ideas - whatever that might mean to those two - without actually fully naming the person who is the target of their ire.

A straightforward translation of "Alle Bülow'ehrlich" would be "All Bülows honorable".

I would translate "fahrender Künstler" as "itinerant artist".

03-01-2017, 05:09 AM	#2
Gudy Wizard Posts: 1,154 Karma: 3252017 Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Germany Device: Pocketbook Touch Lux (623)	"Commerzienrat" is, or was, an honorary title conveyed to business men only after substantial "donations for the common good". So these guys would be rich businessmen who had polished their public image through what one might call today "philanthropic" donations. Modern German writes the word with an inital "K", but I have no idea about the linguistic sensibilities of 1939 Germany. I'm also not entirely sure why he's calling them that, but I imagine it's his impression that they are either too business-oriented to appreciate fine art or simply too full of themselves, or a combination thereof. "Mendelsvaterenkelism" is a word play. "Mendelssohn" literally means "Mendel's son". "Mendelsvaterenkel" would be "Mendel's father's grandchild", so either Mendel's son or his (half-)sibling or cousins. So the word would be used to describe "Mendelssohnism" and related ideas - whatever that might mean to those two - without actually fully naming the person who is the target of their ire. A straightforward translation of "Alle Bülow'ehrlich" would be "All Bülows honorable". I would translate "fahrender Künstler" as "itinerant artist". Last edited by Gudy; 03-01-2017 at 05:14 AM.