1 (a)

das Dasein: entity, being (entities, existence, subsistence)
das Wesen: entity, essence (being, character, nature, substance, beings, kernel)
pflegen: to maintain, to foster, to tend, to treasure (to attend, cherish, care, nurse)
die Abrechnung: deduction (settlement, account)
böse: vicious (wicked, evil)
frommen: to be of use to (s.b.) 
säuberlich: neat (neatly, cleanly)
die Erhaltung: conservation (preservation, maintenance) 
der Schritt: pace (step, stride)
das Ganze: ensemble, entirety, totality, the whole thing
mißtrauisch: warily, leery (askance, wary, distrustful, mistrustful)
auseinander: apart (asunder) 
zwar: indeed (admittedly) 
eben: even (smooth, level, just)
die Herde: flock, herd (drove, fold, stoves)
schädlich: harmful, detrimental (noxious, pernicious, mischievous, deleterious)
üblich: common, usual (customary, conventional) 
der Nächste: neighbor
die Zwecke: purposes
unerbittlich: relentless, unrelenting (adamant, inexorable, merciless, implacable)
insonderheit: in particular (particularly)
der Blick: glimpse, sight (look, glance)
die Aufgabe: task, assignment (purpose, exercise)
menschlich: human (kind, humane, manlike, humanly)
unüberwindlich: impregnable (insurmountable)
die Gattung: type, species (genre, genus, kind)

Die Lehrer vom Zwecke des Daseins. -- Ich mag nun mit gutem oder bösem Blick auf die Menschen sehen, ich finde sie immer bei einer Aufgabe, alle und jeden einzelnen insonderheit: das zu tun, was der Erhaltung der menschlichen Gattung frommt.  Und zwar wahrlich nicht aus einem Gefühl der Liebe für diese Gattung, sondern einfach, weil nichts in ihnen älter, stärker, unerbittlicher, unüberwindlicher ist als jener Instinkt--weil dieser Instinkt eben das Wesen unserer Art und Herde ist. Ob man schon schnell genug mit der üblichen Kurzsichtigkeit auf fünf Schritt hin seine Nächsten säuberlich in nützliche und schädliche, gute und böse Menschen auseinanderzutun pflegt, bei einer Abrechnung im großen, bei einem längeren Nachdenken über das Ganze wird man gegen dieses Säubern und Auseinandertun mißtrauisch und läßt es endlich sein. 

The teachers of the purpose of existence --Whether I contemplate men with benevolence or with an evil eye, I always find them concerned with a single task, all of them and every one of them in particular:  to do what is good for the preservation of the human race.  Not from any feeling of love for the race, but merely because nothing in them is older, stronger, more inexorable and unconquerable than this instinct--because this instinct constitutes the essence of our species, our herd. It is easy enough to divide our neighbors quickly, with the usual myopia, from a mere five paces away, into useful and harmful, good and evil men; but in any large-scale accounting, when we reflect on the whole a little longer, we become suspicious of this neat division and finally abandon it. 

The teachers of the purpose of existence -- Whether I regard human beings with a good or with an evil eye, I always find them engaged in a single task, each and every one of them: to do what benefits the preservation of the human race.  Not from a feeling of love for the race, but simply because within them nothing is older, stronger, more inexorable and invincible than this instinct--because this instinct constitutes the essence of our species and herd.  One might quickly enough, with the usual myopia from five steps away, divide one's neighbours into useful and harmful, good and evil; but on a large-scale assessment, upon further reflection on the whole, one grows suspicious of this tidying and separating and finally abandons it. 

About this blog

I hope this blog will in someway aid in the understanding and scholarship of The Gay Science. Personally, it fulfills two important goals:  improve my knowledge of the German language and translation abilities and improve my understanding of Nietzsche's philosophy.

The full, original, German version of the text is available online here. I am using a hardcover print copy of the German my girlfriend bought me while in Germany.

Each blog post will tackle around 3 sentences. The first part of each blog post are going to be vocabulary words that I struggled with when trying to read the German.  I will put the most commonly used english translations next to them with some lesser used translations in parentheses.  dict.cc has numbers showing how often each translation is used or approriate.  Of course, that does not mean that the higher the number the more likely it is that this is the meaning Nietzsche intended--but, if nothing else, it helps me understand some of the connotations of the word and a little bit more how it is used in contemporary German.

The second part (in blue) is the original German text I typed out from my hard copy. 

The third part will be Walter Kaufmann's translation. 

The fourth part will be Josefine Nauckhoff's translation. 

If I have comments to make regarding interpretation of the section, translation choices, or other scholarship done on the section I will put those as comments in the comment section and highly encourage others to do the same!

My ultimate dream come true would be for this to be a collaborative place that becomes the definite online place for Gay Science scholarship.  But I am realistic and will consider it a success to the extent I meet my personal goals. 

I would love to inspire someone to do the same sort of thing for other works and would gladly link to them!