German translation help

[BrotherBenny]

I'm writing a novel and I need some help translating English into German since the free translation sites on the web seem to differ as to what the correct translation is.

This is what I need translated...and please tell me if the grammar of German would make a difference to the translation. I need it as accurate as possible and I'm not too bothered about any changes to the German language in the last seventy years...

Halt/Stop, raise/put up your hands!

We are German soldiers returning home.

Show me your papers/identification

Sorry to bother you, Major. How are you getting home?

We have a car hidden nearby.

...I will need more later, and whoever helps me will get their name(s) in the acknowledgements (provided I do actually finish the damned thing).

Thanks

 

[Roger Wilco]

Halt/Stop, raise/put up your hands!

Halt/Stop, [both are ok] Hände hoch!

We are German soldiers returning home.

Wir sind deutsche Soldaten auf dem Weg nach Hause.

Show me your papers/identification

Zeigen Sie mir ihre Papiere

Sorry to bother you, Major. How are you getting home?

Entschuldigen Sie die Störung, Major. Wie kommen Sie nach Hause?

We have a car hidden nearby.

Wir haben ein Auto in der Nähe versteckt.

That's what I would say, but it's not the only correct translation.

 

[Asbo Zaprudder]

Don't use the following:
Mein Luftkissenfahrzeug ist von den Aalen voll.
Lassen Sie Ihren Schlüpfer, Sir William fallen. Ich kann nicht bis Mittag warten.
Möchten Sie zu meinem Platz, federnd federnd zurück gehen?

 

[BrotherBenny]

Halt/Stop, raise/put up your hands!

Halt/Stop, [both are ok] Hände hoch!

We are German soldiers returning home.

Wir sind deutsche Soldaten auf dem Weg nach Hause.


Zeigen Sie mir ihre Papiere

Sorry to bother you, Major. How are you getting home?

Entschuldigen Sie die Störung, Major. Wie kommen Sie nach Hause?

We have a car hidden nearby.

Wir haben ein Auto in der Nähe versteckt.

That's what I would say, but it's not the only correct translation.

Most of that is close to what I have. Does "Major" not have a German translation?

 

[Roger Wilco]

Maybe but I don't know anything about military ranks. Major is a German rank too, so I assumed it's the same, but that could be wrong.

 

[Asbo Zaprudder]

Should it be "Herr Major"? Perhaps I've watched too many WW2 movies.

 

[Roger Wilco]

Hm, could be, I'm not sure.
eta: probably yes, when he's talking to someone he doesn't know personally, especially if it's a superior.

 

[Omnius]

In the Wehrmacht its Major. In the SS its Sturmbannführer.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Army_officer_ranks

 

[trekkiedane]

/.../ How are you getting home?

/.../ Wie kommen Sie nach Hause?

This is how I'd say this in German:

wie werden Sie nach hause gelangen?

(but it probably means "how are you going to get home")

And while "Zeigen Sie mir ihre Papiere" is quite correct translated by RC I believe the German term would be "Papiere, bitte" (papers, please).

 

[Count Zero]

Sorry to bother you, Major. How are you getting home?

Entschuldigen Sie die Störung, Major. Wie kommen Sie nach Hause?

It should be 'Herr Major'. That's the correct form of adress in the Bundeswehr and I'd also say that as a civilian.

/.../ How are you getting home?

/.../ Wie kommen Sie nach Hause?

This is how I'd say this in German:

wie werden Sie nach hause gelangen?

That's correct, but very formal and old-fashioned.

And while "Zeigen Sie mir ihre Papiere" is quite correct translated by RC I believe the German term would be "Papiere, bitte" (papers, please).

Both versions are correct. Also "Die Papiere!" or just "Papiere!"


Do the soldiers just go home or do they return home from an engagement or the war, Brother Benny?

 

[Roger Wilco]

And while "Zeigen Sie mir ihre Papiere" is quite correct translated by RC I believe the German term would be "Papiere, bitte" (papers, please).

Possible, but it's difficult to tell from the English phrase how polite the person means what he's saying. Your version is a little more harsh.

 

[Nick086]

I love German! Where are all my Germans at!

 

[BrotherBenny]

Count Zero, they're not German soldiers at all but pretending to be so in order to make a difficult journey through 1940s Europe easier.

Roger Wilco, I prefer the harsh version.

If you will both give me your real names, I'll add you to the acknowledgements list.

Thanks.

 

[ST-One]

I love German! Where are all my Germans at!

Du hast gerufen?

 

[Asbo Zaprudder]

Nowadays, it isn't too difficult for Anglophones to get around Germany, especially by rail. That's apparently changing though:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/8519246.stm

It works the other way too:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/west_midlands/8487529.stm

 

[ST-One]

Nowadays, it isn't too difficult for Anglophones to get around Germany, especially by rail. That's apparently changing though:

Well, it does get a little over the top with all that English on signs and such.

And sometimes its just stupid; the Esso named their petrol station shops 'on the run'

 

[Asbo Zaprudder]

German is handy for those words and phrases we just don't have in English, or which seem lame by comparison when translated word for word:

Zeitgeist
Schadenfreude
Gemütlichkeit
Dasein
Weltanschauung
Weltschmerz

 

[trekkiedane]

Zeitgeist
Schadenfreude
Gemütlichkeit
Dasein
Weltanschauung
Weltschmerz

^Sounds perfectly Freudian to me

 

[Asbo Zaprudder]

Sigmund, Clement, Emma, Lucian, Ernst, Anna, Esther, Bella, or Matthew?

 

[BrotherBenny]

Nowadays, it isn't too difficult for Anglophones to get around Germany, especially by rail. That's apparently changing though:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/8519246.stm

It works the other way too:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/west_midlands/8487529.stm

Interesting, but what did it have to do with the help I needed?