- Forum >
- Topic: Duolingo >
- Literal nonsense?
Literal nonsense?
Quite often in the translations, you come across phrases or sentences that just don't seem to make sense in a more or less literal translation.
Here is an example of such a sentence: "Mir persönlich gehen alle Religionen ... auf den Wecker."
Nope. It does not mean that all religions go onto the alarm clock. If you look up "Wecker" in a good dictionary, you will find that sentence means "All religions... bug me." For example see http://www.dict.cc/?s=wecker .
So when the sentence or phrase seems to be nonsense, it is likely not really nonsense, but rather a German idiom. So get out your dictionary!
May 12, 2012