Aaron Parecki

@aaronpk "very little" has the feel of "not much" to me, that makes it sound weird. I would say that "ganz klein" is even smaller than "sehr klein" (very little), even being the smallest. When used in other contexts, e. g. "ganz voll", it would translate as "completely full". "Ganz" takes the role of "completely" as a qualifier for adjectives. So something along the lines of smallest/completely small/utterly small would be a better fit in my opinion.

@aaronpk@aaronparecki.coHm, my English isn't the best, but I would agree with the translation “Very little night music”.

"Quite small night music" would be more like "Ziemlich kleine Nachtmusik" (smaller is still possible). Yet sometimes "ganz" is used like "quite". I'd say "Ganz ok" for "Quite ok", but "Really great!" for "Ganz toll!". I don't think "really" could be replaced with "completely"?

Erm, maybe someone else has a better explanation. Thinking too much about it, ganz becomes a strange word :)

@aaronpk
I think this is more about English than German.
First of all, I'd also prefer "small" over "little".
Second "completely small" doesn't really work in English, does it? So "quite small" is what I'd say.
"ganz" only means "completely" when it's not with another adjective; Das ganze Lied = The whole/complete song. With an adjective it's always "quite". Das ganz lange Lied = The quite long song.

@aaronpk very little night music seems ok. „ganz“ is colloquial like „quite“. But here „ganz klein“ means „short“ and „no masterpiece“. Ganz klein expresses modesty and understatement. You have to think „ganz klein“ as a unit. „Ganz kurz“ does not work here because it omits the modesty resp. Understatement. So very little is absolutely ok. It is more neutral though but does not destroy meaning.

@aaronpk to pile onto the opinions: my first impulse would be "very small" as a translation, little feels wrong here

@aaronpk Haha, when does quite mean 'a little' and when does it mean 'a lot'?

@aaronpk I think both are ok, it seems like the title is a wordplay on “Eine kleine Nachtmusik”, and “ganz klein” can be “very little” and “quite little”. I assume that’s on purpose, because of the length of the piece. If I had to translate it, I probably would opt for “Quite little night music”, too. I’m surprised there seems to be no official English description.

@aaronpk Even ignoring the fact this is a translation from German, in English "quite" can mean both a little ("it was quite warm") and a lot ("I'm afraid he was quite mad"). So assuming ganz is also ambiguous quite would seem to be the correct word to use.

@aaronpk I think „very” is an appropriate translation, „quite” doesn't feel right. „Ganz” is a pretty strong modifier, „ganz klein” is smaller than „sehr klein”.

Regarding when „ganz” means „completely”: it is purely dependent on the context. In this context it doesn't make sense to say „komplett kleine Nachtmusik”.

(I'm a native German speaker)

@aaronpk
I might not know about nuances in the English language, but "ganz klein" means "very little". "Quite small" could also work

"Completely small" would be "total klein" or "völlig klein".