German Names, Pronunciations, and Translations

[Nibbins]

Since @Zachary was asking about this in the Mäch Tower thread I put together a small summary of the names in the German area to point out what BGW got right and wrong.
I am not sure where the best place for this would be, so feel free to move it.

Rides: (direction Italy to France)

-Mäch Tower
What a way to start. This name is a mess. Neither word is German and one of them isn't even a real word. "Mach" (as in the mach number representing the ratio of flow velocity past a boundary to the local speed of sound) is spelled with a Metal Umlaut (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metal_umlaut) for additional German feel.
The original pronunciation (not using the IPA) is like "muh-ch" with a German "ch" that pretty much sounds like clearing your throat. That's usually very hard for Americans to pronounce.
The "ä" would turn it into something more akin to "meh-ch" which is just wrong and solely done for the visual appeal.
"Tower" would be "Turm" in German.

-Verbolten
This is not a real German word either. It's a combination of the German "Verboten" (forbidden) and, what I assume, the English "Bolt" as in the lightning bolt in it's logo.
The pronunciation would be pretty much as you expect it to be.
Notable is that the decorations at the station are incorrect as well. While the ride is clearly supposed to be in the Black Forrest, a region in the south west of Germany, the posters and props in the station are from all over southern Germany and Austria. The ride is also located in the Octoberfest section, which would actually indicate Bavaria in the South East of Germany.
There are several badly translated signs around the ride, most notable a sign that features Yoda's saying: "Do or do not, there is no try" in incorrect German along with some other directly translated terms that are grammatically incorrect in German. I can go into details if anyone is interested. (see attached picture)

-Der Wirbelwind
This one is actually completely correct. It means "The whirlwind".
In Germany these rides are typically known as "Kettenkarussell" (chain carousel) in Germany

-Der Roto Baron
This seems to be a play on words again. Meant is clearly "Der Rote Baron" (The Red Baron, Manfred von Richthofen, a German fighter Pilot in WWI with 80 air combat victories on record) I'm not sure where the "Roto" comes from. I would assume it's based on "Rotor" or "rotation".

-Der Autobahn
They got this one almost correct. "Autobahn" is female though, so it should be "Die Autobahn"

-Kinder Karussel
They got close again here but misspelled it. It's "Kinder Karussell" spelled correctly. (children's carousel)

-Alpengeist
This one is completely correct. Please note the "e-i" in the name. It is usually misspelled by Americans as "Alpengiest".
"e-i" is pronounced as "I" like in "ice" while "i-e" would turn into "ee" as in "meet".


Stores/Landmarks:

-Pretzels and Beer
This is obviously the English spelling of "Bretzels and Bier". Sounds about the same though,

-Das Festhaus
This one is correct and easy to pronounce.
Notable are the German poems written in old German font on the outside of the building. Whoever painted these must have been working off of a low resolution printout of the writing because several of the letters are incorrect. ("w" instead of "m" and such) as a result many words are wrong, but the poem itself is grammatically correct though, so I assume someone actually did some research on that originally.
I don't have a picture of it right now or I would try to translate it. I think I have seen a translation in a thread somewhere here on the forum before though.

-NewKastle
This one is just silly. They Germanfied the name by replacing "c" with "k". A proper German name (if not a good one) would be "Neuschloss".
Based on the ride that used to be in there I would suggest "Wolfsburg"

-Der Markplatz
No complaints here. It's the market place. To pronounce it right you have to spit at the "tz" part.

-Wilkommenhaus
The welcome house. Technically not incorrect, but slightly weird in German.

-German Gifts
I don't remember all the names of the small stores in this area and the official map and website don't list them. If anyone has the names I can comment on them.



Let me know if I am missing anything or if you have additional questions to any of these.

Bis dann, bleibt gesund.

 

[The Quist]

Du.. du hast... du hast mich. (sorry, had to do it)

 

[Nibbins]

Du.. du hast... du hast mich. (sorry, had to do it)

That's a play on words as well btw.

When spoken you cant tell "hast" (have) from "hasst" (hate) which gives this line a double meaning.

It sounds like "you.. you hate... you hate me..." until the next line comes in and the meaning becomes clear to mean "you have asked me" instead.

 

[The Quist]

Yeah, I always thought it was "you hate me" until someone pointed that out. "You have me" is actually way deeper, but I think that might be going Till Lindermann way too much credit.

 

[CastleOSullivan]

On the mural over Das Edelweiss (along with some other errors) the park painted over the S in “sein,” which changes entire the phrase’s meaning.

It’s a rhyming poem that says something like: “Why are you just standing there (outside)? Is there not a door and gate? Come on in; rest assured, you will be well received!”

Now it makes very little sense in general, but that part could mean: “Come on in, where you will receive a“

 

[Mr. Mastodon Farm]

This is a fun thread. I started learning German a few months ago, and I often find my thoughts drifting to BGW when I study. I find it very difficult to say "auf weidersehen" without affecting the Verbolten woman's lilt!

 

[Nibbins]

This is a fun thread. I started learning German a few months ago, and I often find my thoughts drifting to BGW when I study. I find it very difficult to say "auf weidersehen" without affecting the Verbolten woman's lilt!

Since you're learning German a friendly correction:

It's "Auf Wiedersehen" with "i-e" instead of "e-i". (the opposite of Alpengeist)

Also of note: the voice actress for Gerta uses the correct dialect for her announcement and does not pronounce the ending fully as it would have been done in Hochdeutsch. (High German)
She says "auf Wiederseh'n" as appropriate for the Black Forrest region.

Also notable: The siblings that are running the tour agency in the theming of Verbolten names are apparently Gerta and Gunter Schwartzwald.
The name Gerta has a Germanic origin but is not very common.
The name Gunter is actually a misspelling of the actual German name Günter. ü makes a sound that I don't think has a real equivalent in English.
Their family name Schwartzwald is a misspelling of Schwarzwald (Black Forrest)

 

[warfelg]

ü makes a sound that I don't think has a real equivalent in English

I only say this because my German teacher that was from Germany's name was Günter: 'oo' would be the closest we have. Or 'ue' together based on dialect.

EDIT:
This is just a personal side note....German came to me far easier than Spanish, French, Italian; AKA the 3 classic 'love languages'. My school district required you take all 4 in our 8th grade year to pick the one we wanted to take in HS. I was absolutely shocked how many people just sucked at German but picked up Spanish and French easily (Italian wasn't too difficult for me since most my mom's family uses it from time to time). But English is a germanic language, so most of our words, pronunciations, and grammatical structure is derived from the base German language. Our instructors when we took German as the only language always talked about how we were the 'smartest' for taking the easiest language as English native speakers, and how with English and German language abilities you would find little language barriers in traveling North and Central Europe. Now I've never been so I can't speak to the validity of it but I've heard some friends from the classes say it's close to true.

 

[Nibbins]

It's somewhere between "oo" mixed with "ee" I guess.

According to https://www.studying-in-germany.org/german-umlauts/ :

Pronouncing the umlaut Ü
The last umlaut in German language is the Ü. Similar to the Ö, there is no sound in the English language which is the equivalent of this umlaut. The way to pronounce the Ü umlaut is by making the sound “ee” and pursing your lips as if you were whistling, almost completely shut.

 

[warfelg]

It's somewhere between "oo" mixed with "ee" I guess.

According to https://www.studying-in-germany.org/german-umlauts/ :

Pronouncing the umlaut Ü
The last umlaut in German language is the Ü. Similar to the Ö, there is no sound in the English language which is the equivalent of this umlaut. The way to pronounce the Ü umlaut is by making the sound “ee” and pursing your lips as if you were whistling, almost completely shut.

Yea. I think the better way to communicate it is we have no vowel combination that requires the sound.

IIRC the hardest for native English speakers to get when using German is the ü, ö, eszet (we don't have sz combinations other than last names), and -sch. Those are just either combinations or sounds that either aren't common in English or not used at all. (We do have -sch we just don't pronounce it the same, often we use the hard -k sound like school, but in German it's mostly a soft s followed by -ch more like someone would say schemer)

 

[Mr. Mastodon Farm]

Since you're learning German a friendly correction:

It's "Auf Wiedersehen" with "i-e" instead of "e-i". (the opposite of Alpengeist)

Also of note: the voice actress for Gerta uses the correct dialect for her announcement and does not pronounce the ending fully as it would have been done in Hochdeutsch. (High German)
She says "auf Wiederseh'n" as appropriate for the Black Forrest region.

Also notable: The siblings that are running the tour agency in the theming of Verbolten names are apparently Gerta and Gunter Schwartzwald.
The name Gerta has a Germanic origin but is not very common.
The name Gunter is actually a misspelling of the actual German name Günter. ü makes a sound that I don't think has a real equivalent in English.
Their family name Schwartzwald is a misspelling of Schwarzwald (Black Forrest)

Thanks! I actually have an easy way to remember the respective pronunciations of ie vs. ei (the one that ends in "e" sounds like "ee"), but still managed to mess it up in my post.

I also didn't realize Wiedersehen was a noun until I saw that you had it capitalized. I assumed it was a verb meaning "to see again." (wieder/again + sehen/to see).

 

[Nibbins]

Yea. I think the better way to communicate it is we have no vowel combination that requires the sound.

IIRC the hardest for native English speakers to get when using German is the ü, ö, eszet (we don't have sz combinations other than last names), and -sch. Those are just either combinations or sounds that either aren't common in English or not used at all. (We do have -sch we just don't pronounce it the same, often we use the hard -k sound like school, but in German it's mostly a soft s followed by -ch more like someone would say schemer)

The German "sch" is actually pretty much the same as the English "sh".

"sz" or "ß" is a slightly sharper "s" and in spelling often interchangeable with "ss" (the rules here changed several times over the years)

Thanks! I actually have an easy way to remember the respective pronunciations of ie vs. ei (the one that ends in "e" sounds like "ee"), but still managed to mess it up in my post.

I also didn't realize Wiedersehen was a noun until I saw that you had it capitalized. I assumed it was a verb meaning "to see again." (wieder/again + sehen/to see).

Yes, it becomes a noun in this case since it refers to the event of seeing the other person again. The "auf" is in this case a "to" as in driking to someones health.

As verb is would be for example: "Ich würde dich gerne wieder sehen." (I would like to see you again)

 

[Mr. Mastodon Farm]

I only say this because my German teacher that was from Germany's name was Günter: 'oo' would be the closest we have. Or 'ue' together based on dialect.

EDIT:
This is just a personal side note....German came to me far easier than Spanish, French, Italian; AKA the 3 classic 'love languages'. My school district required you take all 4 in our 8th grade year to pick the one we wanted to take in HS. I was absolutely shocked how many people just sucked at German but picked up Spanish and French easily (Italian wasn't too difficult for me since most my mom's family uses it from time to time). But English is a germanic language, so most of our words, pronunciations, and grammatical structure is derived from the base German language. Our instructors when we took German as the only language always talked about how we were the 'smartest' for taking the easiest language as English native speakers, and how with English and German language abilities you would find little language barriers in traveling North and Central Europe. Now I've never been so I can't speak to the validity of it but I've heard some friends from the classes say it's close to true.

I already speak Spanish, and I am finding German vocab fairly easy to learn because so many words are either cognates with English or cognates with the romance languages. The grammar is harder, but a lot of it lines up with archaic English: "I know not" instead of "I don't know." "Du gehst" is reminiscent of "thou goest." etc.

 

[belsaas]

Also notable: The siblings that are running the tour agency in the theming of Verbolten names are apparently Gerta and Gunter Schwartzwald.
The name Gerta has a Germanic origin but is not very common.
The name Gunter is actually a misspelling of the actual German name Günter. ü makes a sound that I don't think has a real equivalent in English.
Their family name Schwartzwald is a misspelling of Schwarzwald (Black Forrest)

I mean... Gerta and Gunter have more problems than just spelling.

 

[Zachary]

I mean... Gerta and Gunter have more problems than just spelling.

AND THEY HAVE A KID.

(I know this is way off-topic, but I always feel a responsibility to ensure everyone knows about Busch Gardens Williamsburg's incestious lore. Anyway, I'll move subsequent replies to the Vbolt thread.)

 

[Nicole]

My recollection from prep school is that German had some grammatical structures that were similar to Latin. So, people who took Romance languages had the advantage of common derivatives from Latin, while the German students could apply the grammar we studied in 8th and 9th grade Latin.

 

[GrandpaD]

Obviously learning my German watching Hogan's Heroes was the wrong tact...

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[Unagi]

German tongue twisters are fun....

Zehn Zebras scheißen im Zürcher Zoo ?

 

[CastleOSullivan]

I don’t think anyone mentioned this yet, but I believe the Master Yoda quote at Verbolten is most likely an inside joke about German word order.

English speakers that hear word for word translations of German sentences very often say that the grammar sounds like Master Yoda.

Although Yoda doesn’t technically use German grammar; I remember how my colleagues in my German classes in school used to wonder how Yoda would sound in German. We joked that he would probably make almost perfect sense to us English speakers.

So, that quote is probably not just some random Star Wars Easter egg. I believe it is a joke for anyone who ever studied German in an English speaking country.
This also makes the grammar issues on that poster forgivable, as they were likely deliberate. Misspelling Frühling (Spring) on one of the posters in the queue is another story. Lol

 

[Nibbins]

You're giving them too much credit here. Unfortunately it's not a German inside joke, unless you consider word by word translations funny.
The other terms on the sign are all word by word translations as well with no regards to grammar.

German Yoda speak seems to be usually direct word by word translations of the original quote. They keep a similar grammar which is incorrect for both English and German.
The usually short sentence structure would be more common for English than German though.