American Television Shows in German

[Мастер]

My computers are set up with German language as the default, even though English is my best language (by a not small margin). This is to get some practise.

One interesting side effect - when I browse the largely English inter web, the web page will be presented to me in German, if such a version is available. When coming across things like lists of television shows (let's say, because one is looking for ideas for one of the game threads), some of the show titles are in English, and some are in German. One particular site even has promotional pictures of title screens or the like, which invariably include the English title, just in case I'm not familiar with that particular show.

So there they are - German titles, right next to the original English titles. Some of them are, well, interesting. Below are the English titles, my translation of the German title back into English, and (so that Arneb can correct any mistakes I make) the German title. I left out those where the German title is more or less a word-for-word translation of the English title.

I think my favourites are "That Girl", and the combination of "Father Knows Best" and "The Donna Reed Show". (That is, my favourite translations, not my favourite shows.)

Bewitched - In Love with a Witch - Verliebt in eine Hexe

The Twilight Zone - Unbelievable Stories - Unglaubliche Geschichten

The Brady Bunch - Three Girls and Three Boys - Drei Mädchen und drei Jungen

Three's Company - The Knave of Hearts with Two Women - Herzbube mit zwei Damen

Leave it to Beaver - One must be Adult - Erwachsen müßte man sein (accurate?)

Father Knows Best - Father is the Best - Vater ist der Beste

The Donna Reed Show - Mother is the Very Best - Mutter ist die Allerbeste

I Dream of Jeannie - Magical Jeannie - Bezaubernde Jeannie

That Girl - Sweet, but a Little Crazy - Süß, aber ein bißchen verrückt

[Arneb]

It would be more like "One would have to be adult". "Müsste" implies that one isn't, but should be. You could even say, "If only one were (acted like?) a grownup". Otherwise, yeah!

I notice (especially with American TV series) that the German translations are usually wooden and stale. Most puns in episode titles, for example, are lost.

[Enzo]

I of course know zero German, but:

The Flying Nun - Virgin Air - Luft Holywench


Wild Wild West - Der McGyver mit Horse


Ponderosa - A Hoss is a Hoss, of coss of coss.

[tubeswell]

I of course know zero German, but:

The Flying Nun - Virgin Air - Luft Holywench


Wild Wild West - Der McGyver mit Horse


Ponderosa - A Hoss is a Hoss, of coss of coss.

and Tomestone - Das Boothill

[Enzo]

CHiPS - Cyclevroomen Politzei

Dragnet - Just der facts, Frau

Cheers - Norm und Bier

Perry Mason - Berger-loser.

Lassie - Das Barkenfurrer. Today's episode: Kleiner Tim fiel in den Brunnen.

[Arneb]

You ARE trying to mob me off this board, admit it. NOW!

[Мастер]

Das Barkenfurrer

[Enzo]

I remember as a kid playing with friends, we played with our plastic "Army Men"out in the yard. This started less than 10 years after the close of WW2. So inevitably good guys and bad guys turned into Americans and either Germans or Japanese. "I was Germans yesterday, YOU have to be Germans today." Of course we spoke no German or Japanese, but we made up gibberish that sounded like it to us. Kids have no monopoly on that, adults do it too. Want to make fun of CHinese or Japanese, and someone will narrow his eyes and chant a bunch of "wing-wong" sorts of syllables. German, well we knew there was der and das scattered around in there, and multisyllabic constructions. SO a dog became das barkenpantenwaggenwoofer or something. Oh yes, we also had to insert "zie" in there too. Der barkenmutt das poopen in zie yarden. (Oh this is driving my spell-checker nuts)

STudent that I am of the human condition (or some equally pretentious description), I know people in other cultures do the same. I always wanted the chance to hear how other cultures thought English sounded. What string of syllables might come out from that. Foreigners (and people from Minnesota) have accents, and it is fun to try to speak with one, but likewise I am fascinated to hear a foreigner trying to emulate my accent.

[Мастер]

Want to make fun of CHinese or Japanese, and someone will narrow his eyes and chant a bunch of "wing-wong" sorts of syllables.

You need to see the first episode of the third series of Father Ted!

German, well we knew there was der and das scattered around in there, and multisyllabic constructions. SO a dog became das barkenpantenwaggenwoofer or something. Oh yes, we also had to insert "zie" in there too. Der barkenmutt das poopen in zie yarden. (Oh this is driving my spell-checker nuts)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gmOTpIVxji8

[Heid the Ba]

Das Boothill and Cyclevroomen Politzei are both excellent. Well played!

I once saw an epidose of The Professionals in German (Der Profi, I think it was called) and couldn't take it seriously as Gordon Jackson wasn't Scottish. Actually there were many reasons for not taking that programme seriously and Gordon Jackson's accent wasn't high up the list.

[Lianachan]

Vaguely related - has anybody seen Monty Python's Fliegender Zirkus?

[Arneb]

If I may chime in with a program announcement ... An English friend of mine swears this would work in English, too.

[MM_Dandy]

<snip/> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gmOTpIVxji8

I've always liked that ad, but I've had the opportunity to talk with a few good folks whose first language is or was German (well, Hutterite, actually), and to the best of my recollection, I don't remember them ever using an 's' sound for the soft 'th' sound. It was substituted with a 't', while the hard 'th' was substituted with a 'd.' So, "Ya, that's what I thought" came out 'Ya, dat's what I tought."

[Мастер]

Der barkenmutt das poopen in zie yarden.

It's Der Barkenmutt hat in der Yarde gepoopt.

I'm trying to think what it was in Spanish when Triumph the Insult Comic Dog told Fidel Castro, Cuba is a great country - for me to poop on!

[Arneb]

I've always liked that ad, but I've had the opportunity to talk with a few good folks whose first language is or was German (well, Hutterite, actually), and to the best of my recollection, I don't remember them ever using an 's' sound for the soft 'th' sound. It was substituted with a 't', while the hard 'th' was substituted with a 'd.' So, "Ya, that's what I thought" came out 'Ya, dat's what I tought."

That's a good workaround, but most native German speakers get around to pronouncing a proper th before they find out about zis alternative.

[Мастер]

Many Russians bring the devoicing of final consonants into English, what are you thinkink about.

Russian also has no "th" sound; it doesn't even have an "h" sound, a "g" often being substituted in foreign words (e.g., gamburger).

Arabic not only has the two English "th" sounds, it has different letters to represent them.

[Enzo]

I took a couple years of Russian in college. I took Latin in high school, which prepared me for all that genitive, dative, and other forms. I tried to making my pronunciation as good as I could. My instructor once complimented me on my accent. I am sure he meant within the context of first year student. I didn't have the heart to tell him my accent was based upon imitating the Russian accented English I'd hear in movies and on TV.

Fortunately we didn;t have Yakov Smirnoff at the time.

[Мастер]

I didn't have the heart to tell him my accent was based upon imitating the Russian accented English I'd hear in movies and on TV.

That may not be a bad strategy, provided those accents haven't been exaggerated for comic effect.

[Мастер]

I notice (especially with American TV series) that the German translations are usually wooden and stale.

I've noticed this effect in some other contexts as well. When you go into the detailed configuration editor in the English version of Thunderbird, it warns, "Here be Dragons!" In German, the warning is "Hier endet möglicherweise die Gewährleistung!"

[Arneb]

I've noticed this effect in some other contexts as well. When you go into the detailed configuration editor in the English version of Thunderbird, it warns, "Here be Dragons!" In German, the warning is "Hier endet möglicherweise die Gewährleistung!"

Priceless