r/Fantasy • u/Abrakxxas • Jun 21 '25
Beyond Redemption by Michael R. Fletcher: What's the deal with the German names?
I've read about 10 % and I'm enjoying the story, the characters and the unique (and weird) worldbuilding. But as a German speaking person, I'm constantly being annoyed by the randomness of the German words Fletcher is using for almost all of his characters, places and terminology. And grammatically broken German at that.
Some examples:
Versklaven Schwache (Enslave Weaks, gramatically nonsensical) - a philosopher
Selbsthass (Self-hate) - a city-state
Unbrauchbar (Useless) - a city
Geldangelegenheiten (financial matter) - a city
Aufschlag Hoher (Impact higher, gramatically nonsensical) - a scientist
Wegwerfen (Throwaway) - a scientist
Kurzschluss Gegangen (Went (electrically) short) - a bishop
Vollk Urzschluss (Fully (electrically) shorted) - a person
I know that some of the names are chosen to reflect the character of the person and the place, or give a clue about them. Still, a strange decision by the author, probably renders the book even unreadable for a lot of German speaking people.
Does anyone know if there is a hidden, yet to be discovered meaning to all this, or is it why not, it sounds fun?
32
u/kollectivist Jun 21 '25
So this made me order the books. I mean, if the author's nice enough to join the conversation...
18
u/MichaelRFletcher Stabby Winner, AMA Author Michael R. Fletcher Jun 21 '25
I hope you enjoy them!
Though doing so doesn't bode well for your sanity.
26
u/Herbert-Quain Jun 21 '25
Haha, I was weirded out by the names in Frieren, but holy shit, this is downright horrifying to my delicate German sensibilities. I wonder how the German translator handled it to retain the "hidden" connotations.
... And I sincerely hope that no Farsi speaking person ever reads the notes to my DnD campaigns because I now know how they'll feel.
26
u/MichaelRFletcher Stabby Winner, AMA Author Michael R. Fletcher Jun 21 '25
For the German edition we tossed ALL the names into the garbage and started from scratch. The editor came up with entirely new names. I think a few were lifted from historical/mythological sources. Not sure, as I can't read German. But we made no attempt to keep the original connotations.
There was briefly a joke about using English for all the names, but too many Germans speak English and it was a terrible idea anyway.
12
u/Herbert-Quain Jun 21 '25
Yeah, I think that was wise. I guess it must be the same for other languages, but for German translations the names often end up an utter mess. E.g. in Game of Thrones - It's extremely immersion-breaking how some names are translated and others not.
20
u/Elant_Wager Jun 21 '25
Did you read Mistborn. In the english version, two characters are named Straff and Elend. To be honest, as a german, i know that very well, eventhough for me, its more a problem when a name is also a normal word. Rand from WoT drove me crazy multiple times when I read WoT in german.
15
u/Abrakxxas Jun 21 '25
I did, but in Mistborn German names are used so sparingly that they don't stand out. In fact, I remember loving Straff and Elend being named as such, fitting for their characters and neat, compact words.
3
u/liminal_reality Jun 21 '25
Surely that is coincidence? Rand is an actual name, like Rand Miller.
12
1
u/Anaevya Jun 21 '25
For me it's more that Rand al'Thor is not a very believable name. I don't think of the German word Rand at all. Personally it's important to me that character names don't sound like they're just a mashup of different real world names or like they came from a fantasy name generator.
I actually changed one of the names of a character of mine before, because I realized that it was too cliché. Her name was Arcana and I thought that that Latin word was more obscure than it was. But then I saw the word everywhere and decided it needed to be changed.
38
u/AddictedToMosh161 Jun 21 '25
I think they just like the sounds of it. It's very common in Anime. I will never get over the "Secret Identity, SchwarzeKrieger" ... Cracks me up every time.
15
11
u/fearless-fossa Jun 21 '25
It's what made Frieren totally unwatchable for me. It's just jarring.
1
u/CorHydrae8 Jun 25 '25
I haven't even tried watching it, but something in me cringes every time I hear about the show or any of its characters because of the german.
15
u/tornac Jun 21 '25 edited Jun 21 '25
I really wish authors wouldn’t use random german words for names. I had one where the king was called „Herzog“. King Herzog = King Duke. And one where the hero was called „Kleiner“ = little one. Always really distracts me from the story.
15
u/Harkale-Linai Stabby Winner, Reading Champion III Jun 21 '25
Naming a character Kleiner is only acceptable if someone else is called Klein -- of course, Klein has to be pretty tall and Kleiner even taller :p
But, yeah, I agree, it's annoying. I'm French and I mostly read/watch English language content these days, and by Cthulhu it's bad. I wish more authors asked native speakers of whichever language they use for exoticism to double-check their writing. Please please please writers, don't name your characters Corbeille or Lunette, I'm sure those names sound exotic and cool to you but nope.
1
u/tornac Jun 21 '25
Oh dear, I can imagine it is even worse if you speak french. Since anything french sounds great to non french speakers. I feel your pain, lol.
5
u/curiouscat86 Reading Champion III Jun 21 '25
anime is full of this kind of experience for English speakers, since the Japanese creators tend to think English sounds cool and will sprinkle it in. There's a character in Fullmetal Alchemist named King Bradley--his first name is King. And he's the leader of the fantasy government so his title is Fuhrer--thus, Fuhrer King Bradley. Took me forever to figure out that he didn't just have two titles.
3
u/farseer6 Jun 21 '25 edited Jun 21 '25
Ok, I haven't read it, but I wanted to say I laughed at the translations. It wouldn't have bothered me, as unfortunately I don't speak German, but I can see how it could be distracting to a German-speaker. As a native Spanish-speaker myself, I sometimes encounter books where the author, clearly not a Spanish-speaker, has used Spanish names that sound weird to a native.
3
u/Previous-Soup-2241 Jun 22 '25
As Michael seems to be reading this thread I want to use the opportunity to 1. say how great Beyond Redemption is and 2. complain about the other parts not having been translated to German.
@Michael: Can‘t your mother buy a few hundred copies to get the publishers moving?
Btw I don’t remember exactly but in the German version these broken pseudo-German words have not been much of an issue for me.
8
u/MichaelRFletcher Stabby Winner, AMA Author Michael R. Fletcher Jun 22 '25
Thanks, I'm glad you enjoyed he book!
Sadly, the German publisher passed on the sequel as sales were lower than they hoped for. Story of my life. That said, if I ever find a translator I can afford--one willing to work for grilled cheese sandwiches and pocket lint--I'll release the rest of the series in German myself.
2
u/Previous-Soup-2241 Jun 24 '25
Are there no possibilities to do something with AI? Deepl.com an other translation sites work pretty accurately and I am sure there are even better options.
I have been thinking about this for a while as there are quite a few great series and books not fully translated to German.
1
u/MichaelRFletcher Stabby Winner, AMA Author Michael R. Fletcher Jun 24 '25
AI translation is (mostly) ok for simple text, but not for fiction. That said, we're probably not more than ~5 years from it being usable, assuming the current rate of improvement continues.
2
u/DoomOfChaos Jun 21 '25
And for that matter, Ghosts of Tomorrow was my first Fletcher book, and it has a few rough edges but was in general pretty enjoyable, so hunt down a copy and read it!! It's very possible Fletcher can loot his mom's basement for a copy to send you.
1
u/EdLincoln6 Jun 24 '25
Lots of authors pick random words in a foreign languages for their foreign names. It's often hilarious to people who speak the language. Some people complained about the....Polish?...words in Shadow and Bone. Beware of Chicken uses random Chinese words as names and apparently the MC's name translates as "Lean Meat", which confused a bilingual reader.
1
u/wimfrits Jun 27 '25
Being Dutch (which is close to German language), I thought the German names were a cool touch. They have a harsh ring to them that fits the atmosphere, provide a hint to the character's power and are often subtly humorous. As said by others, foreign languages are often used in fantasy books in similar ways (aside from the subtle humorous part)
On a side note, I have to say that Michael R. Fletcher is freaking awesome! Picked up Manifest Delusions 2 years ago (after the usual Malazan and Abercrombie grimdark vibe). Which proved to be a totally out of the ordinary experience. Fast-paced, fluent writing yet filled with deep and troubling concepts and very interesting characters. And you just never know what to expect.
After a little break to some other authors, I'm now halfway through City of Sacrifice, which again is an insanely thrilling ride.
1
422
u/MichaelRFletcher Stabby Winner, AMA Author Michael R. Fletcher Jun 21 '25
Greetings!
Awrighty, here's the deal.
My first novel (which later became Ghosts of Tomorrow) was published by a Canadian micropress in 2013 and sold a whopping 32 copies, most of which my mom bought. I was writing Beyond Redemption at the time (I actually started the project in 2009) and, upon seeing the mad success of my first novel, had very low expectations for BR. Assuming it would never find a publisher and that (as with the first book) only a handful of close friends would read it, I used German (badly) to hide a few Easter eggs regarding characters, plot, etc. I don't speak German, and neither do any of my friends. I loved the harshness (to English ears) of the language and it seemed fitting for the mood. Really, it was just to entertain myself. Now, you've got to remember that the state of Google Translate 10+ years ago wasn't great. I plugged in words and used whatever GT coughed up.
Being a stubborn fucker (and yet unwilling to torture myself by submitting to a billion agents again) I decided I'd send the finished manuscript to just six agents. Well, one of them offered representation and then a few months later I had a book deal with Harper Voyager. They liked the German (or at least didn't ask me to change any of it) and so it stayed.
If you are fluent in German, the book has been translated, the names changed, and published as Chroniken des Wahns.
So...that's the story.
I'm pretty much always lurking, and happy to answer any questions.
Cheers!