Can anyone translate the following into German please?? I need a human translation, not one from the internet?

Question

It is not flesh and blood but the heart which makes us fathers and sons.

Also, can anyone explain to me why there are so many different translations and which one is correct?

Thanks! Very much appreciated.

Answer 1

Es ist nicht Fleisch und Blut aber das Herz das uns Väter und Söhne macht.

I guess the reason why there are many translations is because  there are more than one ways of saying the phrase.

Answer 2

Es ist nicht Fleisch und Blut,sondern das Herz, das uns zu Väter und Söhne macht.

Answer 3

Well of all I have read so far I think I like this one the best so far

"Wir sind nicht nur aus Fleisch und Blut. Unser Herz macht uns zu Vätern und Söhnen."

The others are too literal of translations and don't convert that way properly with Grammar.  This makes more sense to me.

Geiers was also better too!  I still think Alwins is the best at the moment, and yes it depends on how you say it, there can be several ways.

Answer 4

The other version:

"Es ist das Herz das uns Faeter und Soehne macht und nicht das Fleisch und Blut"..................

Answer 5

Es ist nicht Fleisch und Blut, sondern unser Herz, was uns zu Vaetern und Soehnen macht.

Answer 6

A real human translation (mine) would be:

"Wir sind nicht nur aus Fleisch und Blut. Unser Herz macht uns zu Vätern und Söhnen."

There are so many different translations because in German, the "heart" thing doesn't really translate, and the "blood" has a negative connotation from the Führer's time, who promoted the "pureness of race and the German blood". So Germans hesitate to translate a sentence with the word "blood" that refers to inheritance or ancestry.

I'm German myself and I don't hesitate, being aware that "flesh and blood" has a totally different meaning to other cultures. But the problem is, you cannot really present a translation that includes "Fleisch und Blut" to a German audience. You'd rather say something like "it must be in our genes" to be politically correct.