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Glossary entry

German term or phrase:

sich etwas untertan machen

English translation:

use and change as one sees fit / subjugate

Added to glossary by silfilla
Jul 24, 2005 12:57
18 yrs ago
German term

untertan

German to English Art/Literary Journalism
Die englische Sprache erobert die Welt - und die Welt macht sie sich zum Schrecken der Briten untertan. Wissenschaftler warnen vor Vereinfachung und Verhunzung, Oxfordianern graust es.

TIA!!!
Proposed translations (English)
4 +4 use it as they see fit
3 +2 comment (not for points)
4 +1 commandeered
4 makes it its own
3 the world grasps control
2 subdue
1 English once took over the world, but much to the distress of the British the world is now
Change log

Jul 24, 2005 13:32: Steffen Walter changed "Level" from "Non-PRO" to "PRO"

Votes to reclassify question as PRO/non-PRO:

PRO (2): silfilla, Norbert Hermann

Non-PRO (2): Steven Sidore, Lancashireman

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Proposed translations

+4
2 mins
Selected

use it as they see fit

i.e. use and change English to suit their needs

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 12 mins (2005-07-24 13:10:37 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

uses English as it (the world) sees fit
Peer comment(s):
agree Steffen Walter
33 mins
thanks, Steffen :-)
agree writeaway : a worrying problem indeed. many serious mistakes are slowly becoming institutionalised to some degree through the use of English by people whose native language it ain't :-)
39 mins
English is very flexible and adaptable and, as all languages, ever changing ... though I agree that Denglisch, for one, is absolutely awful, I can understand Germans' need to run from that marker of their identity as fast as they can
agree David Hollywood : very nice rendering :)
1 hr
thanks, David :-)
agree Ken Cox : or if you want something more graphic, 'rides roughshod over it' (that's how it often feels to a native speaker...).
1 hr
thanks for the agree but I don't see your alternative in the German
neutral Lancashireman : A rather free interpretation. Possibly OK in isolation but not in the context of the full sentence where a dramatic contrast has to be conveyed.// Merriam Webster (for our friends in NYC): ‘sub-ju-gate’ = to bring under control and governance as a subject
3 hrs
oh, really? to subjugate sth is to *use it as one sees fit*
Something went wrong...
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "Thank you all for kind help!"
3 mins

the world grasps control

over it
Peer comment(s):
neutral silfilla : the "world grasps control" is not idiomatic English, not to mention that nobody is "taking control" of English ... not even the German source text says so
4 hrs
Something went wrong...
1 hr

makes it its own

or subjugates it
Something went wrong...
+2
2 hrs

comment (not for points)

The phrase contains an intentional contrast, which you may want to preserve in the translation. It could be paraphrased as 'English conquers the world, but the world subjugates (conquers) English'. If English literally conquered the world, it would subjugate the world (make the world obey its will), but here 'conquer the world' is being used figuratively. Besides playing on the different literal and figurative meanings of 'conquer', the text also refers to the apparent paradox of the fact that in the process of 'conquering' the world, English is being transformed more or less radically as a result of being used widely by non-native speakers.
Peer comment(s):
agree Lancashireman : Yes, the problem with too free a translation of the second half of the sentence is that the contrast with the first half is lost.
10 mins
agree Stephen Roche : This sentence loses its punch if the contrast between the two forms of 'conquest' is lost
1 hr
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+1
3 hrs

commandeered

The English language may have conquered the world, but the world, much to the horror of the British, has now commandeered the English language.

This takes a bit of liberty with the original, but seems to get the point across.
Peer comment(s):
agree Lancashireman
18 mins
Something went wrong...
6 hrs

English once took over the world, but much to the distress of the British the world is now

taking back control
Something went wrong...
9 hrs

subdue

"Sich etwas untertan machen" ist archaisch bis biblisch.

Genesis 1,28

http://zavodsky.webz.cz/rozeta/rozeta.htm
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