Wenn Wir Marschieren

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gokyu
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Wenn Wir Marschieren

#1

Post by gokyu » 23 Jul 2003, 19:13

I first heard a bit of this song in the movie "Nuremberg", so I decided to look up the lyrics - I can sing it ok, but as I don't really speak German, I can only catch some words here and there (I *am* trying to learn though :))

Wenn Wir Marschieren (When We March)

1.
Wenn wir marschieren, - When we March
ziehn wir zum deutschen Tor hinaus, -
schwarzbraunes Madel, - black brown (?) girl
du bleibst zu haus. - You stay at home

Chorus:

Ei darum wink, mein Madel wink, wink, wink, - (I can't understand the Ei darum and wink)
unter einer grünen Lialind sitzt ein kleiner Fink, Fink, Fink, - Under a green (lialind) sits a small Finch
ruft nur immer: Madel, wink! - Only calls always: Madel, wink!

2.
Der Wirt muß borgen, er soll nicht rappelköpfisch sein,
sonst kehr'n wir morgen beim andern ein.

Chorus

3.
Weg mit den Sorgen, weg mit der Widerwärtigkeit,
morgen ist morgen, heute ist heut'.

Chorus

4.
Wenn wir heimkehren, ziehn wir durchs deutsche Tor herein;
schwarzbraunes Madel, dann wirst du mein.

Chorus

Sorry I only have an idea of the first stanza and chorus..I'll get better sooner or later :)

-Bryan

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Wulpe
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Re: Wenn Wir Marschieren

#2

Post by Wulpe » 23 Jul 2003, 19:54

ziehn wir zum deutschen Tor hinaus

we move out through the german gate

schwarzbraunes Madel

Hard to translate. "Blackbrown girl" is used in many old songs, it´s just a term that describes a pretty girl - maybe with black hair and brown eyes - don´t know for sure

Ei darum wink, mein Madel wink, wink, wink

Therefore wave, my girl, wave, wave, wave
["Ei" has no meaning in this context, it´s lyrical. "Wink" is short imperative for "winken" (wave goodbye)]

unter einer grünen Lialind sitzt ein kleiner Fink, Fink, Fink

"Lialind" is most probably derived from "Linde" - basswood tree

Der Wirt muß borgen, er soll nicht rappelköpfisch sein,
sonst kehr'n wir morgen beim andern ein.


The innkeeper has to lend, he shouldn´t be so cheap[*]
or we will stop by another one tomorrow

(* meaning, no direct translation possible)

Weg mit den Sorgen, weg mit der Widerwärtigkeit,
morgen ist morgen, heute ist heut'.


Away with the worries, away with adversity,
tomorrow is tomorrow, today is today


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gokyu
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#3

Post by gokyu » 23 Jul 2003, 23:53

Cool, thanks for the quick translation :)

That seems possible, that schwarzbraunes could just be slang for "cute" or "pretty" (implying black hair, brown eyes)...

What's the difference between Mädel and Mädchen ? Mädchen is a young girl, while a Mädel could be, say, in her teens or early 20's?

Vielen dank :)

-Bryan

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Wulpe
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#4

Post by Wulpe » 24 Jul 2003, 10:11

gokyu wrote:What's the difference between Mädel and Mädchen ? Mädchen is a young girl, while a Mädel could be, say, in her teens or early 20's?
I don´t think it´s possible to find a general rule. Take for example the song "Lore" aka "Im Wald, im grünen Walde", which has the lines

Schön sind die Mädchen
Von siebzehn, achtzehn Jahr.

Beautiful are the girls
of seventeen, eighteen years


In this case "Mädchen" is clearly connected with a girl in her late teen years. The most important criteria may be the rhyme, which decides if the short of the long form is used.

(I´m no big fan of german folksongs, but this one was one of the favourites while I was in service)

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gokyu
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#5

Post by gokyu » 24 Jul 2003, 16:05

One thing I really enjoy about trying to learn German is that fact that German and English are closely related, and I find it interesting when I can figure out a German word that's the "original" of the English...Like:

Mädchen = young girl = Maiden
Stuhl = chair = stool
Tochter = Daughter (if you think about how English was originally pronounced, I think the 'gh' in daughter would be pronounced similar to the 'ch' in German....)

Very interesting stuff :)

-Bryan

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Wulpe
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#6

Post by Wulpe » 24 Jul 2003, 16:37

gokyu wrote:One thing I really enjoy about trying to learn German is that fact that German and English are closely related, and I find it interesting when I can figure out a German word that's the "original" of the English...Like:

Mädchen = young girl = Maiden
Stuhl = chair = stool
Tochter = Daughter (if you think about how English was originally pronounced, I think the 'gh' in daughter would be pronounced similar to the 'ch' in German....)
When I remember correctly, along the so called "Benrather Line" two german dialects developed in medieval times:

1. Lower-German
2. Higher-German

South of the Benrather Line, where Higher-German was spoken, a sound-shift took place. (Grimm´s Law).

"t" became "ss" or "z" [water -> Wasser; two -> zwei; cat -> Katze]
"p" became "f" [ape -> Affe; pound -> Pfund; weapon -> Waffe]
"d" became "t" [day -> Tag; drag -> tragen, devil -> Teufel]
"th" became "t" or "d" [three -> drei; thou -> du; think -> denken; thing -> ding; thanks -> danke; thick -> dick]

The southern version became the German language (Higher German) within the next hundred years and the nothern version (Low German) became:

Dutch = Niederländisch (Nieder = low)
North Saxon = Niedersächsisch

and so on. The english spoken today is a mix of the old Low German and French (Latin base).

If someone is an expert, fell free to tell us more ;-)

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