Dark Tower in different languages

[Lily-sai]

Thankee-sai big-big, Galdaran!!

[su_joaninhas]

I read "The Gunslinger" in English, then the 2nd and 3rd books in Portuguese, and I agree that the original versions are better, because so much was lost in the translated version. It must have been a very difficult series to translate (speaking as a translator myself)... I think the translator could have done better, though...
By the way, loved the thread, I love languages too... I wish we could find a way to write the pronunciation, that would be sooo awesome...

[nocny]

so now titles in Polish:

The Gunslinger - Roland
Drowing Of The Three - Powołanie trójki
Wastelands - Ziemie jałowe
Wizard And Glass - Czarnoksiężnik i kryształ
Song Of Susannah - Pieśń Susannah
The Dark Tower - Mroczna Wieża

[Melike]

Titles of The Dark Tower books in Turkish:

• The Dark Tower 1: The Gunslinger - Kara Kule 1: Silahşor
• The Dark Tower 2: The Drawing of the Three - Kara Kule 2: Üç'ün Çekilişi
• The Dark Tower 3: The Wastelands - Kara Kule 3: Çorak Topraklar
• The Dark Tower 4: Wizard and Glass - Kara Kule 4: Büyücü ve Cam Küre
• The Dark Tower 5: Wolves of the Calla - Kara Kule 5: Calla'nın Kurtları
• The Dark Tower 6: Song of Susannah - Kara Kule 6: Susannah'nın Şarkısı
• The Dark Tower 7: The Dark Tower - Kara Kule 7: Kule

They are all translated word by word; no changes in their meanings. Only last book is simply named as ''The Tower''.

I also would like to see our favorite quotes in different languages. Just saying.

[Brice]

So would I.

[Letti]

I don't think I have written it down before this way so here you go.
DT in Hungarian

• The Dark Tower 1: The Gunslinger - A Setét Torony 1: A Harcos
• The Dark Tower 2: The Drawing of the Three - A Setét Torony 2: A Hármak Elhivatása
• The Dark Tower 3: The Wastelands - A Setét Torony 3: Puszta Földek
• The Dark Tower 4: Wizard and Glass - A Setét Torony 4: Varázsló és Üveg
• The Dark Tower 5: Wolves of the Calla - A Setét Torony 5: Calla Farkasai
• The Dark Tower 6: Song of Susannah - A Setét Torony 6: Susannah Dala
• The Dark Tower 7: The Dark Tower - A Setét Torony 7: A Setét Torony

All of them are word by word translations. (thank God)

[Letti]

Titles of The Dark Tower books in Turkish:

• The Dark Tower 1: The Gunslinger - Kara Kule 1: Silahşor
• The Dark Tower 2: The Drawing of the Three - Kara Kule 2: Üç'ün Çekilişi
• The Dark Tower 3: The Wastelands - Kara Kule 3: Çorak Topraklar
• The Dark Tower 4: Wizard and Glass - Kara Kule 4: Büyücü ve Cam Küre
• The Dark Tower 5: Wolves of the Calla - Kara Kule 5: Calla'nın Kurtları
• The Dark Tower 6: Song of Susannah - Kara Kule 6: Susannah'nın Şarkısı
• The Dark Tower 7: The Dark Tower - Kara Kule 7: Kule

They are all translated word by word; no changes in their meanings. Only last book is simply named as ''The Tower''.

I also would like to see our favorite quotes in different languages. Just saying.

Kara Kula sound so dark and hard. I like it a lot. How do you pronounce it exactly?
Anyway do you have Turkish friends you have read the series?

[stone, rose, unfound door]

The person who translated these books did an absolutely GREAT job, I love him

Some things are difficult to translate. What about Dandelo?
How did they do the

Spoiler:

anagram

in other languages?
In Greek

Spoiler:

Odd Lane is οντ λέιν - so it had to be ντέιλον - deilon

Very clever! Because

Spoiler:

It's still an unique name

What about that in other languages?

They didn't change the name at all in French.

[nocny]

they didn't change probably any names in polish edition.

[Melike]

Titles of The Dark Tower books in Turkish:

• The Dark Tower 1: The Gunslinger - Kara Kule 1: Silahşor
• The Dark Tower 2: The Drawing of the Three - Kara Kule 2: Üç'ün Çekilişi
• The Dark Tower 3: The Wastelands - Kara Kule 3: Çorak Topraklar
• The Dark Tower 4: Wizard and Glass - Kara Kule 4: Büyücü ve Cam Küre
• The Dark Tower 5: Wolves of the Calla - Kara Kule 5: Calla'nın Kurtları
• The Dark Tower 6: Song of Susannah - Kara Kule 6: Susannah'nın Şarkısı
• The Dark Tower 7: The Dark Tower - Kara Kule 7: Kule

They are all translated word by word; no changes in their meanings. Only last book is simply named as ''The Tower''.

I also would like to see our favorite quotes in different languages. Just saying.

Kara Kula sound so dark and hard. I like it a lot. How do you pronounce it exactly?
Anyway do you have Turkish friends you have read the series?

I have only two or three Turkish friends who have read it.
I am bad at descrbing pronunciations. Not exactly like this, but it is spelled ''Car-ah Cool-eh''.

[Letti]

Titles of The Dark Tower books in Turkish:

• The Dark Tower 1: The Gunslinger - Kara Kule 1: Silahşor
• The Dark Tower 2: The Drawing of the Three - Kara Kule 2: Üç'ün Çekilişi
• The Dark Tower 3: The Wastelands - Kara Kule 3: Çorak Topraklar
• The Dark Tower 4: Wizard and Glass - Kara Kule 4: Büyücü ve Cam Küre
• The Dark Tower 5: Wolves of the Calla - Kara Kule 5: Calla'nın Kurtları
• The Dark Tower 6: Song of Susannah - Kara Kule 6: Susannah'nın Şarkısı
• The Dark Tower 7: The Dark Tower - Kara Kule 7: Kule

They are all translated word by word; no changes in their meanings. Only last book is simply named as ''The Tower''.

I also would like to see our favorite quotes in different languages. Just saying.

Kara Kula sound so dark and hard. I like it a lot. How do you pronounce it exactly?
Anyway do you have Turkish friends you have read the series?

I have only two or three Turkish friends who have read it.
I am bad at descrbing pronunciations. Not exactly like this, but it is spelled ''Car-ah Cool-eh''.

2 or 3? I think that's nice.
I have only Susan. It's funny that I met my only Hungarian DT fan friend here on the Internet.

[Lily-sai]

I have only one friend that has read DT, my sai, and he lives in Denmark. :p
That's why I love our community here so much - truly brilliant people who love the SAME books.

[Lily-sai]

Titles of The Dark Tower books in Turkish:

• The Dark Tower 1: The Gunslinger - Kara Kule 1: Silahşor
• The Dark Tower 2: The Drawing of the Three - Kara Kule 2: Üç'ün Çekilişi
• The Dark Tower 3: The Wastelands - Kara Kule 3: Çorak Topraklar
• The Dark Tower 4: Wizard and Glass - Kara Kule 4: Büyücü ve Cam Küre
• The Dark Tower 5: Wolves of the Calla - Kara Kule 5: Calla'nın Kurtları
• The Dark Tower 6: Song of Susannah - Kara Kule 6: Susannah'nın Şarkısı
• The Dark Tower 7: The Dark Tower - Kara Kule 7: Kule

They are all translated word by word; no changes in their meanings. Only last book is simply named as ''The Tower''.

I also would like to see our favorite quotes in different languages. Just saying.

Here you go, lovely!

If you love me then love me. - Jos rakastat minua, niin rakasta sitten.

The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed. -
Mustiin puettu mies pakeni autiomaan halki, ja revolverimies seurasi hänen jälkiään.

Ka like the wind - Ka joka on kuin tuuli.

I'll dig up more later - meanwhile, send some of your own as well.
(and Melike, I agree with Letti. Kara Kule sounds so dark and ominous. awesome!!)

[Melike]

Titles of The Dark Tower books in Turkish:

• The Dark Tower 1: The Gunslinger - Kara Kule 1: Silahşor
• The Dark Tower 2: The Drawing of the Three - Kara Kule 2: Üç'ün Çekilişi
• The Dark Tower 3: The Wastelands - Kara Kule 3: Çorak Topraklar
• The Dark Tower 4: Wizard and Glass - Kara Kule 4: Büyücü ve Cam Küre
• The Dark Tower 5: Wolves of the Calla - Kara Kule 5: Calla'nın Kurtları
• The Dark Tower 6: Song of Susannah - Kara Kule 6: Susannah'nın Şarkısı
• The Dark Tower 7: The Dark Tower - Kara Kule 7: Kule

They are all translated word by word; no changes in their meanings. Only last book is simply named as ''The Tower''.

I also would like to see our favorite quotes in different languages. Just saying.

Kara Kula sound so dark and hard. I like it a lot. How do you pronounce it exactly?
Anyway do you have Turkish friends you have read the series?

I have only two or three Turkish friends who have read it.
I am bad at descrbing pronunciations. Not exactly like this, but it is spelled ''Car-ah Cool-eh''.

2 or 3? I think that's nice.
I have only Susan. It's funny that I met my only Hungarian DT fan friend here on the Internet.

Those friends of mine are all from faculty. Two of them have read them because of my passion to the books. One of them was already a King fan. One day he came and said ''Hi, I heard you were a King reader. What do you think about Duma Key?'' Now we are close friends.

I have only one friend that has read DT, my sai, and he lives in Denmark. :p
That's why I love our community here so much - truly brilliant people who love the SAME books.

Same for me. While outside world trying to figure out why I am so crazy about that books, I am a natural and ordinary existance for .com community.

Titles of The Dark Tower books in Turkish:

• The Dark Tower 1: The Gunslinger - Kara Kule 1: Silahşor
• The Dark Tower 2: The Drawing of the Three - Kara Kule 2: Üç'ün Çekilişi
• The Dark Tower 3: The Wastelands - Kara Kule 3: Çorak Topraklar
• The Dark Tower 4: Wizard and Glass - Kara Kule 4: Büyücü ve Cam Küre
• The Dark Tower 5: Wolves of the Calla - Kara Kule 5: Calla'nın Kurtları
• The Dark Tower 6: Song of Susannah - Kara Kule 6: Susannah'nın Şarkısı
• The Dark Tower 7: The Dark Tower - Kara Kule 7: Kule

They are all translated word by word; no changes in their meanings. Only last book is simply named as ''The Tower''.

I also would like to see our favorite quotes in different languages. Just saying.

Here you go, lovely!

If you love me then love me. - Jos rakastat minua, niin rakasta sitten.

The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed. -
Mustiin puettu mies pakeni autiomaan halki, ja revolverimies seurasi hänen jälkiään.

Ka like the wind - Ka joka on kuin tuuli.

I'll dig up more later - meanwhile, send some of your own as well.
(and Melike, I agree with Letti. Kara Kule sounds so dark and ominous. awesome!!)

Aww! Liisa those are awesome. Thank you. *Notes them.*

Here is a couple of yours from me:*Later I will add more.*

The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed. -
Siyahlı adam, çölde kaçıyordu. Silahşor de peşindeydi.

Ka like the wind - Ka, rüzgar gibi.

[stone, rose, unfound door]

I don't have any friend who's finished the series I'm trying to make a good friend of mine become a junkie, though!

The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed - L'homme en noir fuyait à travers le désert, et le pistolero le poursuivait.

[mirceapricajan]

This thread is great. I'm working on the Romanian version of the series right now. Vol. III, as a matter of fact. So far the French version of DT has been of great help to me.

Let's see the titles in Romanian:

The Gunsliger - Pistolarul (this is easy)
The Drawing of the Three - Alegerea celor trei ('picking of the three' - no way I could have grasped both meanings, and 'cele trei carti' - 'the three cards' - as it was translated in Spanish, I think, sounds awful in Romanian)
The Waste Lands - Tinuturile pustii (that is, waste lands )

The next 4 will be named:
Wizard & Glass - Vrajitorul si globul de cristal (mot-a-mot)
Wolves of the Calla - Lupii din Calla (the same)
Song of Susannah - Cantecul lui Susannah (the same)
The Dark Tower - Turnul Intunecat (the same)

'The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed' - 'Omul in negru fugea in desert si pistolarul se tinea dupa el'.

These are the covers for the first 2 volumes:

[biomieg]

Heh, cool thread. In Dutch, the books are titled:

The Gunslinger - De Scherpschutter (literally 'The Sharpshooter')
The Drawing of The Three - Het Teken van Drie (literally 'The Sign of Three', which I think is an awful translation... the problem is: 'drawing' has multiple meanings, like 'drawing a card' but also 'drawing a picture' and I've always suspected the translator to have used the latter meaning... hence the word 'teken', which means 'sign' and is related to the word 'tekening', which means 'a drawing'... can you still follow me? )
The Waste Lands - Het Verloren Rijk (literally 'The Lost/Forlorn Lands/Kingdom')
Wizard and Glass - Tovenaarsglas (literally 'Wizard's Glass')
Wolves of the Calla - Wolven van de Calla
Song of Susannah - Een Lied van Susannah
The Dark Tower - De Donkere Toren

[klio]

Croatian:

the dark tower - kula tmine
gunslinger - revolveraš
crimson king - grimizni kralj
gunslinger born - revolveraš je rođen
the long road home - dug put kući
can ka no rey - polje ruža

[lukenet19]

I've read all the books in official czech translation(btw. the 7th book has a terrible cover and bad translation of the poem - publisher has probably gone crazy...or the world had moved on..) and in english original - it was great(and exactly same!! tell God thank ya) experience - both times .

So here are the titles and names etc(en - cz):

"The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed" = "Muž v černém prchal přes poušť a pistolník mu byl v patách.".

The Gunslinger - Pistolník
The Drawing of The Three - Tři Vyvolení(it should be Vyvolení Tří but it doesn't matter)
The Waste Lands - Pustiny
Wizard and Glass - Čaroděj a sklo
Wolves of the Calla - Vlci z Cally
Song of Susannah - Zpěv Susannah
The Dark Tower - Temná Věž

Roland - Roland ( the very most of the names are same in both languages :-) )
Father Callahan - Otec Callahan
Oy - Ochu ( "Good boy" - "Hodný hochu" )

[arrawyn]

i LOVE this thread! unfortunately i don't speak anything other than English, but i've loved reading everyone's translations in so many different languages! fascinating!

[Advocaat]

Just want to tell you some stuff about the German version

The Dark Tower - Der Dunkle Turm



The Gunslinger - Schwarz (Black)

There are many ideas why they called it "Schwarz". The first one is that Heyne (the publisher) was afraid that people might not be interested in a book called "Der Revolvermann" (Which is the German version of gunslinger) because it sounds like a western story and Stephen King is mostly known for his horror literature. So they decided to call it "Schwarz" because it sounds scary and mysterious enough to entice the readers.

There is another idea which i prefer because it makes sense. The man in black is "der Mann in schwarz" - so the title might simply be an allusion to Walter.



The Drawing of the Three - Drei (Three)

Not much to say about this one. Its a little confusing to call the second book "Drei" ( = three), but i kinda like this title.



The Waste Lands - tot. (dead.)

This is the one i dont understand. Why is it "dead."? I would have been okay with "Death" ( = Tod), even though it would be not that creative. But "tot." is just stupid. (Especially the period. Makes me angry)

It doesnt even match with the story - Sure, people die. But thats what they mostly do when Stephen King writes a novel. So why is death so important in this one that it deservers to be in the title?



Wizard and Glass - Glas (Glass)

Again: Nothing to say about this one. I like the title and im happy that they didnt translate it ("Zauberer und Glas" would just sound weird)



Wolves of the Calla - Wolfsmond (Moon of the wolves...or something like that)

Another one i dont understand: What has the moon to do with it? Im pretty sure they just wanted the title to sound mysterious.



Song of Susannah - Susannah (Well...take a guess)

This one is okay. I prever the original title, but "Susannah" works fine for me.



The Tower - Der Turm (The Tower)

Finally: A title with more than one word! I dont know why Heyne uses only-one-word-titles for king novels most of the time. Probably because of the success of "It" ("Es"). They tried that with "Misery" before - In German it is just "Sie" ("She"). Pretty lame, huh?

Well, thats about the novels. Some other stuff from the Dark Tower (Sorry if im wrong with the original phrases, i just translate them. Would be nice if someone could tell me the original phrases)

The world has moved - Die Welt hat sich weiterbewegt.

(After they changed the translator it is "Die Welt hat sich weitergedreht".)

Everything serves the beam - Alle Dinge dienen dem Balken.

(Here i prefer the German word for beam. (Balken)
A beam sounds like some sort of ray (Probably a laser weapon from a space ship or something) for most Germans. "Balken" can also be translated to timber or bar. Even though the beams are like some sort of ray, calling them "bar" shows their use better i guess)

Long days and pleasent nights - Lange Tage und angenehme Nächte.

Crimson King - Scharlachroter König

See the TURTLE of enormous girth!

On his shell he holds the earth
If you want to run and play,
Come along the BEAM today.

-

Sie der Schildkröte gewaltige Pracht!

Auf deren Panzer die Welt gemacht.
Willst du spielen, komm und lauf,
Eins, zwei, drei den Balken rauf.


One more thing: I totaly love the covers of the German books. Some people told me that they find them boring and pale - But i just love them.

Lange Tage und angenehme Nächte,
Advocaat

[Daghain]

I'd actually like to try and read these in German, but I'm pretty sure I'd spend a lot of time with a German-English dictionary.

I think The Wastelands might be called Tot because the Waste Lands are kind of a dead place (or at least, deadly to humans) but I may be way off base there.

I do like the covers, though.

[arrawyn]

i like the covers of the German books too! weird they are all one word titles (except #7). That's crazy that Misery is just 'She' in German. that makes no sense!

thanks for posting though - was really interesting!

[Daghain]

Well, knowing Germans like I do, I can totally see why She makes sense.

They're pretty literal. I could see my second-generation full-blooded German dad looking at that, reading the book (if he ever actually HAD read a book outside of high school) and saying, "Yeah, perfect title."

[fivethirtytwo]

I don't know why, but this thread is strangely compelling.

Sadly, none of the Dark tower books exist in my native tongue (Urdu), but I'll give you guys an idea of how they would translate:

The Dark Tower: Kaala Meenaar
Gunslinger: Pistol Baaz

The Dark Tower 1: The Gunslinger - Pistol Baaz
The Dark Tower 2: The Drawing of the Three - Teen Ka Ikhraaj
The Dark Tower 3: The Wastelands - Banjar Zameen
The Dark Tower 4: Wizard and Glass - Jadoogar aur Sheesha
The Dark Tower 5: Wolves of the Calla - Calla kai Bhairryay
The Dark Tower 6: Song of Susannah - Susannah ka Sangeet
The Dark Tower 7: The Dark Tower - Kaala Meenaar



If you love me then love me. - Agar tum mujh se pyaar kartay ho, tau aao mujhay pyaar karo

The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed. -
Kaalay libaas mein malboos sehra kai paar faraar hua, aur pistol baaz nai peecha kiya

Ka like the wind - Ka, hawa ki tarah