Need help translating phrase to German and French

[writerotica]

Hi. I am writing a story in which I need a phrase translated to German and French. The phrase is as follows:

"Cologne,Michael, it's your home"

freetranslations.com translated the phrase as follows:

German:
"Cologne, Michael. Es ist Ihr Heim"

French:
"L'eau de cologne, c'est votre maison, Michael"

But I know that sometimes these translators are more literal than colloquial.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Writerotica

 

[BlackShanglan]

I know that the French is wrong. It comes out "cologne (as in perfume), Michael, it's your house."

Quite cute really.

Cologne you would just leave as is, I think. I can't at the moment think of the French word ... think pays is in there somewhere ... c'est votre pays? Anyone?


Shanglan

 

[LadyCibelle]

Hi. I am writing a story in which I need a phrase translated to German and French. The phrase is as follows:

"Cologne,Michael, it's your home"

freetranslations.com translated the phrase as follows:

German:
"Cologne, Michael. Es ist Ihr Heim"

French:
"L'eau de cologne, c'est votre maison, Michael"

But I know that sometimes these translators are more literal than colloquial.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Writerotica

Don't know anything about the German part but the French version could read like :

Cologne, Michael, c'est ta maison. Or, Cologne, Michael, là où tu habites.

 

[cantdog]

"Home" is a toughie.

 

[readyred]

Michaelderlebensplatzoderheimatheisstkoln, ja?

 

[cantdog]

No readyred, I don't think that does the trick. Home is not the same as just the place you live. And I don't think you can call a city a Heimat, either. We need a native speaker who knows enough English to have caught the spirit of "home."

Heimat and pays are emotional-attachment kind of words. The country in French, that's la patrie, you give it your loyalty, you die in its defense, it is duty. But son pays to the Frenchman, some little corner of Picardy, perhaps, has a call on his affections, on his heart, which is like the English home.

I assume the Cologne referred to is Köln, the city?

 

[elfin_odalisque]

Can't be much help with the German and assume you mean 'home' as more than just 'house'. Then you get;

Cologne, Michael, ça c'est chez toi! ( would be chez vous if their relationship was more formal).

Bonne chance!

 

[snooper]

I think that less elaboration is needed in French.

Koln? Chez-toi!

is enough.

 

[elfin_odalisque]

I think that less elaboration is needed in French.

Koln? Chez-toi!

is enough.

Köln is Cologne in French and I think that if you want the shorter version, with the hyphenated noun, you need to say 'ton chez-toi' - 'your home'. It's French but not quite a true translation.

 

[dreampilot79]

Köln is Cologne in French and I think that if you want the shorter version, with the hyphenated noun, you need to say 'ton chez-toi' - 'your home'. It's French but not quite a true translation.

My german sucks.. but Koeln.. don't have a damn symbol on my keyboard is a german city... the origional factory for Cologne..... I know the german is litterally correct but not correct. For one thing, unless it's someone you don't know.... the use of ihr... implies a stranger... since German comes in familiar and not....

My spelling sucks even worse in german.. but....

while in usual usage the greeting becomes vie gehts

but...... the proper would be "vie gehts es ennen" to a stranger and
"Vie ghets es dier" to a friend

 

[elfin_odalisque]

Better than my German.

I can get 'ö' by pressing Alt+0246 on the numeric keypad.

 

[oggbashan]

Köln is Cologne in French and I think that if you want the shorter version, with the hyphenated noun, you need to say 'ton chez-toi' - 'your home'. It's French but not quite a true translation.

The current convention in Europe is to use the original name rather than the translation. The French should say Köln, not Cologne. London isn't Londres, or Londra. Tourist brochures still use the translated names. You can fly to Rome but you will arrive in Roma.

Og

 

[cantdog]

Eigner Herd ist Goldes wert. There's no place like home. Since no-one German seems to have chipped in, I will give it my best shot.




In Köln findest du dich zu Hause, Michael.

Bei dir, Michael, zu Köln heißt zu Hause.

 

[elfin_odalisque]

The current convention in Europe is to use the original name rather than the translation. The French should say Köln, not Cologne. London isn't Londres, or Londra. Tourist brochures still use the translated names. You can fly to Rome but you will arrive in Roma.

Og

You are 100% right, dear soul, mais les grenouilles will never be politiquement correct. They still insist on Londres, la Tamise, Edimbourg and la Maison Blanche, to name but a trifling few. And, as for La Manche, you try saying English Channel in Paris! Vive la difference!

I assure you that Köln is not pronouncable in French. Have you heard the way they say the name of the Russian president? And what about your ancien - Premier ministre 'Tatch-hair'?

Bisous and baisers!

Elle

 

[cantdog]

She is correct about pronouncing the name. I like Aachen better than Aix for that reason. When I use Aix in a sentence, people just go "huh?" They believe they missed hearing the name, because it's just a vowel.

There's a noun like chez-toi, in German: Zuhause.

Köln, das ist deine Zuhause, Michael.

 

[elfin_odalisque]

She is correct about pronouncing the name. I like Aachen better than Aix for that reason. When I use Aix in a sentence, people just go "huh?" They believe they missed hearing the name, because it's just a vowel.

There's a noun like chez-toi, in German: Zuhause.

Köln, das ist deine Zuhause, Michael.

Hey, Cant, you dog -that's it!!

cantdog uber alles!!

 

[cantdog]

I still have doubts; I wish Snoop or Crazyyangel would pop in. Thanks, though.

 

[smoochypig]

psst. remember the noun's gender; _das_ Zuhause.

 

[oggbashan]

My RL surname is very difficult for the French. The mayor of our twin town refers to me by my first name, pronounced the French way of course.

At several receptions in France I have been referred to as "Monsieur L'Anglais' to avoid embarrassment.

After a few bottles of wine (each) and some good food no one cares what we call each other. The last twin town event held as a barbecue at a local primary school degenerated into exchanges of French and English Rugby songs. I enjoyed teaching Eskimo Nell in exchange for some rude versions of Chevaliers de la Table Ronde. We had won the petanque match so we let them win at darts.

The Russian twin town's officials get sentimental after several pints of Kentish beer with vodka toasts in between each pint.

Og

PS. I had a complaint today about the rowdy behaviour of those leaving our British Legion hall in the early hours. In my experience old soldiers don't fade away they go yelling and kicking (and sometimes drunk). Why not? If they saved the Western World for democracy we owe them a few beers.

 

[cantdog]

psst. remember the noun's gender; _das_ Zuhause.

Woops.

Köln, das ist dein Zuhause, Michael.

Heh.

 

[writerotica]

More background might help...

Wow! Thanks, all! Perhaps, some more background might help...

My story centers around a man struggling to come to terms with his werewolf curse (not in the traditional sense). During my minimal amount of research for the story, I discovered that the werewolf legend started in Cologne, Germany. So, in my story, my main character's therapist, a beautiful German woman who unbeknownst to him is Queen of his race, whispers the phrase "Cologne, it's your home, Michael" before disappearing.

Later in the story, his Father of French heritage and also a wolf unbeknownst to his son, repeats the same phrase to his son, but in French.

So, the German phrase is uttered by his therapist, but only after he fucks her, so I presume it should be informal?

The French phrase is voiced by his Father, so definitely informal!

Also, when I visited Frankfurt a few years ago, I remember my hosts telling me about Germans speaking either "high German" or "low German". Should I be concerned with that?

So, unless we get more definitive replies, I think I'll go with...

"Köln, das ist dein Zuhause, Michael." as the German version.

and

"Cologne, Michael, ça c'est chez toi!" as the French version. I think the less elaborate version suggested may not work in context of the dialogue.

Thanks, again, all! Help is VERY much appreciated.

Writerotica

ps. I'll welcome anyone who'd like to edit my story - send me an e-mail via Lit!