# German?



## WolfieReveles (Jun 11, 2011)

Does anyone here speak German? I have two Germans who exchange a few  words and I would like to have it in German. Now, the setting is a  steampunk 1934 but the characters are a nobleman and his foreman and  main mechanic. Their language should still be rather rigid and proper,  in other words no 30's slang or modern expressions, no swearing(not that  swearing would fit the dialogue anyway), and if possible, the Nobleman  should be more eloquent.
I need  the following lines:
Nobleman - "Herman, haven't you told her about the modifications yet?"
Foreman - "Forgive me Sir, I'll inform her right away.
Nobleman - "Never mind..."("..." because the rest is in English)


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## alanmt (Jun 11, 2011)

"Herman, hast du noch nicht ihr über die Modifizierungen erzählten?"
"Verziehen Sie mir, ich werd ihr gerade erzählen."
"Es machts nichts...


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## WolfieReveles (Jun 11, 2011)

Thks!
I got two other options from an other forum, could you tell me what the difference would be as far as meaning, style, etc?

"Herman, hast du sie noch nicht über die änderungen erzählt?"
"Entschuldige, mein Herr. Ich werde sie gleich informieren."
"Geschweige denn...

"Hermann, haben Sie ihr denn noch nichts von den Änderungen erzählt?"
"Verzeihung, gnädiger Herr, das erledige ich sofort."
"Ist schon gut..."


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## alanmt (Jun 12, 2011)

I would use either mine or the first one from another forum. Don't use the second one from another forum.

The first one you got from other forums has the two people speaking formally to each other showing mutual respect and station, whereas in mine, the nobleman speaks down (familiarly) to the foreman, but the foreman addresses the nobleman respectfully. I use the word for modify, but he uses the word for change, but that tends to mean something more drastic than modification. On the other hand, he uses the word for inform, which is what you asked for while I use the word for tell. I used the closest phrase to "forgive me", but he used the word entshuldige, which is "excuse me", more of an interrupt than an apology. My last phrase translates literally to "it matters not", while his literally translates as "leave it alone, then", and is understood in modern usage to mean the same thing as "never mind", but it may not have had exactly that connotation in the 30s.

The other one mixes modern and medieval phrases and seems weird. I think gnadiger "gracious" is a medieval honorific, while "Ist Schon gut" "it's already good" is very modern and colloquial.

Since Sie is a noun, it needs a capital S, even in the middle of a sentence.


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## Guy Faukes (Jun 22, 2011)

German is such a great language.


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