weber , and other american authors and the german language

Vince wrote:

SWM wrote:Are there some specific quotes you are referring to? I don't recall David using much German except as ship names.

saber964 wrote:You forgot naval and noble ranks. E.g. Grosse Admiral Herzog Von Rabinstrange translated Grand Admiral Duke of Rabinstange

SWM wrote:Ah, yes, those, but David got those titles from history. He didn't make them up himself.

What about Korvetten Kapitän and Kapitän der Sterne, both from:

War of Honor, Prologue wrote:"Com confirms it, Sir." Korvetten Kapitän Engelmann sounded as if he couldn't quite believe his own report.
"You're joking." Kapitän der Sterne Huang Glockauer, Imperial Andermani Navy, commanding officer of the heavy cruiser IANS Gangying, looked at his executive officer in astonishment. "Code Seventeen-Alpha?"

Italics are the author's.

Those are both ranks. Korvettenkapitan is used by the current German navy for what is basically Commander (junior grade) and Kapitan der Sterne means "Captain of the Stars" and parallels Kapitan zer See (Captain at Sea) used in the German Navy.

A lot of imprecisions could be explained with constant changes in earth languages. Add centuries long lost contact to the source (aka Earth) and you really have a little to complain, and yes "Kapitän der Sterne" does sound kinda funny , but then try to create an appropriate derivation from "Kapitän zur See". but perhaps not really needed, there is no reason why this particular bit of German naval culture should survive the eons.

vovchara wrote:A lot of imprecisions could be explained with constant changes in earth languages. Add centuries long lost contact to the source (aka Earth) and you really have a little to complain, and yes "Kapitän der Sterne" does sound kinda funny , but then try to create an appropriate derivation from "Kapitän zur See". but perhaps not really needed, there is no reason why this particular bit of German naval culture should survive the eons.

There is for this one: Gustav Anderman believed he was the reincarnation of Frederick the Great. Really. Quite the warlord, he was, but there's something a little crazy in the Andermani royal family. So in this case, resurrecting and adapting bits of German from the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries - through the distorting effects of centuries of change and a hefty dose of romanticism - makes sense. It's a rug under which a lot of strangeness can appropriately be swept.

JeffEngel wrote:

vovchara wrote:A lot of imprecisions could be explained with constant changes in earth languages. Add centuries long lost contact to the source (aka Earth) and you really have a little to complain, and yes "Kapitän der Sterne" does sound kinda funny , but then try to create an appropriate derivation from "Kapitän zur See". but perhaps not really needed, there is no reason why this particular bit of German naval culture should survive the eons.

There is for this one: Gustav Anderman believed he was the reincarnation of Frederick the Great. Really. Quite the warlord, he was, but there's something a little crazy in the Andermani royal family. So in this case, resurrecting and adapting bits of German from the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries - through the distorting effects of centuries of change and a hefty dose of romanticism - makes sense. It's a rug under which a lot of strangeness can appropriately be swept.

I personallly always enjoyed how one of the Gustavs was actually a woman myself.

Vince wrote:

SWM wrote:Are there some specific quotes you are referring to? I don't recall David using much German except as ship names.

saber964 wrote:You forgot naval and noble ranks. E.g. Grosse Admiral Herzog Von Rabinstrange translated Grand Admiral Duke of Rabinstange

SWM wrote:Ah, yes, those, but David got those titles from history. He didn't make them up himself.

What about Korvetten Kapitän and Kapitän der Sterne, both from:

War of Honor, Prologue wrote:"Com confirms it, Sir." Korvetten Kapitän Engelmann sounded as if he couldn't quite believe his own report.
"You're joking." Kapitän der Sterne Huang Glockauer, Imperial Andermani Navy, commanding officer of the heavy cruiser IANS Gangying, looked at his executive officer in astonishment. "Code Seventeen-Alpha?"

Italics are the author's.

There was an extensive discussion with the author and several German-speakers (pr so I thought at the time) of Kapitaen der Sterne (as an analogy the Imperial German equivalent title for a naval officer, iirc Kapitaen zur See) before the title was settled upon. It is perhaps significant that the titles are being drawn from the Imperial German Navy (preWW1), not the modern German navy or the K.u.K. pre-WW1 Navy.

grosse admiral ...
aua



Großadmiral

just used the german wiki page

svenhauke wrote:grosse admiral ...
aua



Großadmiral

The problem there is that a non-Germen speaker would have absolutely no idea how to pronounce that.

you don t need to pronunce it

just write it

we germans don t care what you say

its like sayin you got a big captain and a bigger captain and the biggest captain

none cares exept the navy

thinking about it ..

id prefer to be the bigest captain

to be

an admiral

i don t want to be an aristocrat