# How does George Orwell's 1984 Newspeak translate into non-English languages? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 26, 2009, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-george-orwells-1984-newspeak-translate-into-non-english-languages/497667 "2009-05-26T13:19:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2009, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-george-orwells-1984-newspeak-translate-into-non-english-languages/497667/1 "2009-05-26T13:19:06Z")
I recently picked up a German translation of _1984_, and trying to read it got me to wondering: How does Newspeak translate into other languages? ---
**Author:** ![Ronald\_C.Semone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/cc9497/32.png) [@Ronald\_C.Semone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ronald_C.Semone)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2009, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-george-orwells-1984-newspeak-translate-into-non-english-languages/497667/2 "2009-05-26T13:23:10Z")
How did it translate into German? ---
**Author:** ![Noone\_Special](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/noone_special/32/2863_2.png) [@Noone\_Special](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Noone_Special)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2009, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-george-orwells-1984-newspeak-translate-into-non-english-languages/497667/3 "2009-05-26T13:29:45Z")
In Hebrew it was translated as שיחדש which is a merging of שיח (“discourse” or “discussion”) and חדש (“new”) – so almost a literal translation of “Newspeak” ---
**Author:** ![wintertime](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c68b51/32.png) [@wintertime](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wintertime)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2009, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-george-orwells-1984-newspeak-translate-into-non-english-languages/497667/4 "2009-05-26T15:14:52Z")
In German, we have one translation from the 1950s by Kurt Wagenseil and another by Michael Walter that was done at the beginning of the 1980s (… isn’t that a surprise?). IIRC, the translations differ a lot; unfortunately, I don’t have both copies close at hand. Wagenseil translated Newspeak with Neusprache (which rather means “new language”), while Walter stayed much closer to the original by inventing the word “Neusprech”. In Spanish, it’s “neolengua”. ---
**Author:** ![DrCube](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a3d4f5/32.png) [@DrCube](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrCube)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2009, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-george-orwells-1984-newspeak-translate-into-non-english-languages/497667/5 "2009-05-26T15:56:52Z")
I don’t think it’s the word “newspeak” she’s asking about, but rather the actual language. ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2009, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-george-orwells-1984-newspeak-translate-into-non-english-languages/497667/6 "2009-05-26T16:17:47Z")
Depending on the language, probably ungood. ---
**Author:** ![wintertime](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c68b51/32.png) [@wintertime](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wintertime)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2009, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-george-orwells-1984-newspeak-translate-into-non-english-languages/497667/7 "2009-05-26T16:24:33Z")
> [@DrCube](#): > > I don’t think it’s the word “newspeak” she’s asking about, but rather the actual language. :smack: In German, the ministries are Miniwahr (Minitrue), Minipax, Minifluss (Miniplenty), Minilieb (Miniluv). Doublethink = Doppeldenk (new) or Zwiedenken/Zwiegedanke; the new word is closer to the original in a literal sense, the older one catches the twisted meaning better, imo. Thoughtcrime = Undenk (very clever translation, although not exactly literal; it stresses the idea that a thought that deviates from the party line is unthinkable while it is thought). Someone who doesn’t exist any longer/has never existed is consequently a “Unperson”. And a person who never has a thought he couldn’t possibly have in the first place is a “Gutdenker”. German grammar is eerily able to express Doublethink perfectly. ---
**Author:** ![Sean\_Factotum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/50afbb/32.png) [@Sean\_Factotum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sean_Factotum)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2009, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-george-orwells-1984-newspeak-translate-into-non-english-languages/497667/8 "2009-05-26T16:26:04Z")
> [@wintertime](#): > > German grammar is eerily able to express Doublethink perfectly. I wonder if that was intentional on Orwell’s part. ---
**Author:** ![wintertime](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c68b51/32.png) [@wintertime](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wintertime)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2009, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-george-orwells-1984-newspeak-translate-into-non-english-languages/497667/9 "2009-05-26T16:46:20Z")
> [@Sean\_Factotum](#): > > I wonder if that was intentional on Orwell’s part. Don’t know .. but wouldn’t surprise me. English is more linear than German: one thought follows another. In German, otoh, it’s easy to include a thought within another and point to yet another, earlier or later one, without twisting a sentence too much. It’s great to show actual dependencies but you can also twist meaning easily that way. Try to read Hegel. We can also do the same within words without problem, given the way they are built. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2009, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-george-orwells-1984-newspeak-translate-into-non-english-languages/497667/10 "2009-05-26T17:27:36Z")
Right. I have only a somewhat knowledge of German, but reading the “Newspeak” appendix, I thought the language adapted itself to German very well. Which would make the clumsiness of English Newspeak hard to convey in German. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2009, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-george-orwells-1984-newspeak-translate-into-non-english-languages/497667/11 "2009-05-27T02:26:52Z")
[hijack] The whole point of Newspeak is to make heretical thought impossible, because nobody has the words to express it, therefore to think it. But O’Brien explains to Smith that the face will **always** be there to be stomped on. The whole point of Ingsoc is political sadomasochism, a way for the Inner Party to express its power in the only undeniable way, by making others suffer, and tearing their minds to pieces and rebuilding them along Party lines. So, if there is no more thoughtcrime . . . what fun is left for the Inner Party? 😕 [/hijack]