Translation Mysteries

I agree with your analysis of the onomatopoeia in both words, but I don’t know enough any German to know whether a German speaker would respond in the same way or whether there is any alternative German word which would do better. Perhaps the wretched translator spent weeks weeping in her beer at the fate which had decreed that she needed to find a parallel word for “Thud” and eventually submitted her best effort and ran away to join a Trappist order (better beer to weep into and you never have to pronounce the word “Klonk”).

Maybe it sounds fine and thuddy to a German ear. To me, the fact that the Danish for King Kong is Kong King appears mildly amusing. To a Dane, it’s probably just the name of a movie.

In terms of onomatopoeia, “klonk” would definitely be the club-meets-helmet sound, rather than what the book is actually about, so it’s not an ideal translation, but Discworld translations rarely are. (Because they are fiendishly, no, archdemonically difficult.)

But I honestly don’t know where the “Klonk” idea came from. I don’t think I had ever come across that word before. I figure that it’s either made up, or it comes from one of those old comedy shows. If you can have “palim palim”, “klonk” can’t be far off, right?

I don’t feel very strongly about ‘Klonk’ — but ‘Klönk’? Surely not. (The German language is still recovering from the misplaced umlaut in ‘Brüno’…) :-)

“Tschack” sounds about right.

That’s a bloody awful cover, it has to be said. Makes some of the poorer Josh Kirby covers look almost decent.

Inexplicably Germans also deny that frogs say “ribbit”. I think we can excuse them when it comes to the onomatopoetics of head-bashing, though: their phonetics doesn’t provide the necessary “th” consonant.

Inexplicably Germans also deny that frogs say “ribbit”.

QI claimed that only Southern Pacific tree frogs say “ribbit”, and because they live in California, they’ve become the standard sound for frogs in Hollywood movies. No idea if it’s true, but certainly most of the frogs I’ve heard on nature programmes make noises I wouldn’t describe with “ribbit”.

Frogs say “Brekekekek koax koax”. Accept no substitute.

“Thud” is a good woody word. “Klonk” is a horrible tinny thing.

Having seen that USA cover, I’m glad that my policy of only buying the Kidby/Kirby covers is still enforced.

The Kidby cover of Thud is here: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Thud-Discworld-Novels-Terry-Pratchett/dp/0552152676/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1254845543&sr=8-1

chris y is a man after my own heart. Onomatopeia is despite all appearances nearly as much a matter of convention as any other bit of language. Phonaesthetics are nigh-untranslatable. Of course, some sounds are easier to pin down. The fact that the sheep of Greek comedy say βῆ βῆ turned out to be good evidence in the early 16th c. that η was once a long vowel with a fairly open pronunciation, despite the pronunciations then current in Oxford and Athens.

Somewhat OT, but somewhat relevant still. The best onomatopoeia was, of course, invented by Wodehouse when he wrote:

The drowsy stillness of the afternoon was shattered by what sounded to his strained senses like G. K. Chesterton falling on a sheet of tin.

“Klonk” is a false friend. The German word actually means something quite different from its English cognate.

I suggest something like “Wumm”, like Thudd it ends with a dull sound. I don’t know of a German onomatopoia ending on that dull and at once short “dd”-sound.

The German market for Anglo-Saxon products seem to stay as close as possible to the original; the same goes for many movies etc.

Wait, are we talking about American movies in Germany? The Germany just to the east of France? The Germany that needlessly changes the name of almost every single movie to something German that has little to no relation to the original title? The Germany that renamed “Bridget Jones’s Diary” to “Schokolade zum Frühstück”? That Germany?

Dan @33

Well, he starts with “I’d like to introduce you to two friends of mine”, which is a likelihood fail right there, and the rest of the piece is a bigger mess than that car pile-up in Blues Brothers. Pretty good takedown in comments here.

Oddly, the letters in the German word do not mimic those in the English word in curving with the wood of the club.

30: So far as I’m aware, ‘klonk’ is not a word in German. Using German Google, I did find out that the ‘quaffle’ is called ‘klonken’ in Swedish…

Thüd would be pronounced ‘tood’ in German- no idea what sound that would represent.

I think ‘Wumm’ isn’t bad, except it’s too far in the other direction. It’s more like a soft thump than a thud.

. . .and was Mad Magazine, in its heyday, translated for the German market? What became of those vaguely Germanic -sounding onomatopoeias which were all over Don Martin’s work, such as:

“GING GOYNG ” (Mask Flying Off Face) MAD #87, June 1964, Page 10
“GING POING SWAP ZIT SHTIK FLIK GLUT” (Frog Catching Fly) MAD #118. Apr 68, Page 14,15
“GISHKLORK” (King Kong stepping on somebody) MAD #262 April 1986 Page 22
“GISHKLURK” (Soup Parting as done by Moses) MAD #186, Oct 1976, Page 15

or
“GLADINK BZZZT KLADWAK SPROINK FWAK KAZIK” (Vending Machine Delivering Fresh Milk) MAD #206, Apr 1979, Page 48

(see http://www.collectmad.com/madcoversite/index-dmd.html)

Did you ever play the Sony Playstation Game “Disc World?” I has to be one of my favorites. Challenging, inspirational, emotional, and above all else, a very long game. I think the book resonates well with the game. You should check it out :P I know I’m such a nerd.

It’s all those forests…

In this context, one should definitely mention Dr. Erika Fuchs (RIP) – she was a genius.

Tomorrow’s news today: Moonstruck: Making one giant thud for mankind

In my family, “clunk” and “clonk” were common terms, often used in pillow fights.