My German is pretty good for a non-native, but I have trouble with this. Two German/English and one German dictionary show no separate entry for “Wegkurs” which is compounded from “way” and “course”. German Google shows more entries with “Weg” and “Kurs” as synonyms than compounds, and they tend to mean “course” as in a series of classes, so that’s no help.
I’m also confused by the grammar that seems to use the word “Wegkurs” in genetive or dative case based on the final “er” in “weiterer”, meaning “farther” or “further”. I don’t know this construction and my German grammar is usually better than my vocabulary.
But as a tentative translation I’d offer this: “Is she farther on course than we are?”
(Historical note: the Fraktur letter that looks like an “f” is an old non-terminal “s”. Look at the orginal Declaration of Independence and you’ll see that English still made the distinction in 1776.)
I used Babel Fish too and can’t get “Wegkurs” out of it, even after Pab’s translation. (“Weg vom Kurs” is the closest it came.) And the grammar appears too subtle to be purely from Babel Fish.
But “Is she farther off course than we are?” does make sense.
Are they farther (navigational course) off we are?
Isst sie weiterer ?Wegkurs? aus wir sind?
Are they further off course than we are?
Not proper Hochdeutsch, MittleDeutsch or Plattdeutsch, could be one of the dialects:
From Wikipedia
High German is divided into Central German and Upper German. Central German dialects include Ripuarian, Moselle Franconian, Rhine Franconian, Central Hessian, East Hessian, Lower Hessian, Thuringian, Silesian, High Franconian, Lorraine Franconian, Mittelalemannisch, North Upper Saxon, High Prussian, South Markish and Upper Saxon. It is spoken in the southeastern Netherlands, eastern Belgium, Luxembourg, parts of France, and in Germany approximately between the River Main and the southern edge of the Lowlands. Modern Standard German is mostly based on Central German, but it should be noted that the common (but not linguistically correct) German term for modern Standard German is Hochdeutsch, that is, High German.
The Moselle Franconian varieties spoken in Luxembourg have been officially standardised and institutionalised and are therefore usually considered a separate language known as Luxembourgish.
Upper German dialects include Northern Austro-Bavarian, Central Austro-Bavarian, Southern Austro-Bavarian, Swabian, East Franconian, High Alemannic German, Highest Alemannic German, Alsatian and Low Alemannic German. They are spoken in parts of the Alsace, southern Germany, Liechtenstein, Austria, and in the German-speaking parts of Switzerland and Italy.
Wymysorys, Sathmarisch and Siebenbürgisch are High German dialects of Poland and Romania respectively. The High German varieties spoken by Ashkenazi Jews (mostly in the former Soviet Union) have several unique features, and are usually considered as a separate language, Yiddish. It is the only Germanic language that does not use the Latin alphabet as its standard script.
margueritem over 15 years ago
It’s the lost Uboat!
wndrwrthg over 15 years ago
Paging Mr. Limpet.
LibrarianInTraining over 15 years ago
I don’t read much German. What’s that they’re saying?
pschearer Premium Member over 15 years ago
My German is pretty good for a non-native, but I have trouble with this. Two German/English and one German dictionary show no separate entry for “Wegkurs” which is compounded from “way” and “course”. German Google shows more entries with “Weg” and “Kurs” as synonyms than compounds, and they tend to mean “course” as in a series of classes, so that’s no help.
I’m also confused by the grammar that seems to use the word “Wegkurs” in genetive or dative case based on the final “er” in “weiterer”, meaning “farther” or “further”. I don’t know this construction and my German grammar is usually better than my vocabulary.
But as a tentative translation I’d offer this: “Is she farther on course than we are?”
(Historical note: the Fraktur letter that looks like an “f” is an old non-terminal “s”. Look at the orginal Declaration of Independence and you’ll see that English still made the distinction in 1776.)
Pab Sungenis creator over 15 years ago
“Farther off course.” The dialect I use is “Babelfish.”
pschearer Premium Member over 15 years ago
I used Babel Fish too and can’t get “Wegkurs” out of it, even after Pab’s translation. (“Weg vom Kurs” is the closest it came.) And the grammar appears too subtle to be purely from Babel Fish.
But “Is she farther off course than we are?” does make sense.
Miserichord over 15 years ago
Are they farther (navigational course) off we are?
Isst sie weiterer ?Wegkurs? aus wir sind?
Are they further off course than we are?
Not proper Hochdeutsch, MittleDeutsch or Plattdeutsch, could be one of the dialects: From Wikipedia High German is divided into Central German and Upper German. Central German dialects include Ripuarian, Moselle Franconian, Rhine Franconian, Central Hessian, East Hessian, Lower Hessian, Thuringian, Silesian, High Franconian, Lorraine Franconian, Mittelalemannisch, North Upper Saxon, High Prussian, South Markish and Upper Saxon. It is spoken in the southeastern Netherlands, eastern Belgium, Luxembourg, parts of France, and in Germany approximately between the River Main and the southern edge of the Lowlands. Modern Standard German is mostly based on Central German, but it should be noted that the common (but not linguistically correct) German term for modern Standard German is Hochdeutsch, that is, High German.
The Moselle Franconian varieties spoken in Luxembourg have been officially standardised and institutionalised and are therefore usually considered a separate language known as Luxembourgish.
Upper German dialects include Northern Austro-Bavarian, Central Austro-Bavarian, Southern Austro-Bavarian, Swabian, East Franconian, High Alemannic German, Highest Alemannic German, Alsatian and Low Alemannic German. They are spoken in parts of the Alsace, southern Germany, Liechtenstein, Austria, and in the German-speaking parts of Switzerland and Italy.
Wymysorys, Sathmarisch and Siebenbürgisch are High German dialects of Poland and Romania respectively. The High German varieties spoken by Ashkenazi Jews (mostly in the former Soviet Union) have several unique features, and are usually considered as a separate language, Yiddish. It is the only Germanic language that does not use the Latin alphabet as its standard script.