Artwork for “Die Eiskönigin – Völlig Unverfroren” – the German version of Disney’s “Frozen”
Continuing in our Foreign Language “Frozen” series, tonight we tackle the German version of “Let It Go,” or “Lass jetzt los,” which translates to “Let Go Now.” I always liked singing in German. There’s nothing like being able to clear your throat in the middle of a song. But seriously, I will preface this entry by stating that I do not speak German, but I have sung in German a lot, so I have a singer’s knowledge of the language. I am familiar with a lot of the vocabulary from having sung Brahms and Schumann and Schubert, but I am also relying heavily on my good friend Google Translate for much of the translation you’ll read below. So, if any German speakers out there happen to be reading and have a suggestion for a better translation, by all means – share it!!
Der Schnee glänzt weiß auf den Bergen heut Nacht
Keine Spuren sind zu sehen
Ein einsames Königreich und ich bin die Königin
Der Wind, er heult so wie der Sturm ganz tief in mir
Mich zu kontrollieren, ich hab es versucht
Lass sie nicht rein, lass sie nicht seh’n
Wie du bist, nein, das darf niemals gescheh’n!
Du darfst nichts fühlen, zeig ihnen nicht
Dein wahres Ich!
Ich lass los, lass jetzt los
Die Kraft sie ist grenzenlos!
Ich lass los, lass jetzt los
Und ich schlag die Türen zu!
Es ist Zeit, nun bin ich bereit
Und ein Sturm zieht auf
Die Kälte, sie ist nun ein Teil von mir
Es ist schon eigenartig, wie klein jetzt alles scheint
Und die Ängste, die in mir waren
Kommen nicht mehr an mich ran!
Was ich wohl alles machen kann?
Die Kraft in mir treibt mich voran
Was hinter mir liegt ist vorbei, endlich frei!
Ich lass los, lass jetzt los
Nun bin ich endlich soweit!
Ich lass los, lass jetzt los
Doch Tränen seht ihr nicht
Hier bin ich und bleibe hier!
Und ein Sturm zieht auf
Ich spüre diese Kraft, sie ist ein Teil von mir
Sie fließt in meine Seele und in all die Schönheit hier
Nur ein Gedanke und die Welt wird ganz aus Eis!
Ich geh nie mehr zurück, das ist Vergangenheit!
Ich bin frei, endlich frei!
Und ich fühl mich wie neugeboren
Ich bin frei, endlich frei
Was war ist jetzt vorbei!
Hier bin ich in dem hellen Licht!
Und ein Sturm zieht auf
Die Kälte, sie ist nun ein Teil von mir
__________________________________
The snow shines white on the mountains tonight
No traces are to be seen
A lonely Kingdom and I am the Queen.
The wind howls like the storm that’s deep in me
To control me, I’ve tried it.
Don’t let them in, don’t let them see
What you are, no, that must never happen!
You can not feel anything, do not show them
The real you!
I let go, let go now
The power is limitless!
I let go, let go now
And I will slam the doors!
It is time, now I’m ready
And a storm is coming
The cold, it is now a part of me.
It’s strange how small everything now seems
And the fears that were in me
Come not to get me!
What can I possibly do?
The strength in me keeps me going
What is behind me is gone, finally free!
I let go, let go now
Now I’m finally done!
I let go, let go now
But you don’t see me cry.
Here I am and here I stay!
And a storm is coming
I feel this force, it’s part of me.
It flows into my soul and in all the beauty here
Just a thought and the world is made of ice!
I will never go back, that’s past!
I’m free, free at last!
And I feel like a new person
I’m free, free at last
What was is over now!
Here I am in the bright light!
And a storm is coming
The cold, it is now a part of me.
Of all the translations I’ve read so far, this is the closest to the original English lyrics. As I expected, it’s not terribly flowery or romantic like the French translation because…well, that’s not really what the Germans are known for, is it?
I also want to say that out of all the foreign versions of “Frozen” I’ve listened to, the German Elsa (Willemijn Verkaik) has one heck of a set of pipes on her. She may be my favorite Elsa next to Idina Menzel herself. Listen to this clip of the reprise of “For the First Time In Forever” (“Zum ersten Mal”) where you can hear her open up and screlt “NEIN! GEH WEG!” at 2:00. Let it go, fräulein!
Confessions of a Merch Whore 
Just little adjustements but I put the whole lyrics here just to make it easier. I do want to say that I’m not a native German speaker but did study it for three years. If you happen to do a Dutch or Flemish take on the song, I’ll be happy to translate it.
The snow shines white on the mountains tonight
No traces are to be seen
A lonely Kingdom and I am the Queen.
The wind howls like the storm that’s deep inside me
To control myself, I’ve tried it.
Don’t let them in, don’t let them see
What you are, no, that must never happen!
You’re not allowed to feel, do not show them
The real you!
I let go, let go now
The power is limitless!
I let go, let go now
And I slam the doors!
It is time, now I’m ready
And a storm is coming
The cold, it is now a part of me.
It’s strange how small everything now seems
And the fears that were inside me
Can’t reach me anymore!
What can I possibly do?
The strength inside me keeps me going
What is behind me is gone, finally free!
I let go, let go now
Now I’m finally up to this!
I let go, let go now
But you won’t see any tears.
Here I am and here I’ll stay!
And a storm is coming
I feel this force, it’s part of me.
It flows into my soul and in all the beauty here
Just one thought and the world will be turned into ice!
I will never go back, that’s past!
I’m free, free at last!
And I feel like a new person
I’m free, free at last
What was is over now!
Here I am in the bright light!
And a storm is coming
The cold, it is now a part of me.
I’m sorry but I’m a native speaker, though I live in Austria, and this translation is not correct at all. Don’t rely on google translate! The grammatical perspective is horrible and unless you know better, it could end up offending someone!
As I stated at the beginning of the entry, I do not actually speak German – at least not well, and I invited anyone who does to please provide us with a correct grammatical perspective, as you put it. I think anyone who reads this blog could infer that I am not out in any way to offend anyone, but I ask that rather than just telling me it’s wrong that you also provide the rest of us with a better, more correct translation. Just telling me it’s wrong doesn’t do anyone any good other than just to make me feel bad about having posted it, and that’s not what this blog is about.
Thank you for posting this!
The translation isn’t perfect, but unlike Fredrick I don’t think it’s that bad. Some of the lines could be changed a little gramatically, but overall, it’s pretty close.
This is how we learnt it at school 🙂
This comment’s coming really late but…oh well…
Actually it’s a pretty good translation, just some little mistakes. (I’m a native speaker, but not THAT fluent in english, so maybe I just got something wrong. If so excuse me.)
I just changed some sentences:
Don’t feel anything, do not show them _ You wrote “You can’t feel anything”, but “Du darfst” is more like an order. Like “You’re not allowed to feel anything”, but I think “Don’t” fits it also. (I’m not sure how to explain it, since German isn’t that easy to translate, even if it’s your mother tongue.)
But you don’t see tears _ Your wrote “cry” instead of “tears” but she sings “doch Tränen seht ihr nicht” and there it really is obvious that she talks about tears that you can see and not about crying. (Btw. the German word for “to cry” is “weinen” (<— Dictionary form, without conjunction))
I feel this power, it’s a part of me _ You wrote "force", and I'm not that sure but isn't force more like physical strength/power, or like a power that hurts someone? (Bad explanation, I know but yeah…) Actually in "Ich spüre diese Kraft, sie ist ein Teil von mir", "Kraft" is more like "power". Like something you have inside you. Or maybe "strength" and "ability" are also okay. But I think in the senctences it's more a psychic…let's say power…as an physical. (But I'm again not THAT sure.)
And I feel like I’m reborn _ You wrote "And I feel like a new person" but she talks/sings about feeling like being completely newborn. I'm not sure if you could say "I feel like reborn/newborn", so I thought "I feel like I'm reborn" is maybe better.
Oh and thanks that you like the German version so much. I don't like our version much. I think there are a lot of better versions. (I really like the Asian ones, like Japanese, Chinese and Korean) But I think our singers are somewhat okay. (I really like Hans' singer. He also sang the young Simba in The lion king and Flynn/Eugene in Tangled.) And Willemijn Verkaik is of course amazing. But Anna's voice is really annoying if you listen to it often, but oh well.
So, yeah this come's really late but maybe you read it by chance.
As a speaker of both English and German, I believe the mistake in this translation could stem from a miss understanding of the original lyrics.
Most of my German-speaking friends have taken issue with the often repeated line in the song: “die Kälte, die ist nun ein Teil von mir”, (roughly: “the cold is now a part of me”). This lyric V-8’s quite a bit original English lyric, “the cold never bothered me anyway.”
I may be crazy, but I really think this mistake in the translation occurred because the line “never bothered me anyway” sounds like “now a part of me any way” (say “part of me bothered me” 10 times fast and you’ll see what I mean). Now I do realize that this is a gigantic Disney production and that the written lyrics at some point we’re definitely given to the translator but to me it really sounds like at least part of this translation was done after listening to the original of the song. Otherwise, why not just simply translate the line correctly, (“Die Kälte hat mich eh nie gestört”)?