Like-Blog
Presenting you the most interesting translation solutions
Why Like-Blog? Now, first of all, this blog is a blog that you should like (and read regularly) – at least, if you are interested in translation. Then, the topic discussed here is one in which the meaningful likeness between a text and its translation in the language pair English-German plays a key role. On this page, I will take a close look at some interesting translation solutions that I have come across in the course of my work as a translator and translation scholar.
A translation solution is only as good as the arguments that support it. This means that any translation criticism, whether positive or negative, needs to be justified. The quality of a translation solution shows only when we compare it to other possible translation solutions in a given translation situation. Therefore, a translation critic should not only say why a translation solution is bad, but also demonstrate what a better solution might look like. I will try to stick to these principles of translation criticism. So if you have any questions regarding my line of argument or if you disagree, please, let me know your opinion by phone at +49 4171 6086525 or by e-mail to bittner@businessenglish-hamburg.de. So much for the introduction. I hope you’ll enjoy reading this blog!
Marble(s) (July 2025)
On 26 February 2025, www.wienerzeitung.at published a commentary by Nunu Kaller about the ideas of the United States Secretary of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., which included the following quotation:
So weit, so völlig absurd. Der kanadische Ex-Mann einer Freundin sagte mal über seinen seit Jahren etwas verhaltensauffälligen Schwiegervater: „The marble has left the building“ – die Murmel hat das Gehäuse verlassen. Sehr oft muss ich an diese Aussage denken, wenn Menschen unnachvollziehbar werden – wie Kennedy und seine Unterstützer:innen. Aber wie kann das sein?
The sentences over which I stumbled are “The marble has left the building” and its apparent translation, “die Murmel hat das Gehäuse verlassen”. While the English original does not seem to be an idiom – there are just a few instances on the Internet – the German rendering makes no sense. What kind of housing or casing does the commentator refer to? And what is a marble (that small ball of glass used in playing marbles) doing in that housing? If there is a metaphor, here, it cannot create meaning in this way. The combination of “marble” and “building” in the English original, though, does make sense if we consider “marble” to refer to a hard crystalline metamorphic rock resulting from the recrystallization of a limestone, which takes a high polish and is used for building and sculpture (according to a definition found on collinsdictionary.com).
A more likely translation would be: Der Marmor hat das Gebäude verlassen. This would mean: that which constituted the value and beauty of the building – the marble – has (finally) left it.