Deutsche Sprache, schwere Sprache
Jan. 9th, 2012 01:42 amDuring the last weeks on LJ the German language has become a topic in fandom posts. One reason is the unbelievable bad German in Grimm. I watched 6 episodes recently and I'm suprised I didn't bleed from my ears ... I guess because their pronounciation is really bad and you often don't understand the gibberish that's supposed to be some arcane and ancient German word for a supernatural creature. The most fun are the words they invent on their official website. Like the incredible and unbelievable translation they came up with for "Queen Bee" = Mellischwuler! I'm constantly torn between being highly entertained by this sillyness and cringing & twitching in pain everytime they use one of those words on the show. I guess German has become the new Latin *sigh* I know German isn't one of the easiest languages around - even Mark Twain wrote about its complicated grammar. But are language consultants or proper translators that expensive or so hard to find in the States?
( screenshots )
The other reson for German being discussed in posts is so nostalgic for me that it lead to a nice sunday spent with very old comics to find some pages to scan. Some might already guess it - we're talking X-Men fandom. Or more specific X-Men Movieverse fandom and fanfiction. It's nice to see that fic-writers are trying to put some German into their stories (because of Movie-Magnetos origin), but they seem to produce a lot of fail. I understand why readers find that annoying and their rants. You can ask the same question as I did above. Is it that hard to find a fanfic beta in fandom who speaks German? There are so many Germans and Austrian people in fandom!
But the strangest thing is they are complaining about the use of the word "Leibchen" :D When I read that I had the urge to jump in all the discussions and shout "hey are you sure it's not a hommage to the old Uncanny X-Men comics?" or "well, the scourcematerial is already bad". But then I stoped and realized that this is movie-fandom and a lot of the fans probably never read an issue of the comic.
So behold the tradition of bad German in X-men in two examples ^_^
( two pages from Uncanny X-Men )
Good night and thank you for reading. If you find a spelling or grammar mistake - you may keep it ;-)
( screenshots )
The other reson for German being discussed in posts is so nostalgic for me that it lead to a nice sunday spent with very old comics to find some pages to scan. Some might already guess it - we're talking X-Men fandom. Or more specific X-Men Movieverse fandom and fanfiction. It's nice to see that fic-writers are trying to put some German into their stories (because of Movie-Magnetos origin), but they seem to produce a lot of fail. I understand why readers find that annoying and their rants. You can ask the same question as I did above. Is it that hard to find a fanfic beta in fandom who speaks German? There are so many Germans and Austrian people in fandom!
But the strangest thing is they are complaining about the use of the word "Leibchen" :D When I read that I had the urge to jump in all the discussions and shout "hey are you sure it's not a hommage to the old Uncanny X-Men comics?" or "well, the scourcematerial is already bad". But then I stoped and realized that this is movie-fandom and a lot of the fans probably never read an issue of the comic.
So behold the tradition of bad German in X-men in two examples ^_^
( two pages from Uncanny X-Men )
Good night and thank you for reading. If you find a spelling or grammar mistake - you may keep it ;-)