Lost in Translation

Astrid spent most of the day out and about with her daddy today. They went to the grocery store, to La Brea Tar Pits and to a German book store. (Unfortunately Uwe didn't bring a camera, but I can imagine them together...father and daughter...bonding.)

Uwe bought some children's books in German for Astrid. I learned that the Barney equivalent in Germany is an elephant named Benjamin Bluemchen. Too cute! (We have the CD with children's songs in German.) I didn't recognize any of the classic German books for kids, except for the Brother's Grimm book. Now I remember reading those Brother's Grimm stories when I was in elementary school and some scared the beejesus out of me. This was the first time I had seen the stories in German, the original language it was written in.

It made me think of when I was watching TV in Switzerland and watched an episode of "The Golden Girls" in German. Boy was that weird. Even though I could understand much of what they were saying, I couldn't get the thought out of my head...they don't sound like that! For example, if you've ever watched the show you know that Blanche had a really deep voice that was gruff in tone. The lady who was Blanche on TV sounded completely different. It was funny at first and then just annoying because I couldn't enjoy the show with out my internal voice chiming in "they don't sound like that!" every few seconds.

Uwe said it was the same way for him when he saw "The Simpsons" in America and they were speaking English. At first he laughed and then his internal voice chimed in, "Whoa. Homer doesn't sound like that!"

I also had the pleasure of reading "The Metamorphosis" by Kafka in both German and English. In English it reads really dark and macabre. However, in German some parts are downright hilarious and it's satirical.

Uwe had even mentioned that some TV shows in the US are not received well in Germany at first (i.e., "Seinfeld) because the humor doesn't translate well. But other US shows are a hit in Germany (i.e., "Sex and the City") right off the bat. I guess certain issues are universal (i.e., relationships and looking for love... rather than Kenny Rogers' Chicken and a strange post office character).

It makes me happy to think that one day Astrid will be a native speaker of both German and English and for her nothing will get lost in translation.