# Frivolous German translation question **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 30, 2015, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frivolous-german-translation-question/733067 "2015-09-30T19:10:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Doughbag](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@Doughbag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doughbag)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2015, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frivolous-german-translation-question/733067/21 "2015-10-02T21:31:26Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > Not that it matters at this point, but I used the wrong word above–I meant “Schwarzen **Sprechen** ,” or something like that. No, it duzn’t matta’ eida’ and still ain’t funny in German, since da damn black Germans duzn’t speak Jive. What it is, Mama. Right On! ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2015, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frivolous-german-translation-question/733067/22 "2015-10-02T21:37:46Z")
Did I miss something upthread? Translating American into German all of a sudden changed the black men’s nationality in the movie? ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2015, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frivolous-german-translation-question/733067/23 "2015-10-02T21:58:52Z")
I withdraw all my comments–this is fucked up! Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit sniffing glue. ---
**Author:** ![Doughbag](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@Doughbag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doughbag)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2015, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frivolous-german-translation-question/733067/24 "2015-10-03T14:00:26Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > Did I miss something upthread? Translating American into German all of a sudden changed the black men’s nationality in the movie? No worries, somethings just get lost in translation. Either way, it doesn’t really matter what nationality or where in the US they are from in the movie - since they all speak German in the German version. There is no German Alabama or New York accent, all they can do is substitute it with a German slang and if its important to the story where someone is from exactly, they have to find a way to bring that across somewhat. However, my point earlier was, that it doesn’t matter if your black, white, brown, yellow or pink - they all speak the same way. Where as, when I listen to people like Eddie Griffin, I can often hear that they speak American-English differently to others. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2015, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frivolous-german-translation-question/733067/25 "2015-10-03T19:36:34Z")
> [@md2000](#): > > The trouble is, the jokes in the movie (many jokes in every context) are very language and idiom specific. > > For example: > “Check the radar range” - [looks into microwave, chicken is almost cooked] > A microwave was called a radar range for a while in The Good Old Days. (range -old name for stove) > It’s also a perfect phrase for distance reading on the airport radar. > > Ich Nicht sprechen zie Deutsch, but my hat’s off to anyone who can make a translation of that movie that comes close to the original in funny. > > Jive? Ebonics! I first saw it in 1980 in the German dub when I was twelve and it was the funniest movie I had ever seen, even though jokes about Turkish prisons and gladiators went over my head then, and I’ve seen it many times since then and it’s one of the favorite films from my childhood which still absolutely hold up very well. I’ve never seen the original version, only some clips, but I still think they did a very good job for the German version, the very scene this thread is about being a good example. It was also one of the legendary scenes here everybody was talking about after they’ve seen it. P.S.: now I have to check how they dubbed the “And don’t call me Shirley” line. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2015, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frivolous-german-translation-question/733067/26 "2015-10-03T19:48:48Z")
Hah, [I found it](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0MAH-lsAVAM#t=2m05s). Of course it was: “Bitte nennen sie mich nicht Ernst.” 😃 ---
**Author:** ![SpoilerVirgin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@SpoilerVirgin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpoilerVirgin)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2015, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frivolous-german-translation-question/733067/27 "2015-10-03T19:53:21Z")
I just have to say that this is why I love the Internet. OP: Can you tell me how to translate this one particular line from a 35-year-old movie from English into German? Post #5: Here’s a link to that scene in the German version. Even though I don’t speak German, the more references I hear to Bavaria jokes, the more I want to visit Bavaria. ---
**Author:** ![Donnerwetter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Donnerwetter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Donnerwetter)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2015, 8:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frivolous-german-translation-question/733067/28 "2015-10-05T08:41:57Z")
IMHO, the German dubbing of this scene (i. e. having the African-American speaking Bavarian dialect) comes across as crude. A more or less butchered Bavarian accent is what you get from German central casting when you order a “hillbilly who talks funny”. The original scene from Airplane! is more subtle. Barbara Billingsley, Zucker/Abrahams/Zucker and Al White and Norman Gibbs (the two actors who portrayed the black “jive speakers”) have talked about the writing, the casting, the preparation and the filming of the scene. Barbara Billingsley hadn’t worked as an actress in years and she was of course instantly recognizable as June Cleaver, a character who was as lily white, suburban middle American as it gets and who, without further explanation, is able to speak the sociolect of urban African-American men as it if were a foreign language you can learn from a textbook. The “jive” on the other hand wasn’t real either but carefully scripted. [Barbara Billingsley on speaking “jive” in “Airplane” - EMMYTVLEGENDS.ORG](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gUw2fIa0dSI) [The Making of Jive Talk from Airplane!](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7fkZdz4Vz10) ---
**Author:** ![Doughbag](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@Doughbag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doughbag)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2015, 10:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frivolous-german-translation-question/733067/29 "2015-10-05T10:15:00Z")
> [@EinsteinsHund](#): > > Hah, [I found it](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0MAH-lsAVAM#t=2m05s). Of course it was: “Bitte nennen sie mich nicht Ernst.” 😃 Im ernst? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2015, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frivolous-german-translation-question/733067/30 "2015-10-05T12:57:52Z")
“We’ve got to get her to a hospital!” “What is it?” “It’s a big building with patients. No time for that now…” I also wonder how you translate “Roger roger”, “clearance, Clarence”, “vector, Victor” It’s a step beyond even creative dubbing. DId they hire comedian writers? ---
**Author:** ![Donnerwetter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Donnerwetter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Donnerwetter)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2015, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frivolous-german-translation-question/733067/31 "2015-10-05T13:43:33Z")
They had to rewrite a number of the dialogues. It’s also noteworthy that some jokes were considered too strong for German taste at the time, for instance the scene in which the flight attendant plays on a guitar and sings for the sick little girl, inadvertently rips out her infusion set and the child is having what looks like seizures. ---
**Author:** ![Doughbag](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@Doughbag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doughbag)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2015, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frivolous-german-translation-question/733067/32 "2015-10-05T14:20:30Z")
> [@md2000](#): > > “We’ve got to get her to a hospital!” > > “What is it?” > > “It’s a big building with patients. No time for that now…” > > I also wonder how you translate “Roger roger”, “clearance, Clarence”, “vector, Victor” > > It’s a step beyond even creative dubbing. DId they hire comedian writers? The hospital pun is the same in German and therefor easy to translate. Roger is also understood both ways in German. The line **EinsteinsHund** mentioned “Don’t call me Shirley” derived from surely, works in German as well, just with a different word in the sentence. Can you fly and land this plan _Koennen sie diese Machine fliegen und landen_ You can’t be serious _Das meinen Sie doch nicht **ernst** _ Of cos do I mean that and please don’t call me Serious _Naturlich meine ich das und nennen sie mich nicht **Ernst**._ _…the English is a translation of the German sentences_ In Germany there is a whole industry in translating/dubbing movies & TV, with various budgets. Usually a bigger budgets show/movie gets better writers. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2015, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frivolous-german-translation-question/733067/33 "2015-10-05T14:28:25Z")
> [@Donnerwetter](#): > > They had to rewrite a number of the dialogues. **It’s also noteworthy that some jokes were considered too strong for German taste at the time** , for instance the scene in which the flight attendant plays on a guitar and sings for the sick little girl, inadvertently rips out her infusion set and the child is having what looks like seizures. (Emphasis added) By whom? I distinctly remember that they left that scene in the German theatrical release at the time, because it was one of the funniest ones (at least I thought so after leaving the theater then). ---
**Author:** ![Donnerwetter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Donnerwetter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Donnerwetter)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2015, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frivolous-german-translation-question/733067/34 "2015-10-05T14:40:53Z")
> [@EinsteinsHund](#): > > (Emphasis added) > > By whom? I distinctly remember that they left that scene in the German theatrical release at the time, because it was one of the funniest ones (at least I thought so after leaving the theater then). Frankly, I’m not sure and I don’t have a cite. But I distinctly remember reading about this back in the day. It could have been a video release at a later date. ---
**Author:** ![DaphneBlack](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/daphneblack/32/5389_2.png) [@DaphneBlack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DaphneBlack)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2015, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frivolous-german-translation-question/733067/35 "2015-10-05T20:45:24Z")
> [@SpoilerVirgin](#): > > I just have to say that this is why I love the Internet. > > OP: Can you tell me how to translate this one particular line from a 35-year-old movie from English into German? > > Post #5: Here’s a link to that scene in the German version. > > Even though I don’t speak German, the more references I hear to Bavaria jokes, the more I want to visit Bavaria. I tried to post more or less this but my internet is terrible and then I forgot to come back. So thank you everyone, this turned into a really interesting thread. I’m now going to scour Youtube for German dubs of a bunch of my favorite films. It might be a good way to work on my German – certainly more fun than the workbooks I have. ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2015, 6:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frivolous-german-translation-question/733067/36 "2015-10-06T06:36:01Z")
> [@DaphneBlack](#): > > I tried to post more or less this but my internet is terrible and then I forgot to come back. So thank you everyone, this turned into a really interesting thread. > > I’m now going to scour Youtube for German dubs of a bunch of my favorite films. It might be a good way to work on my German – certainly more fun than the workbooks I have. Surely there are better ways to learn German? ---
**Author:** ![Doughbag](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@Doughbag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doughbag)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2015, 10:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frivolous-german-translation-question/733067/37 "2015-10-06T10:51:56Z")
> [@md2000](#): > > Surely there are better ways to learn German? Maybe to learn, but watching TV & Movies helps a lot to understand that language better… of cos it’s way better to talk with real people. ---
**Author:** ![DaphneBlack](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/daphneblack/32/5389_2.png) [@DaphneBlack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DaphneBlack)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2015, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frivolous-german-translation-question/733067/38 "2015-10-06T18:38:50Z")
I have in fact studied German ‘the normal way’ and will take a class once I move there in January… But I’ve found that consuming media is actually very effective (for me) at helping me understand a lot of the nuances that are rarely discussed in a class setting. Talking to real people is best, but multiple avenues for exposure, to multiple levels/registers of a language, gives a fuller picture, I think. I hadn’t thought of YouTube as a resource before! ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2015, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frivolous-german-translation-question/733067/39 "2015-10-06T22:17:15Z")
> [@md2000](#): > > Surely there are better ways to learn German? These German folks weren’t kidding; I thought _someone_ would jump on this. I feex! _Ahem_ I don’t think so, and quit calling me Shirley. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2015, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frivolous-german-translation-question/733067/40 "2015-10-06T22:32:30Z")
> [@DaphneBlack](#): > > I’m told that in the German dubbing of the movie, the “jive” is actually Bavarian. Ein bayerisches Mädchen sagt, ‘Kuss mir, Kasimir!’ Kasimir sagt: ‘Nicht “mir”; _“mich”!_’ Die Bayerische Mädchen sagt, ‘Kuss mir, Kasimich!’ (In my high school German class, it was explained that ‘mir’ was sometimes used in Bavaria where ‘mich’ should have been used. Apparently, the quoted exchange is a ‘Bavarian joke’.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frivolous-german-translation-question/733067.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frivolous-german-translation-question/733067.md?page=3)