> My favorite is Vierzilinderzerknalltreipling, although I've probably

> Can you
> figure out the literal translation and what the normal 
> English word for this item is?

Vier zilinder zerknall treipling
Four cylinder explosion (driver? motor? power source?)

> So do speak fluent German?

By no means, as my various German teachers would confirm! In my country
it is normal to get at least 3 years English, French and German. In my
case only the English stuck, most probably because you can't do without
it in computer and electronics.

When I worked for an ESA project contacts between us Dutch and our
German sub-contractors were mostly in English, which put us on an
exqual-disadvantage base. But is was usefull to at least understand the
Germans when they were talking among each other :)

Germand and Dutch are very alike, up to using the same words for
different things. So it is easy for a Dutch to say something that
probably is well-formed German. But not alwasy what he wanted to say.  I
think I mentioned this one before:

English   Dutch    German
Sea       zee      Meer
Lake      meer     See

My favourite mistake was asking a German farmer for a place to set up my
tent: "Haben Sie ein platz fur mich zum kampfen?" => "Do you have a
place for me to fight?" (Dutch "Kamperen" != German "Kampfen").

Wouter van Ooijen

-- -------------------------------------------
Van Ooijen Technische Informatica: www.voti.nl
consultancy, development, PICmicro products
docent Hogeschool van Utrecht: www.voti.nl/hvu
 

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