MovieChat Forums > The ODESSA File (1974) Discussion > Could somebody translate the German dial...

Could somebody translate the German dialog parts?

posted 13 years ago by Madyas
4 replies | jump to latest

For instance: German soldiers yelling at Jews to get off the train....Raus!...I looked it up online but get different translations, ie., get out, or rush. Then, when Roschmann is trying to comandeer the hospital ship and is arguing with Miller's father....what are they saying to each other? And, when Roschmann is yelling at German soldier and then kicks the Jewish prisoner off the bench and hangs him....what was Roschmann saying to the soldier?.....and so forth. Many more. If I try and look up words on the internet to try and translate, it gets confusing. Why did the producers do it this way?.....I couldn't understand half of what was being said in the movie. I don't need exact wording, just basically what is being said between actors. Thanks!

[–] KennethX 13 years ago

Just saw the movie, I speak german, and you didn't miss a thing if you didn't understand the german, it was always clear what was going on in the scenes just by visual means, with the german dialogue adding nothing worth noting.

yes, "raus" is colloquial german and means "get out".

www.youtube.com/user/AustrianFilmGeek

[–] b-rad 11 years ago

I agree with the other poster, you're not missing anything if you don't speak German.

When Roschmann tries to commandeer the ship with Wehrmacht (regular Army) wounded on it, Hauptmann Müller (Peter's father) tells him, "Ich befehle hier und kein andere!", which is "I'm in command here and no one else!" That's the only piece of dialog I remember off the top of my head.

"The bigger the government, the smaller the citizen."

[–] movies789 11 years ago

Actually, there shouldn't have been any spoken German in the movie at all. Nearly all of the dialogue (primary & background) that would have been in German in real life was presented in English for the viewers' benefit. Yet, there were several snippets that were inexplicably in German - the beer-hall singing, the policemen talking at the castle moat, the officers shouting in the diary flashback, etc. Just a continuity goof, though; it didn't detract from the movie for me.

[–] 11 years ago

[deleted]