All, Larry has been lucky to find very flexible corespondents in Germany, an exception, not a rule. Please keep in mind that German is a high context language. Simply put, this means that the reader has to know the context of the words used by the writer in order to establish what the writer is trying to say by them. Even if you get the grammar and syntax correct, and match the vocabulary you chose to the subject, the success of your communication will depend on how much your corespondent knows of the subject of your communication. In contrast, English is a low context language. Again simply, what you see is what you get. Little is needed to be known of the context of what you write. When a German writes to you in even badly broken English, you can pretty much make out what is meant. The converse is not true. It is not that the German is trying to be difficult (the French, on the other hand, are another matter), it is that he/she has no idea what you mean. Write in English, take it to your German friend or your local high school German teacher, and ask for a translation. Bringing a bag of German traditional cookies doesn't hurt. By the way, if you use your German friend, what they write may or may not match what you mean. It depends on their knowledge of your subject matter and their vocabulary in that area. I have two long time and dear friends, one Schwabian and one Bavarian, who willingly write translations for me without being asked. The problem is I can never use them. As retired art and architecture professors, their vocabulary does not extend into the area of genealogy, and what they write seldom gets a reply. The same extends to speech. Thus, the online automatic translators yield almost useless English - > German translations. You can buy good translation packages for quite a bit of money, and if you build a custom vocabulary for your use over time, you can get pretty good translations. I gave up on this. Too expensive and too maintenance intensive. Lest you think that genealogical German is difficult, or rather not common, legal genealogical German is an order of magnitude more difficult. A modern German attorney has a very difficult time reading a legal real estate document written before WWI. I am going through this process now. Japanese is also a high context language and I can give you very interesting anecdotes in that regard, but that is quite out of the subject of this list. - Michael On Jan 11, 2007, at 10:11 PM, prussia-roots-request@rootsweb.com wrote: > Date: Thu, 11 Jan 2007 22:11:44 -0600 > From: "Larry Krull" <silverjox@sunflower.com> > Subject: Re: [PRUSSIA-ROOTS] Google Translations > To: LGO <le_geefted_one@ix.netcom.com>, prussia-roots@rootsweb.com > Message-ID: <200701120411.l0C4BiS1020325@websmtp.sunflower.com> > Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed > >> Some of the folks in Germany must have short fuses. I have written >> letters and sent email, translating with a dictionary, and get >> very good responses. They reply back in German. Then, I translate >> again. This has been going on for a long time. > LARRY >> > > This subject comes up a couple of times a year on this list. > Searching the list archives would provide you with many good > answers before posting your questions, comments. > > In short, DO NOT write letters or e-mails to Germany using > translation software or web sites. Our cousins don't laugh at > things we send them using this type of translation mainly because > what we send them will be, for the most part, incomprehensible. > > Translation software and web sites are good for we non-speakers to > get a gist of a foreign web site, or an e-mail, but they are > totally unacceptable in sending something to people in that > country. Instead, write in plain, simple English. Everyone in > Germany at least knows someone who can translate for them, if not > do it themselves. Writing in plain, simple English is not as easy > as it sounds. > > Here is something (from the archives) that I wrote two years ago > about this subject; > > "1.) Don't ever use web translation engines or software to go from > English to > German (or any other combination of languages). German grammar is > so much more > difficult than English grammar and the computer translations > butcher it so badly > that it makes the result incomprehensible to the people reading > the letter even > in their native tongue. My German "relatives" called me (not a > cheap effort for > them) when they received a short letter that I had translated this > way and told > me, "DON'T EVER DO IT AGAIN." <LOL>"