Hey there,
I'm trying to translate a passage from German, a language I actually, so sadly, don't speak, and I got stuck with one sentence.
If there's anybody there who could help out - please, please do and you'll earn thegratitute of an honest non-polyglot.
The sentence goes like this:
Für die in Rudow wohnenden Berliner sind die, an der durch Barrieren gesperrten Strasse nach Mittenwalde, turnended Jungen ein sicheres Anzeichen für den nahenden Frühling.
Thanks again,
- - -
L.
For the Berliners who live in Rudow, the boys doing gymnastics on the street to Mittenwalde, which is blocked by barriers, is a sure sign of approaching Spring.
(Open to correction by better German speakers.)
I wonder why the sentence has those two commas. They look wrong to me. (But what do I know?) Any native speakers willing to comment on that?
For the Berliners who live in Rudow, the boys doing gymnastics on the street to Mittenwalde, which is blocked by barriers, is a sure sign of approaching Spring.
Shilgia, maybe you could just rearrange the word order, for example:
"For the Berliners who live in Rudow, a sure sign of approaching spring is the sight of the boys doing gymnastics on the street blocked by barriers leading to Mittenwalde."
I'm sure someone can improve on my attempt.
Yes, your sentence sounds better, Kano Jim. And now that I reread my sentence, I should have written that the boys are+ a sure sign of spring, not +is , and "spring" is uncapitalized.
My question about the commas, though, was about the commas in the German sentence. The sentence in German reads something like
"For the Berliners who live in Rudow the boys doing gymnastics on, the street to Mittenwalde which is blocked by barriers, are a sure sign of approaching Spring." A bit weird.
#3 and #4 were probably simulposted. Perhaps
"For the Berliners who live in Rudow, a sure sign of approaching spring is the sight of the boys doing gymnastics on the street to Mittenwalde, which blocked by barriers." ?
Without further context I wouldn't go for "pedestrian-only street." A "durch Barrieren gesperrten Strasse" sounds to me like a war-time situation, but maybe I'm jumping to conclusions. Alternatively, it could be blocked for maintenance or for a parade, which also wouldn't make it a pedestrian-only street.
I'd like to know about the commas too. What do native speakers think?
While I'm here I'll say that I like the first half of Kano_Jim's sentence but not "the street blocked by barriers leading to Mittenwalde" that sounds as if the barriers lead to Mittenwalde.
I suppose the barriers keep out cars? I might say "the pedestrian-only street that leads to Mittenwalde".
The commas certainly look odd and they are wrong too. Perhaps someone put them in because they thought the sentence was too long to go without.
A "durch Barrieren gesperrten Strasse" sounds to me like a war-time situation, but maybe I'm jumping to conclusions.
I think "Frühling an der Zonengrenze" takes us back to the bad old days of the Berlin Wall. The barriers might have blocked the transit from East to West.
From the title of the OP the situation may be occupied Germany or Berlin, the Zonengrenze being the border between two of the zones of occupation, US, Soviet, British, French. Maybe the barrier has something to do with that; a checkpoint between the zones? I don't know the geography of Berlin at all.