Vend-a-fact

[lillibet]

Friedrich Froebel, the man who invented kindergarten originally called his school a Kleinkinderbeschäftigungsanstalt, which the article I'm reading translates as "small-child-keep-busy-institute".

Comments

[http://users.livejournal.com/urban_faerie_/]

"small-child-keep-busy-institute" = welcome to my life!

:)

[cz_unit]

I love German.

[orbitalmechanic.livejournal.com]

Did I tell you already that there's a German word for "the boy you share a babysitter with", and it translates to "day-brother"? I just love that.

[starphire.livejournal.com]

That's awesome!
Now if only Junior High/Middle school had a similarly honest title.

Mister Fancy-Pants German Scholar...

[thatwesguy.livejournal.com]

...I'm certainly not.

But I would translate "beschäftigung" as "career" or as "that at which you work."

babelfish.altavista.com translates it tidily as "occupation."

So I'm a little skeptical that "keep-busy-institute" is a fair and faithful translation.

Unfortunately, "keep-busy-institute" is so very very snappy that I bet accuracy matters less than it otherwise might! :-)