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What Germans Are Reading

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Re: What Germans Are Reading

#111

Post by posterboy »

codeflo wrote: post #94
DoreenMichele wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I might translate it: Tolerance: Simply Hard (Or Easily Hard ) It more closely mirrors the German cadence and I've generally translated schwer as hard. I always understood di­ffizil to be the correct translation of the word difficult. Granted, I learned most of my German from my mother (plus a little self study and I lived there for nearly four years in my twenties), not in school. There are no doubt substantial gaps…

> I always understood di­ffizil to be the correct translation of the word difficult. I think that’s misleading or even wrong. Source: native speaker. First, it’s a very rare word that would definitely stand out, even in an already formal conversation. More importantly, “diffizil” is mostly reserved for problems that require a lot of fine motor skills or finesse. It would be wrong to say that lifting some large boulde…

Ha, I had thought that diffizil resembled filigran in meaning, but wasn't sure that weren't just me. I reasoned that diffizil would be a diffizil word, by the sound of it, used by (to take your example) watch makers dealing with delicate problems.

Re: What Germans Are Reading

#112

Post by justaguyonline »

ekianjo wrote: post #37

My German is rusty but: > Toleranz: Einfach Schwer (Tolerance Isn’t Easy) is an improper translation. That's "Tolerance: Simply Difficult" and that translates fine in English too since you can keep the same style while being accurate.

After reading through the thread I'll give it a go too.

Tolerance: Hardly Easy

Re: What Germans Are Reading

#113

Post by posterboy »

em-bee wrote: post #101
ekianjo wrote: post #37

My German is rusty but: > Toleranz: Einfach Schwer (Tolerance Isn’t Easy) is an improper translation. That's "Tolerance: Simply Difficult" and that translates fine in English too since you can keep the same style while being accurate.

the direct literal translation would be: tolerance: just difficult . einfach in german is used frequently when in english you would use just : just do it -> mach einfach i do believe that in english simply can always be used in place of just , it's just less common so tolerance: simply difficult has the same meaning and sounds better as a book title.

Good translation.

However, the meaning of just is varied and the extent of the influence of Lat ius, "right" or Ger just, jeh + -st (please don't make me elaborate on je), is well hard to estimate. Cp "right now", jetzt "now".

I thought you might be takin a round trip from simple to einfach to just, inadvertantly mixing differently sensed variants of einfach. I shouldn't be assuminc, but the influence of ein- "one" or ein "in" (cp Fr en, Gr ana etc, etc) is again hard to gauge even for native speakers and encoded in contextual usage patterns (cp e.g. einfältig vs Einfall "quick idea; in-spiration"; respectively).

Since ein and sim- reflect old roots deemed to mean "one" in different idioms (the latter especially in Hittite, but also e.g. Ger sämtlich) it is tempting to equate io- with those and the Indo-European reconstruction *oynos "one".

Re: What Germans Are Reading

#114

Post by miracle2k »

chronial wrote: post #75
zuuow wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If they removed a book because they didn't like it because it was antisemitic, then it's clear to me that they will most likely do so again in the future for antisemitism and, maybe, for other reasons. That's what happens with having editorial control: either you play sides (by removing stuff you don't want and maybe pumping up stuff you like[]) or you don't play sides (by publishing the rank without modifying it). A…

None of that makes the statement "the Spiegel list removes books it doesn't like" correct in a meaningful sense of the word. But I think I argued my point as well as I can. If I couldn't convince you yet that the original statement should not be considered "correct" and should not be defended when somebody mentions the actual facts, I don't think any more of my words will.

You are looking at that sentence too literally/technically. As a reader, I never considered it to mean "they remove novels when they don't like the story". Instead, from the tone, context (an internet discussion) and knowledge of how the list is likely to work, it seemed likely to me that the link would refer to one or more books being removed for political reasons.

The words OP used are not precise, but they aren't wrong either - they communicate how he feels about the incident in question.

Re: What Germans Are Reading

#115

Post by quonn »

s9w wrote: post #32
DanielleMolloy wrote: post #12

As far as I know the Spiegel list, which has a lot of media and book shop presence does not count Amazon. The GfK in German has an exklusive deal with Amazon for data, and they do not deliver the Spiegel list data. The Spiegel list also uses an additional voting scheme among their journalists. I have found the Spiegel list a bit weird for years, it contains a lot of highly light reading or polemic stuff like that guy…

Also the Spiegel list removes books it doesn't like. https://www.welt.de/kultur/article167043384/Spiegel-verteidi...

Not only did they remove it, because they considered it to be anti-semitic. One of their own authors sat on the committee and (unfairly or at least it was very unusual) used all of his votes for this one book for several months. So he distorted the outcome. And they decided to drop the book. Since it was an employee who caused the distortion in the first place, what‘s wrong with other employees fixing this?

Re: What Germans Are Reading

#116

Post by s9w »

miracle2k wrote: post #114
chronial wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

None of that makes the statement "the Spiegel list removes books it doesn't like" correct in a meaningful sense of the word. But I think I argued my point as well as I can. If I couldn't convince you yet that the original statement should not be considered "correct" and should not be defended when somebody mentions the actual facts, I don't think any more of my words will.

You are looking at that sentence too literally/technically. As a reader, I never considered it to mean "they remove novels when they don't like the story". Instead, from the tone, context (an internet discussion) and knowledge of how the list is likely to work, it seemed likely to me that the link would refer to one or more books being removed for political reasons. The words OP used are not precise, but they aren't…

You and the others should consider that the reason the Spiegel gave was a lie. There is quite a heavy motive for doing so: the book is on the other side of the political spectrum, considering where the Spiegel lies.

Re: What Germans Are Reading

#117

Post by [deleted] »

rexgallorum2 wrote: post #60
ekianjo wrote: post #37

My German is rusty but: > Toleranz: Einfach Schwer (Tolerance Isn’t Easy) is an improper translation. That's "Tolerance: Simply Difficult" and that translates fine in English too since you can keep the same style while being accurate.

'Tolerance Isn’t Easy' is okay, freely translated. The trouble with translating it literally is that you lose the wordplay. 'Einfach' means both 'easy' and 'simple'. 'Tolerance: Easy and Difficult' is even more exact, but sounds kind of stupid in English, so I would prefer the original.

[deleted]

Re: What Germans Are Reading

#118

Post by stankypickle »

Havoc wrote: post #110

More curious about the topic. Is there some particular reason to be interested in what Germans are reading? As opposed to say Swedes?

Germany's infrastructure has been stressed in recent years by immigration and other factors. The two books that the article places a spotlight on are: 1) "The Dumbing Down of Germany" and 2) "Tolerance Isn’t Easy" (as roughly translated within the article). These books represent the german people's response to that.

The first book, "The Dumbing Down of Germany", suggests a frustration with the decline of their education system -- something that Germany has traditionally valued highly. This is particularly concerning because sentiments like this lead to the rise of Hitler and eventually WWII.

The second book, "Tolerance Isn’t Easy", offers comfort with the influx of immigrants. This may be viewed as an attempt to stymie the tension. Alternatively, this may be viewed as an anesthetic that is wearing off. As of checking today this title is actually 13th on the list.

To answer your question. Why Germans as opposed to someone else? I suppose it is partially because Germany is a big player in the EU. It is particularly concerning because of Germany's role in WWII. To some it seems like things are trending in the same direction. As stated in the last paragraph: "Germany has been undergoing dramatic social change since the fall of the Berlin Wall, which occurred 30 years ago this November... Fear-mongering arguments against immigration and an Islamic takeover continue to attract scores of German citizens whose future economic prospects are less than rosy. Regardless, one cannot help but detect the political vestiges of an old GDR intolerance in its novel political manifestations."

Re: What Germans Are Reading

#119

Post by panzagl »

romaaeterna wrote: post #65

I can't stand reading modern Germans. They generally read and think just like English, for one thing, so that you can barely tell you've entered another language. It is pleasant, however to retreat to the 19th-century Germans, and bathe in their erudition and learning, from the period before the world went sour.

19th-century Germans are the primary reason 'the world went sour'.

Re: What Germans Are Reading

#120

Post by mcguire »

Havoc wrote: post #110

More curious about the topic. Is there some particular reason to be interested in what Germans are reading? As opposed to say Swedes?

"Editor’s Note: This is the first in a series looking at the books, authors, and ideas capturing the zeitgeist in various countries this summer. Coming soon: dispatches from Brazil, France, and the United Kingdom."
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