What the heck is Asuka saying in German in episode 22?

[Mr. Tines]

Actually most characters in NGE aren't very sociable

Very true; but as it is an unambiguous "he" -- it's not going to be Kaji she describes that way, nor Touji or Kensuke.

[V]

but is what Tiffany Grant said different from the "Japanese German" version?

[THE Hal E. Burton 9000]

but is what Tiffany Grant said different from the "Japanese German" version?

I think it was "how" she said it.

[badc0de]

but is what Tiffany Grant said different from the "Japanese German" version?

I've tried to write down what I was able to understand (damn shin-chan):

Hallo Mutter?
Wir haben uns garnicht(?) gehört.
Danke schön!
Und du?
Soll ich ihn dir bekannt machen? (?)
Ach niemals. Er ist (ein) einsamer Mensch
Ja. Ja. Wirklich?
Ach so! Das ist aber toll, Vater ???!
Hab ich dich gibt's keine lege <-- WTF? Oo
Es ist bald zu Bett gehe.
Auf wiederhören! Gute Nacht!

Hallo? Hallo Mutti!
Aha
Wir haben uns lange nicht gehört.
Danke schön!
Jaja, ich bin mit die Jungen sehr populär.
Ach ja... niemals!
Er ist ein sauberer Mensch.
Ja... ja... Wirklich?
Ach so, das ist aber toll!
Ach, ich werde jetzt ins Bett gehen
Auf wiederhören! Gute Nacht!

The only real difference between the Japanese and the english dub is:
"Soll ich ihn dir bekannt machen? (?)" (~Should I introduce him to you?) and "Jaja, ich bin mit die Jungen sehr populär." (~Yes yes, I'm very "popular" with the boy).
Oh... and in the Japanese dub is something like this: "Hab ich dich gibt's keine lege" which makes absolutely no sence to me. oO

Hallo Mama?
Mann, wir haben ja schon ewig nicht mehr gequatscht.
Wie geht es den dir?
Danke schön!
Warum fragst du das? Machst du dir etwa Sorgen?
Nein... niemals, er ist ein wirklich netter Kerl.
Ja, ja, ach echt jetzt?
Ist ja ein Ding... das ist aber toll!
???
Hör mal, ich muss langsam schluss machen, ist schon sehr spät bei uns.
Ich bin voll Müde, echt!
Also tschüß dann, wir hören uns!

[Mr. Tines]

>> Wir haben uns garnicht(?) gehört.

Wir haben uns gar nicht gehört. -- "gar nicht" = "not at all"

>>"Jaja, ich bin mit die Jungen sehr populär." (~Yes yes, I'm very "popular" with the boy).

"Die Jungen" is plural.

[badc0de]

>> Wir haben uns garnicht(?) gehört.

Wir haben uns gar nicht gehört. -- "gar nicht" = "not at all"

I know... My native language is German. I wasn't sure if I understand it correctly and so I placed the question mark behind the "gar nicht".

>>"Jaja, ich bin mit die Jungen sehr populär." (~Yes yes, I'm very "popular" with the boy).

"Die Jungen" is plural.

Well... the "die Jungen" isn't correct at all in this context. It could be either "den Jungen" or "dem Jungen".
If it was meant as "den Jungen" then it's plural => Yes yes, I'm very popular with the boys.
But if it was meant as "dem Jungen" then it's singular => Yes yes, I'm very popular with the boy.
Furthermore the "mit" and the "populär" are quite strange... "Jaja, ich bin bei den Jungen sehr beliebt" would make more sense.

[DatDude]

Tiffany grant wrote that bit remember.

[nomis1242]

Tiffany grant wrote that bit remember.

Actually IMHO Tiffany's German is better than the Japanese dub (mainly the pronounciation).

If I may also have a crack at providing an interpretation. I don't think a literal translation will help- for example ObsessiveMathsFreak picked up on the word "clean" earlier in this thread. "Sauber" (clean) can be used to mean "perfect" as a superlative, just one of many linguistic differences. So here's my take on the dub version:
Hallo Mutti - Hi, Mum

Ich bin mit die Jungen* sehr poplar. - I am very popular with the boys (not a statement of sluttiness, just gloating about being the prettiest girl in school)

Niemals! Er ist ein sehrberer(?)** mensch - Never! (mock indignantly) He is a gentleman**.

(Shinji pondering)

Ach, so. Das ist aber toll. Aber ich werde jetzt in Bett gehen. Aufwiederhoeren. Guten nacht - Owww...wow! That's great. I'd better go to sleep now. Speak soon. Good night.

* German purists will note that I've messed up the dative pronoun. I'm a bit rusty, please excuse me (but I think the actors also got it wrong, so there!) As for whether she's popular with "the boy" or "the boys" (either way, as badc0de says, the grammar is wrong) she's just trash talking, so it doesn't really matter. But to me "the boys" seems more fitting to me. Especially since she has bragged to Shinji that she's "the most popular girl in school".

** The most important word of the sentence, and it can't be understood, dammit!! (sehrberer is not a word, it's just what it sounds like she says). I've paraphrased "gentleman" based on the context in the conversation. To me, the word definitely doesn't sound like "lonely" and from the context + tone it doesn't seem like she's whinging about Shinji's dullness.

So my take on the conversation is basically she's having a light-hearted gloat session about how popular she is at school, but her (fictional) boyfriend is very polite so, don't worry Mummie, he's not making your little princess do naughty things.

[Lucretius]

* German purists will note that I've messed up the dative pronoun. I'm a bit rusty, please excuse me

Yeah, it should be "mit den Jungen." Also, I'm pretty sure that line is only in the English dub.

[nomis1242]

To dig up an old thread, and an even older post...

Babelfish gives sauber as "clean". I took the conversation to be something akin to the following:

Mother: Is that the messy boy you live with? (Or words to that effect)
Asuka: No way! He's a neat freak! (Or word's to that effect)

Sure, the literal translation is "clean" but Germans use it in far more contexts than English speakers. I'll find out from some German friends what it means in this context*, in the meantime my guess is "honourable man". (which from the context I have taken to mean "he doesn't only want to get in my pants")
*EDIT: I've been told it's a very strange way to phrase things and wouldn't really be used. So it's hard to determine what the intent of the line was, but the closest translation of what was said is either "he's a law-abiding man" or "he's a neat-freak".

After checking with the Japanese audio, the magic word is definitely "sauber" (clean), not "einsamer" (lonely). Of the two, "sauber" is closer to how it sounds in the English dub, and Occam's Razor also suggests that the intention of the mispronounced word was "sauber".

FWIW the Platinum booklets have the translation of the Japanese version**, which is subtly different to the English (poor German in a different way )

EDIT 2: ** Actually the Platinum booklet is different to all the Japanese and English versions, which is strange. Also, AFAIK it is the only place "not sociable" / "lonely" is mentioned.

[Fireball]

if you like to know, in the german dub she says "netter kerl" which means "nice guy" and is on par with the gentleman context.

[InstrumentalityOne]

German-speaker here.

Asuka´s VA´s german is terribad.

[Fireball]

well, i am a german speaker too and thought ziffer was ok. her german made at least sense.

[nomis1242]

if you like to know, in the german dub she says "netter kerl" which means "nice guy" and is on par with the gentleman context.

Thanks! That's a really helpful clue.

[die-yng]

Sure, the literal translation is "clean" but Germans use it in far more contexts than English speakers. I'll find out from some German friends what it means in this context*, in the meantime my guess is "honourable man". (which from the context I have taken to mean "he doesn't only want to get in my pants")
*EDIT: I've been told it's a very strange way to phrase things and wouldn't really be used. So it's hard to determine what the intent of the line was, but the closest translation of what was said is either "he's a law-abiding man" or "he's a neat-freak".

Yes, the phrasing is way off, but that's normal. Never really heard good german in any movie or tv-series.

I have another possible translation.
Instead of "sauber" (clean or an old fashioned slang for being cool or basically a "great guy"),
It could be (very badly pronounced) "er ist ein sehr ehrbarer Mensch, translating to "he is a very honorable man" (Although "Mann" = man would normally be used, not "Mensch" meaning human).

[nomis1242]

Instead of "sauber" (clean or an old fashioned slang for being cool or basically a "great guy"),
It could be (very badly pronounced) "er ist ein sehr ehrbarer Mensch (Although "Mann" = man would normally be used, not "Mensch" meaning human.

Thanks! Good idea, "ehrbarer" works better for my pre-conceived idea of the meaning of the conversation...

I think it's fairly clear that the Japanese dub is "sauber", but maybe the English VA tried to "improve" that line (she did change some other stuff)

[Galaxy News Reidio]

It's a little thing, but I like that Grant!Asuka says "Mutti" rather than "Mutter".

Also, fun little fact: "Toll", a German word, can mean both "Crazy" and "Cool". Sums up NGE pretty well, I think.

[die-yng]

"Toll" meaning crazy would be very archaic, cetainly not modern german not even 20-30 years ago.

It's basically translatable as cool or great or fine nowadays, but still it would be a great one word summary of NGE.

[LeoXiao]

I think that she said "sauber" which is the simplest explanation if we guess that her mom asked something about Shinji being messy. I don't know German natively but I think "sauber" would just mean clean. I don't think Asuka would say something like "an honorable guy" given the likely nature of the conversation.

[die-yng]

When her stepmother simply asked what kind of a guy Shinji is, it might be possible.