Spigel Online article on German fountain pen manufacturers

[MJSchuelke]

FÜLLHALTERHERSTELLER - Retter der Handschrift

 

http://www.spiegel.de/wirtschaft/0,1518,563523,00.html

[QM2]

 

sehr kühl, vielen Dank : )

 

 

[goodguy]

FÜLLHALTERHERSTELLER - Retter der Handschrift

 

http://www.spiegel.de/wirtschaft/0,1518,563523,00.html

Really interesting,I wish it was writen in English.

[GeeTee]

FÜLLHALTERHERSTELLER - Retter der Handschrift

 

http://www.spiegel.de/wirtschaft/0,1518,563523,00.html

Really interesting,I wish it was writen in English.

 

 

Babelfish helps to make it (more or less) English:

http://66.196.80.202/babelfish/translate_u...63523%2C00.html

 

[HDoug]

Thanks for posting. Here is an computerized Babelfish translation into English.

 

Doug

 

Edit: Whoops -- GeeTee beat me to it!

Edited July 6, 2008 by HDoug

[omasfan]

sehr kühl, vielen Dank : )

 

That doesn't translate well. Germans actually use the word "cool." Kühl means chilly. Alternatively, you could say "Spitze"!

[QM2]

sehr kühl, vielen Dank : )

 

That doesn't translate well. Germans actually use the word "cool." Kühl means chilly. Alternatively, you could say "Spitze"!

 

In Austria they say and write "kühl", at least in Vienna. I am here, I should know : )

 

 

EDIT: Actually, now that I think of it, it's not just Vienna. My friends in Salzburg say it that way too. People do sometimes say "cool" the English way as well, but then they think of it as an English word.

Edited July 6, 2008 by QM2

[lapis]

Krass, danke, den Artikel muß ich übersehen haben. Ach ja, ich kaufe sowieso zu viele Füller.

 

Stets der ... ahh, y' know...

[omasfan]

In Austria they say and write "kühl", at least in Vienna. I am here, I should know : )

 

That's funny. I need to ask my Austrian friends about this. Well, I am more of a Northern German... (where Denglisch meanwhile prevails)

[QM2]

In Austria they say and write "kühl", at least in Vienna. I am here, I should know : )

 

That's funny. I need to ask my Austrian friends about this. Well, I am more of a Northern German... (where Denglisch meanwhile prevails)

 

 

Yes, lots of little things are different in Austrian German. "Servus", "Grüß Gott", and "Grüß Dich" as typical greetings, "Shau Mal!" instead of the German "Kuk Mal!", "Schlagobers" instead of "Schlagsahn", and so forth. Not to mention that "Ja" is pronnounced as "Jo", as are most "ah"s for that matter! Oh, and I don't think you use "Putzerei" in Germany for the cleaners, do you? : )

 

What really threw me though, is the colloquial convention of using articles in front of people's names (as in "I am going shopping with the Mary" or "Hello, I am the Peter!"). I still can't get over this!

 

 

zu viele Füller

 

Wie bitte?...

Das kann ich nicht verstehen : )

 

 

Edited July 6, 2008 by QM2

[Hans-Peter Ording]

Well, I am more of a Northern German... (where Denglisch meanwhile prevails)

Me too! And I hate Denglisch

I've never heard someone using "kühl" in this context. Must be an Austrian thing.

 

What really threw me though, is the colloquial convention of using articles in front of people's names (as in "I am going shopping with the Mary" or "Hello, I am the Peter!"). I still can't get over this!

I know this from Cologne, where my sister lives. Sounds funny, but I got used to it very quickly.

 

Regards

Hans-Peter

 

[davidv7]

"Against the fact that ever take the good old filler more humans to mailen and to windshield frame sections and no more into the hand, manufacture the pelican for decades and learned with that generations of pupils the letter."

 

I LOVE BABELFISH!

[lapis]

I couldn't help copying Cindy's sig here (thanks, Cindy):

“This is the sort of pedantry up with which I will not put.”

—Winston Churchill (attributed)

 

I discovered that myself a long time ago too -- sounds pretty German to me -- and just can't forget it. Very cool!

 

Mike

[FrankB]

Thanks for the interesting article. It appears that the battle to maintain decent hand writing is fairly universal.

 

Regarding Austrian German, I find it much easier to understand than many north German accents or dialects. Right after I graduated from my undergrauate work, I lived in Salzburg for a while. I was surprized how quickly I adapted to the Austrian dialect, and I came to like it a great deal. I think Austians and many south Germans speak slower than north Germans which enhances my ability to understand them. - Of course, I find the same thing to be true in the U.S. I can understand southern accents more easily than many northern ones. I also find that many northerners speak so fast that I have no idea what they are saying.

[georges zaslavsky]

Vielen Dank im Voraus.

 

 

[penparadise]

Thanks for posting. Here is an computerized Babelfish translation into English. Doug

 

.... "Multicolored child filler" ??? ....

Lucky me that I can read (and understand) German.

 

Axel

[jkenton]

Thanks for the interesting article. It appears that the battle to maintain decent hand writing is fairly universal.

 

Regarding Austrian German, I find it much easier to understand than many north German accents or dialects. Right after I graduated from my undergrauate work, I lived in Salzburg for a while. I was surprized how quickly I adapted to the Austrian dialect, and I came to like it a great deal. I think Austians and many south Germans speak slower than north Germans which enhances my ability to understand them. - Of course, I find the same thing to be true in the U.S. I can understand southern accents more easily than many northern ones. I also find that many northerners speak so fast that I have no idea what they are saying.

 

 

If you want to hear slowly spoken German (although dialected), move to rural Bern Kanton, Schweiz.

 

The upshot is that between words, you have time to look the difficult ones up in ein Woerterbuch!

[QM2]

If you want to hear slowly spoken German (although dialected), move to rural Bern Kanton, Schweiz.

 

The upshot is that between words, you have time to look the difficult ones up in ein Woerterbuch!

 

 

Oh, Swiss German is pretty tough! And why "oder" at the end of every sentence even when not a question?.. It becomes similar to Japanese that way, come to think of it...

 

 

 

 

[lapis]

Not aiming to contradict and all that, but an "oder" in the German language (i.e an "or?") at the end of every sentence is also a habit at least in Hamburg (pretty North German) too!

 

Miguel

[QM2]

Not aiming to contradict and all that, but an "oder" in the German language (i.e an "or?") at the end of every sentence is also a habit at least in Hamburg (pretty North German) too!

 

Miguel

 

It's no problem if you contradict me, as long as we understand each other correctly. Just so we're clear, I do not mean it in the same way as it is done in Germany (at least the parts I am familiar with) or Ausria. For example, in the versions of German I'm used to, one would say something like "I'm going to go home now, oder." which means, "I am thinking of going home now. Sounds like a good idea, right?" or "The Pelikan 1000 comes only in gold trim, oder." -- where "oder" means "doesn't it?"

 

But in Switzerland, they will add it to literally EVERY sentence sometimes, in a way that I have not heard German speakers from Germany and Austria do, where the statements are definite. For example "Yesterday I went to the store, oder." or "We must submit this document by tomorrow, oder." or "I like your dog, oder."

 

If you are saying people from Hamburg do that too, that is interesting. I have never been North of Berlin, so I've never heard the speech patterns in the North.