Comments on: 10 Essential German Phrases for Star Wars Celebration Europe

By: markus

markus — Tue, 07 May 2013 09:32:37 +0000

hi – essen city is part of the “ruhrgebiet” region and “onion rings” are something that you better eat at home and not in germany. when you are here in essen try to eat some “currywurst – pommes” that is sausage in curry sauce and fries and this is the national dish here in the ruhrgebiet.
dont forget a real beer: könig pils or as mentioned above: stauder. i like könig ( king ) – pilsener

greetz!
markus

By: Ann

Ann — Tue, 09 Apr 2013 20:12:09 +0000

I live right around from where this celebration is taking place and I’m excited that it’s happening so close to my new home. I wanted to make a few comments:

The American style onion rings that you are looking for, if you really need them, do exist outside of Burger King. They are the Roadstop (American style) restaurant on a farm road kind of between Essen and Muelheim. And they are delicious! The best I’ve ever had. It’s easy to get to Roadstop, just take the 142 bus towards Werden.

Also, our local beer in Essen in Stauder.

By: Mike from Germany

Mike from Germany — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 22:24:53 +0000

I think the only place in Germany you will get onion rings is a Burger King Restaurant
And I think they are called Onion Rings here too.

By: Frank

Frank — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 20:54:27 +0000

You forgot “indeed you are powerful”. Could someone translate that, please?

By: Joe

Joe — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 19:50:59 +0000

I believe you mean nouns, not verbs.

By: Oliver

Oliver — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 13:10:23 +0000

Addational to Point 6.

Instead of “Sind das frittierte Zwiebelringe im Teigmantel?”
I would say:
“Sind die Zwiebelringe paniert?” – When you know, they sale onion rings.

“Haben Sie panierte Zwiebelringe?” – To ask for onion rings.

I love onion rings, too.

By: Baerschke

Baerschke — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 12:06:31 +0000

The “official” translation looks like google translator. If you come to Germany, use Aarons suggestions.

Please correct the Yoda-picture on top, thats not german, and not the yoda-german we know from the movies “Tu es, oder tu es nicht. Es gibt kein Versuchen.”

Welcome to Germany, and May The Force Be With You!

By: Aaron

Aaron — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 09:22:52 +0000

Having some standard phrases ready is a pretty good idea, actually. Unfortunately some of those up there aren’t very German sounding. So let me try that for you:

1. Please and Thank You
Bitte / Danke
2. Which way to the nearest subway station?
Wo ist die nächste U-Bahn-Haltestelle? (subway = U-Bahn)

Stadtbahn is not a thing but some cities have an S-Bahn (short for Stadtschnellbahn but nobody knows that anymore). And just in case you were actually looking for a tram: Wo ist die nächste Straßenbahn-Haltestelle?

3. Where is the restroom?
Wo ist die Toilette?

We capitalize a lot of words.

4. What is this line for? Where is the start of the line? Where is the end of the line?
Wofür stellt man sich hier an? Wo ist der Anfang dieser Schlange? Wo ist das Ende dieser Schlange?

And I mean it: A lot of words.

5. Did you make that armor / lightsaber / blaster / helmet / droid yourself?
Haben Sie diese Rüstung/ dieses Lichtschwert/ diesen Blaster/ diesen Helm/ diesen Droiden selbst gemacht?

Okay, yes, not necessarily wrong but I think most fans would use the less formal version of that (you isn’t always you in Germany ). Which would go:

Hast Du diese Rüstung/ dieses Lichtschwert/ diesen Blaster/ diesen Helm/ diesen Droiden selbst gemacht?

6. Are your onion rings covered in batter and fried?
Sind Ihre Zwiebelringe gebraten oder mit Backteig überdeckt?

Uuuh… Not sure what that is all about but to make that somewhat more German:
Sind das frittierte Zwiebelringe im Teigmantel?
But I think I have never seen those for sale anywhere around here.

7. German beer is the best beer in the galaxy!
Deutsches Bier ist das beste in der ganzen Galaxis!

Nice sentiment but Bohemian and Irish beer is pretty good, too.

8. Pardon me, but I believe that’s my mint-in-the-box 1981 Kenner AT-AT you’re holding.
Entschuldigung, aber ich glaube, das ist mein 1981er (neunzehnhunderteinundachtziger) AT-AT von Kenner, den Sie da haben / den Du da hast.

9. Do or do not, there is no try.
Tu es oder tu es nicht. Es gibt kein Versuchen.

In German you have to do something. Just doing won’t do.

10. May The Force Be With You!
Möge die Macht mit Dir sein!

Strange, not so formal this time. So just in case:

Möge die Macht mit Ihnen sein! (that’s formal)
Möge die Macht mit euch sein! (that’s for an informal group situation).

And most important sentence of all:

Sprechen Sie Englisch? – Do you speak English?

In most cases, most people will. It won’t always be English English but it should get you somewhere.

By: Karl

Karl — Wed, 16 Jan 2013 21:50:12 +0000

Actually here are quite a few mistakes:
verbs a written with capital letters in german
2.: Stadtbahn station -> Stadtbahn-Station
6.: ‘Sind ihre zwiebelringe gebraten oder mit backteig überdeckt?’ i think it should be und instead of oder
7.: the german word for galaxy is galaxis
8.: There are some commas missing: it should be ‘Entschuldigen sie, aber ich glaube, das ist mein 1981 Kenner AT-AT, den sie da halten.’
9.: Actually in the german dub of tesb it’s: ‘Tu es oder tu es nicht’ which can be ranslatet as ‘do it or do it not’