a short German poem
So this is primarily for @couchie, but I thought other people might like it too. Here’s a short poem in German that is fairly easy to understand, and I am going to try to explain/translate in Turkish as well!
It’s by Erich Kästner (which I actually didn’t know, I thought it was by Heinz Ehrhardt), who had a lot of clever, witty things to say. I like it because its dry wit helps put things in perspective, and it’s short enough to whip it out in all kinds of situations.
So here’s the poem, along with a reading:
Wird’s besser? Wird’s schlimmer? Fragt man alljährlich. Seien wir ehrlich: Leben ist immer Lebensgefährlich.
I shall translate line by line:
Wird’s besser? Wird’s schlimmer? Daha iyi oluyor? Daha kötü oluyor? (Is it getting better? Is it getting worse?)
Fragt man alljährlich. Her sene soruluyor. (People ask every year.)
Seien wir ehrlich: Dürüst olalım: (Let’s be honest:)
Leben ist immer Lebensgefährlich. Yaşamak her zaman hayat için tehlikeli. (Living is always life-threatening.)
As for line 2, I am not sure how to do the vague/generalising third person singular in Turkish. “Soruluyor” gets the meaning well I think. And I absolutely need a new dictionary! Also I’m being super literal with the last line so you get the punchline, I reckon you wouldn’t really say it like that in Turkish.
And that’s all! A little poem in German. 🙃
