Relative pronouns

Question

Hi,which relative pronoun do I use in this case:"The moments when(?)/in which(?)/that(?) something good happens ..."Thanks!

Yankee · Accepted Answer

Hi HolyBrat

I'd say you could use any of those. The choice will depend somewhat on the rest of the sentence. Do you have the rest of the sentence?

Generally speaking, the use of "in which" would tend to sound more formal than the other two.

HolyBrat · Answer

Hello Yankee,

thank you so far!

The actual sentence is: The moments when/in which/that I don't wanna live have become seldom.

I'm subtitling a documentary and this is an excerpt from a diary entry.

CalifJim · Answer

Why wanna? Is the style of the diary very colloquial in the original language?

CJ

HolyBrat · Answer

No, actually, no.

It's a little difficult to detect what is considered colloquial or just inadecuate for certain situations in a foreign language.

Thanks for the notice!

Yankee · Answer

Hi HolyBrat

I take it the wording of your subtitle is a fairly direct translation.
Does the original sentence end with the words "sind selten geworden" by any chance?

I would suggest using "rare" rather than "seldom".

Is the speaker referring to moments at which thoughts of ending his life have come? And that those sorts of thoughts used to come fairly often, but have now become rare?

HolyBrat · Answer

Hi Yankee

you speak and/or understand German? Maybe you should be translating the subtitles!
A Yankee who speaks German... man, that's rare... or seldom... or whatever

The original sentence is: Die Momente, in denen ich nicht mehr leben will, sind seltener geworden.

It's a really excellent documentary on teen suicide.

CalifJim · Answer

Where did Amy go?

Until she comes back, I'd suggest trying something like these:

Thoughts of not wanting to live occur to me less often now. / rarely occur to me now.

I don't have those feelings of wanting to die as often as I used to.

I [hardly ever / rarely] experience those times anymore when I don't want to live.

(I am nota fan of literal tranlations. That's why I think it's nearly impossible to translate from one's native language to another, but not so difficult to translate to one's native language from another.

)

CJ

Yankee · Answer

Hi HolyBrat

HolyBratA Yankee who speaks German... man, that's rare... or seldom... or whatever

I might call what I speak "Hochdeutsch with a Schwaebisch slant that has a distinct English flavor".

(I taught Business English and did translation work in Schwabenlaendle for 18 years. I'm back home in Yankee-land now, but my years in Germany are still very much with me.)

Your sentence uses "seltener", so some sort of comparative form in the translation might be better. I like Jim's suggestions, and this one in particular:

I don't have those feelings of wanting to die as often as I used to.

A more direct translation might be:
The moments when I don't want to live anymore come (much) less often now.

I agree with Jim about translations. They can be very tough to do, and even when you translate into your mother tongue, it's often quite a challenge to avoid too direct a translation.

HolyBrat · Answer

Hi CJ, hi Yankee,

Yankee, 18 years in Schwaben? Wow... I don't think I could do that ...

Is there even a word for 'considering suicide', a noun?

Literal translations... I don't judge translations for being literal, they should just sound right, the problem is that I don't always know if they do and getting there is not easy especially because German is such a figurative language, so I agree with you that most of the time literal translation is completely inappropriate.
Sometimes it's hard to detect the point when a translation starts to sound cheap.
Then again, I don't expect a Nobel Prize ...

Thank you for your help and the suggestions!

HolyBrat

CalifJim · Answer

HolyBratI don't expect a Nobel Prize

Why not? Think big!!!

CJ

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