Need a translation check...

[Qyot27]

For a new video project I'm doing, I decided to translate Engel so I could do proper lyrical cues (and include a subtitle track). Since many of the translations can differ, I'd like it if someone more proficient in German than I am (I've taken it for seven years, although for the past four I've basically had to teach myself) could verify if I translated this correctly.



The only issue I'm having is with the ganz fest phrase. If the sentence 'sie müssen sich an Sterne krallen' is translated accurately, how would 'ganz fest' be accurately translated to fit the sentence, since the other translations I've seen would make no sense after 'They claw at the stars'. The only thing I could think of to translate it to would be 'desperately'.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

[CerebralAssamite]

sie mussen sich an Sterne krallen (ganz fest)
They Claw at the Stars (quite fast)

well quite fast could be interpreted as many different things, but desperetly doesnt seem to fit it, hope you can make something out of this.

[Qyot27]

sie mussen sich an Sterne krallen (ganz fest)
They Claw at the Stars (quite fast)

well quite fast could be interpreted as many different things, but desperetly doesnt seem to fit it, hope you can make something out of this.

Thanks, I see now how is does seem a bit off.

I just realized that I missed müssen in my translation, so it might work better with something more like 'quite fast', since it's now 'They must claw'.

Would 'quickly' instead of 'quite fast' be an appropriate translation then?
'They must claw at the stars (quickly) so they don't fall out of the sky'

[CerebralAssamite]

Sounds good to me

[Kai Stromler]

Sorry to pop the bubble, but this is flat wrong. "Ganz fest" means "very tightly", and the "Sterne krallen" phrase has the feel of "clinging to the stars for dear life". "Krallen" is a deep-gut, very tense verb, and the festheit (tightness) implied in the whispered lines serves to emphasize this.

hth,

--K

[)v(ajin Koji]

Sorry to pop the bubble, but this is flat wrong. "Ganz fest" means "very tightly"

I was just about to say so ganz schnell would be quite fast.

[Otohiko]

Yea, well, 'fast' can be used in that sort of sense, too (see 'fastener' or something)
(though of course 'tight' is a more understandable english description)

[Qyot27]

Sorry to pop the bubble, but this is flat wrong. "Ganz fest" means "very tightly", and the "Sterne krallen" phrase has the feel of "clinging to the stars for dear life". "Krallen" is a deep-gut, very tense verb, and the festheit (tightness) implied in the whispered lines serves to emphasize this.

I figured it was like that, actually, since a few of the translations I saw had it that way also. Of course, I also saw about three or four different translations of 'ganz fest', so I had no clue what the truly appropriate translation of the entire phrase was. So, to confirm, is 'They cling to the stars (very tightly)' the best way of translating it, and is that the only trouble spot in the translation, or are there other problems with it?

I was just about to say so ganz schnell would be quite fast.

It seemed kinda strange to me too, to be honest. I wasn't really thinking at the time, and I really needed sleep. I don't know where my head was.

[nokvok]

Um, am not sure if it is still needed, but you have a native Speakig German here, and i will try to clear some things up (damn you why not actually typing that, i can't c/p from a graphic )
I try to give a most accurate Translation (measured on Meaning, not vocabals), the Translation might however not be very rythmic or may become longer or Shorter than the origial Phrase.


Wer zu Lebzeit Gut auf Erden
- Whoever is good all his lifetime on Earth

den Blick'gen Himmel fragst du dann
- looking Heavenward you're asking then

warum man sie nicht sehen kann
- why one can't see them

erst wenn die Wolken schlafen gehn
- only when the clouds will go to sleep

Getrennt von uns unendlich weit
- Seperated from us infinitely far

sie müssen sich an Sterne krallen (ganz fest)
- They have to cling to Stars (really* tight)


*Hm, i used "really" as the Plusquamperfect of "very", since very(="sehr") does not match ganz(kinda "completely") 100% in this Context, they don't only have to cling "very tight" to the stars but they have to Cling "the tightest they can"...


I hope that helped, if not, i am open to Questions.

p.s. yes, i am not native english speaking, so i might have some Spelling or small Grammer errors in there, feel free to correct me.

[Qyot27]

erst wenn die Wolken schlafen gehn
- only when the clouds will go to sleep

*Hm, i used "really" as the Plusquamperfect of "very", since very(="sehr") does not match ganz(kinda "completely") 100% in this Context, they don't only have to cling "very tight" to the stars but they have to Cling "the tightest they can"...

Ok. No problem with 'ganz fest' now, but the issue of 'when' instead of 'if' was something I thought about. If I use 'when', then 'will' has to go because 'when the clouds will go' sounds very strange to me. In that case, 'only when the clouds go to sleep' sounds much better (I think I'll go with that). The other lines were pretty much the same meaning as what I had translated, the differences were mainly grammatical, from what I could tell.

Since I'm not aiming for a rhythmic translation (the German subtitles will be in one subtitle track, the English in another subtitle track, and then both together in a joined track), I think I'll go ahead and use 'as tightly as they can' for 'ganz fest'.

Thanks for the help.