Sherlock Holmes Grammar Lesson

Here is a little video clip from the BBC hit series about Sherlock Holmes, called “Sherlock“. Below you’ll find the dialogue with a translation in Austrian slang. Enjoy!

Sherlock:  Just tell me what happened from the beginning.    Erzählen Sie mir einfach was geschah von Anfang an.

Prisoner:  We had been to a bar, nice place, and, er,      Mia woan in ana Bar, nette Bude, und, ah,

I got chatting with one of the waitresses,    I bin hoid mit ana vun de Köllnarinnen ins Plaudan kumma.

 and Karen weren’t happy with that, so…    und da Karin hot des net passt, oiso … (war nicht glücklich damit)

when we get back to the hotel,         wia ma ins Hotöh zruck kumma san

we end up having a bit of a ding-dong,          homma hoid a bissl a “Hin und Her” ghobt. (end up… = letztendlich…  fanden wir uns in einem kleinen Streit)

don’t we?                   net woar?

She’s always getting at me, saying I weren’t a real man.    Sie is mi dauand aungangan und hot gsogt I warat ka richtiga Mau.

Sherlock: Wasn’t a real man.

Prisoner:  What?

Sherlock: It’s not “weren’t”, it’s “wasn’t”.

Prisoner: Oh.

Sherlock: Go on.                Fahren Sie fort (Erzählen Sie weiter)

Prisoner: Well…then I don’t know how it happened,        I waass net wia’s g’scheg’n is

but suddenly there’s a knife in my hands…        do wor auf amoi a Messa in meine Händ

…and you know me old man was a butcher,       my old man      mei Voda – Fleischhocka

so I know how to handle knives.              wie man mit Messer umgeht

He learned us how to cut up a beast.          hot uns g’lernt, wie ma a Viech zasticklt

Sherlock: Taught.                                     gelehrt

Prisoner: What?

Sherlock: Taught you how to cut up a beast.        … wie man ein Tier zerschneidet

Prisoner: Yeah, well, then I done it.                           hob I’s daun

Sherlock: Did it.                                                         tat (ich) es

Prisoner:  Did it! Stabbed her!                         I hob’s niedergstochn

Over and over and over, and I looked down,       immer wieder und wieder, und I hob obe g’schaut

and she weren’t…

Sherlock: …wasn’t…

Prisoner: …moving no more.                      … hot si nimma g’riaht

Sherlock: Any more.       (Was not moving any more = bewegte sich nicht mehr.)

Prisoner: God help me, I dunno how it happened,                       don’t know          God hülf ma, I waass net wia’s g’schegn is

but it was an accident, I swear.                  es woar a Unfoi, I schwör’s

Eh, you’ve gotta help me, Mr Holmes!      you got to…  (You have to)  Se miassn mia höfn!

Everyone says you’re the best.               jeda sogt, Se san da Beste

Without you…                      ohne Sie

…I’ll get hung for this.                     werd I  aufg’hängt

Sherlock: No, not at all, Mr Bewick. Hanged, yes.    Nein, ganz sicher nicht, Herr Bewick. Erhängt, ja.

The punchline in the German dubbed version is: ” …hier werden Sie erschossen!” Had the Germans tried to use British humor, based on puns (play on words – Wortspiele) or the use of dialect, the humor would not have worked. Had they used Bavarian accent and expressions for example, the Bavarian audience would have felt put down. The above dialogue is rendered in a Viennese dialect. What the reaction would have been is: “Look how stupid the Viennese are!”  So you can’t get the British delight with language across at all, you have to find a different punch line altogether. Then it works. The best example of this was the German version of “The Persuaders” (British TV-series with Roger Moore and Tony Curtis form the Seventies) where the German dubbing team created their own dialogues using puns that are funny in German.

punchline    Pointe

to feel put down          sich herunter gemacht fühlen

to render        machen

delight          sich freuen

to dub         synchronisieren

pun           Wortspiel

The official BBC Sherlock Website: BBC One – Sherlock Series One       BBBC – Sherlock Series Two

You can get the DVDs here: amazon.de – amazon.uk