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English translation: .... and they've really excelled themselves with this one.
15:24 Jun 15, 2020
German to English translations [PRO] Art/Literary - History
German term or phrase:Gutes (hier)
Transcription of a postcard handwritten from one brother to another around 1900. The brother writing is a photographer who produces, and presumably also collects, series of picture postcards. Here the older brother, the photographer, is writing to his brother at his school. The handwriting on the original postcard has been scanned and enlarged and this is how my customer reads the message:
"Lieber Bruder, ich habe deine Karte erhalten und sage besten Dank dafür. Jetzt ist diese Serie Karten fertig, und ***zuletzt haben sie ihnen noch ein Gutes gegeben. ***
The customer has requested I produce a "speculative" translation (which I'm not keen to do, especially since he, himself, does not have any explanation as to what the original German sentence could mean). Nonetheless, I'd be grateful for any ideas. Thank you!
There is no more relevant context. The writer then continues with talk about the weather etc... We literally have no more information - and unfortunately cannot ask the card writer ...
Thanks for the suggestion. I don't think anyone has enough to go on to offer a serious answer, though, so I won't be adding my very speculative ponderings.
Oh well, his education doesn t matter so much with regards to this instance. I am trying to figure out more about the context. So the capitalization tells us more about whom sie and ihnen is addressed to. This may change the interpretation results and may limit connection possibilities. If you could post the whole sentence instead of these "..." it may be helpful to identify whether Gutes may be related to the photographs or the motives on them or another not yet mentioned gift or present, that was given by someone (his brother, the community/objects on the photo, or someone else) to another entity (brother, community, some kind of group). In general Gutes could be translated as a treat or gift. It needs clarifying who is the receiver and sender here. Colloquially ppl talk for instance about " Er ist ein Guter /eine Gute" granting the shortened version of ein guter Mann / eine gute Frau a noun status as in Guter/Gute , hence here Gutes for a good thing .The capitalization of Gutes is not soo important here. It s more vital to know the correct (un/)capitalization of sie and ihnen to identify which noun relates to whom. That would help clearing the picture.
According to my client, yes, the capitalisation is correct. Of course, correct is relative. This was not a highly educated man. He was a highly skilled photographer but his profession was actually a cobbler, so there are no guarantees that his spelling or grammar were flawless.
IS THE CAPITALIZATION "zuletzt haben sie ihnen noch ein Gutes gegeben" CORRECT HERE? Please check. It is crucial whether it is Sie & Ihnen or sie & Ihnen or Sie & ihnen or sie & ihnen. That may help clarifying matters in the context.
I also think that Helen and Chris must be on the right track. Obviously, the grammar is not quite right, but maybe he meant something along the lines of 'they finished this series off with a good one'.
if it means, effectively, it’s another good set of cards in the bag. I presume they/he had previous sets under their/his belt. Another good addition to the series of card sets.
Even hundreds of years ago, "Gutes" would most likely not have been capitalized if the writer had wanted to reference "Karte" directly.
That being said, I agree mostly with Helen. Re-read the sentence and think of Karten (not Serie) as the antecedent of "ihnen" and replace "ein" with "etwas."
Best wishes
PS I know that doing the above means you're going to run into difficulties as well, since "sie" would need to be upgraded to "Sie," though this would make more sense to me than trying to replace "ihnen." In short, the second sentence just doesn't sound right.
I don't have a copy of the card, unfortunately. The misreading of the handwriting has also been queried, and they rescanned, enlarged and improved the resolution and seem fairly confident that this is what is written.
Without knowing who or what ‘sie’ and ‘ihnen’ refer to, it’s really not easy to even make a stab. Presumably the sentence alludes to something discussed before, outside the frame of this postcard.
Automatic update in 00:
Answers
7 hrs confidence:
... und zuletzt haben sie ihnen noch ein Gutes gegeben.
.... and they've really excelled themselves with this one.
Explanation: See Discussion Box at 16 mins 31
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 7 hrs (2020-06-15 22:30:12 GMT) --------------------------------------------------
16:32
Lancashireman United Kingdom Local time: 07:52 Specializes in field Native speaker of: English PRO pts in category: 252
Grading comment
Thank you! This seemed to fit best and the client was happy with this speculative interpretation.
Explanation: Somewhat speculative... I'm imagining that the older brother has collected a series for someone else, who has now given the series their approval. Hence: "and they've (whoever it might be) finally given them (the pictures/postcards) their approval."
Gordon Matthews Germany Local time: 08:52 Works in field Native speaker of: English PRO pts in category: 12
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