Translation - German-English - Was man möchte...

Hi Heidrun,

We have to match that "others" with "themselves"
I'd change the word order a bit into:

What you want
others to do for themselves,
you should have already done
for yourself long ago.

What do you think?

Hi Lilian Canale,
I would say:
"What you want
others to do for you,
you should have already done
for yourself long ago."
Meaning: Do it yourself. Do not wait for others to do it for you.

That is how I understand it.

I agree with you Lilian, except for one thing. It should have to be "yourself" instead of "oneself/themselves". May I correct or do you want to reject it?

Oh, I had understood that differently.
OK, then I think it should be:

"What you want others
to do for you,
you, yourself
should have already done."

Weird?

Why can't we keep it the way you first suggested it? Because your second proposal doesn't contain the "long ago" and it seems to be quite the same as your first proposal anyway.
So I'd say:

"What you want
others to do for you,
you should have already done
for yourself long ago."

That's fine for me. I'll edit that way and set a poll, ok?

I think all text that submitted by Minny are homeworks.

Remove the " Gänsefüßchen (in German)

I think the English is OK, but in the French version nous should be vous.

in the first line from the French version there is "on", which is the German "man". So the "nous" at the 2nd line is here used as "on" (we do not say "pour on" in French, we say "pour nous"

But the English is OK, I agree. In this case, English uses "you".

'on' is not the second person

Who said it was? English use second person, but I remind you that the original text is the German one. So the French translation is correct, about the English I'm not an expert but I guess it is correct as well. This "man", "on" in French, is meaning "people in general". french say "nous" or "vous" when the word before wants it. french understand "on" but do not say it, they say "nous".
English often say "vous".

I suppose Heidrun did the translation from the German original...

I'm validating it the way it is now since it conveys the original and the English is perfect.