German Translation

Guest, i have a great german english technical dictionary that has covered my needs in chemistry, metallurgy, and mechanical engineering last 4 years.

Heres a link to Hanser Gardner online bookstore for this.

https://www.hansergardner.com/dp/hgweb/detail.cfm?isbn=1%2D56990%2D221%2D6%20%20

milo

Dictionary of Materials and Process Engineering (German/English):
Materials, Manufacturing, Processing, Applications Price US: $149.95
ISBN 13: 9781569902219
ISBN 10: 1-56990-221-6
Published: 1995
Hardbound 755 pages
Authors: Claus G. Goetzel Lilo Goetzel
Editor: German Association for Mat. Science

If you really think there is any software out there that can grasp the nuances of converting one language to another, boy are you in for a shock!!!

What you'll get is something American will laugh at and cry about as they can't figure out what the heck you're trying to tell them.

Sorry, technology hasn't progressed that far yet. Best to pony up and pay the money for a translation agency to convert docs for you. Are you going to be financially raped? Yes. But that's the cost of doing international business today. Sorry.

I haven't used it for a whole lot of technical stuff, but so far I've had good luck with the free widget in Mac OSX (part of the Dashboard). I've used it successfully for both Spanish and German

If anyone can come up with software that really captures the distinct nuances in English and other languages they stand to make serious Microsoft-style bank!!!

I have a friend that when in Germany, was taken out into the countryside for beer and Frauleins. While his two German friends split into the woods with their companions, he decided to make his move by saying it hot around the campfire, suggesting they go someplace else. Unfortunately, he used the term that indicated he was lukewarm, to which the Fraulein said "Oh, I'm sorry" and left him alone. It wasn't until the next day that he discovered that "lukewarm" in German means you're a homosexual.

Get the point?!

We have enough missunderstanding between English and US.

A while back, school kids over here had a craze for collecting erasers....

So what?....over here they are refered to as rubbers ('cos you rub out pencil marks with 'em)

...One poor girl was on holiday (vacation) in the USA and said she collected rubbers !

'Kris' introduced this one the other day. Brilliant!

http://www.tay.fi/FAST/US1/REF/britguid.html

If you want just to try and read a German website, there is software around, that will do that for you, provided you had a good idea of what they are talking about in the first place.

If you want to convert manuals, brochures, anything technical or similar for customers, there is only one way, a real live person!

In your case you need a person born in the UK (or the USA !) who has lived in Germany for many, many years, who lives there now, who also understands technology (few official translators understand technology at all!! I know, I help several out each month!!). That is who can translate your documents for you.

Believe me, there is no way round this at all.....there is no software to do it and there never will be! At least not in my lifetime.....

Only use people that are translating INTO their Mother tongue, the other way round, no matter how good they are, always gives problems. As an example, read Gunter Grass in English, the Tin drum for example, the translator was a German Guy, but he made some appalling failures, one I remember was "mealy potatoes"......he will never learn. It would appear that the proof reader was also German!!!!! It makes sense if you understand German....in a novel it does not matter too much, but in a technical manual.....disaster!

I have corrected many, many officially translated German to English documents, (and helped in translating English to German!) where really good money has changed hands and the result was appallingly bad......some paragraphs I had to completely re-write.

I have a friend, who worked for many years in Bruxelles translating simultaneously from Italian, German, Spanish and French into English for the Common Market, he could not translate a single technical document!!!! after 12 Years studying!!!

I can offer my services if you wish......German to English is no problem for me at all....

Andy, well put! As far as computers go, translation software is used more for entertainment than actual work. This would be a stellar place for advancing AI... Better than using it to make a bunch of little robots play soccer!

A company I worked for wanted the technical writing department to find a way of translating a rather large technical document into Chinese. When they ran it through the translation engine, all of the Chinese engineers were howling and rolling on the floor! Next, they were told to find a translation company. When tech pubs came back with the estimated cost, management turned white, and said, if the Chinese want it in Chinese, they can do it.

Just one question... Why do you have a "No masturbation!" badge under your avatar?

Hi Vermin,

you wrote "Just one question... Why do you have a "No masturbation!" badge under your avatar?"

It is of course a failure of the CR4 editor, it should read "only on weekdays" not "no".....somehow it got mixed up and shortened, you know how computers are!!!

GiGo !!!

Many thanks for pointing that out!

I purchased a digital voice recorder PANASONIC model RR-US500 which has a proprietary software that does what you need and much more. It only warns you not to use translations for commercial purposes.

Second solution: my daughter can do that for you at half Andy Germany's price (no hard feelings Andy, it could be a bid here ).

Third solution (my favorite!): buy a BMW and drive it. It will "translate" to you what a real car means...

Regards

Michael

Hi Hottech,

as I did not name a price, half of nothing is still nothing, so I guess your daughter will have to do it for free.....!! Or to really get the job, pay something to get it!!!

Also note:-

If she does not live in Germany (you neglected to say where she lives), she will run into serious problems.....

If English is not her primary language, she will run into serious problems.

If she is not EXTREMELY well informed and a user of technology, she will run into problems.

If you yourself do not speak German fluently, so to be able to judge her qualities, you might over rate her, no offense intended, but a one eyed person is king (or Queen) in the land of the blind.....

I have lived almost 27 years in Germany, I worked for large US computer companies for nearly 35 years in the UK & Germany, and as support all over the world, my hobby is technology of all types......even today in partial retirement! I wrote and published several books for in house use, as well as writing and giving training courses on hardware and software. I still sell a special software package written by a small company in the UK....I also still offer training courses on its usage....in both German & English.

I can repair and have built several cars, I built my first computer in 1978, I have installed Satellite systems for many people for almost 20 years, I have recently worked for a local company as a locksmith (they do not want me to stop working for them, but I want to cut my travelling!).

Many years ago I was an apprentice (including 12 years service!) in the Royal Navy on heavy guns, missiles, torpedoes, electrical generation and supply, hydraulic systems to name but a few items. I was the very first, fully cross trained Ordnance Electrical Mechanician in the RN with no brackets. Only a person who has served in the RN would fully understand that sentence!!

While in the RN I also learnt metal working, welding etc, you name it, I learnt it. I still weld even today.....I am teaching myself stainless welding at this time....

Which is why I am first able to understand a lot of new technology quickly and of course author manuals as well as a sideline......of course it is entirely possible that your daughter has an even better background for such work, if so I wish her well, she has an extremely bright future ahead of her in that case!

As I mentioned in a previous entry, professional translators have problems with anything technical........which is why for example we have "Jinglish" manuals from such companies as Sony, Nissan etc., because the professionals do not understand technology, but think they do. My new camcorder from Sony has some serious errors in the manual in both English and German......my old Sony TV had an awful manual, which is why I now have a Phillips wide screen TV!!!

But I digress, sorry!

"If she does not live in Germany (you neglected to say where she lives), she will run into serious problems....."

However, in spite of your serious warning, my daughter is doing extremely well even if she's not living in Germany right now.

I'm speechless and not willing to compete with you. I withdraw my bid .

Firstly, I did not realise that we (or anyone else on CR4) were in competition, that is really new for me. I personally feel that it does not reflect the situation accurately, sorry, but I am not in competition with anybody. I have no need.

As I mentioned before, unless you are an even better speaker of a language, you cannot offer a truly valid opinion about someone else's capabilities with any real accuracy....I think that the reasons are self evident. It is just an opinion, that may or may not be true.

Technical translations are to my mind the most bungled translations in this world. Anyone who has bought a product designed and made in a foreign country, has at some point probably had inflicted upon them a manual that at least some parts made no sense whatsoever in their language.

It has got slightly better over the last few years I feel ( without any real solid evidence either way, I might add! )

Furthermore, I wish you no hard feelings on any of the points covered in our discussion(s).....

Don't worry, Andy, there is no competition - just a friendly joke.

Generally speaking, competition is good and necessary to everyone looking for improvement.

I think that the subject became too serious and our friend who asked the original question is very much puzzled. Looking only for perfection it could paralyze any action or take too long and nobody will need that translation anymore. No translation is perfect because is man made. But if that technical manual have some drawings, than the understanding is eased. To be practical, I would do a first translation with a software or, better, with someone knowing both languages and then I would ask someone else to revise it. And that's it. In any given field of knowledge, I don't think that such a translation has to be done for the first time! So there must be a lot of literature out there (other similar manuals, for example) to compare with.

So, Guest, just do it. Perfection cannot be achieved in one step. Further revisions will improve it.

Already got a BMW. Looking to buy a translation package that works. The ones I have seen and purchased are crap for technical documents. I dint think such a thing exists. If you have worked in the Auto indsutry in Germany or Austria and speak English and German fluently, you could make a bloody fortune !

http://www.tranexp.com:2000/Translate/result.shtml

http://babelfish.altavista.com/

http://www.freetranslation.com/

http://www.online-translator.com/srvurl.asp?lang=en

http://translation2.paralink.com/

http://www.worldlingo.com/en/products_services/worldlingo_translator.html

Just click HERE to see this page translated by software

I fluently speak German, English, Portuguese, Spanish (also a bit of French and Italian)... but except into my mother tongue, I wouldn't DARE to translate a manual into any other language: a good translation needs a background you only acquire living for a life-time in a given country.

About 10 years ago I translated 2 medical books into Spanish: I thought the job would be a piece of cake... but it turned into a real nightmare as there is no "real" Spanish! What is spoken in Spain is quite different to what we speak down here in South America. Being aware of the problem I decided to use a "plain" language. Problem was that many words in "plain" Spanish made no sense at all in Argentinean Spanish ... or in Spanish Spanish!

I fully agree with Andy: if you want a document correctly translated into another language, you'll have to pay for it!

Hi r&ddoc,

you are obviously someone who has been there, seen it, got the T-Shirt AND the Bruises!! Thanks for your support and understanding. I feel that we both understand the problem pretty well......

For someone else without your language knowledge and experience it is difficult to understand what the problems are, I do not blame some of the others on CR4 for NOT understanding just how difficult such translations are.....

.....and how much time is needed to do a good job. I calculate on average for 3 x the time just to read the brochure or book through and I proof read at least 3 times as well, till I can read without making any changes....

Thank you for supporting me in such a positive and friendly fashion.

Thank you for supporting me in such a positive and friendly fashion

Hi Andy,

a text translated from Spanish into English by "Blue Deep" would reply to you saying something like:

YOU/HE/SHE/IT ARE/IS WELCOME! How would you "assemble" this sentence if English is unknown to you?

On the other hand, what people seem not to be aware of is that languages are "living entities": this may sound weird, but they actually evolve from day to day!

The German I learned from my grandparents at home was the language spoken over there in the early 20th century (when they came to Argentina). The gap between that German, and what is spoken today can almost be compared with the difference between English spoken by Shakespeare... and Michael Jackson (well I probably went a bit too far!)

When I speak German (in Germany) TO Germans, they have no doubt I am a German too; but very often I notice they try to figure out WHERE THE HECK I AM FROM (if in the North, they believe I'm from the South; and vice-versa). When I explain I was born somewhere else, they usually smile for having been caught!

Interesting!

I would guess that it is something like South Africa, where the Boers basically speak a 19th Century Dutch, that has little to do with modern Dutch I am told.....

The Amish folk in the USA use I believe 17th Century English I believe.....correct me if I am wrong someone please.....

Amish folks areactually speaking an 18th century swiss dialect of german

I was eating in a restaurant when I heard them make an insult in their tongue as a couple walked by. They shut up and quickly left when I turned back to them in german and asked them if they would like me to explain their comments to the people who just walked by...

milo

Well done, they deserved that and thanks for the correction with regard to the Amish language.

As I drive a German registered car, my wife is German, we speak only German with each other, there are people around that sometimes believe that neither of us understand English (or French or Portugese...), usually the comments are not unfriendly, but you can seem them thinking back "did I say anything unfriendly earlier?" when I talk to them in their own language.....

German tourists in the UK can be a bit over blunt if they have assumed nobody understands them, answering them in their own language really does shock some rigid!! They hate British food and Beer on principle, generally speaking....

In fact, it can be hilarious either way when the person concerned realises he has to watch more carefully what he is saying......most people become super friendly....

The Amish folk in the USA...

Here in Argentina is a colony of Amish origin as well. They immigrated in the 1920's, and live in the middle of nowhere in the province of La Pampa (about 1,000 Km SW from Buenos Aires). There they run a huge farm, and produce dairies using 19th century technology. A time ago I had the chance to speak to one (of the few) men allowed to get in contact with foreigners, and it was really amazing, cause the German they spoke was completely old-fashioned! Not only from the syntax of the language itself, but also for ignoring the existence of hundred of things we have been using for the last 50 years!

Their kids write with chalk on little blackboards, and a ball pen was something like WOW!

This was a really amazing experience for me, as it was like travelling 100 years back in time!

I totally agree. Although I'm only fluent in two languages (English and Chilean Spanish), Ive seen the same thing. I worked for several years about half a mile from Tijuana. I had no problem talking to educated Mexicans, but I had to work really hard to communicate with the uneducated.

When I made a recommendation for translation software, I was assuming the OP was simply trying to understand the German manual for his car, not wanting to translate the entire manual.

For the same reasons I have little faith in the accuracy of English versions of books like the Bible, Koran, etc.

Dick

For the same reasons I have little faith in the accuracy of English versions of books like the Bible, Koran, etc.

So do I, as most are translations from previous translations...

Type in "babel fish translation" on the internet

Wow, I wasn't expecting such a huge response on this topic. I appreciate everyone's input and I have tried Babel fish, free translation and another called Leo. I have also tried paying someone (An arm and a leg!) None of them worked to my satisfaction. I have no idea why the Koran and the Bible came up here ?? As far as I am aware, all the religious texts had nothing to do with Germany, did they ??? Anyway thanks again for all the input.

You never told us exactly what it was you wanted to translate, was it a small document? If yes, send me a copy and I will translate it 4 you.

Cheers Andy. That is very kind of you. However, in the inetrests of confidentiality, I am unable to send to you. I do appreciate the offer though.

Cheers Andy. That is very kind of you. However, in the inetrests of confidentiality, I am unable to send to you. I do appreciate the offer though.

Hi Limey1217,

If you send me the TXT in German I also can do the translation for you. Don't care about confidentiality: secret will be kept within the eastern hemisphere!

Are there pictures?! I still have my box of Crayons! If there are pictures I could work on those... 64 colors plus sharpener! I'm just sayin', huh? Huh?

Are there pictures?!

SHHH! I'm trying to talk him in! You'll get your part as well!

Very good boys ! However, the pictures already have the dots joined, so I dont know if you could handle it ?? How is the Recoletta ? I used to work in Pacheco just outside BA a few years back. Loved the place. Have fun down there and if I get anything that needs translation that I think you boys can handle, I will give you a shout. Cheers.

Hi Limey

Let´s guess: if you live in Detroit, and worked in Pacheco...

HMMM... VW has no headquarters in Michigan... Fiat is in Torino (It)... GM´s headquarters are in Detroit, but they have no plant in Pacheco...

Your boss must be Henry^15th by now, right?

By the way: Vermin does not like the chicks from Recoleta, he prefers opera singers from Rosario!

How are you doing ? I live in Detroit now, but I am a Londoner and always will be. I worked at the Ford plant in Pacheco - not even sure if it still there ??? It used to be next to the VW plant.

Rosario, is a cool place too and opera singers can certainly scream !

Hi Dave, after the $ crisis from 2001 in Argentina, things are doing better from day to day. Industry is growing steadily and car sales as well.

Most of the plants you have known are much larger now, and some companies there started manufacturing expensve cars only to be exported te Europe.

Would be great to have you down here again some time!

babel is not bad for translating. as with anythere is a catch when using translators.

1. remove all contractions ie, don't = do not i've = I have etc.

2. bite off peicesof lengthy docs

3. read while wearing lederhosen - ahh, das ist sehr gut mein freund!

read while wearing lederhosen - ahh, das ist sehr gut mein freund!

Während Sie lesen, sollten Sie auch ein Bierchen trinken: dass ist viel besser mein Freund ! ( you should also drink a beer while reading: that is much better my friend!)

German has some issues: Nouns are written in capital letters. On the other hand many sentences (some are very long) are written in affirmative, but at the end of the phrase a verb or some other word can change completely the meaning of the whole sentence. BEWARE OF TRANSLATING MACHINES!!!!!

Das stimmt!

milo

Ich sollte arbeiten!

Here in Europe we really enjoy using all of our over 25 differentent languages...

Therefore if you have partners in different contries it is very usefull to use:

http://iate.europa.eu/iatediff/switchLang.do?success=mainPage&lang=en

Whatever happened to Esperanto???

Not enough support, therefore it did not keep evolving like most languages do.

Furthermore, the second world war brought English speaking people every where as the victors, with few second language possibilities. So the subjugated people learnt English as a second language, except where Russia was stronger, where Russian was taught, east Germany and Poland for example....

The modern Esperanto is English.......take it or leave it!!

After living almost 27 years in Germany, I constantly find new words in English when I return there.....some I have to ask about......! English is alive and well and living EVERYWHERE!

Sadly, it makes the English speakers generally lazy.......

Hi Andy,

before reading your posting I was about to reply to Vermin saying the same you did: English turned into the modern Esperanto!

On the other hand, due to the widespread use of the Internet I strongly believe most languages spoken nowadays will certainly turn into a worldwide single language like SPACHIENTO in some decades!

You are right - we are lazy buggers ! I find it somewhat humbling when I go to places like Mexico and some of the Engineers speak fluent English and German, as well as their native language ! We need to get off collective bums and get with the program here !

Life is for living in every language - the only common subject between all the countries in the world is Football, except in the US, and Tiger Woods !

Posh Spice - London 2007 !!! (Made that up !)

Although I consider English Speaking peoples (from now on referred to as E.S.P....!) slightly lazy, you must not forget that they have a difficult question as to which second language they should learn.

I learnt French for 6 years at Grammar school, I used it extensively in my 10 years in the R.N., I taught myself to read Portuguese while stationed on the Azores as English newspapers and books were expensive and difficult to obtain.

Both Languages have taken a back seat in the last 30 years and are difficult to use today....

I learnt German at 35, really much too late, but somehow it worked for me.

In a slight aside, many people from mixed marriages bring up their children from birth in both languages, a really bad failure. The end result is though they can speak both languages well, they cannot pass even school exams in either language! They mix up the words...

i have known more than 30 children of mixed parentage, mostly English or American to Germany, but also Mexican/US/German, Spanish/French/German.

NOT ONE OF THESE CHILDREN HAS PASSED ANY EXAM IN ANY OF THE LANGUAGES IT WAS BROUGHT UP USING, but several have passed in both other languages as well as maths physics etc...

None of the children were "stupid" in anyway, more the reverse was true!!

We brought up our children ONLY speaking German as German is a difficult language. For example three different words for "you". Masculine, feminine and neutral - Der, Die and Das!!

The children were in the UK (and the USA a few times) many, many times, even before the birth!! But they actually learnt English in the school at 9 years old, just like all the other kids here. Which has the interesting effect that my eldest has a US accent as her teacher had studied in the USA, and the youngest has an English accent, because her Teacher studied in the UK!!!

Neither has failed ANY German or English exam, no need to boff up and they always get top marks in both languages.....one is still studying, the other is an international Bank Manager in Frankfurt!!

I was heavily criticised for not teaching them English, but the results have made me very proud.

I wrote :-"For example three different words for "you".

I forgot to add them, they are "Du", "Sie" and "Ihr"......sorry.

No harm no foul.

Interesting observation on the use of a single language. May I pass along to my daughter who may some day need a great PH.D topic? Her masters topicwas on family size and birth order on reading competence. Your observation bears closer scrutiny.

Sehr gewandt ausgedruckt!

milo

I have been told several times by teachers at various scholastic levels that the phenomena is quite well known, if not fully understood.

In Germany, with many Turks, it is generally a problem seen with Turkish children, who are forced to speak Turkish at home and German everywhere else....but predominantly it is mixed Turkish/German children....

I am sure that there are children (adults now) who although brought up bi-lingual, can write both languages as well as anyone, I have sadly never had contact with anyone like this.

Assuming that the next person I meet is one of these, then it would work out at about 30 with the problem to 1 without, a very sad ratio if true.....counting all the children to adults that I have met in the last 27 years in Germany.

At least I never saw this problem in England, so there is a good side to only having one predominat language!

I have attempted to get/persuade parents to NOT bring their children up bi-lingual, sadly none have heeded me & none have had children that could pass the exams either much, much later......it is too attractive for parents to show off such a prodigy at 6 or seven years old....who cares about later?

Some children end up in special schools at 8 or 9 because they even speak with 2 or more languages mixed up. I have had experience of that with a friends two children, one managed to keep to one language when spoken to, the other mixed up Mexican, English and German......today she can speak separately at least English & German and I believe Mexican, but she is 22 years old and has never passed an exam in any of them.....sadly.

It would be an interesting job for your daughter, please keep us enlightened.

Oh, by the way, the parents all have stopped contact with me as I have been proved right over the years.......I expect they feel really bad about it and do not want to be reminded.....of why!

Dear Andy, IT'S TIME TO DISAGREE!

My brothers and me were born and brought up in Argentina. As our parents had to travel a lot due to their jobs, for some time we spent many months a year with our German grandparents, who never learned a decent spanish.

We visited the Goethe Schule, starting at the Kindergarten, in which we spoke German (with our teachers) and Spanish (with our schoolmates). When about 9 years old, we also started learning "some" English at school.

We are 7 brothers, from which the 2 eldest speak and write fluently in Spanish, German and English. As our grandparents died being quite young, the rest of the gang only speaks English and Spanish.

Many kids at school also have had a tri-lingual education and our skills in these languages were almost the same. I cannot recall schoolmates having had learning problems.

When I was a teenager I had a little "accent" in Spanish (but did not care, cause girls said it was cute). I have no accent at all in German... but a little German accent when speaking English. (Germans usually have problems when pronouncing "R's" and"S's" in English, but that is not my case!)

As I have been dating a girl born into a British family for some years, my English has more UK than US influence.

While writing this, I just thought that our lack of learning problems (I should have had according to your theory) may be explained because the first 2 languages we learned where completely different for having different "roots".

In the cases you mention, kids learned two languages sharing a lot of words because both have a Germanic root.

This might be the cause for some fuses getting burned in the "language learning centers" of their little brains! HERE YOU HAVE A NEW THEORY YOU CAN SPEND SOME TIME WORKING ON!!!

PS: You probably will agree wit this: it is much easier to learn a decent English if you were brought up speaking German than the opposite

Everyone says English is a very difficult language to learn. However, it's one of the few languages you can completely butcher and still be understood.

And guess what... We don't care! As long as you can make yourself understood - pantomime included!

Many say that German is the hardest European language to learn, I would not disagree....but Mandarin and Japenese are probably even more difficult (but not from Europe of course!)

Text translated from German to English is much much shorter generally speaking in English, you can say more with less in English so to say.....

"Text translated from German to English is much much shorter..." The same is clearly true when comparing Spanish to English, and it seems, from most other languages. Just look at operating manuals that come in several languages.

I taught physics, electronics, and computer science for 32 years (in the USA, except for 2-1/2 years in Chile), with shorter periods teaching machine shop, math, English as a second language, and photography. I had never heard your theory before this thread; always believing the opposite. But then I don't remember any discussion of writing ability; only reading. I suspect that the vast majority of children growing up in multi-lingual homes only have formal writing instruction in one of their languages, so one would expect weakness in writing the other(s). I don't believe I ever had the opportunity to observe the writing of multi-lingual students in their other language, and certainly never gave a test in a language other than the national one. Of course I am at a disadvantage, being in the US, where there are relatively few multi-lingual families, and the most common of those are families where one or both parents were never educated in any language...

ACTUALLY ITS TIME TO AGREE, you have just proved my point, you did not read and fully understand what I wrote!!! Maybe your (English) language skills are not quite what they should be in this area......

May I suggest that you read what I wrote again, maybe you will understand it better (or maybe not!).

To make it completely clear, read on:-

I have ALWAYS been of the opinion that some children, even though brought up FROM BIRTH in more than one language (it was not completely clear to me whether this was true for you or that you learnt the other languages later....perhaps you would be so kind as to state at what age you learnt each language exactly), would still be able to keep them apart when writing. I have just never met one.......though I have been assured from time to time from people like yourself, that they fit the bill and are living proof!

Each time I have had the possibility to check exactly (seldom possible), it turns out that what they said was not quite true, the subsequent languages were NOT FROM BIRTH, but at some point at least (sometimes several years) later!! Of course their memory is slightly different, but older siblings remember much much better I have generally found.....

Perhaps you are the missing link that proves my theory that it is possible, if true, you are one of very few (%-wise!)

I am also sure that you have possibly friends, that did not achieve good writing skills in the languages they were brought up in......from Birth of course!! Later (even a matter of a year) does not count. It is a very specialised situation indeed!!

Please do not forget that the ones with the problems, NEVER EVER AGREE THAT THEY HAVE A PROBLEM EITHER!!!! They feel ashamed of it......

The ONLY people that really see it first hand are the poor teachers trying to correct what misguided parents have already screwed up.....usually with little success.....I have had considerable contact in Germany with School teachers....I seriously doubt if many teachers in the UK have seen the problem (I could be wrong!) but I would guess that High School teachers in the SA see it from time to time with mixed Hispanic/English children for example (that is only a guess from me, I have no contact with US teachers!)

I hope you now understand fully my point of view, but if not, I would be happy to explain any further points that you have difficulty with.....

Please also remember the problems seen are with WRITING not with speaking of more than one language.....having a spell checker of course allows swift corrections to be made!

Wow, I am shocked that such a simple question has sparked so much healthy debate !

I believe that you are both right. Cop out, you may say ?

However, I have many colleagues and friends that are fluent in German, Spanish and English. German and English being similar and Spanish totally different. As a child you can soak this stuff up with ease and the intricacies of any language come to you over the years. I believe if you are multi-lingual by the time you reach a High School or college age, you have a major advantage over people who are singular on the language front. It also instills a deeper cultural understanding of the countries and people who speak these languages.

Maybe, if our politicians were forced to learn langauges of people they pretend to know everything about, they would understand their culture a little better and maybe the world would be a better place.

Your comments have been very enlightening and I appreciate the debate. However, I still cannot get these bloody translations doen correctly !! Even by a proffesional service !

It is time to learn German.

Cheers.

Its never too late, but you may find the translation still very difficult, unless it is just for you yourself. If it is a translation that must be readable for many I would say give yourself at least 5 years in Germany before attempting it.

Sorry to be so negative.....maybe you will achieve it in less time, who knows.