um schweigen zu lernen

English translation: to learn to shut up

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)
German term or phrase:um schweigen zu lernen
English translation:to learn to shut up
Entered by: adamgajlewicz

19:53 Jan 27, 2011
German to English translations [PRO]
Art/Literary - Poetry & Literature / Beautiful phrase
German term or phrase: um schweigen zu lernen
I have searched for this dictum in the original English without success. It was coined by Ernest Hemingway. In German it goes as follows: "Man braucht zwei Jahre, um sprechen zu lernen, und fünfzig, um schweigen zu lernen". The word "schweigen" is - IMHO - almost untranslatable into English (being silent does not express the inner essence of the German lovely word), which is why I have always wondered what Hemingway wrote in the original. I wonder if you would please help me identify the original sentence.
adamgajlewicz
Local time: 06:31
to learn to shut up
Explanation:
I've seen two versions. Sixty to learn to shut up and a lifetime.

It takes two years to learn to speak and sixty to learn to shut up.



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Note added at 7 mins (2011-01-27 20:00:54 GMT)
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Hemingway noted that it takes two years to learn to talk and a lifetime to learn to shut up.

http://www.thefatherofthebridespeech.com/father-of-the-bride...

Selected response from:

Kim Metzger
Mexico
Local time: 23:31
Grading comment
We haven't been able to locate the original sentence. The answer chosen by the majority wins.
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
4 +7to learn to shut up
Kim Metzger
5Möglichkeiten frei zu übersetzen
Juliana Mraz
3learn how to be silent/ master silence
Nicola Wood


Discussion entries: 6





  

Answers


5 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +7
to learn to shut up


Explanation:
I've seen two versions. Sixty to learn to shut up and a lifetime.

It takes two years to learn to speak and sixty to learn to shut up.



--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 7 mins (2011-01-27 20:00:54 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Hemingway noted that it takes two years to learn to talk and a lifetime to learn to shut up.

http://www.thefatherofthebridespeech.com/father-of-the-bride...



Kim Metzger
Mexico
Local time: 23:31
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 213
Grading comment
We haven't been able to locate the original sentence. The answer chosen by the majority wins.
Notes to answerer
Asker: Thank you, Kim. You command my respect and admiration absolutely.


Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  philgoddard: I have a feeling this is one of those quotes where we'll never find the original version of the whole thing - but these four words are almost definitely right. It's a lot less poetic than the asker thinks!
4 mins

agree  Zareh Darakjian Ph.D.
18 mins

agree  Rebecca Garber: learn to shut up sounds more like Hemingway. Not poetic, but blunt.
51 mins

agree  Ramey Rieger (X): absolutely Papa
51 mins

agree  Ines R.: "It takes two years to learn to speak and sixty to learn to shut up" Ernest Hemingway (1899-1961)
52 mins

agree  Thayenga: I've found "learn to be silent", but knowing Hemingway, your translation is more like him. :)
1 hr

agree  Eleanore Strauss: shut up is definitely Hemingway...and schweigen in German is not inherently poetic or gentle...
1 day 1 hr
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19 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
learn how to be silent/ master silence


Explanation:
I have found two versions of this
"it takes two years to learn to talk, but fifty to learn to be silent"

http://www.lucistrust.org/en/content/download/1075/10710/fil...

"It takes ...but 50 to master silence" -
http://juliaguiomar.blogspot.com/2007/09/la-frase-del-da.htm...

I think this second sounds betterand more authentic, but I cannot tell you the original source

it is also frequently paraphrased to it takes two years to learn to talk and a lifetime to learn to shut up - several instances of this

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Note added at 28 mins (2011-01-27 20:21:39 GMT)
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Sorry, should be learn "to be silent", not "how to be silent"

Have also found "learn to remain silent".

Also sorry Kim, your answer had not appeared on my page when I posted this answer

Nicola Wood
Austria
Local time: 06:31
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 8
Notes to answerer
Asker: Thank you, Nicola.


Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
neutral  Jim Tucker (X): too gentle to be Hemingway
54 mins
  -> maybe - but both of these were cited in quotation marks, whcih the "shut up" version wasn'T. In any case these are not my translations, but quotations I found cited as from Hemingway.
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2 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 5/5
Möglichkeiten frei zu übersetzen


Explanation:
to learn to be still

even, to learn to listen to silence - or

to hear one`s inner self

to hear silence, syn. to contemplate

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Note added at 1 Tag2 Stunden (2011-01-28 22:18:49 GMT)
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Nachdem ich über ebooks und ältere Originalausgaben nachgedacht habe, habe ich einfach mal unter Ernest Hemingway quotes gegoogelt und u.A. folgendes gefunden:
http://thinkexist.com/quotes/ernest_hemingway/
Ich überlasse es dir, ob du lieber die Recherche anstrebst oder frei übersetzen möchtest. Dann sollte diese Übersetzung natürlich auch unsere Zeit prägen.

Juliana Mraz
Slovakia
Local time: 06:31
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: German
Notes to answerer
Asker: Thank you, Juliana.


Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
neutral  Eleanore Strauss: actually I like "to learn to be still"...that is more poetic, but not Hemingway
22 hrs
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