Media Monday is a feature I post every two weeks where I discuss an interesting word or phrase (or sentence or paragraph) from what I’m reading.
We’re back into another (shorter) round of the Tadoku contest, so I’m trying to catch up on the reading a little bit – not that it’s easy or is happening in earnest, but it’s the trying that counts.
I’m still reading Die Bücherdiebin, even though I went to see the film a couple of weeks ago (and loved it!), so this week I’ve literally just picked out two quotes because I love the way Zusak writes and think they’ve translated really well.
“Ich reiste über den Erdball und legte die Seelen auf das Förderband zur Ewigkeit.”
If you haven’t read this book already, regardless of language, then I don’t want to spoil it for you – but you may have already heard that it’s narrated by Death, which leads to some lovely sentences like this – in terms of language and imagery, I mean. 😉
The second one comes when the main character, Liesel, is speaking to her foster father Hans:
“Die leisen Worte fielen vom Bett und ergossen sich wie Puder auf den Boden.”
I cannot get over how much I love Zusak’s imagery and the fact that it’s been so well translated into German makes it even better. This really is one of those books that is just a pleasure to read – it feels like each word has been chosen with purpose and as far as I can tell, the translation is accurate and beautiful.
It’s only a short one this time because I have a bunch of work to do and I thought I’d just leave you all with those. If you have some phrases/sentences that you enjoy in your target language – regardless of where they come from – let me know about them! Part of learning a language is enjoying it in all its forms, I think.
Vocabulary
-r Erdball – globe
-s Förderband – conveyor belt
-e Ewigkeit – eternity
sich ergießen (ergossen) – to spill, to pour out
-r Puder – powder