English to German translation help

Something like:
Gern geschehen meine Liebe
or you could start Sie sind herzlich wilkommen which is very formal. Less formal would be Du bist...

The capital on Liebe is not a mistake btw. In German all nouns take capital letters, and Liebe (which means love) is a noun here.

An alternative to Liebe would be Liebling (the diminutive). That is very often used for darling, sweetheart etc. If you used Liebling I think it would be Du bist...
So, from least to most formal:

Gern geschehen mein Liebling (or Liebchen)
Gern geschehen meine Liebe
Du bist herzlich wilkommen mein Liebling
Sie sind herzlich wilkommen meine Liebe

Liebster is used in some parts of Germany (perhaps all, I only know a bit about certain regional dialects), though I think it's more of a cozy-type term of endearment.

anguswalker said:

Something like:
Gern geschehen meine Liebe
or you could start Sie sind herzlich wilkommen which is very formal. Less formal would be Du bist...

The capital on Liebe is not a mistake btw. In German all nouns take capital letters, and Liebe (which means love) is a noun here.

An alternative to Liebe would be Liebling (the diminutive). That is very often used for darling, sweetheart etc. If you used Liebling I think it would be Du bist...
So, from least to most formal:

Gern geschehen mein Liebling (or Liebchen)
Gern geschehen meine Liebe
Du bist herzlich wilkommen mein Liebling
Sie sind herzlich wilkommen meine Liebe

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"Du bist/Sie sind herzlich willkommen" doesn't mean "you're welcome" as in a response to "thank you," it means "welcome" as in "I'm happy to see you/have you here."

Are those two people romantically involved? If so, "meine Liebe" isn't really a term of endearment. The literal translation of "my love" is grammatically correct, but a better translation would be "my dear [name]." "(Meine) Liebste" would be more appropriate if they're lovers ("Liebster" is male).

Can you provide some context for the phrase?

What type of German?

angus basically has it down with Gern geschehen meine Liebe

but the rest is dependant on what character is speaking.

Were I speaking to my girlfriend, I'd say "gern, schatz" (no problem, sweetheart) But that's a lot less formal and more common speech.

Can you offer a bit more context? German is a very contextual language.

Assuming Markus doesn't speak German every day (i.e. he's not speaking contemporary slang), I'd go with:

"Mein vergnügen, Liebling" (literally: my pleasure, my Favorite)

Sounds the most sensual to me.

About the language, it's hard to quantify but in my experience German has the potential to stick words together in far more creative ways than English. Great for writing prose, not so good for translation.

MoLoLu said:

Assuming Markus doesn't speak German every day (i.e. he's not speaking contemporary slang), I'd go with:

Mein vergnügen, Liebling" (literally: my pleasure, my Favorite)

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Since Vergnügen is a noun, you'd have to capitalize it: "Mein Vergnügen, Liebling."
But to me, as a native speaker, this sounds really, really awkward. It's an expression which isn't used this way in German. I really tried to think of a proper translation but there is none. He'd have to use a full sentence to convey this meaning.

I don't quite get the expression in English either.

If, say, HE gives HER a bunch of flowers and she thanks him, then he could say, "My pleasure, my love," and the translation, "Mein Vergnügen, Liebling," would work -- in the "You're welcome," sense. Both sound old-fashioned to my ears, though. Is it an historical novel?

However, I think you want to say SHE is doing something for HIM, namely giving him pleasure by undressing in front of him. I would argue that needs a different phrase entirely. IMHO

It'd be "mein Schatz," but yeah, that sounds okay. (Although it has overtones of Gollum )

I'd just go for "Mein Schatz."

To me, Schatzi sounds more playful and lighthearted than sensual. It also puts me in mind of a rather dreadful song about someone wanting a photograph, but that's by the by.

And yes, grammatically it would be "mein Schatzi." Although for some reason I think Schatzi sounds better on its own without the "mein."

I'm not a native speaker though.

Wow, I completely missed the point on the original sentence there. *headdesk* Sorry =X

On the Schatz, I second Schatz without mein and no i at the end. Not uncommon at all. I use it every day. But it doesn't convey any meaning beyond 'sweetheart, darling standard term of endearment'. If that serves the purpose, go with that.

As for phrases "Oh ja, Schatz!" As in 'ooh, yeah (baby/sweetheart/darling)' Can't think of a better phrase off the top of my head. For anything more specific, I think we really need context as in what you're trying to imply.

L.Blake said:

No Gollum sounding phrases LOL.

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Sorry, that was a dumb joke. (It's how "my precious" is translated in the German dub of the Lord of the Rings movies, so that was the first thing I thought of because I'm a huge nerd.)

I third losing the i. "Schatzi" sounds too cutesy to me. Not a native speaker either, though.

asroc said:

Sorry, that was a dumb joke. (It's how "my precious" is translated in the German dub of the Lord of the Rings movies, so that was the first thing I thought of because I'm a huge nerd.)

I third losing the i. "Schatzi" sounds too cutesy to me. Not a native speaker either, though.

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On the golum, I confirm the association is only nerdy (we used it all the time back when I was in a classroom full of IT guys) but is perfectly acceptable in daily life. I call my better half Schatz every day and she's never associated it with golum.

p.s. Silly note on Schatzi, I live in Switzerland and in this country, we (well, they, I'm the foreigner) cutesify everything by adding 'i's to the end of it. To a German, this may sound hilarious (and incomprehensible) if you're not used to it. The irony being, being cute fits Switzerland based on its size but is highly irritating (and mildly offensive) to a people who are otherwise taken seriously (banks, pharma, etc.) around the world.

MoLoLu said:

...
p.s. Silly note on Schatzi, I live in Switzerland and in this country, we (well, they, I'm the foreigner) cutesify everything by adding 'i's to the end of it...

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In my part of the world they often add -chen or -lein to the end of words for the same effect. I find myself doing it too now, even with English words.

That's a thought: how about this character saying "Mein Engelchen" ("My little angel") -- or is that too corny?

suggestions for translation
1. Es ist mir ein Vergnügen, mein Schatz.
2. Mein Vergnügen, Schatz.

L.Blake said:

They are lovers. Markus is whispering "My pleasure, my love" to her while watching her undress. He likes to whisper German phrases to her, but only in sensual settings.

I had no idea that German was so contextual.

Thanks
L.

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It is even more contextual than you think. What has she said before that? That's important, too!
Has she thanked him for something?

"Mein Vergnügen..." sounds wrong in my ears...you can say "Das Vergnügen ist ganz auf meiner Seite" ("the pleasure is all mine") which would be a very formal answer to something like "It's a pleasure to meet you".