Forum .LRN Q&A: german translation: you or you?

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Posted by Tilmann Singer on
Should the german translation use the formal "Sie" or the informal "Du"?

I was thinking about that when stumbling over this sentence during translation:

"You can not add any portlets to this page because they are all in use."

I think in this case a translation that avoids directly addressing the user would sound most natural: "Dieser Seite koennen keine weiteren Portlets hinzugefuegt werden weil sie alle in Verwendung sind.".

In cases where it can't or shouldn't be avoided I strongly vote for the informal "Du" and hope that everybody agrees.

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Posted by David Kuczek on
Very good point... I was translating everything with the formal "Sie", because I was thinking about the professors using it! We should definitely have two versions of the translation. One formal and one informal! You could then switch according to your audience.
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Posted by Carl Robert Blesius on
Firsthand I vote for the formal "Sie" (as well as avoiding directly addressing the user where possible). We will have a lot of non-students using this system in Heidelberg (professors, staff, administration, etc.) and I think that would prevent problems. I would like to hear what others think about this. I would also be interested to know what MS (and other translated) Software uses (I am in Texas at the moment and do not have access to a German MS software to check).
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Posted by Talli Somekh on
Carl wrote: "I would also be interested to know what MS (and other translated) Software uses (I am in Texas at the moment and do not have access to a German MS software to check)."

Well, I bet you could check to see what the Texan translations are. I imagine something along the lines of "y'all" for the plural you, "gidde up" for "submit" and "spittoon" for trash.

talli

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Posted by Carl Robert Blesius on
I have discussed this with my local team in Heidelberg and there is a unanimous vote AGAINST using the informal "Du"

Here are two replies:

--------from a professor in our group--------
zwei antworten

a) formal sollte man "you" mit "sie" uebersetzen

b) besser uebersetzt man nicht "woertlich", sondern sinngemaess
  - da kann man auch "sie/du" vermeiden und wie in diesem satz auf "man" ausweichen.
--------------------------------------------

--------from a student in our group---------
Bin eher fuer "Sie". Nicht nur wegen der Professoren 😉 - immerhin gibts auch noch manche Studenten, die man mit Sie anreden kann, oder? Außerdem will ich auch nicht von jedem Dozenten geduzt werden... (hey - bloß nicht zu ernst nehmen... aber ehrlich: mit "Sie" wird die Uebersetzung auch fuer andere Faelle einfacher. Und weshalb unnoetig verkomplizieren...)
--------------------------------------------

Can we go with "Sie" first Tilmann? We can add an informal "Du" translation later if needed.

Carl

P.S. Talli sumtimes yer a galoot, a Texanese translayshun is uh whole nuther thing, yet I hav'ta fess up that I no some that'll take to yer i-deer like a gopher to soft dirt. Problem is yer "trash" translayshun is  whomperjawed, so I'd reckon we need uh "OpenACS Community Spittoon" package b'fore we could start (uh Texan translayshun of anything without use'n the word "spittoon" in it ain't worth much). Awlright? 😉

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Posted by Talli Somekh on
Carl wrote: I no some that'll take to yer i-deer like a gopher to soft dirt.

Holy.

i'm speechless.

i'm going to go buy a pick up and a gun rack now.

talli

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Posted by Tilmann Singer on
I just looked at a few web pages in german and realized that most of them use the formal "Sie" and it doesn't look that strange at all. They don't use the direct addressing in most cases too, so I agree that that's the way to go.

Just take care that "Sie" is always written with uppercase first letter (obviously).

Another topic: what about respecting both the female and the male form? Especially in university settings i could imagine writing something like "Wissenschaftliche Mitarbeiter" is asking for trouble ...

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8: The Awful German Language (response to 7)
Posted by Carl Robert Blesius on

Here is a valuable resource (in English), so you all know what we are up against here.

The Awful German Language
by Mark Twain (who lived and wrote in Heidelberg for an extended period of time).

Tilmann, I am not sure what to do about the male and female form, but I am sure someone from our group will have an opinion on it.

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Posted by Oliver Emmler on
OK, I vote for "Sie".
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Posted by Oliver Emmler on
Waaas das denn ?
Ich versteh' nur Bahnhof, Carl.
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Posted by Gregor Obernosterer on
I think it is better to use the formal "Sie" since it is simply more polite. "Du" is for more informal use. Another reason might be that the Götz Zitat is more difficult to use when you use the formal "Sie" 😊