DIE LUF DER FLOTSAM SAUGEN - you gotta be kidding
(concerning the flag of Flotsam island)
That must be the most sorry attempt to translate an english sentence into german i have ever seen.
It's so bad that it's not even funny bad anymore. Any free online sentence translator could do it better than this word by word translation.
Not only the total disregard of all grammar, or the miss-spelling of one out of four german 3-4 letter words but also the fact that the saying even translated correctly doesn't make any sense to start with.
Just out of curiosity, why did you have to go for "German" on that flag if you don't even have the resources to type the sentence into babelfish.
That must be the most sorry attempt to translate an english sentence into german i have ever seen.
It's so bad that it's not even funny bad anymore. Any free online sentence translator could do it better than this word by word translation.
Not only the total disregard of all grammar, or the miss-spelling of one out of four german 3-4 letter words but also the fact that the saying even translated correctly doesn't make any sense to start with.
Just out of curiosity, why did you have to go for "German" on that flag if you don't even have the resources to type the sentence into babelfish.
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Sometimes badly translated can turn out to be pretty fun... But it often depends on whether the reader/listener is really fluent in the language or not. So maybe this is pretty funny to some english speaking guy who know a few german words but not to anyone who really know the language. I wouldn't know, "kartoffel and "arsch" are the only german words i know. But i bet an english guy would have a hard time understanding why french kids think the verb "to bite" is so funny.
There is nothing funny about it that i could possibly conceive.
I'm fluent in English and German and I have seen a lot of decent making fun of the german language with knowingly bad translations or made-up german sounding words.
I thought the Sam & MAx episode with the German Vampire was pretty funny.
This flag however is not meant to be a joke. It's just blatantly ignorant lack of knowledge and a half-assed attempt to translate.
Any English speakers out there who can say they thought it's funny?
I will be gladly proven wrong if it really is ammusing to some people.
remember my thread about the "german whiners"?
See...this guy just registered just for this posting. Awesome. This...Sir...is by far...the pinnacle of whining!
EDIT: Sorry, my bad. Was no whining, after your 2nd posting, i can understand your point.
As for the translation on the flag, the missing "t" in "Luft" made me also look twice to actually figure it out, and of course "saugen" can't be used in the same double meaning as in English, but that's another story. Maybe I'm missing the point here, but I'm not sure if this is funny to someone who only knows a few words of German, if they even identify it as such. Reminds me of that early Simpsons episode "Burns verkaufen der Kraftwerk" (Which is also translated incorrectly, but intentional... and funny. Maybe it was an homage to this?)
Anyway, I really loved the game, can't wait for the next one and as for future German references I'd be more than happy to assist.
Hey, maybe it'll even get explained in a later chapter, I'm kinda guessing there's going to be more to the Courthouse, and they strongly hinted at us seeing more of the Voodoo Lady's chest of unmentionables, or whatever, so maybe Guybrush will be back to Flotsam Island.
I'm kinda hoping that there's something behind their poor use of German, just so I won't be disappointed in them
There's a recycling symbol, then there's
DIE = THE
LUF(T) = AIR
FLOTSAM ( Treibgut or Plunder in German)
SAUGEN = SUCK
=> THE AIR FLOTSAM SUCK
Maybe "Keep Flotsam (Island)'s Air Clean"?
Flotsam's winds suck ?
Fixed.
Luft means wind... but the sentence makes no sense in German
"saugen" isn't a swearword in German and it hasn't a "double entendre"
maybe more like the air in flotsam sucks, as in its bad because nobody can escape because of the wind
That makes sense to me AND it's a little funny, assuming that maybe German doesn't use the verb that way? lol
Hmmmmm, I've heard several people from other countries commenting how annoying it is that you must separate your trash into different bins for recycling in Germany and how typical it is of this country. Any possible connection here?
Edit: Just noticed it's on the upper right of the "Keelhauler Gazette" newsletter as well which I've just received by e-mail.
The wind on Flotsam sucks.
didn't even figure out what it should mean, but I haven't given it much thought.
It's just obvios to you, that "suck" has got those two meanings, when you speak english (even if you're a non native english speaking person), but as soon as you change to german, this thought doesn't apear.
I don't care about this too much tho. It's been a really great season start. Loved it!
It's only as modern English speakers that we apply the slang meaning to it.
I guess that's the joke, that Flotsam's winds both suck (as in suck people towards the island, then keep them there) and suck (as in something bad).
Obviously it's a play on words that won't work as well for a non-native English speaker. Not every joke needs to work for everyone though. That's why the game has more than one!
If the flag was in english the double meaning actually might be funny. By translating it wrong that joke is pretty much lost though to anyone but people that are good enough in german to decipher the translation attempt.
The recycling symbol might be an attempted pun on the fact that the winds bring everything back to flotsam basically making you go in circles if you try to leave.
Also could be pun on the people there recycling everything they find... which pretty much is trash (flotsam)
And just for the files: I didnt just register to whine about this flag. As you can see i registered in June already, just didn't have anything I wanted to talk about before.
(Lately, "saugen" is used a lot in the "this sucks" sense in German...)
np: Tim Exile - Fortress (Listening Tree)
Die Luft der Freiheit weht
np: Tim Exile - Bad Dust (Listening Tree)
Ich glaub da haben die Österreicher ihre eigene Interpretation. Bei uns heist saugen, naja... saugen eben. Sonst nichts.
(Talking about people in Austria using the word differently from people in Germany)
Seeing how this is a motto on both the flag and the Keelhauler Gazette, this must be it.
And, I bet that someone is Mike Stemmle. Used to write shows for the Band.
As for the German sentence, maybe something like 'Flotsamer Wind wirbelt Staub auf' would have been better. A German double meaning.
(Flotsam wind disperses dust/ Flotsam wind creates a great stir)
I am from Austria (west - Tirol) and by no mans does "saugen" mean anything but "saugen".
Maybe in eastern Austria it's different, who knows.
But I think they tried to translate "The flotam wind sucks". Unfortunatley in a very very bad way.
Also West-Tirol here, so...
+1
I can't think of a reason why they left the "t" from "Luft" out. Are they that careless, or is that part of that "joke"?
Why is it translated into (very bad) german at all?
ROLF!!! omg, that was great, i nearly laughed myself to tears.
you're hilarious
Hehe, wie cool, die Welt ist wirklich klein, vor allem im Internet
I think they put each word into some online translation page and then accidently left the "t" out... lazy
His lines are definitely wrote by an english speaking person and "google translated".
The best exemple is his final line :