Translating from German into German
By TheRealDawn
@dawnald (85146)
Shingle Springs, California
July 19, 2009 1:43am CST
Like puzzles? This one is challenging and a lot of fun so far. I'm translating a letter from German into German. You're looking puzzled. Yep, it really does make sense. Did you know that until 1941 the German's used different letters than we did? Yep, they used the Latin alphabet, but they wrote the letters differently. Some of them a LOT differently. Here's a link if you want to get an idea what it looks like:
http://www.fontstock.net/67233/kurrent-kupferstich.html
Anyway, my aunts gave me some of my great-grandfather's letters from people in Germany and I am trying to translate them into readable German so that I can translate them into English for my aunts.
Do you like puzzles?
3 people like this
14 responses
@GardenGerty (160879)
• United States
20 Jul 09
I feel very fortunate that this year my dad has been able to share some very old family letters with me, but none in German, although in our family that would be possible too.
2 people like this
@p1kef1sh (45681)
•
19 Jul 09
I can remember when I lived in Germany seeing old books, newspapers and letters and wondering how on earth people made any sense of them Dawn! Just getting your eyes around the text was hard enough; then you have to understand what is being said! Well done you - viel gluck!
3 people like this
@GardenGerty (160879)
• United States
19 Jul 09
I have learned something new for today, and since I have no expertise in German, I will leave it to you. I think it is really kind of you doing this for your Aunts.
2 people like this
@dawnald (85146)
• Shingle Springs, California
20 Jul 09
Well I do know German fairly well. It's just figuring out the old script mostly. And I was able to print out examples of all t he letters off the internet. It's time consuming, but not as difficult as I first thought.
@carmela0210 (1591)
• Philippines
20 Jul 09
wow!!this one is really cool, i haven't known this after i read your post, this one is really interesting, i tried looking and reading it but simply looking at it made me shiver,hahaha, cause i don't know what those says cause i don't know how to speak German at all,hahaha, but its really interesting...happy lotting and thanks for sharing.
1 person likes this
@dawnald (85146)
• Shingle Springs, California
20 Jul 09
If I didn't know German I wouldn't even tackle it. The alphabet is hard enough!
@carmela0210 (1591)
• Philippines
21 Jul 09
goodluck then, just hope you could share to us what those script means...happy lotting
@dawnald (85146)
• Shingle Springs, California
21 Jul 09
So far I have determined that it's his cousin writing, that they were both ill, that my great-grandfather hadn't written for a long time and his cousin was worried, that one of my great-aunts had just gotten married and that the price of postage from Germany to the US had just gone up. Fascinating stuff. lol
@debrakcarey (19887)
• United States
20 Jul 09
My dad was half German..he used to speak something in German and then ask us to tell him what he said...he moved out when I was three after the divorce so I didn't get as much of a chance to learn...but my older brother in Boston can say the pledge of allegience and Gettysburg address in German. lol
I was amazed to learn in grade school that English and German are closely related languages.
Do you speak fluent German? Maybe you can do a word of the day with me and teach me...lol. Nouns first please...lol.
Good luck with the letters.
1 person likes this
@dawnald (85146)
• Shingle Springs, California
20 Jul 09
About 75% fluent. I'm out of practice. But sure, we could to that!
@debrakcarey (19887)
• United States
20 Jul 09
If you really want to do that...leave it in my Yuwie inbox. I'd like it very much...oh, remember the Power of Words club? I'll start a new thread in the club if you want to put them there. Let me know.
1 person likes this
@debrakcarey (19887)
• United States
20 Jul 09
I was hoping Karin would do some of that when she first joined. Maybe I'll ask her and start some foreign language threads..got any ideas for which ones besides German?
1 person likes this
@mimpi1911 (25464)
• India
21 Jul 09
Hey! This is just so great! A complete new thing for me.
Happy translating!
1 person likes this
@dawnald (85146)
• Shingle Springs, California
22 Jul 09
I"m only halfway done with the first letter and then I have 5 more to do!
@robinjoseph80 (142)
• India
20 Jul 09
Yeah.. I like puzzles very much. It is improving our mental capacity.
1 person likes this
@scarlet_woman (23463)
• United States
19 Jul 09
oh wow,that's fancy.beautiful,though.
yea,i like puzzles sometimes.
we used to have the "gigantic book o' puzzles" in the bathroom.best time to do them,honestly.well..the only place i get peace long enough.
yea,i like puzzles sometimes.
we used to have the "gigantic book o' puzzles" in the bathroom.best time to do them,honestly.well..the only place i get peace long enough.@dawnald (85146)
• Shingle Springs, California
20 Jul 09
We have a joke book and a reader in there. Lots of interesting facts. lol
@koalatbs (2229)
• United States
20 Jul 09
I have no German language skills whatsoever but my 14 yr old son took German for the first time last school year and will be taking German 2 next year. He got an A this year so I guess he is doing pretty well! :) He really seems to like it. I can't believe he starts high school in the fall!!!
@dawnald (85146)
• Shingle Springs, California
20 Jul 09
My daughter is only a year behind him!
Glad he likes it. I enjoyed it a lot too!
@cynthiann (18602)
• Jamaica
19 Jul 09
This is wonderful and must goive you a sense of family. We have letters going back to the 1800"s - family letters but at least they can be read! Keep at it - this is amazing - I wonder what secrets it will reveal?
1 person likes this
@dawnald (85146)
• Shingle Springs, California
20 Jul 09
I have pictures and books going back that far, and some documents, but these are the oldest letters that I have.
@zhuhuifen46 (3483)
• China
20 Jul 09
There are so much in languages. German grammer is more difficult than English, and now I learn that there are different German languages. Actually it is true also with Chinese. Ancient Chinese is totally different with today's Chinese, which is sourced back only to the turning around early last century. Ancient Chinese is compact and peotic, but modern Chinese more spoken, hence more convenient for popularization. This is my personal understanding, though.
1 person likes this
@dawnald (85146)
• Shingle Springs, California
20 Jul 09
There are different Germanic languages, like Dutch. And different German dialects like Austrian or Bavarian. Far as modern German languages, I guess there's Swiss German. And then there are older versions of German in print...
