Dec 17, 2010 03:57
13 yrs ago
1 viewer *
German term

Ich bin so unendlich froh, dass Du mir einen Anderen schenkst.

German to English Art/Literary Poetry & Literature Translation of phrase
The sentence appears in one of Freud's letters. What does it exactly say?
My guess is:

I am so very glad that you are giving me someone else.

Or is there any other possibility?
Change log

Dec 17, 2010 04:11: Filippe Vasconcellos de Freitas Guimarães changed "Language pair" from "English" to "German to English"

Discussion

Tony M Dec 17, 2010:
"someone else" I agree with Brigitte! Thank goodness Kim has given us the proper context to make sense of this question.
But 'someone else' on its own like this really conveys quite the wrong idea; if you continued (as M/W has suggested) by qualifying that in some way, it might work: someone else to bounce my ideas off, etc. However, I think there is a respect and appreciation in 'Other' (specific) that is severely diluted, even dismissed in 'someone else' (generic).

OK, we know that a lot of 'official' translations of Freud are actually recognized as being inaccurate and have led to a lot of misunderstanding of his work; but when trying to depart from what has been said before, it is important at least to convey the meaning accurately.
BrigitteHilgner Dec 17, 2010:
"someone else" I think this is at least misleading - to me this sounds like a third person. Thanks to Kim, who kindly provided the context, it is obvious that Freud is writing to a friend thanking this friend that he is the person Freud can communicate with.
espintl (asker) Dec 17, 2010:
Kim, I have access to the official translation. I am looking for an alternative one.
Schur translates the passage differently
I am so immensely happy that you bestow on me the gift of an Other.

Is the following translation acceptable?

I am so very glad that you are giving me someone else


Proposed translations

+7
47 mins
Selected

I am so immensely glad that you are ...

Dear Wilhelm,

I shall change whatever you want and gratefully accept contributions. I am so immensely glad that you are giving me the gift of the Other, a critic and reader — and one of your quality at that. I cannot write entirely without an audience, but do not at all mind writing only for you.

http://www.pep-web.org/document.php?id=zbk.042.0313a

"Liebster Freund" heben viele der Briefe an, die Freud an seinen Intimus der Jahre 1887 bis 1901, den Berliner HNO Arzt Wilhelm Fließ geschrieben hat. Das war die Zeit der Anfänge der psychoanalytischen Erfindung, jene Zwischenzeit vor dem Erscheinen der Traumdeutung.

"Ich hoffe, jetzt bist du wieder für lange Zeit der Alte und läßt Dich auch von mir als wohlgeneigtes Publikum weiterhin mißbrauchen. Ohne solches kann ich eigentlich doch nicht arbeiten." (16.5.97) und
"Ich bin so unendlich froh, daß du mir einen Anderen schenkst, einen Kritiker und Leser, und noch dazu von deiner Qualität. Ganz ohne Publikum kann ich nicht schreiben, kann mir aber ganz gut gefallen lassen, daß ich es nur für Dich schreibe." (18.5.98)
Das ist eine vernehmliche Entprivatisierung des Verhältnisses, eine Entpersönlichung von Fließ auch, der als Publikum ja auch öffentliche Person ist.

http://www.pasberlin.de/wegener-2/
Peer comment(s):

agree BrigitteHilgner : Fascinating - without the background information the question would not be comprehensible.
2 hrs
agree writeaway : agree with Brigitte. Nice there is a www so people can actually look things up and find things out.......
2 hrs
agree Sarah Bessioud
4 hrs
agree Ramey Rieger (X) : perfect
4 hrs
agree Horst Huber (X) : Admirable.
23 hrs
agree Nicole Backhaus
23 hrs
agree Susan Welsh : If it can be found on the Net, Kim will find it.
1 day 7 hrs
Something went wrong...
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "Viele danke for the discussion and background info"
3 hrs

I am so very glad to have you as a sounding board,...

...as my critic and reader....

With all the background information, maybe this could be a more modern interpretation?
Peer comment(s):

neutral writeaway : why change the style and the register of the original? change for the sake of change? /espintl may or may not have the original German text. The English is his/hers and apparently is only a guess.
34 mins
I totally agree with you, but espintl had asked for an alternative translation, as he had the original text.
Something went wrong...
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