I've seen a sign with a picture of a German Shepherd and the following wording in German.

Siehst du mich mal ohne Liene, brauchst Du Gluck und schnell Biene!
(The 'u' in Gluck has an umlaut above it.)

I can pick out some words but they don't make much sense together - I think it's warning people to run quickly if they see the dog. Could anyone please translate it correctly for me? Thank you.

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Originally posted by Karrow:
I've seen a sign with a picture of a German Shepherd and the following wording in German.

_Siehst du mich mal ohne Liene, brauchst Du Gluck und schnell Biene!_
(The 'u' in Gluck has an umlaut above it.)

I can pick out some words but they don't make much sense together - I think it's warning people to run quickly if they see the dog. Could anyone please translate it correctly for me? Thank you.

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It's German, sort of, written by an English speaker with limited German.

He meant something like "If you see me without a tether, you need luck and fast legs." but what he wrote has some errors, the worst of which is the the German "Gluck" (with umlaut) doesn't actually mean luck. More like happiness...

Alan Moore

Thank you very much for taking the time and trouble to translate for me Alan.

I'm surprised that it's poor German as the sign was made there - it must have been an illiterate German that manufactured it!

AMoore,
glück means both luck and happiness.
and wouldn't you rather say that the worst of the sentence is that Leine and Beine are spelled wrong and schnell is missing an "e" at the end? perhaps that was a type-o by karrow.
in what the sentence is saying, it is perfectly correct. except for those type-o's.

what makes you think it was written by an english-speaker?

Typos?? Moi??????

No, I copied it exactly Hassia - including the capital letters on certain words mid-sentence. The only thing missing was the umlaut over the 'u' in gluck. Like I said, it must have been an illiterate manufacturer.

Thank you both for your replies.

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Originally posted by hassia:
what makes you think it was written by an english-speaker?

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The misuse of "Gluck."

One of the cues in mistranslations is the use of words in one language that sound like words in another, but which mean something quite different.

If you know recent German immigrants, you'll occasionally hear them use "become" meaning to get, or to buy, which is far from the English meaning. Going the other direction, the English word luck sounds a bit like "gluck" (and probably derives from the same root) but it doesn't mean the same.

Alan Moore

"Glück" is not misused in this case - see
"Viel Glück im Neuen Jahr".
But - the first "du" should also be capitalized.
That's way to many mistakes to be written by someone who knows the language; even though,
if you disregard the spelling the sentence makes perfect sense.

Alan,
i can see that you seeem to think you know what you're talking about, but it's not quite right. maybe you can come up with some real sentences you have heard from recent german immigrants falsely using "become." it also happens that people who do not know a language well enough will mistakenly use a word they *think* is right.
i am curious to know what your connection to german is, if you don't mind telling.

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Originally posted by hassia:
Alan,
i can see that you seeem to think you know what you're talking about, but it's not quite right. maybe you can come up with some real sentences you have heard from recent german immigrants falsely using "become." it also happens that people who do not know a language well enough will mistakenly use a word they *think* is right.
i am curious to know what your connection to german is, if you don't mind telling.

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I was raised, in part, by my grandmother, whose German was quite fluent (she came from a long line of Lutheran ministers) so I spoke it as a child. I studied the language in Elemenary School, Junior High, High School and College, and have made a number of visits to Germany, Austria and German-speaking parts of Switzerland.

There aren't so many recent German immigrants around here any more -- it's too expensive, and they live better at home, but many years ago, there were quite a few. Nowdays they mostly come from China and India.

Alan Moore