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German book on the Limes
#16
Quote:That's an interesting perversion, Jim ;-) )
Perhaps 'fetish' is more apt. :wink:
TARBICvS/Jim Bowers
A A A DESEDO DESEDO!
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#17
Quote:Someone once told me you should learn a new word each day. Mine for today was 'stratinomy' (yesterday's was 'diagenesis'.) Sounds virtuous, but sadly it's to do with a new book I am chewing over (may write it, may not).

I want to read Mike's book about diagenetic stratinomy (or stratinomic diagenesis).

(My word for today is "cenatorial". Mmmmm ... cena.)
posted by Duncan B Campbell
https://ninth-legion.blogspot.com/
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#18
Why not just learn German? I know it takes time, but I assure you its worth it just for all of the information thats published in German.
"...quemadmodum gladius neminem occidit, occidentis telum est."


a.k.a. Paul M.
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#19
I learned German when I lived there, but if you don't use it every day, it goes away. I read it very slowly, but since I can "speed read" in English it is the difference between flying (English) and crawling on broken glass and sharp stones (German, Russian and Latin).

There is a difference between learning conversational language and being able to translate technical material, especially if it has terms that have a change in meaning. For example, think of German version of "The Siege of Sevastopol" by Totleben. That took me over a year to read! I still have notes of terms I didn't understand.

I have a hard enough time understanding my wife's folks and friends, depending on whether they are speaking Russian or Ukrainian!

If I were living back in Bad Tolz, I suspect my conversations would be okay withing a few months, but my reading, especially of technical stuff would still be very slow. And I would still have a strange accent for speaking! Imagine southern .. weee-gates, y'all. :lol:
Caius Fabius Maior
Charles Foxtrot
moderator, Roman Army Talk
link to the rules for posting
[url:2zv11pbx]http://romanarmy.com/rat/viewtopic.php?t=22853[/url]
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#20
Quote:weee-gates
My new word of the week. Big Grin
Robert Vermaat
MODERATOR
FECTIO Late Romans
THE CAUSE OF WAR MUST BE JUST
(Maurikios-Strategikon, book VIII.2: Maxim 12)
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#21
Being German (living in the U.S.) AND a translator by profession (M.A. in Translation, ATA certified, yadeeyada) I can only tell you that literary translation is NOT worth it money-wise for most translators. I specialize in technical translation and software localization and make a pretty good living. Literary translators on the other hand are often paid nothing at all (it's all for the glory!) or not much, so the problem is that most professional translators work in other fields, not books, and the good ones who do literary translation usually focus on novels and such.
I just finished reading "The Roman Army from Caesar to Constantine" (an Osprey volume comprised of two smaller Osprey books) in its German translation, and the translation was obviously done by somebody with huge English deficiencies (translating "the late H. Russell Robinson" with "der späte H. Russell Robinson" - he is not a little tardy, but passed away, unfortunately), as well as no idea about special terminology (in her translation, she mixed up segmented with scale armour, for example, among literally hundreds of mistakes). It's pretty obvious that the German publisher just used somebody "who they knew" (aka this guy I know had two years of high school German, he can translate that English Material Safety Data Sheet into German, right?). As a professional translator, it's important to inform the general public of what service translators deliver and how important a good translation is. Unfortunately, there are too many companies who don't care about that but just look for the cheapest way out. [rant over]
Aka
Christoph
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#22
Good rant.
TARBICvS/Jim Bowers
A A A DESEDO DESEDO!
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#23
This is the exact reason I am learning German, plus my Swiss wife is making me learn :wink:
"...quemadmodum gladius neminem occidit, occidentis telum est."


a.k.a. Paul M.
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#24
Ave to all,

Maybe I can offer some help, working as a translator, to explain some terms or translate some things.

I speak Dutch, French, German and English. Good notions of Italian, some of Spanish and Danish. Latin and Greek.

Valete !

Cepheus Germanicus
aka Bernard Roobaert
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