Sorry, I only saw Timpana’s post after I had replied to Andrea/Germany. Timpana’s English version is quite correct.

@ Katrin,

Ich gehe davon aus, dass Sie wohl wissen, dass Dolmetschen und Interpretieren nicht gleich zu stellen sind.

I surmise, that you well know, that translation and interpretation cannot be equated.

Hello Andrea/Germany,

quote Malta Today:
[Monday 15 July 2013 – 12:20
‘We stamped our feet’ – Muscat in Rome says Malta must get migration numbers right]

Being aware of Dr. Joseph Muscat’s prowess in smelling coffee, one is obliged to offer the possibility that he actually meant “to put one’s foot down”. I personally interpret the statement as such ….. “innizzlu saqajna”.

Regina Kerner, a publicist based in Rome, was free to translate Dr. Joseph Muscat in relation to her wish and to her will.

Entschuldigung, pardon, Andrea/Germany, aber mit Verlaub, with kind permission, I am compelled to remark that your translation version was also not quite correct.

Dr. Joseph Muscat did not make total use of a royal “we”.

Translating the BZ news article, one should perhaps correctly opt as follows:

[Nun sagte Muscat am Montag in Rom, er habe gar nicht direkt mit Abschiebungen gedroht. Man habe lediglich angekündigt, dass man keine Option ausschließe. „Wir haben nur mit dem Fuß aufgestampft, um zu sagen: Lasst uns nicht allein“, erklärte Muscat.]

Last Monday in Rome, Muscat now said that he did not threaten directly with push-backs. One only announced that one would not exclude any option. “We have only put our foot down in order to say: do not leave us alone”, said Muscat as clarification.

Viele Grüße, Cheers.

The fella already has more than enough speck

DE:
Nun sagte Muscat am Montag in Rom, er habe gar nicht direkt mit Abschiebungen gedroht. Man habe lediglich angekündigt, dass man keine Option ausschließe. „Wir haben nur mit dem Fuß aufgestampft, um zu sagen: Lasst uns nicht allein“, erklärte Muscat.

EN:
Now, on Monday in Rome, Muscat said he did not threathen with push backs. One only announced that no options shall be excluded. “We only put our foot down to say: Don’t leave us alone”, Muscat explained.

There is no German idiomatic expression which is the literal translation of “put your foot down”. The closest is probably “slam the table with your fist”.

I think the Berliner Zeitung is really taking the piss here, because stamping your feet, as in English, is the gesture of a toddler throwing a tantrum, not an idiomatic expression for taking a firm stance.

That’s 1-nil for Germany.

Hilarious.

Muscat needs to be aware of the health risks of first stamping his feet, and then putting his foot in his mouth.

Now he’ll just go home to Michelle and pile on some more ‘kummerspeck’.

http://mentalfloss.com/article/50698/38-wonderful-foreign-words-we-could-use-english