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Talk:Rütli Oath

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German text

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Surely "Wir wollen sein" means "we want to be," not "We shall be," which would be "Wir werden sein." Intelligent Mr Toad (talk) 12:07, 7 April 2012 (UTC)[reply]

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Better Translation?

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Hi,

the translation sounds pretty weird, so I would like to offer this one as a hopefully better translation. It is based on the original translation provided here, with all enhancements being solely my own work, hereby licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 License and the GFDL, as required by Wikipedia.

German wording original approximate English translation my suggestion rationale

Wir wollen sein ein einzig Volk von Brüdern,
in keiner Not uns trennen und Gefahr.
Wir wollen frei sein, wie die Väter waren,
eher den Tod, als in der Knechtschaft leben.
Wir wollen trauen auf den höchsten Gott
und uns nicht fürchten vor der Macht der Menschen.

We shall be a nation of only brothers,
never to be parted, not by danger nor distress.
We shall be free like our fathers were,
and choose death over life in servitude.
We shall trust in the highest God
and never fear the might of men.

We want to be one nation of brothers,
never to part, not in danger nor distress.
We want to be free like our fathers were,
and would rather die than live in servitude.
We want to trust in the highest God
and never fear the worldly powers.

"ein einzig Volk von Brüdern", not "ein Volk von einzelnen Brüdern"
active vs. passive
"wollen"="want" vs. "sollen"="shall" *
"eher"=rather; die, or: accept death (as our fate)
"Macht der Menschen" is meant as
worldly powers, the rulers of the land, vs. spiritual powers

*one could argue that "shall" could be used for some of the lines, similar to "Congress shall make no law ..." in the 1st Amendment of the US Constitution, still, "want to" is closer to the original meaning, IMO.

Feel free to use it instead of the current one, or further improve it before doing so. -- 134.3.38.213 (talk) 13:45, 1 August 2015 (UTC)[reply]