Odd translation in lesson 23.1

From lesson 23.1

Mal abwarten, was es nach der nächsten Vorstandssitzung zu berichten gibt.

“Will see what the talk will be after the next manager meeting.”

This translation seems a bit off and is unnecessarily free.

Wouldn't a more literal translation be something like:

“Let's wait and see what there is to report after the next management meeting.”

or maybe “We'll see what there is …”

Hi sfpugh

Just looking at that sentence makes me break out in a rash. I can't even imagine getting to that sentence level yet. Still plodding along in level 1. That said I am enjoying it immensely. Will need to take a step back when gardening season starts, as then spend hours outside. Having the first bbq of the season today. Das Wetter ist scho (")n heute und die Sonne scheint. 

Take care and happy learning 

Sebongela

Yes, they do throw in a few difficult sentences here and there, but mostly they are not so tricky.

I am unsure about mal abwarten.

One of the dictionary meanings of abwarten is to wait and see, but I am not sure what is going on with Mal abwarten. My suggested translations are just a guess. I thought it might be imperative, but abwarten is a separable verb.

Pehaps the tutor can explain?

I can see that the Mal abwarten construction has been used a couple of times before in the course:

Mal sehen, was die Zukunft bringt.

We'll see what the future brings.

Mal sehen was im Fernsehen läuft.

Let's see what's on TV.

But it didn't occur to me to question how the construction worked. I suppose I thought is was a variation of “warte mal” etc.

Perhaps the original “Will see what the talk…” is a typo and “We'll see…” was intended. 

Hallo Simon und Sebongela,

Thank you for letting us know about this. I have passed this on to our team to make the translation clearer and also to add a literal translation. I think your translation above would work well. Modal particles like mal are often hard to translate directly into English. The mal in “Mal abwarten” make the sentence sound more casual and softer. Placing mal in front of the infinitive verb form, makes the sentence not only shorter but it also gives this combination of words the ability to stand alone as well, for example:

“Denkst du, dass es heute regnen wird?" - “Do you think it will rain today?”

“Ich weiß es nicht. Mal abwarten.” - “I don't know. Let's wait and see/We'll see."

You can think of it as being short for “Warten wir mal ab.” 

Similar constructions are: “Mal schauen.” and “Mal sehen.” - “We'll see.”

Viele Grüße,

Julia

Thank you for the explanation Julia, I guess Mal abwarten and similar phrases are the kind of colloquial constructions we need to learn without worrying to much about how they work.