Ich würde es umschreiben, so a la "man weiß nie, ob sie Dir nicht einfach so eine reinhaut".

Elena ist ein Miststück, das darfst du glauben - eher knallt sie dir eine als dass sie dich auch nur anschaut.

evtl.

... as soon as look at you means very readily, the person has no inhibitions about doing whatever it is - that's the sort of person they are.


Oxford dictionaries has:
they would kill you as soon as look at you
[colloquial]
sie würden dich sofort od. auf der Stelle umbringen
http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/translate/e...
- but I think the German sentence is misleading, as it could suggest 'They'd kill you on the spot [if you did that, or under particular circumstances]', which is rather different.

Edit: the logic behind the expression is: They would slap/kill you just as readily as they would do something normal/harmless like looking at you. (That's how I understand it, anyway.)

The logic behind the expression is: They would slap/kill you just as readily as they would do something normal/harmless like looking at you. (That's how I understand it, anyway.)

Auf hecuba's Erklärung basierend mein Vorschlag zur Prüfung:


Elena ist schon ein Miststück - keine Frage; in einem Moment schaut sie dich nett an, im anderen haut sie dir eine rein.

Variante : ... erst schaut sich Dich nett an, im nächsten Moment/Augenblick haut sie Dir eine rein / scheuert sie Dir eine.

As a general point (agreeing with #1), I would suggest that the idea of "looking at you" may be no more needed in the German than the name "Jack Robinson" when translating "as fast as you can say Jack Robinson".

I too agree with #1 and (good one) #6. (-:

Es kann jeden Moment passieren, daß sie dir einfach eine klebt.

## 4 and 5: you misunderstood me. I said in #3 that as soon as look at you (i.e. the whole expression) means 'very readily'. So there's no need for the translation to include anything about looking at you. See MikeE, #6.
The Oxford dictionaries example I gave - though I wasn't very happy with it - also had nothing in the German about looking at you.

My bit about the logic behind the expression was an explanation that I put in in case there were people who didn't get the meaning here of 'as soon as', namely 'just as readily as'.

I shall obviously have to get better at explaining things. (Or give up.)

The best suggestions so far are #1 and #8.

Sorry, Hecuba!

as soon as look at you - hieße dann im Deutschen vllt
'so mir nichts, dir nichts'

Varianten zu #1 und #8:
"Sie könnte dir ohne zu zögern eine reinhauen"?
"Sie würde dir eine verpassen, ohne mit der Wimper zu zucken"?

Off topic - I am not sure about translating bitch as Miststück. You need something a bit more misogynistic, surely?

I don't think a man would be called a Miststück. Seems misogynistic enough to me.

Noch eine Variante: 'Sie kann dir jederzeit eine reinhauen'

--
Ich weiß nicht genau, was isabell mit 'more misogynistic' meint, aber jedenfalls hat dude recht: 'Miststück' ist normalerweise ein Schimpfwort für Frauen, nicht für Männer. Und die 'Schlampen'-Variante (ja auch eine mögliche ÜB für 'bitch') führt hier in die falsche Richtung. 'Zicke' ist zu zahm. Was gibt's noch?

re #14,"Was gibt's noch?"

eine saublöde Tussi?
eine fiese Type?

#13, #14 : Sorry, didn't know that, perhaps not encountered the term frequently enough in everday conversation. Bildungslücke, evidently ;-)

NB. Miststück is the female equivalent to the male Mistkerl.

isabelll, freu dich doch. Schlimmer wäre, wenn dir das Wort vertraut wäre, weil du es ständig hörst ;-))

I shall obviously have to get better at explaining things. (Or give up.)
 
I understood you first time round, you don't need to give up IMO. :-)

Agree about #1; but in #8 the "just as likely to (genauso wahrscheinlich)" thought is missing I'd say.

And I'd also find it strange if someone called me a "Miststück". ;-)

Einige Beschreibungen für slap bei LEO schauen nach "runterhauen" aus: ohrfeigen, mit der Hand schlagen, abwatschen
"runterhauen" geschieht mit der flachen Hand, "reinhauen" mit der Faust - zwei unterschiedliche Schlagtechniken ;-)

'Slap' is definitely with the flat open hand. With the fist would be 'punch,' 'sock,' 'hit,' etc.

This is difficult.

I think one point is that the English means that aggressive behaviour is to be expected but does not really suggest that the speaker has actually observed physical violence in the past. The more the translation spells things out in detail, the more I think of actual slapping taking place.

Is the sex of the speaker and the person they are talking to known?
Slapping a man and slapping a woman might have different associations.

Thank you all for your answers and detailed explanations! Perfection still has not been reached .. but anyways, I think MikeE's idea to just not translate the expression 1:1 makes sense.

Concerning 'Bitch' -> 'Miststück' I really think that in the feel of the story it's the right translation. Something more colloquial or even vulgar wouldn't fit the whole vibe (post-apocalyptic 1920s).

The speaker is a somewhat disaffected, but nice boy / teenager (somewhere around 13 to 15, I'd say), and he's speaking to the reader.