in this example, does wollen mean "want" or "will"?

[edmont]

Apart from context, is there a way to tell whether translation #1 or #2 is correct?

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In Freiheit und Gleichheit wollen wir Brüder sein.

1) We will be brothers in freedom and equality.


2) We want to be brothers in freedom and equality.

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Thank you for any assistance.

[tiorthan]

This is where modern English gets in your way a bit. "Wollen" in this case expresses a prediction based on strong determination.
Back in the days when English still had a strong distinction between will and shall this would, indeed translate as "will" for first person subjects and "shall" for any other subject. In modern English I can't come up with a good one-word translation anymore.

[edmont]

Tiorthan, thank you.

I thought it was translation #1 (will, not want), but I only came to that based on context. How did you know without knowing the context?

[tiorthan]

You probably know that imperatives only work on the second person like "go to bed" is always directed at "you" (singular or plural). But English and German both have ways to express imperative-like sentiments for other persons. Things like "let them eat cake" or "lets go to a party" would do these things. Or you can say "we will have breakfast now" and your spouse will understand that you're actually saying make me some breakfast 

"Wollen" can do something similar ... and I just realized that "Lets be brothers" may be an even better translation in modern English ...

So it basically boils down to figuring out whether "Wir wollen Brüder sein" is more like a command/suggestion or a wish. "In Freiheit und Gleichheit" together with "Brüder" provides sufficient context (i.e. "Brüder" is clearly meant as people sharing common political goals and not actual brothers) to make the imperative-like use the most likely.

[edmont]

Thank you tiorthan, very helpful points.