Will check it to-nite and run some examples. Thanks Carl Becker wrote: > Generally speaking there is no 1:1-relationship in translating single words, > even if the languages involved are so closely related as German and English. > > Instead of babelfish, I recoomend http://dict.leo.org a tremendous > German-English dictionary. You will be amazad how many different meanings > the words "gegen", "über" and "gegenüber" may have. And if gives you some > examples and context. > > Carl > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "D.L. MacLaughlan-Dumes" <[email protected]> > To: <[email protected]> > Sent: Wednesday, April 15, 2009 9:28 PM > Subject: Re: [HESSE] Photogs name > > > > On Apr 15, 2009, at 12:15 PM, JK wrote: > >> I'm not sure why I'm getting a different result this time, but the >> engine at http://babelfish.yahoo.com/translate_txt >> now gives me "opposite" for gegenüber >> >> But it still gives me approximately for gegen and over for über. > > That's because the compound word now has a different combined meaning > not found in the two root words. This happens in English too (which > is Germanic language after all), e.g. "wherewithall". > >> This doesn't make any sense that the two words joined have changed the >> original meaning of both. > > The original meaning of the two separate words has not changed. > Combining them together does change the meaning of the new combined > word. It's a very common semantic phenomenon. > > If you plan to delve more deeply into German records and newspapers > I'd recommend investing in a paperback German-English dictionary. Any > good one will do; Ernest Thode's German-English Genealogical > Dictiomnary has been particularly helpful to me. Online translators > like Babelfish and Google's translation tools are not 100% reliable, > as you've seen. > > Regards, > D.L. MacLaughlan-Dumes > http://sakionline.net/familypage > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in > the subject and the body of the message > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message >