The Souls of Black Folk — Page 12
For the first time he sought to analyze the burden he bore upon his back, that dead-weight of social degradation partially masked behind a half-named Negro problem.
Zum ersten Mal versuchte er, die Last zu analysieren, die er auf seinem Rücken trug, jenes tote Gewicht sozialer Erniedrigung, das hinter einem halb benannten Negerproblem teilweise verborgen war.
He felt his poverty; without a cent, without a home, without land, tools, or savings, he had entered into competition with rich, landed, skilled neighbors.
Er spürte seine Armut; ohne einen Cent, ohne ein Zuhause, ohne Land, Werkzeug oder Ersparnisse war er in Wettbewerb mit reichen, begüterten, geschickten Nachbarn getreten.
To be a poor man is hard, but to be a poor race in a land of dollars is the very bottom of hardships.
Ein armer Mann zu sein ist schwer, aber eine arme Rasse in einem Land des Dollars zu sein ist der absolute Tiefpunkt aller Entbehrungen.
He felt the weight of his ignorance,—not simply of letters, but of life, of business, of the humanities; the accumulated sloth and shirking and awkwardness of decades and centuries shackled his hands and feet.
Er spürte das Gewicht seiner Unwissenheit – nicht nur in Bezug auf Bildung, sondern auf das Leben, das Geschäftsleben, die Geisteswissenschaften; die angesammelte Trägheit und Drückebergerei und Unbeholfenheit von Jahrzehnten und Jahrhunderten fesselte seine Hände und Füße.
Nor was his burden all poverty and ignorance.
Noch war seine Last ausschließlich Armut und Unwissenheit.
The red stain of bastardy, which two centuries of systematic legal defilement of Negro women had stamped upon his race, meant not only the loss of ancient African chastity, but also the hereditary weight of a mass of corruption from white adulterers, threatening almost the obliteration of the Negro home.
Das rote Mal der Unehelichkeit, das zwei Jahrhunderte systematischer gesetzlicher Schändung schwarzer Frauen seiner Rasse aufgeprägt hatten, bedeutete nicht nur den Verlust der alten afrikanischen Keuschheit, sondern auch das erbliche Gewicht einer Masse von Verdorbenheit durch weiße Ehebrecher, die beinahe die Auslöschung des schwarzen Heims bedrohte.
A people thus handicapped ought not to be asked to race with the world, but rather allowed to give all its time and thought to its own social problems.
Von einem derart benachteiligten Volk sollte man nicht verlangen, mit der Welt um die Wette zu laufen, sondern man sollte ihm erlauben, seine gesamte Zeit und sein Denken seinen eigenen sozialen Problemen zu widmen.
But alas! while sociologists gleefully count his bastards and his prostitutes, the very soul of the toiling, sweating black man is darkened by the shadow of a vast despair.
Doch leider! Während Soziologen fröhlich seine unehelichen Kinder und seine Prostituierten zählen, wird die Seele des sich abmühenden, schwitzenden schwarzen Mannes vom Schatten einer gewaltigen Verzweiflung verdunkelt.
Vocabulary
- Zum
- To the; contraction of zu dem.
- ersten
- First; ordinal number indicating primary sequence.
- Mal
- Time; occasion or instance of occurrence.
- versuchte
- Tried; attempted to do something.
- er
- He; third person singular masculine pronoun.
- die
- The; feminine singular or plural article.
- Last
- Burden; heavy load or responsibility.
- zu
- To; preposition indicating direction or purpose.
- analysieren
- Analyze; examine carefully and methodically.
- auf
- On; preposition indicating position or location.
- seinem
- His; possessive pronoun masculine singular dative.
- Rücken
- Back; rear part of body.
- trug
- Carried; past tense of tragen.
- jenes
- That; demonstrative pronoun indicating distance.
- tote
- Dead; lifeless or inanimate.
- Gewicht
- Weight; heaviness or importance of something.
- sozialer
- Social; relating to society and people.
- Erniedrigung
- Humiliation; degradation or loss of dignity.
- das
- The; neuter singular article.
- hinter
- Behind; at the back of something.
- einem
- A; indefinite article masculine singular dative.
- halb
- Half; one of two equal parts.
- benannten
- Named; designated or called by name.
- teilweise
- Partly; in part or to some extent.
- verborgen
- Hidden; concealed or kept out of sight.
- war
- Was; past tense of sein.
- Er
- He; third person singular masculine pronoun.
- spürte
- Felt; sensed or experienced something.
- seine
- His; possessive pronoun for masculine or neuter.
- Armut
- Poverty; state of being poor or destitute.
- ohne
- Without; lacking or deprived of something.
- einen
- A; indefinite article masculine singular accusative.
- Cent
- Cent; one hundredth of a dollar.
- ein
- A; indefinite article or the number one.
- Zuhause
- Home; place where one lives permanently.
- Land
- Land; country or piece of ground.
- Werkzeug
- Tool; implement used for work.
- oder
- Or; conjunction indicating alternative choices.
- Ersparnisse
- Savings; money saved or accumulated.
- in
- In; preposition indicating location or manner.
- Wettbewerb
- Competition; rivalry or contest between parties.
- mit
- With; preposition indicating accompaniment or means.
- reichen
- Rich; wealthy or having abundant resources.
- begüterten
- Wealthy; affluent or well-supplied with money.
- geschickten
- Skilled; having ability or dexterity.
- Nachbarn
- Neighbors; people living near one another.
- getreten
- Stepped; past participle of treten.
- Ein
- A; indefinite article or number one.
- armer
- Poor; lacking money or resources.
- Mann
- Man; adult male human being.
- sein
- Be; to exist or constitute something.
- ist
- Is; third person singular of sein.
- schwer
- Hard; difficult or heavy in weight.
- aber
- But; conjunction indicating contrast or exception.
- eine
- A; indefinite article feminine singular.
- arme
- Poor; lacking money or means.
- Rasse
- Race; ethnic or biological group of people.
- des
- Of the; genitive article neuter or masculine.
- Dollars
- Dollar; currency unit of money.
- der
- The; masculine or feminine singular article.
- absolute
- Absolute; complete or total without limitation.
- Tiefpunkt
- Low point; lowest or worst moment.
- aller
- All; every one of or whole collection.
- Entbehrungen
- Deprivations; lack or absence of necessities.
- seiner
- His; possessive pronoun genitive or dative.
- Unwissenheit
- Ignorance; lack of knowledge or education.
- nicht
- Not; negation or denial of something.
- nur
- Only; solely or just one thing.
- Bezug
- Relation; connection or reference to something.
- Bildung
- Education; instruction and development of mind.
- sondern
- But; conjunction indicating contrast or correction.
- Leben
- Life; existence or manner of living.
- Geschäftsleben
- Business life; commercial activity and enterprise.
- Geisteswissenschaften
- Humanities; liberal arts and intellectual disciplines.
- angesammelte
- Accumulated; gathered or collected over time.
- Trägheit
- Inertia; lack of energy or motivation.
- und
- And; conjunction joining words or clauses.
- Unbeholfenheit
- Clumsiness; lack of skill or dexterity.
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