J Miller

..... well American actually.

In this thread: { http://www.quiltingboard.com/vintage...r-t241214.html } I talked about my Ideal Automatik German sold machine. I finally got a manual from new member Caramelle. But of course it's in German.

Although I can make out quite a bit by the pictures, the details are lost in the translation, or actually the lack thereof.

So I was wondering if anyone on this great forum speaks, reads, and writes German with the skills needed to translate a technical owners manual. That's a bit different from conversational speaking.

Joe

SteveH

I do not but I am working with a person in Germany right now to translate my old Politype Patcher manual.

She is an English speaker living there. We just got the rough draft of the final pages. I have asked her about doing other manuals and she is open to the idea, but has reservation about her knowledge of the machines (needed to translate properly) I personally think she did a GREAT job.

Shoot the manual to me by email and I will ask her is she is willing.

J Miller

Steve,

Thanks, I'll see what I can do. The file as it came to me took over an hour to come in. I'm gonna see if I can shrink it a bit.

But I'll see what I can do.

Joe

SteveH

perhaps ask Caramelle to send it to me directly. My connection is pretty quick

J Miller

OK, thats and idea. I'll do it.

Joe

wesing

There are free translators on the internet. I use them often at work. Do a Google search on "translate German to English" and you should find them. You type in your text and it translates for you. They are very handy. I assume they translate most things correctly, but I only know English.

J Miller

wesing,

I've tried those and the results are usually hilarious, but nothing really good. Think post WW II instructions written by the Japanese. There is also a problem with technical data such as the sewing machine manual. A lot of times translating the text as if it were conversational language won't be correct.

SteveH has offered to sent it to the person in Germany whose translating his other manual, so we should be good to go.

joe

SteveH

Yep, especially for older manuals. The nice lady who translated the Claes Manual said that the language style made the translation very challenging. (Think formal Victorian speech pattern) Also there are certain German language symbols which are no longer in use which makes it really fun. The thing that really helped in my case was I sent an English manual for a similar machine made by a different company, so they could see the terminology used.

This person spent over a month working on the 8 page pamphlet.

J Miller

In the case of my Ideal Automatik I never did find a machine similar enough to use the English manual. I'm hoping the nice lady that did yours can do mine. It is appreciated.

Joe