# Translating Dennis the Menace **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 26, 2013, 9:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translating-dennis-the-menace/669710 "2013-09-26T09:47:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2013, 9:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translating-dennis-the-menace/669710/1 "2013-09-26T09:47:30Z")
In an old Dennis the Menace comic panel, Dennis is on the sidewalk talking to his friend Tommy, who lies in a heap after being clobbered. A girl who hit him walks off in a huff. Dennis says to Tommy in explanation: “See? **That’s** why you should never hit a girl!” I’ve been wanting to get translations of this line into various languages, knowing that Dennis’ escapades appear in newspapers in all kinds of languages. So, please–provide translations of Dennis’ remark into other languages. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2013, 10:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translating-dennis-the-menace/669710/2 "2013-09-26T10:09:06Z")
I presume that you mean this Dennis the Menace: > **[Dennis the Menace (U.S. comics)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dennis_the_Menace_(U.S._comics))** > > Dennis the Menace is a daily syndicated newspaper comic strip originally created, written, and illustrated by Hank Ketcham. The comic strip made its debut on March 12, 1951, in 16 newspapers and was originally distributed by Post-Hall Syndicate. It is now written and drawn by Ketcham's former assistants, Marcus Hamilton (weekdays, since 1995), Ron Ferdinand (Sundays, since 1981), and son Scott Ketcham (since 2010), and distributed to at least 1,000 newspapers in 48 countries and in 19 langu It ... and not this one: > **[Dennis the Menace and Gnasher](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dennis_and_Gnasher)** > > Dennis the Menace and Gnasher (originally titled Dennis the Menace and currently titled Dennis and Gnasher) is a long-running comic strip in the British children's comic The Beano, published by DC Thomson, of Dundee, Scotland. The comic stars a boy named Dennis the Menace and his dog, an "Abyssinian wire-haired tripe hound" named Gnasher. > The strip first appeared in issue 452, dated 17 March 1951, and on sale from 12 March 1951. It is the longest-running strip in the comic. The idea and name ... ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2013, 10:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translating-dennis-the-menace/669710/3 "2013-09-26T10:58:11Z")
You have presumed correctly. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![TPWombat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbce88/32.png) [@TPWombat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TPWombat)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2013, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translating-dennis-the-menace/669710/4 "2013-09-26T18:04:55Z")
Our Dennis could beat up your Dennis. ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2013, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translating-dennis-the-menace/669710/5 "2013-09-29T02:06:41Z")
Arabic: انظر؟ وهذا هو السبب يجب أن تضغط ابدأ فتاة! Bulgarian: Вижте? Ето защо никога не трябва да се удари момиче! Danish: Se? Thats hvorfor du bør aldrig ramte en pige! Dutch: Zie? Dat is waarom je moet nooit een meisje! French: Voir ? C’est pourquoi vous ne devez jamais atteindre une fille ! German: Sehen? Deshalb sollten Sie nie geschlagen, ein Mädchen! Greek: Δείτε; Γι αυτό το λόγο θα πρέπει να χτυπήσει ποτέ ένα κορίτσι! Hebrew: רואה? לכן כדאי לא תפגע בחורה! Italian: Vedere? Ecco perché non si dovrebbe mai colpire una ragazza! Klingon: legh? vaj be’Hom vaj not qlp SoH! Romanian: A se vedea? Iată de ce tu ar trebui să atingă niciodată o fată! Spanish: ¿Ves? Por eso nunca debe alcanzar una chica! courtesy of [http://nicetranslator.com/](http://nicetranslator.com/) ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2013, 7:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translating-dennis-the-menace/669710/6 "2013-09-29T07:06:00Z")
Thanks 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2013, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translating-dennis-the-menace/669710/7 "2013-09-29T14:24:19Z")
Are those actually good translations? Does “Voir?” actually mean “See?” in the sense “Do you understand?”? I really wonder if those literal translations are accurate. ---
**Author:** ![BleizDu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9dc877/32.png) [@BleizDu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BleizDu)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2013, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translating-dennis-the-menace/669710/8 "2013-09-29T14:50:19Z")
The french translation is all garbage, so I don’t know if you can trust the others. I would say, maybe, “T’as vu! C’est pour ça qu’on ne frappe pas les filles!” (but it’s not a literal translation) ---
**Author:** ![Svejk\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea666f/32.png) [@Svejk\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Svejk_1)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2013, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translating-dennis-the-menace/669710/9 "2013-09-29T18:58:18Z")
Those translations blow chunks. Don’t rely on computers for translation, it’s not possible yet. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2013, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translating-dennis-the-menace/669710/10 "2013-09-29T19:15:56Z")
Esperanto - Vidu? Tial vi devus neniam batis knabino! Klingon - legh’a’? vaj be’Hom vaj not qlp SoH! ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2013, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translating-dennis-the-menace/669710/11 "2013-09-29T19:59:55Z")
Yeah, my spanish is terrible but I’m pretty sure that alcanzar means to reach or attain. Golpear means to hit. ---
**Author:** ![Uther\_Penguin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Uther\_Penguin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uther_Penguin)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2013, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translating-dennis-the-menace/669710/12 "2013-09-30T00:26:38Z")
The German version is garbage. “Sehen” is the infinitive, a boy would hardly “siezen” another boy (it’s a formal way of address among adults, as if a boy would call another boy "Mister [lastname] without irony.) and the comma is wrong. “Siehst du? Darum sollte man nie ein Mädchen schlagen.” would be much better. The Dutch version is incomplete. “Zie je wel? Daarom zou je nooit een meisje meppen.” ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2013, 7:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translating-dennis-the-menace/669710/13 "2013-09-30T07:42:22Z")
I thank Wendell Wagner and BleizDu for their comments. I agree with others that computer translations are a failure. I used to work with a German who sometimes chided me gently about my American English idioms, including “Oh, I see”; I pointed out to him that German has a similar idiom _(einsehen)_ and he should know better: _(“ich sehe nicht ein…”)_. And I don’t think there’s such a word in Danish as _“thats.”_ ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2013, 7:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translating-dennis-the-menace/669710/14 "2013-09-30T07:44:22Z")
Oh–and, Astro, tio estu knabino **n!** ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2013, 8:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translating-dennis-the-menace/669710/15 "2013-09-30T08:52:17Z")
> [@TBG](#): > > Spanish: > ¿Ves? Por eso nunca debe alcanzar una chica! > courtesy of [http://nicetranslator.com/](http://nicetranslator.com/) > [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > Are those actually good translations? Does “Voir?” actually mean “See?” in the sense “Do you understand?”? I really wonder if those literal translations are accurate. Not for Spanish from Spain, I can’t guarantee there isn’t any dialect where it would be valid… the verb they’ve given means “to hit” only where projectiles are involved; in any other context, it means “to reach”. Translations I can see, although I haven’t tried to verify whether either one was actually used, include: _¿Ves? ¡Por eso es que no se les pega a las chicas! ¿Ves? ¡Por eso no se golpea a las chicas!_ The two verbs are equivalent but more or less frequent in different dialects, the phrasing chosen would depend among other things on balloon space. ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2013, 9:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translating-dennis-the-menace/669710/16 "2013-09-30T09:23:06Z")
DTM usually has the caption\* printed \*below the cartoon, in a font that differs from paper to paper. ---
**Author:** ![Neverending\_Elbow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/e274bd/32.png) [@Neverending\_Elbow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neverending_Elbow)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2013, 10:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translating-dennis-the-menace/669710/17 "2013-09-30T10:26:22Z")
I don’t think the comic has ever been translated into Polish, only the 80’s cartoon and the feature film (both times as Dennis Rozrabiaka). My humble effort: ‘Widzisz? _Dlatego_ nie bije się dziewczyn!’ ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2013, 6:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translating-dennis-the-menace/669710/18 "2013-10-01T06:32:26Z")
I’d still like to see the line rendered into Russian, Greek, and Japanese (both Roman characters and regular Japanese script). 🙂 _Spasibo, Efcharisto, Arigato._ ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2013, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translating-dennis-the-menace/669710/19 "2013-10-01T13:34:43Z")
Btw, I’m assuming the girl in question is Gina & not Margaret. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2013, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translating-dennis-the-menace/669710/20 "2013-10-01T18:21:58Z")
> [@TBG](#): > > French: > Voir ? C’est pourquoi vous ne devez jamais atteindre une fille ! To my rapidly decaying French, that’s something like: “To see? This is why you\* should never reach\*\* for a girl.” \*It seems “on” would work better. \*\*or attain (i.e. reach for your goals). North Korean: **I AM A VERY DISOBEDIENT BOY AND AM DISRESPECTFUL TO OUR GREAT LEADER KIM JONG-UN, MAY HE REIGN FOR 1000 YEARS** [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translating-dennis-the-menace/669710.md?page=2)