Perhaps: Here I stand. I can't be anyone else.

Hi eric, "I can do no other" is the standard translation of this, but it comes from the early years of the 20th century at the latest. Consequently it sounds a bit strange to us - we no longer speak that way. Obviously a verb has been omitted, similarly to the way that German can have "Ich kann Deutsch" or "Ich muss nach Berlin". In English we have to supply the verb that's missing based on the context. (I can speak German; I have to go to Berlin) Here I would suggest something like "I cannot act differently/otherwise" or "I can do nothing else" or "I cannot behave other than I have". If I were British I might suggest, "I can do naught else" - but that might be outdated in BE. As an adverb "other" has the meaning of "differently, otherwise".

A bit more freely would be something like "I can't help it." ( Dictionary: anders - next-to-last entry)

Edit: Collins gives the following -
no other ⇒ archaic nothing else: I can do no other
http://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/e...
So, that supports my suggestion above ("I can do nothing else").

Euch ist klar, dass das ein (angebliches) Zitat aus dem 16. Jahrhundert ist? Ein bisschen antiquiert darf es da doch klingen.

If you are looking for freely translated ...

Here I am. I know no other way.

Yes, Mr. Chekhov, I know that Luther lived from 1483 to 1546 and posted his 95 Theses in 1517. I also know that he spoke German rather than English - just as I also know that "I can do no other" is the standard English translation for his reputed statement* at the Diet of Worms in 1521. I just don't know when it was translated, do you? And I was trying to help eric with a more contemporary translation. (BTW, my Master's Thesis was on Luther's hymnody.) Perhaps I simply wasn't clear enough that "I can do no other" conveys the meaning of the German nicely - in archaic English - so it isn't wrong even if it does sound strange to modern ears.

*The likelihood is that Luther did not make the statement precisely as it has been transmitted to us - at least in English. The intent of the statement is certain.

I have Martin Luther on speed-dial. Wait, I'll text him. ;-)

Isn't this a thread to be shut down?

How can we ever know what he meant without channeling him? Seems futile.

To try to claim what he meant is also futile.

Ahhhhh men.

I disagree, Ffive. There is sufficient contemporary evidence from the Diet at Worms and other records for us to have a very good idea of both what Luther said and what he intended. Do we know 100% what he thought? Of course not, but simply because we cannot know fully does not mean that we cannot know truly - unless you believe that language is such a slippery beast that no one can know truly what anyone else means, so that communication becomes an impossibility, which renders every thread and entry in Leo moot and meaningless - including yours. :-)

Okay, this made me laugh out loud, Robert (in a good way!!!):
unless you believe that language is such a slippery beast that no tone can know truly what anyone else means, so that communication becomes an impossibility, which renders every thread and entry in Leo moot and meaningless - including yours. :-)

My belief is that it's somewhere in the middle, as is life, and no, I don't think we can really know what Martin Luther meant (no less across two languages here on LEO), neither can we know what Jesus meant, neither can we know what Obama means.

The only solace we have is to realize that nothing is written in stone, and faith is above and beyond stone.

Nitpicking ain't necessary as far as what was said centuries ago. The faith of the people on the forefront suffices. It needn't be over-interpreted.

Gawd, me so religious/pious. Sorry.

Maybe: "I can´t help myself."

Aunt Wiki sieht das so:

'Luther refused to recant his writings. He is sometimes also quoted as saying: "Here I stand. I can do no other". Recent scholars consider the evidence for these words to be unreliable, since they were inserted before "May God help me" only in later versions of the speech and not recorded in witness accounts of the proceedings.'

Ihre deutsche Cousine äußert sich noch knapper:

'Die oft zitierte Version „Hier stehe ich, ich kann nicht anders, Gott helfe mir, Amen“, ist nicht belegt.'

Ich (dt. Muttersprachler) verstehe diesen Ausspruch als Verkürzung von "Ich kann nicht anders handeln." Ich würde als Übersetzung vorziehen: "I cannot act differently/otherwise."

Die Übersetzungen von #1, #4 und #9 kommen mir abwegig vor.

Wiki?

I have to tread delicately, but how can you know what someone meant, centuries ago, and even try to approximate what the intention was, MiMo?

Claims like that are the mark of fools. (I certainly don't consider you a fool.) There is no way of knowing.

It can only be speculation, what the intention was, after all of these centuries.

Or, MiMo, do you think it can be definitively found out?

Zu #11:

@Ffive:

Es ist ganz einfach. Die Redensart "Ich kann nicht anders" gehört auch heute noch zur gesprochenen deutschen Sprache.

Beispiele:

"Ich muss das Haus verkaufen. Ich kann nicht anders."
"Ich muss meinen Job kündigen. Ich kann nicht anders."
"Ich muss meine Mutter in ein Altersheim bringen. Ich kann nicht anders."

Immer in der Bedeutung: I cannot act differently/otherwise.

Dass Luther diesen Spruch wahrscheinlich nicht getan hat, sondern diese Worte ihm später in den Mund gelegt wurden bei dem Bestreben, ihn zu einem deutschen Nationalhelden (oder einem Helden der Reformation) zu stilisieren, tut eigentlich nichts zur Sache. Derjenige, der sich diesen Spruch ausgedacht hat, hat genau das gemeint: Luther konnte nicht anders handeln, als er handelte.

"How can you know what someone meant, centuries ago?" Nun, falls dieser someone etwas geschrieben hat, so gibt es dafür eine Wissenschaft, die nennt sich Philologie. So wissen wir heute noch recht gut, was z.B. Platon und Aristoteles ausdrücken wollten, oder Dante, Shakespeare oder Goethe, um nur einige Namen zu nennen. Wenn wir uns an Deine Maxime "There is no way of knowing" hielten, könnten wir alle unsere Bibliotheken einstampfen, denn was hätte es für einen Sinn, Millionen Bücher aufzubewahren, deren Inhalt wir nicht verstünden?

Was die "fools" angeht, solltest Du nicht mit Steinen aus dem Glashaus werfen. Sonst haben wir hier einen Fall von "the pot calling the kettle black".

P.S.
"Le Mot Juste - The Penguin Dictionary of Foreign Terms and Phrases" übersetzt die Luther zugeschriebenen Worte so: "Here I stand! I cannot act otherwise."

freely, perhaps - I have no choice (I can only act this way - I cannot act/powerless to act differently) to have no alternative course of action, this is all I am capable of.
it's impossible for me to do anything else a .....take your pick

@5, nichts für ungut, ich wollte dir nicht unterstellen, dass du nicht weißt, wer Luther war. Allerdings kann ich im OP nichts von "more contemporary" finden. Ich wüsste auch nicht, wozu eine Modernisierung hier gut sein soll; daher mein Kommentar. Allerdings ist Englisch nicht meine Muttersprache.

Thanks for the interesting comments.

@12: Wasn't it recently (in the last year) discovered that Shakespeare may likely not even have been the writer of his works?

I guess it's turning into a different topic. What I do know is that you write very interesting things, MiMo, and you are valuable. So, again, sorry if I went overboard. I don't think Eric really specified which version he wanted (at least I don't read that into the OP), but I feel he got his money's worth in the discussion that occurred here. That can't be all bad. If Eric wants one specific translation, then maybe he's found it along the way, or he can follow up to be more specific.

(When I channeled M. Luther, it came out like in #4. ;-))

Re #8: I'm glad you took that in the spirit I meant it.

Re #14: I was doing some analysis of why the standard translation "I can do no other" wouldn't "seem quite right" to eric; my knowledge as a native speaker who has studied Luther (and heard that quote since childhood) led me to conclude that the issue lay in the changes to the meaning of the word. Having grown up reading the King James Version of the Bible and having read a lot of Medieval, Renaissance and other Early Modern English, I am familiar with archaisms and older usages in English that may baffle many people who were not exposed to the same literature.

(OT: I was reflecting recently with a friend about how I was surrounded by books as a child and "devoured" them. I was a constant reading. That has given me a "leg up" in academic circles throughout my life.)

Ich kann mir Martin Luther auch sehr gut in einer Drohgebärde vorstellen:

"Hier steh' ich. Ich kann auch anders! Gott helfe euch!"

[Eine schöne Übung zur Übersetzung. :-)]

Here I stand and not by choice. God help me.


@18 Here I stand, so dare me. May God show mercy upon you, I won't.

Sorry for the thread necromancing, but I think adding the "must" in the first phrase, while a departure from the literal translation, is better at conveying the actual meaning of the whole thing.

Luther musste nicht auf dem Reichstag zu Worms anwesend sein, er durfte - auf Betreiben von Kurfürst Friedrich dem Weisen - dort seine Position erläutern und verteidigen. Und er hätte durchaus einen anderen Weg gewusst (nämlich den Widerruf), aber den konnte er nicht einschlagen, da sein Gewissen es ihm verbot.

Let us assume that Luther had a sense of occasion. He was speaking in the presence of the Emperor and the assembled nobility of the Empire. He would have used a formal expression. 'I can do no other' seems to fit the bill perfectly. He may have been thinking: 'Sorry guys, that's how it is', but that's not how to speak on such occasions. 'I can't help it' sounds apologetic and entirely wrong.

"Hier stehe ich. Ich kann nicht anders." is not particularly formal, albeit disarming in its simplicity.

@hbberlin: Did you intend to post a link?