Deutsche Frage ?

[Shadow]

I got him to translate it on the phone for me whilst I was waiting for your response :biggrin:, so he said that's what it was ... bless you both !!

He's a midwalian babe ... apparently there's some kinda ongoing argument as to whether it's a valid distinction ? But he assures me it IS, and I didn't feel minded to question if further .

Burrai Dah Carriad (my Welsh is only ever phonetic I'm afraid), and I'm actually gonna start a new thread for this since it's kinda off-topic here :redface:.

Thanks :biggrin:.

xx

!?!?! Shadow !?!?!

[Mark]

I got him to translate it on the phone for me whilst I was waiting for your response :biggrin:, so he said that's what it was ... bless you both !!

He's a midwalian babe ... apparently there's some kinda ongoing argument as to whether it's a valid distinction ? But he assures me it IS, and I didn't feel minded to question if further .

Burrai Dah Carriad (my Welsh is only ever phonetic I'm afraid), and I'm actually gonna start a new thread for this since it's kinda off-topic here :redface:.

Thanks :biggrin:.

xx

!?!?! Shadow !?!?!

Oh ok -Waits for new thread

[Sui]

xP I feel so left out... my bro speaks german, and the most I know is based off KMFDM and Rammstein lyrics.

But I can pronouce most of german... cept for this: ß.

What does that smybol mean/how is it pronounced?

[skyguyx5]

Ja ich wohne momentan in DE.. Ich bin halb ammi, halb deutsch.. Ich koente es ja net sagen ob ich ein Spion bin oder????

Sui- The ß is called an sz. But it takes the place of ss. Odd huh?? A word like... Einbahnstraße (One way street) you cant replace the ß with ss. That would be counted as a spelling error. I dont have any of the German letters on my keyboard.. (I copied and pasted it from your post ) So I have to use - ss ae, ue, oe- German is an odd lanugage.. We have words with three of the same letters after another too.. lol Which looks odd as heck.. Like-- Schifffahrt lol... But thats a hard one to translate.. Schifffahrt means hmm... like you on a ship... riding.. LOL... a cruise or so. Dont take that perverted

[Michael]

Just last week I got a new Mac,

Ad replaced my German keyboard. Very strange. It took me ages to get it right before (shadow will remember), now I have to go back and it is really weird. Half the vowels and some keys in the wrong places.

Plus now when I chat with my german friends my spelling is worse than ever.

[Mark]

Are there like keyboards in different languages then? :eek:

[Shadow]

hell yeah I remember ... BOY do I :biggrin: (kidding - you were fine xx).

Perhaps this would be an opportune time for me to explain the function (on pc's) of the ALT key, as you can use it to activate what are called ASCII codes (not EVERY accent, but the ß is included for sure).

To activate codes like ß, simply hold the LEFT ALT KEY on your keyboard, tap in 225 on the numeric keypad, and then RELEASE the left alt key and whammo !!

ß

Easy peasy.

There are others of course - you can download a full list from t'internet ... e.g. Alt + 129 = ü, and Alt + 139 = ï.

Cheers boys,

!?!?! Shadow !?!?!

P.s. Skyguyx5, I was always under the impression that the Germans would accept (if you're translitterating ß as ss ?) I hope so at any rate, as I've been telling my colleagues that for nigh on a decade :redface:. I keep saying "if you cannot display ß the Germans will consider ss its phonetic equivalent, just as putting an e after an umlaut is acceptable - e.g. wünsche would be wuensche".

Is that wrong ?? :redface:.

[Michael]

Hold please while I ask the master...

Tick tock tick tick tock......

Fred says before they changed all the rules a few years ago, it used to be that there almost was never a double s, only the esset, but since most printing machines had no esset, especially abroad, it was accepted as an alternative simply if there was no means to write it. But the Germans for themselves pretty much demanded an esset.

The new rules are now that there are actually some words that have had the esset replaced by a double ss. Now, all words with a sharp vowel followed by a long s,( hasse for example) is written with a double, while long s..strasse (esset) would still be written as before. The new spelling system confuses even the Germans. You have to be a genius, (like mine!), to actually get it.

But for foreigners, the double ss is always acceptable and understood.

For a simple paragraph that took a lot of work! I hope you understood. It wold have helped if I could find the esset here :-(

[skyguyx5]

Michael is right. The new spelling system that they came up with is stupid, confusing, and a waste of money, and time. Just like changing all of the police car colors.. I mean WTF!!!! If you are talking to Germans from you comp. you can use ss, but in school, or a legal document, and so on, it would not.. straight from the book, you can not replace ss with ß. But Like Michael said, being a foreigner to Germany, it is well accepted.

Salty- yes there are.. The German keyboard is quite different from the US one. I am not sure if its the same as in the UK. Caplock on a German keyboard is also like shift for the numbers ontop.. If you have caps lock in, and press 1 it will show up as ! Took me a while to get used to it. The ? mark is where the ) is (In that area) and the y and z are switched.. YOu can google it though... This is just from memory.. Im not 100% sure of everything anymore.. sorry I cant be more help.

[Mark]

Aha well I dont have an american keyboard.. BUT My old old old phone nokia 3300 had an american keyboard on it as the british version was completely different. God I loved that phone :frown: