Dieter from Germany

[ajoeiam]

Stay peaceful.

It's a forum in the USA, so if possible we should communicate in English when posting here so that everyone can understand the content.

Dieter

No problemo - - - - there are others from other lands that function better in their own language(s) that do post here.
Has been some French and some Italian (IIRC).
As I am responding to the individual that I'm addressing I will use their primary use language to the extent that I can.
In my case - - - I'm multi-lingual and am always looking for opportunities to use other languages so that I do not lose facility.
The USA used to be vehemently English only - - - yet today it is necessary to be reasonably facile in Spanish to get a civil service position in most of the states of the union - - - quite a change in some 20 to 40 years.

 

[GreenTwin]

We had a big project with a German company years ago, and all the equipment drawings were in German.
We all had to buy English-German dictionaries in order to get the project done.
The German engineers that came over for meetings here were great to chat with, and very nice folks.

It is my understanding that for the technical folks in Germany, English as a second language is a must.

I considered learning German at one time, but my hearing is off these days, and so that makes it rather difficult to pick out some of the more subtle sounds.

Many words/phrases are very similar to English, so it is somewhat easy to figure out some German writing.

I admire anyone who speaks more than one language.

I had a cousin from Denmark who spoke at least 5 languages.
He said that if your country is surrounded by other countries with different languages, then if you want to travel in a practical way, you learn the languages of the countries around you. Makes sense, but seems like a bit of a challenge.

And my other fear of learning German is if I don't practice regularly, then I will forget it.

I have relatives in Denmark, and that language is totally out of the question for me to learn.
German I would try to learn.
Danish is too mushy, and I can't even pick out words.

.

 

[GreenTwin]

Translators tend to clean things up, and rearrange words too.
I would much prefer a literal translation, since that would follow the wording.

.

 

[ajoeiam]

We had a big project with a German company years ago, and all the equipment drawings were in German.
We all had to buy English-German dictionaries in order to get the project done.
The German engineers that came over for meetings here were great to chat with, and very nice folks.

It is my understanding that for the technical folks in Germany, English as a second language is a must.

I considered learning German at one time, but my hearing is off these days, and so that makes it rather difficult to pick out some of the more subtle sounds.

Many words/phrases are very similar to English, so it is somewhat easy to figure out some German writing.

I admire anyone who speaks more than one language.

I had a cousin from Denmark who spoke at least 5 languages.
He said that if your country is surrounded by other countries with different languages, then if you want to travel in a practical way, you learn the languages of the countries around you. Makes sense, but seems like a bit of a challenge.

And my other fear of learning German is if I don't practice regularly, then I will forget it.

I have relatives in Denmark, and that language is totally out of the question for me to learn.
German I would try to learn.
Danish is too mushy, and I can't even pick out words.

.

It seems like many educated Europeans work in 4 to even 6 languages and its not really considered a big deal.
Here - - - well - - - there used to be major pressure for English only and then in Canuckistan the Quebecers took the right to French only (which does really make for a mess when trying to do business).
Learning languages when one has hearing difficulties is not going to be easy.
Re: English being a must for German technical folks - - - dunno about that way but some 35 and 40 years ago you were required to have at least a comprehension fluency in both Russian and German to do a doctorate in the hard sciences in Western Canada at least. Today - - - have no idea.

But lest the on topic cops blow a gasket I'm going to stop with the language stuff even if I think its applicable and useful.

 

[GreenTwin]

One of my motivations for learning German is to be able to get on the German model engine forums, and converse with those folks.

There is some stellar work out there that seldom if ever gets seen on this side of the world.

I think some/most/all ? of the German forums require you to converse in German, which prior to the translator programs, could be rather tedious.

So in a way, the German language topic does relate back to our hobby, and how we can better share it across forums/languages, and across the world. The German model engineers have much to share.

.

 

[ajoeiam]

Translators tend to clean things up, and rearrange words too.
I would much prefer a literal translation, since that would follow the wording.

.

(Apologies to the on topic cops!!!)

I find that translators are all too often poorly nuanced and their translations all too often feel wooden.
Might be word accurate but they most definitely aren't what a fluent capable speaker in the second language would use.
(Its translation by machine - - - - translation is sometimes as much about art as it is about the science. IMO when you work with more languages is when you really start to see this. Mz googlies ascertations notwithstanding!!!!(contained within is an example even in English - - - - ascertations is a correct word but a very (sorta) 'technical' kind of word - - - likely more often used in a legal context so its flagged as a misspelling even though it isn't! (I get to add words on quite a regular basis to my computer spelling dictionary - - - one of the problems when one has a vocabulary! ))

 

[ajoeiam]

One of my interests in learning German is to be able to get on the German model engine forums, and converse with those folks.

There is some stellar work out there that seldom if ever gets seen on this side of the world.

I think some/most/all ? of the German forums require you to converse in German, which prior to the translator programs, could be rather tedious.

So in a way, the German language topic does relate back to our hobby, and how we can better share it across forums/languages, and across the world. The German model engineers have much to share.

.

(Beeg grin) - - - - You would find that your German would improve with use!!! (Grin - - - I did and do!)

 

[GreenTwin]

I had two years of Spanish, and so am able to pick up on changes that a translator is making, instead of just using the normal Spanish word order/meaning/word.

And I can see it a bit with the German translator too, since the individual words and their order don't necessarily match the translation.

My niece married a guy from Spain, and so we all went to a Mexican restaurant, and I told the waiter "He can order in Spanish, he is from Spain". I was ignorant about that, and they could not converse in Spanish at all since Mexican Spanish is not Spanish Spanish.

I wish it were easier to travel to Europe.
Lots of places I would like to visit and see over there.

.

 

[GreenTwin]

If I were not so overwhelmed with work projects, I think I would deep dive in German with Dieter on zoom, and try and learn it.

.

 

[ajoeiam]

I had two years of Spanish, and so am able to pick up on changes that a translator is making, instead of just using the normal Spanish word order/meaning/word.

And I can see it a bit with the German translator too, since the individual words and their order don't necessarily match the translation.

My niece married a guy from Spain, and so we all went to a Mexican restaurant, and I told the waiter "He can order in Spanish, he is from Spain". I was ignorant about that, and they could not converse in Spanish at all since Mexican Spanish is not Spanish Spanish.

I wish it were easier to travel to Europe.
Lots of places I would like to visit and see over there.

.

It used to be easy to fly - - - - then came 9/11 then about 8 years after that a drive to insane profit targets and it is no longer easy to travel.
Possible - - - yes - - - but you better have longs of $$$$$$$$$$ and a skinny butt and narrow shoulders or you're in trouble. Did a little travel during college years - - - that time the saying was put all your stuff in one pile and your money in another - - - take 2x the money and 1/2 the stuff. Today I would take far more money and try to shave the stuff even more. There is rumblings that one is going to have to pay for carry on pdq. Warning - - - the credit card companies would like you to believe that the use of a credit card it ubiquitous - - - not necessarily true in every country. (That's personal experience!!)

You might want to spend a week or two at the Deutsch Museum in Munich - - - I could spend that in any one wing and still not get done!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
AIUI this was the first museum to do cutaways - - - and they do have them!

 

[GreenTwin]

Yes, flying is easy, assuming you don't have legs.

I am sure Dieter would give me a tour of all the cool technical places if I were to visit.
He has shown me some of them already in photos.

.

 

[GRAUBELE]

In 2000, as a tour gide, I went on a four-day tour of southern Germany with a business friend from a supplier company in Denver, Colorado (Wilkerson Air Prep Units, today part of PARKER Hannifin).
The tour was in a circle of about 170 miles around my home.
We started in Heidelberg, then we visited Neuschwanstein Castle (the real "Cinderella Castle").
Afterwards we traveled to the summit of the highest mountain in Germany, the “Zugspitze” (2962 m = 9718 ft).
Afterwards we went to Lake Constance, where the zeppelins were and still are produced until today.
After this my friend and his wife traveled to Switzerland and France, I went back home.
Nowadays you can travel through Germany without any problems with “only” English.
(Maybe not necessarily in eastern Germany, formerly the GDR, where the Russians used to be.......)

Dieter

 

[Richard Hed]

No problemo - - - - there are others from other lands that function better in their own language(s) that do post here.
Has been some French and some Italian (IIRC).
As I am responding to the individual that I'm addressing I will use their primary use language to the extent that I can.
In my case - - - I'm multi-lingual and am always looking for opportunities to use other languages so that I do not lose facility.
The USA used to be vehemently English only - - - yet today it is necessary to be reasonably facile in Spanish to get a civil service position in most of the states of the union - - - quite a change in some 20 to 40 years.

That's not entirely true. Up to WWI there were hundreds if not thousands of non-english presses in the USA. At that time, the evil newspaper monger hearst got the authorities to smash all non-english presses as they were "inspired by the bosch". My grandmother was from Chicago and she read Polish as a youngster, including the Polish newspapers. There were abut 30+ foreign language newspapers in Chicago alone. Naturally, hearst's newspapers took a giant leap in readership.

 

[ajoeiam]

That's not entirely true. Up to WWI there were hundreds if not thousands of non-english presses in the USA. At that time, the evil newspaper monger hearst got the authorities to smash all non-english presses as they were "inspired by the bosch". My grandmother was from Chicago and she read Polish as a youngster, including the Polish newspapers. There were abut 30+ foreign language newspapers in Chicago alone. Naturally, hearst's newspapers took a giant leap in readership.

As I have and had absolutely no connection to the USA of over a hundred years ago I could only go on what I know of it from the sixties onwards.
There are still enough members there that boast of English only although their surnames proclaim something quite different from perhaps even the time you mention.
AIUI the big migrations from Europe were - - 1880s, early 1900s and the early 1950s. There may have been other waves but I believe that these three were the 'big boys'.
The disdain for the central Europeans that was whipped into the American culture certainly did not prevent their elite from plundering that technology and processes and items developed there for use back here!!

 

[GreenTwin]

This conversation has slid into some sort of alter-universe.

How bout them model engines ?

.

 

[peterl95124]

This conversation has slid into some sort of alter-universe.

How bout them model engines ?

.

OK, how's this for back on topic, I tried building a working model engine from the book in German "Strahlturbine fur Flugmodelle Im Selbstbau" by Kurt Schreckling, I thought, well, how hard can it be, I even have 1/2 german blood, but I can say with quite a bit of authority that if you try to directly translate German *technical* terms into English it comes out incomprehensible using *literary* German-English dictionary, for example it took me a very long time to intuit that what literally translated to (IIRC) "wave motion" actually meant "shaft horse power" :-( !!!

good news, I did eventually succeed in building a working engine, and when I do finally make a good looking engine mount, stand, and base box for it there might be an engraving on the side that says "Achtung! Das machine is nicht fur gerfingerpoken und mittengrabben. Ist easy schnappen der Sprinngwerk, blowenfusen und poppencorken mit spitzensparken. Ist nicht fur gewerken by das Dummkopfen. Das rubbernecken sightseeren keepen hands in das Pockets, relaxen und watch das blinkenlights" (und das "roaring flames" out the tail pipe if you have the mixture wrong for the current RPM) !

 

[GreenTwin]

I lament that there is so much extremely good German model engine work out there in the world, and so little access to it.

The language thing is definitely a barrier.

Luckily we have Dieter to assist now.

.

 

[BWMSBLDR1]

It used to be easy to fly - - - - then came 9/11 then about 8 years after that a drive to insane profit targets and it is no longer easy to travel.
Possible - - - yes - - - but you better have longs of $$$$$$$$$$ and a skinny butt and narrow shoulders or you're in trouble. Did a little travel during college years - - - that time the saying was put all your stuff in one pile and your money in another - - - take 2x the money and 1/2 the stuff. Today I would take far more money and try to shave the stuff even more. There is rumblings that one is going to have to pay for carry on pdq. Warning - - - the credit card companies would like you to believe that the use of a credit card it ubiquitous - - - not necessarily true in every country. (That's personal experience!!)

You might want to spend a week or two at the Deutsch Museum in Munich - - - I could spend that in any one wing and still not get done!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
AIUI this was the first museum to do cutaways - - - and they do have them!

The museum in Munich is worth visiting to see Carl Benzes' first car. It worked well enough that his wife and children took it on a 180 Km trip! Had to buy gas (benzine) at pharmacies along the way!

 

[GRAUBELE]

I lament that there is so much extremely good German model engine work out there in the world, and so little access to it.

The language thing is definitely a barrier.

Luckily we have Dieter to assist now.

.

Pat, you're right.

By the way, the photo below was taken in 2007.
I was able to take part in a very exclusive event at the Mercedes Benz Classic Center in Stuttgart / Germany.
Among other things, I was also allowed to take a ride on the tricycle.
The driver and passenger (me) had a "press fit" on the seat......but the vehicle endured thanks to “made in Germany”.

Dieter

 

[GRAUBELE]

"Achtung! Das machine is nicht fur gerfingerpoken und mittengrabben. Ist easy schnappen der Sprinngwerk, blowenfusen und poppencorken mit spitzensparken. Ist nicht fur gewerken by das Dummkopfen. Das rubbernecken sightseeren keepen hands in das Pockets, relaxen und watch das blinkenlights" (und das "roaring flames" out the tail pipe if you have the mixture wrong for the current RPM) !

Not even Google helps me understand the text here.
I see that I too have my limits.

Dieter