At 05:51 5/30/97 +0000, you wrote: >Are the above words polish or german ? My dictionary says the word for >census is Ludnoscl! How do the words differ? Gayle > Zahlung (without the umlaut over the a) is german for "payment" Zählung (with an umlauted ä) is german for "count" and "census" Volkszählung (with an umlauted ä) is german or "people census" or "nation census" The Germans are great for making compound words. German is one of the few languages were the speaker is able to create a new word by stringing several words together to be more expressive. Some of those words may be translated several ways. It is the concept that is being expressed that is important. You can't depend on a single translation. Although the german word "Steuer" is "tax", you might be able to make a translation of "Volkszahlung" without the umlaut over the a, to mean "peoples payment" or "tax". If your email program or email provider does not pass the diacritical marks, there is an alternate way to type the german language: In place of any umlauted vowel, you can omit the umlaut and add an "e" after the vowel. In place of an umlauted a, ä, you can type "ae" In place of an umlauted o, ö, you can type "oe" In place of the double s, ß, you can type "ss" If you see garbage when I used the diacritical marks then your email program or provided will not pass the extended characters. If you see them correctly then you are in luck. Frank Robert Plichta plichta@worldnet.att.net "Quaerere summa reum familia PLICHTA." "Buscando en el mundo por los PLICHTA." "Je cherche le monde pour les famille PLICHTA." "Ich suche nach PLICHTAs in der ganzen Welt." "Searching the world for PLICHTAs." Plichta/Plihta/Plichtova/Pleta Sie koennen mir in deutsch oder english schreiben. Plichtas originated in: Slovakia, Czech, Poland, and Germany.