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How to translate this from German? | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages |  | |
| Retinend Triglot Senior Member SpainRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4117 days ago 283 posts - 557 votes  Speaks: English*, German, Spanish Studies: Arabic (Written), French | Message 1 of 12 23 January 2014 at 12:58pm | IP Logged | ||
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„Ich bin dieses Duckmäusertum sowas von leid”
original link: http://volksbetrugpunktnet.wordpress.com/2013/11/19/der-hamm er-guckt-euch- das-an-bitte-verbreiten/ I have never seen either this construction, I can't find a translation for the word Duckmäusertum, I don't understand what the preposition is doing, and shouldn't L eid be substantiv? 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Josquin Heptaglot Senior Member Germany Joined 4653 days ago 2266 posts - 3992 votes Speaks: German*, English, French, Latin, Italian, Russian, Swedish Studies: Japanese, Irish, Portuguese, Persian | Message 2 of 12 23 January 2014 at 1:23pm | IP Logged | ||
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The sentence means: "I'm so sick and tired of people being too cowardly to speak out what they think!" or "I'm sick and tired of this cowardice!"
A "Duckmäuser" is someone who doesn't dare to speak out what he thinks. So "Duckmäusertum" is the abstract concept of being a "Duckmäuser". "Etwas leid sein" is an expression meaning "to be sick and tired of something". It doesn't really have anything to do with "Leid" in the meaning of "suffering". "Sowas von" is a colloquial construction used for emphasizing an adjective: "Das war sowas von blöd!" ("That was soooo stupid!") Edited by Josquin on 23 January 2014 at 1:28pm 12 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Retinend Triglot Senior Member SpainRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4117 days ago 283 posts - 557 votes Speaks: English*, German, Spanish Studies: Arabic (Written), French | Message 3 of 12 23 January 2014 at 3:57pm | IP Logged | ||
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Thanks for the explanation, I'm glad I asked.
If you wouldn't mind, to see if I understand, could you tell me if these are therefore correct: Die Regierung hat zu viele Duckmäuser. Ich bin die Regierung leid. Ich bin die Regierung leid gewesen. Ich werde heutzutage die Regierung leid. Die Regierung war sowas von bürokratisch. Die Regierung ist sowas von bürokratisch. Die Regierung wird heutzutage sowas von bürokratisch. Die Regierung war sowas von hilfreich. Die Regierung ist sowas von hilfreich. Die Regierung wird heutzutage den Ausländer sowas von hilfreich. edit: here's a better link to the original for anyone interested - link Edited by Retinend on 23 January 2014 at 4:05pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Josquin Heptaglot Senior Member Germany Joined 4653 days ago 2266 posts - 3992 votes Speaks: German*, English, French, Latin, Italian, Russian, Swedish Studies: Japanese, Irish, Portuguese, Persian | Message 4 of 12 23 January 2014 at 7:17pm | IP Logged | ||
These sentences aren't correct. The rest is okay. You can't really use "werden" + "heutzutage". That doesn't make any sense. What did you want to say? 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Retinend Triglot Senior Member SpainRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4117 days ago 283 posts - 557 votes Speaks: English*, German, Spanish Studies: Arabic (Written), French | Message 5 of 12 23 January 2014 at 8:39pm | IP Logged | ||
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I meant to say:
"These days I am-getting sick of the government" "The government is-getting SOOO bureaucratic these days" "The government is-getting SOOO helpful to foreigners these days" (not making much sense, but I was wondering if "sowas von" worked with a positive adjective and not just negative ones like "böse") Edited by Retinend on 23 January 2014 at 8:42pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| daegga Tetraglot Senior Member Austria lang-8.com/553301 Joined 4330 days ago 1076 posts - 1792 votes Speaks: German*, EnglishC2, Swedish, Norwegian Studies: Danish, French, Finnish, Icelandic | Message 6 of 12 23 January 2014 at 8:54pm | IP Logged | ||
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You would just use the present tense here, not the future. "ist" instead of "werden".
"sowas von" + <Positive> works sometimes, but often it just sounds like sarcasm, like in your example. "The government is-getting SOOO helpful to foreigners these days[, they even pay them their return ticket if they leave immediately.]" :) edit: Oops, Josquin is obviously right about my misuse of terminology here. Not future tense at all. Edited by daegga on 23 January 2014 at 9:46pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Josquin Heptaglot Senior Member Germany Joined 4653 days ago 2266 posts - 3992 votes Speaks: German*, English, French, Latin, Italian, Russian, Swedish Studies: Japanese, Irish, Portuguese, Persian | Message 7 of 12 23 January 2014 at 9:16pm | IP Logged | ||
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I'd rephrase the sentences as follows:
Ich werde die Regierung so langsam leid. Die Regierung wird mittlerweile sowas von bürokratisch. Die Regierung ist den Ausländern heutzutage sowas von hilfreich! As I said, "werden" + "heutzutage" doesn't work. "Heutzutage" describes a state, while "werden" describes a change. If you combine both, it doesn't make any sense. Also, "jemandem hilfreich werden" doesn't exist. But I don't completely agree with what daegga says. First of all, "werden" isn't future tense in these sentences and, second of all, "sowas von" can also sound really emphatic if you combine it with a positive adjective: "It's incredible how helpful the government is to foreigners these days!" In this case, it's more of an exclamation than a neutral statement though. Edited by Josquin on 23 January 2014 at 9:18pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Retinend Triglot Senior Member SpainRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4117 days ago 283 posts - 557 votes Speaks: English*, German, Spanish Studies: Arabic (Written), French | Message 8 of 12 23 January 2014 at 10:16pm | IP Logged | ||
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Yes I intended to use werden in its present tense "to become" usage (the lexical usage
and not as an auxillary). So presumably (in some specific cases) it's also acceptable to say: Ich wurde die Regierung so langsam leid. Die Regierung wurde mittlerweile sowas von bürokratisch. If so, what sort of context would seperate Präsens from Präteritum? 1 person has voted this message useful |
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