More German info needed

[ffutures]

For various reasons I want to illustrate my tunnelling machine adventure (see various previous posts) with a sketch of the machine as originally outlined by the Kaiser, who is responsible for its creation. I've used Google for the German translation, is this OK or hopelessly wrong:





I'm trying to decide if I really need to provide translations for other things, such as the names of offices. It'd save me a lot of hassle if I don't, what I'm wondering is if people will feel short-changed if they aren't there, since the adventure is set in Germany.

Comments

Close but no cigar

[karohemd.livejournal.com]

From top to bottom:
Maschinengewehr
Kanone? Geschütz would be a better word.
Not sure what "Landgruben" is meant to be
Kriegsmaschine

What's the bit in the box meant to say? Currently it says (with wrong article for Kaiser) "Sketch by the Kaiser of the war machine Kobold".

"Drehbohrgerät" is quite cool, though. :o)

Re: Close but no cigar

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

Many thanks, that helps considerably.

Landgruben was supposed to be land-mines.

The box translation is about what I wanted it to say, but thinking about it, something like "The Kaiser's original concept for the Kobold war-machine." would be better.

You may have gathered by now that I have Linguist [0]...

Re: Close but no cigar

[karohemd.livejournal.com]

Right,
"land mines" are "Landminen" and a nice idiomatic translation for the box would be
"Der erste kaiserliche Entwurf der Kriegsmaschine Kobold"

Don't worry, German is probably the worst language to construct from a dictionary. ;o)

Re: Close but no cigar

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

I always assumed that when they showed an "Achung! Minen!" sign in old movies it was pidgen German for an ignorant audience. Apparently I was wrong...

Re: Close but no cigar

[karohemd.livejournal.com]

Glad to be of assistance. :o)

Re: Close but no cigar

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

Now fixed. Once again my thanks. All I have to do now is put in a few fiendish mad scientists and it'll be done...

[vampire-scion.livejournal.com]

Hey there!

I came across your web site after following a link from your Forgotten Futures site. While I've intermittently read about Forgotten Futures online, I finally gathered up some cash and purchased a copy from Amazon.com.

Hope you don't mind, but I tried to "interpret" your sketch, taking many liberties along the way...



The above was done by means of collage with images I found on line. I used everything from DaVinci's air screw sketches to posters of zeppelins, photos of German war helmets to line art of modern tanks, prints of plans for Archimedes' screws to advertisements for your standard hardware screws.

Hope you like it, as I have little to no idea what it is.

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

That's really nice - better than my version, which is supposed to be a sketch drawn on a napkin! I think the photo manips are better though:





There are also some "blueprints" which work reasonably well, but I don't have them on line.

Unfortunately I'm not in a position to use work by other artists - don't make enough from Forgotten Futures to pay royalties - but if I was I think I'd be knocking at your door...