Re: [HM] Goethe's Remark

Martin Davis (martind@cs.berkeley.edu)
Tue, 1 Dec 1998 16:09:57 -0800

At 02:02 PM 12/1/98, Gordon Fisher wrote:

>> "Die Mathematiker sind eine Art Franzosen: redet man zu
>> ihnen, so uebersetzen sie es in ihre Sprache, und dann
>> ist es also bald ganz etwas anderes."
>>
.......................................................................
>
>And one might proceed, quite literally:
>
>Mathematicians are a kind of Frenchmen: if one speaks to them, thereupon
>they translate it into their language, and then it is thus soon completely
>something else.
>
>Gordon Fisher gfisher@shentel.net
>

I don't think that "ganz etwas anderes" is properly translated as
"completely something else" because I don't believe that "ganz" IN THAT
CONTEXT carries the weight of "completely". I think a German speaker wanting
to convey that sense would rather use "etwas ganz anderes". Perhaps
"something quite different" conveys Goethe's sense.

I'd be curious to have the reaction of a fluent German speaker on the list.

Martin Davis