Language desk
< September 28	<< Aug \| September \| Oct >>	September 30 >

Welcome to the Wikipedia Language Reference Desk Archives
The page you are currently viewing is a transcluded archive page. While you can leave answers for any questions shown below, please ask new questions on one of the current reference desk pages.

September 29[edit]

Translating Albert Einstein's brief joke, heard on Youtube in German, for three seconds:[edit]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OAxQERKy6Ug#t=20

Unfortunately I don't understand German. Youtube's automatic translation into English, gives a partial translation only: "I'm drinking it", but that translation seems to have omitted some words in the German sentence. 185.120.124.33 (talk) 10:33, 29 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]

It's given immediately after by the translator: "He says he doesn't drink. So he's not interested in this question". Martinevans123 (talk) 10:42, 29 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]

The interviewer asks: "What do you think of prohibition, Professor?" Einstein answers: "Ich trinke nicht, also ist mir das ganz gleich." More literally: "I don't drink, so I don't care." Not the epitome of wit. --Lambiam 12:16, 29 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Yes "ist mir das ganz gleich" = "it's no difference to me". Seemed to go down quite well, though? Martinevans123 (talk) 12:25, 29 September 2021 (UTC) (Note: I have not used an un-named machine translation device)[reply]

Quite the same, ganz gleich. 185.120.124.33 (talk) 16:23, 29 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]

More literal than "so I'm not interested in this question". Note that the crowd laughs instantly following the professor's reply in German, before the reporter's translation. Did they all understand German? Or would they have laughed as merrily if the great man had said, non-sequiturially, "Beim frühen Morgenlicht erwacht mein Herz, also ist das Schöne etwas anderes als das Gute"? --Lambiam 07:11, 30 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]

The exact circumstances of that part of the clip aren't obvious (does anyone know?), but if some of the onlookers were Jewish (as the man on the right of the thumbnail clearly is), they likely spoke Yiddish and so would probably understand Einstein's German even if they didn't speak German proper. {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} 90.193.131.207 (talk) 23:12, 30 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]

I don't (really) care might catch the gist...Lectonar (talk) 16:29, 29 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Es ist mir wirklich egal. Martinevans123 (talk) 16:30, 29 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Es ist mir doch alles Wurst? JIP | Talk 02:17, 2 October 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Auch wenn es um die Wurst geht? --Lambiam 10:14, 2 October 2021 (UTC)[reply]