Kopf hoch, Hans! Es gibt noch mehr Forellen im Bach.

Sentence Discussions German
#1
English Translation

Head high, Hans! There are more trout in the stream.

I think this sentence is easily understood translated literally: “Head up, Hans! There are more trout in the stream” (or something like that). Why would that need to be so drastically changed? Even Hans becomes John …

#2

It’s the other way around.

The original sentence is: “Cheer up John. There are more fish in the sea.”

https://tatoeba.org/en/sentences/show/610688

The person who translated the English original into German then changed the name from John to Hans, presumably because John isn’t a German name.

  • The German translator furthermore took the liberty to change the general “fish” to the specific species “Forelle” rather than “Fische”.
  • And “sea” to “Bach” (“river/creek”) rather than “Meer”.
  • The word “noch” was also added, changing the meaning to “… there still are more fish …”

https://tatoeba.org/en/sentences/show/3276192

Take-away: Translators don’t always stay true to the source material.

In case you want to say this to a friend who got rejected by a girl/woman he likes (and you want to deviate from the literal translation), a common saying in Germany is:

  • “Andere Mütter haben auch schöne Töchter.”
  • “Other mothers also have beautiful daughters.”
3 Likes