Deutschdeduktionspiel: ein Projekt

Etwas Gedachtnis...

2011-02-23T21:34:00.000-08:00

Sorry for the lack of updates, but due to the nature of the stuff I've been reading, I've been unable to post screenshots. Or I've just been too immersed into the world of German that I no longer get those epiphany like revelations from learning a new word. I do still learn new words, but because the majority of what I read is stuff I've already seen before, it's hard to keep doing it. The only thing left is to practice hearing and speaking it. And maybe writing it.

This has been a long journey into the world of the German language, and it will continue so long as I can get my hands on things written or spoken in German. Along the way, I have originally consulted materials in German that I am already familiar with in English, and when I found them too easy, I consulted new materials in German that I hadn't already seen in English (or only partially). And now I do songs and movies as well, but it seems ultimately that my ability to read is the strongest.

Here's a partially completed list of games I've completed for the sake of learning German:

Game	Completion	Languages
Terranigma	Complete	English, German
The Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time	Complete	English, German
The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening	Complete	English, German
The Legend of Zelda: The Oracle of Ages (and The Oracle of Seasons)	Complete	English, German
The Legend of Zelda: Minish Cap	Complete	English, German
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney	Complete	English, German
Phoenix Wright: Justice for All	Complete	English, German
Phoenix Wright: Trials and Tribulations	Complete	English, German
Crono Trigger (fan translation)	Complete	English (official translation), German (fan translation)
SaGa Frontier II	English Complete, German Incomplete ~65%	English, German
The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask	Complete	German
Apollo Justice	Complete	German
The Legend of Dragoon	Complete	English 5%, German
Okami	Complete	English, German
The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess	Complete	English 80%, German
The Legend of Zelda: Windwaker	Complete	German
Ghost Trick	Complete	German
Professor Layton and the Curious Village	Complete	English, German
Professor Layton und die Schatulle der Pandora	Complete	German
Professor Layton und die Verlorene Zukunft	Complete	German
The Whispered World	Complete	German
Riven	Complete	English, German
Myst IV: Revelation	Complete	English, German
Discworld II	Complete	German
Discworld	Complete	Voices in English, subtitles in German
Hotel Dusk: Room 215	Complete	German
Last Window: Das Geheimnis von Cape West	Complete	German
Baphomets Fluch	Complete	English, German
Baphomets Fluch II: Der Spiegel der Finsternis	Complete	German
Illusion of Time	Complete	English, German
Lufia 2	English Complete, German Incomplete 50%	English, German
The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass	Incomplete 80%	German
The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks	Incomplete 70%	German
Final Fantasy VII	Complete	English, German
Final Fantasy VI	Complete	English, German
Final Fantasy IV	Complete	English, German
Final Fantasy IX	English Incomplete 70%, German Incomplete 75%	English, German

So I think at this point, I can read typical things written in High German, and maybe a little Low German, but nothing particularly technical, legal or highly academic, and I can't yet skim texts particularly well, but the words come to me easily when I see them. I can also read Old German scripts, and have been able to read some archaic texts like Brüders Grimm and a play about Ephigenie by Goethe. I can also hear some German, provided it's not too fast or too Low German. I can also write it, but I fear my grammar is worse, not because I don't understand it, but because I can't seem to remember the genders of the words, or I haven't discovered what they are, and sometimes, I am unaware of the idiomatic usage of some sentences. I do not know how well I speak it; I guess I can speak what I can write or read, and have been trying to get some practice by joining meet-ups. According to a few native speakers, they think I've been to Germany (I haven't), and that I speak it well enough (I beg to differ...), but sound somewhat regal/archaic. But they say it has some sort of charm, apparently.

There's only one other thing I could do to get better at those other three areas--go to Germany itself. I think I might be able to do that soon if I can secure a co-op position there.

And even if I've never been to Germany, this process of deducing and inducing words from a game, movie or book has been highly entertaining--and with each new word and new grammar construction, a new dimension is being formed. It's as if an entire new world has opened itself up to me for my enjoyment and adventure, and I can't let go of it.

July 25, 2010

2010-07-25T21:42:00.000-07:00

The following have been deduced from Apollo Justice. Unfortunately, because it doesn't work so well on the emulator, I couldn't take any screenshots. I can describe the context in which I found them though.

Zurückgezogen - reclusive, shy (or something similar. Literally means "taken back".)

Was used in the context to describe Drew Misham's lifestyle--he never left his house, and only communicated with the outside world through snail mail.

Einfluss - influence

Was used to describe the "influence" of Drew's lifestyle over his daughter, Vera.

Röntgen - X ray

I saw this twice, and figured it out the second time I saw it--the first time was to describe some documents in a safe relating to Wocky's operation (which was signed by his "girlfriend", Alita). The second time, it was the device Ema was using to examine the documents sealed inside envelopes, and to see sketches underneath paintings (and that usage made it rather obvious).

June 10, 2010

2010-06-10T13:57:00.000-07:00

The following have been deduced from Spiegel articles.

"Wenn man Prostatatumoren untersucht, muss man natürlich mit Männchen arbeiten, bei Eierstocktumoren mit Weibchen."

Prostatatumor(en) - prostate tumor
Eierstocktumor(en) - ovary tumor. I think.

"If one examines prostate tumors, he must of course work with males, as one does ovary tumors with females."

"Islamischer Gelehrter will Weihnachten verbieten"

verbieten - to condemn, forbid, ban

Now it could mean that Islam teachers want to allow Christmas, but under the context of this quote in the article, "Kirchen dürfen keine Kreuze mehr tragen. Kirchenglocken dürfen auch nicht mehr läuten." for "Churches may no longer carry crosses. Church bells may no longer ring.", I think it's fairly clear what the context is.

March 7, 2010

2010-03-07T21:27:00.000-08:00

The following have been deduced from Erzälte Zeit, Die Kinder des Grals and various other unknown sources.

Over the course of several months, I have found these words, and just wrote them down. Unfortunately, I didn't have time to take the screenshots or the exact sentence they came from.

Gering - slight(ly)
Entwickeln - to create, Devise, conjure
Arbeitgeber - employer
dringend - desperate(ly)
Moench - Monk
Patronen - ammunition
Angebot - offer
Pfennig - penny
Muehe - effort
Haeretisch - heretic (noun?)
das Kreuzzeichen machen - to make a cross sign
wie wenig (viel) auch immer - however little (great) (0 position)
die Stille - silence
die Furzwolke - fart cloud
ebenso - equally so
die Unebenheit (-en) - uneveness
die Rasierwasserduefte - after shave
unterdruecken - to supress (aus Lateinisch)
Ausdrueck - expression (aus Lateinisch; abstract usage also)
(all from druecken - to press/print)
wohlvorbereit - well-prepared
die Tatsache - fact
tatsachlich - "factually"; actually
weich - soft
die Witwe - widow
lustig - merry
spitz - spiky
subtil - subtle
winken - to beckon
lenken - to steer
nicken - to nod
die Braut - bride
die koechin - cook (f)
die Itsche - toad (Kroete)
nimmermehr - no more, never
der Gesichtsschutz - face guard, visor
weswegen -à on what account
ankommen - to overcome
Wahrsager - prophet
flackern - to flicker
Augenhoehle - eye socket
wagen - to wage, bet, dare
zwecklos - pointless
wog - to weigh (simple past tense; possibly of wagen)
die Schenkel - torso
die Oberschenkel - upper torso
idiomatisch - idiomatic
Orden - badge, emblem, crest
half - helped (simple past tense)
geholfen - helped (past participle)
unvermeidlich - unavoidable
die Handbremse - handshake? possibly from bremsen - to shake
der Nack(e) - neck
Widerspruch - contradiction
zIttern - to shake
der Kühlschrank - fridge
der? Pudel - poodle
die Aschenbecher - ash tray
(die) Baustellenbereich - construction Zone
die Bereich - Zone (probably)
ersuchen - to implore
buchstabieren - to spell
der Beifahrer - passenger
die Beifahrtur - passenger door
der Beifahrersitz - passenger seat
(die) Gänsehaut - wrinkly skin (eg, from staying in water too long) (probably)
ziemlich - rather, really, very
erwähnen - to mention
beeindruckend - impressive

I have also figured out the forms for adding adjectives to a noun. This was rather tedious; I had to watch the endings of every adjective followed by a verb. Most of it came from Erzälte Zeit. There are probably irregular words though, and I think the participles may be different.

Adj construction
m
der/sein/ihr
(nom, acc, dat, gen)
-e, -en, -en, -en

ein/kein
-er, -en, -en, -en

(no article)
-er, -en, -em, -en

f
die/ihre/sein
-e,-e, -en, -en

eine/keine
-e, -e, -en, -en

(no article)
-e, -e, -er, -en

n
das/sein/ihr
-e, -e, -en, -en,

ein/kein
-es, -es, -en, -en

(no article)
-es, -es, -em, -en

p
die/ihre/sein
-en, -en, -en, -en

eine/keine
-e, -e, -en, -en

(no article)
-e, -e, -er, -en

I am almost certain that "weder" is neither. To use it, write "weder", then the first item, and then the second after "noch" (equivalent to using "nor").

For example,

Weder der Lehrer noch der Student kennt die Antwort.

Neither the teacher nor the student knows the answer.

I have also seen this construction several times, but it goes something like Je...desto, which is like saying "the more [phrase], the more [phrase]."

For example,

Je mehr man denkt darüber, desto mehr weiß er.

The more one thinks about it, the more he knows.

January 5, 2010

2010-01-05T17:03:00.000-08:00

Okay, I really, really have to write this one because it's funny. I am reading Die Kinder der Gral (kindly loaned to me by the Alpen Club), and there is a funny word I found--it helped that I found a similar word to it previously. The word came from a flash game online, and it was "Furzkissen" for whoopee-cushion (Furz + Kissen; Furz = fart, Kissen = pillow). If that wasn't funny enough, I found Furzwolke (and we previously found wolke, which makes that a fart cloud.) The context was an irritation that lingers like a fart cloud. I'll try to get the original sentence when I get home.

EDIT: It says, "Der Erzbischof verließ den Platz, sein Ärger hing ihm nach wie eine Furzwolke." For "The archbishop left the place, his annoyance hung after him like a fart cloud."

November 2, 2009

2009-11-02T21:51:00.000-08:00

Here is my plot "summary" of Die drei Männlein im Walde from Brüder Grimm.

There was a man whose wife was dead, and a woman, whose husband was dead. They both had daughters who knew each other. Then the woman asked the man's daughter to have her father marry her, and then she would drink wine and bath in milk every morning, (don't ask; that's what I think it says) and then her daughter would drink water and bath in water. The man reluctantly agreed; there was a bit about him taking off his boots and filling it with water (don't know what that was about) and something about his boots having a hole in it. But they got married anyways, and they did what they were going to do about drinking and bathing; on the second morning, they both drank water and bathed in water, and then on the third morning (and thereafter) the man's daughter drank water and bathed in water and the other one drank wine and bathed in milk. Apparently, the woman was jealous about her daughter being ugly, and her stepdaughter being beautiful.
During winter, the stepmother made her stepdaughter go outside and fill a basket with strawberries while wearing clothes made of paper, and gave her a piece of hard bread (of course there aren't any strawberries in winter...). She found a little hut in the woods and went inside because it was warm. Three little men came by and asked for food; she gave them some of her bread, and told them she was looking for strawberries. They gave her a broom and told her to sweep away the snow from the back door. Then the three little men discussed what they should give the girl for helping them. One said to make her prettier every day. The second said to have her words turn to gold. The third said to have a king come and take her away to his castle (I guess it's a castle it was Gemahlin, but I thought a castle was a Schloß; don't really know).
The girl finished sweeping the snow and found deep red strawberries where she was sweeping. She filled her basket and went home. Then she found her words did turn into gold. The stepmother wanted the same thing to happen to her daughter, so she gave her butterbread and cakes and warm clothes (I suppose a Pelzrock is some sort of skirt made of some warm fur) and sent her to look for strawberries in the forest. She did find the three little men, but gave them nothing to eat, and didn't sweep the snow away from the backdoor. The three little men discussed what to give her; they said to make her uglier every day, and her words would turn into toads (I guess that's what Kröte amounts to I mean Schildkröte is a turtoise, so I thought maybe it was a compound word for an armored/shielded toad.), and the last one said she would die an unfortunate/unpleasant death. The girl couldn't find any strawberries, so she returned home and tried to tell her mother what happened, but toads came out of her mouth.
Of course, that made the mother angrier, since her daughter still wasn't any prettier, and her stepdaughter was prettier and her words turned into gold. She ended up taking a cauldron, and made the stepdaughter go outside with an axe and look for something in the river (Okay, I don't really know what Garn is exactly, but it said something about a frozen river and a hole in the river, so it was probably some sort of sea/freshwater creature.). A king happened to be passing by and saw the stepdaughter doing what her stepmother was making her do. He felt sorry for her (and partly because she was beautiful) and asked if she wanted to come with him; she said she did. Apparently, the stepmother and daughter found out what happened to her and visited her after a year. She already had a son. The stepmother and daughter threw her out her bedroom window and the daughter disguised herself under the bed covers, and as the king came by, the stepmother said she was sick and couldn't talk. He believed that until he tried to speak to her in the morning, and her words turned into toads. The stepmother said that she was simply very sick.
(Okay, now it gets wierd) A duck swam by and asked a young servant what her guests were doing, and what her child was doing, to which he replied they were sleeping. She transformed into her original form and gave him something to drink and put him to bed. She did this for three nights, and on the last, she told the boy to tell the king to take his sword and swing it over her three times. He did this, and she returned to her original form. The king immediately recognized her. Then the king asked the stepmother what to do with people who dragged people out of bed and threw them into the water. She replied that they should be placed in a barrel and rolled from a mountain into a river. The king then had this done to the stepmother and her daughter.

October 10, 2009

2009-10-23T13:17:00.000-07:00

I haven't updated this thing for awhile. Oh well; I've still found some stuff to read. Additionally, I've been playing Legend of Dragoon in German, without having beaten it in English previously, so I got most of the storyline in German. I'm also doing the same with Majora's Mask. I have also read Bewährung der Herzen, and learned some words like taub, stumm, Taubstumme, and Sprosse--additionally, I have an idea of what Rippelsamthosen is, even though all the German speaking people I've talked to haven't seen it.

The following is a summary of Die sieben Raben, a story from Grimms Märchen.

There was a man who had seven sons, and he had always wanted to have a daughter. He eventually had one, and sent his sons to fetch water. They were eager to see their new sister (If I read this correctly), and accidentally fell into the well. Their father got impatient waiting for them, and thought they forgot about the water over some game, and wished they were ravens--his wish came true.
Apparently, his daughter grew more and more beautiful, but her parents never told her about her brothers; they didn't want to. She found out somehow, probably from other people, and her parents finally revealed the truth. They said it wasn't her fault. She wanted to find her brothers, so she set off with a stool for when she got tired, bread for when she got hungry, and water for when she got thirsty. They also gave her a ring (possibly to remember them).
She went to the end of the world and to the sun; it was too hot and scary. She went to the moon; it was too cold, evil and cruel. She went to the stars, which sat on her stool and were nice and friendly; they told her her brothers were in Glasberg and gave her some sort of object (possibly a key) so that she could go there. She wrapped it in a cloth. When she got there, she lost it, and (If I'm reading this correctly) cut off her small finger and stuck it in the gate. She met a small dwarf there, who said her brothers were away, and to wait for them to come back. As they waited for them to come back, the dwarf laid out seven plates and goblets of food; she ate a bit from every plate and drank a bit from every goblet, and then she put her ring in the last goblet.
The seven ravens came back and found someone had eaten their food. When they found the ring and realized it was their sister, they wished they were human again. They went home happily.

Now I don't actually know if Raben is a raven, but it does say "blickte auf und sah sieben kohlenschwarze Raben auf und davon fliegen." for "...he looked up and saw seven coal black ravens (up) and flew." This at least indicates that Raben, whatever they are, can fly. "Auf einmal hörte es in der Luft ein Geschwirr und ein Geweh, da sprach das Zwerglein »jetzt kommen die Herren Raben heim geflogen«" which means "On hearing a whir and a cry in the air at once, the dwarf spoke 'The ravens are flying home now.'" (I don't actually know about "Geschwirr" or "Geweh"; I can just guess, but "geflogen" does mean they flew, and they were heard from the air, so it must at least be a bird, if it isn't a raven.

Here is another listening exercise. I took the song, Los from Rammstein and decided to find all the words in it that contained the suffix, -los, which is the equivalent of using the suffix -less in English.

Wir waren namenlos,
und ohne Lieder,
richt wortlos,
waren wir nie wieder,
etwas sanglos,
sind wir immer noch,
dafür nicht klanglos,
Man hört uns doch,
nach einen Winch dos,
Gingen sturmlos,
einfach beispiellos,
es würdet Zeit,
Los,
Sie waren sprachlos,
So sehr schockieren,
sehr ratlos,
Was zwar passiert,
etwas fassungslos,
und garantiert,
verstrecklichlos,
Das wurd setziert,
Sie sagten grundlos,
Schaden um die Noten,
So schamlos,
Das gehört verboten,
Es ist geistlos,
Was sie da probieren,
zu geschmacklos,
wie sie nur sitzieren,
Es ist hoffnungslos,
sinnlos,
hilflos,
sie sind Gott,
los,
Wir waren namenlos,
Wir haben eine Namen,
waren wortlos,
Die Worter kamen,
etwas sanglos,
sind wir immer noch,
Dafür wir klanglos,
Das hört man doch,
Die sind nicht fielerlos,
zu etwas haltlos,
Wir werden lautlos,
und schneelos,

Wir waren namenlos,
und ohne Lieder,
richt wortlos,
waren wir nie wieder,
etwas sanglos,
sind wir immer noch,
dafür nicht klanglos,
Man hört uns doch,
nach einen Winch dos,
Gingen sturmlos,
einfach beispiellos,
Für die Zeit los,

Wir waren los,
Wir waren los.

Again, there are some words I'm not entirely familiar with, or didn't hear properly.

namenlos - nameless
wortlos - wordless (additionally, this may be mistaken for wertlos, which sounds similar, for worthless.)
sanglos - songless
klanglos - without sound
sturmlos - without turmoil
beispiellos - without example
sprachlos - speechless
fassungslos - (I don't entirely know, although I would guess "incomprehensible")
verstrecklichlos - effortless, perhaps?
grundlos - without reason
schamlos - shameless
geistlos - spiritless
geschmacklos - tasteless
hoffnungslos - hopeless
sinnlos - without reason/rationality
hilflos - helpless
fielerlos - without mistake (this might also be fehlerlos, but it sounded more like "fielerlos")
haltlos - unstoppable
lautlos - without sound
schneelos - without snow

I should also say now that "los" is also an interjection meaning "go".

April 10, 2009

2009-04-10T12:47:00.001-07:00

(This is just a notice.)

I shall be taking a second year German course next term for credit, but in the interest of knowing what I already know from that course, here is a list of all the stuff I could find that will be in it, and perhaps how much of it I already know: In future posts, I may list updates for this.

-The genitive case
(see March 30th 2009 entry.)

-Proper Names in the genitive
I have seen plenty of these throughout all the games I've played and stuff I've read. To do this, place an s on the end of the noun as you would in English, but don't add any apostrophes, unless the last letter of the noun is an s as well (and don't add the extra s).

-Prepositions with the Genitive
I may have seen some of these, but I didn't pay attention to them much.

-Adjectives after a Definite Article, Adjectives after an Indefinite Article, and Adjectives without a preceding article
I have been trying to figure out how attributive adjectives work for awhile--now I wish I hadn't read those topics though--I think they've just given me a hint as to why they're sometimes different, even though it's the exact same noun in the exact same case.

-Superlatives
Add -ste on the end unless the last letter of the adjective is a t or s (then add -est) or an eszett (then just add the -te bit). Some adjectives are irregular (gut becomes best, viel becomes meist, and wenig becomes mindest)

-Attributive Adjectives in the Comparative (and Superlative)
I'm working on this. I did already know there was a difference though.

-Adjectival nouns
Another one that escapes my attention.

-Simple Past tense
I've seen these all over. Apparently, they're irregular. A few include gab, sah, geschah, aßt, dacht, traf, fand, etc.

-The conjunction als
Als can have several different meanings. As far as I can see, they mean, than (comparative), "when" or as. I am not entirely sure if its usage requires the verb to go to the end; that can be easily remedied by finding a few examples.

-Future tense
Use werden as the main verb, and then take the other verb and stick it on the end like an auxiliary.

-How long something lasts
Use dauern for time. I think zogen can also be used.

-Relative Clauses
Use definite articles to refer to the object you wish to describe in the relative clause (use the same gender of the object). The case of the article depends on what it's doing in the relative clause. The main verb goes at the end. If the relative clause requires who, where, how, whom or to whom, then use wer, wo, wie, wem or wesen respectively. Worüber, worauf, wo-(preposition), etc. may also be used, depending on meaning.

-The Interrogative Pronoun was für
I've seen this before. And someone told me what it was. I wish they hadn't though.

-Position of nicht
I haven't paid attention to this yet.

-noch nicht/noch kein(e) nicht, mehr/kein(e)...mehr
I believe that refers to "still not yet/none yet" and not anymore/none anymore or no more.

-da and -wo compounds (if that's what they're called)
Seen these too. Just take "da" + (preposition); if the preposition begins with a vowel, add "r" after "da". So, as I said in a previous entry, darüber, darauf, dahinter, darum, dafür, darin, etc. Same with "wo"; do the same as you would for "da", but use "wo" instead of "da". The difference between both is that wo is for question words. Ie, worüber is "about what", but darüber is "about that". I think you can only use the da compound in reference to something that's already been mentioned. That's only conjecture though. I cannot say what its exact usage is for besides relative clauses and a few other sentences in which English does not require them to be translated.

March 31, 2009

2009-04-10T12:45:00.000-07:00

(The following have been deduced from Phoenix Wright: Trials and Tribulations.)

"These seeds of doubt in the heart of the judge.." (unfortunately, I don't remember the exact context of this sentence, so I can't really remember or figure out what exactly austreiben is. However, this sentence is one of many that confirm that Zweifel = doubt, and a verb based off of it, bezweifen, to doubt.)

March 30, 2009

2009-03-30T14:17:00.000-07:00

(The following have been deduced from Phoenix Wright: Trials and Tribulations and Myst IV: Revelations.)

"...on the campus of Harkely University" (Universität is feminine, so use "der" for genitive case. I've also seen this several times elsewhere.)

Just wanted to point out that in the second screenshot, we see "Vielleicht kann ich die Temperaturen innerhalb des Sichtgeräts simulieren, so dass ich es dann in Tomahna installieren kann.", which means "Maybe I can simulate the inner temperatures of the sight apparatus, so that I can then install it in Tomahna." ("des" indicates another genitive case, but what gender is Gerät? Now look back on the first page to "Das Sichtgerät zeigte nicht viel und ich überlegte, wie es zu verbessern sei." for "The sight apparatus did not show much, and I 'ponder' how to make it better." Gerät is neuter, and it is an apparatus.)

I now have the complete constructions for genitive cases:

Use des (or end pronouns with -es) for masculine and neuter nouns, and additionally, put "s" on the end of the noun if there isn't already one.

Use der (or end pronouns with -er) for feminine and plural nouns.

March 29. 2009

2009-03-28T23:00:00.000-07:00

(The following have been deduced from Phoenix Wright: Trials and Tribulations and Rammstein (listening exercise revisited.))

"Therefore...I have watched the car." (beobachten = to watch, observe. Finally!)

Weißes Fleisch (revisited); *=translation correction

Weißes Fleisch!
Du auf dem Schulhof ich zum töten bereit, ja (Yes, Schulhof is a word. If I spelt it correctly. It's a school yard.)
Und keine ihr weißt von mein Einsamkeit,
Roter Striemen auf weißer Haut,
Ich tue dir weh, und du jammest gelaut, (weh is a word; I posted about it in a previous entry.)
Jetzt hast du Angst, und ich bin so weit,
Mein schwarzes Blut, versaugt ihr das Kleid,

"White flesh!
(Now I think that says you on the schoolyard, ready to be killed.)
And none of you know about my loneliness,
Redder streams from the whiter 'body' (Well, it seems to work.)
*I hurt you, and you wimper out loud
Now you are worried, and I am so far,
My black blood soaks your dress, (I think that's what versaugt is.)"

Dein weißes Fleisch erriecht mich sooo,
Ich bin doch nur ein Jigolo (yes, that is a word)
Dein weißes Fleisch erleuchtet mich,

"Your white flesh 'pleases' me so (So I don't really know what erreichen is.)
I am only a gigolo, (I hadn't known this word before. Seriously.)
Your white flesh delights me,"

Mein schwarzes Blut, und dein weißes Fleisch,
Ich möchte immer geiler von deinem Gekreisch, (geiler is a word. I've seen it a few times, but I still haven't figured out quite what it means.)
Der Angschweiss da auf deiner weißen Stern,
Tagert in mein pranges Gehirn,

"My black blood, and your white flesh,
I would like none from your 'gekreisch' (Another word I don't know),
The 'Angschweiss' there on your white forehead (Maybe it has something to do with the worry-wrinkles on her forehead, who knows.)
It is worth in my brain (don't know pranges, or if I heard it right.)"

Dein weißes Fleisch erriecht mich sooo,
Ich bin doch nur ein Jigolo,
Mein Vater war, genau wie ich,
Dein weißes Fleisch erleuchtet mich!

"Your white flesh pleases me so,
I am only a gigolo,
My father was, exactly like me,
Your white flesh delights me!"

Jetzt hast du Angst, und ich bin so weit,
Mein Pranges das ein Acht Lösung schreit,
Dein weißes Fleisch werd Meinschaft folgt,
In meinem Himmel gibt es keinen Gott,
Ooooooh, Gott,

"Now you are worried, and I am so far,
My 'pranges' there cries 'for attention' (Not sure either.)
Your white flesh would follow 'Meinschaft' (Well, Gemeinschaft is company, but I don't know about this one.)
In my heaven, there is no god,
Oh god,"

Dein weißes Fleisch erriecht mich sooo,
Ich bin doch nur ein Jigolo,
Dein weißes Fleisch erleuchtet mich,
Mein Vater war, genau wie ich,
Dein weißes Fleisch erriecht mich sooo,
Ich bin ein trauriger Jigolo,
Dein weißes Fleisch erleuchtet, mich!

"Your white flesh pleases me so,
I am just a gigolo,
Your white flesh delights me,
My father was, exactly like me,
Your white flesh pleases me so,
I am a sadder gigolo,
Your white flesh delights me!"

March 22, 2009

2009-03-28T22:53:00.000-07:00

(The following have been deduced from Phoenix Wright: Trials and Tribulations.)

"True. Except the seat is full of pigeon droppings!" (Taubendreck = pigeon droppings. I think. Tauben = pigeon, Dreck = droppings. Probably. I'm not going to assume it can be used with animals other than birds.)

"I mean, were that not the case, how then does one explain the difference in time?" (Not sure about the last bit, but I noticed a different way of using "if", in particular, "if that were not true". It actually just sounds like a different tense or mood for a conditional in German that isn't the same as just a plain if sentence.)

"The case will continue, as soon as Mr. Tigre has stepped onto the witness stand." (sobald = as soon as; there's probably a construction for as [adjective] as in English which goes "so[adjective]" ie, soviel, solang, etc.)

"Hey, the pot there talking about the teakettle, little hairknot girl!" (Tiegel = teakettle or tea pot. I think. It actually looks strikingly similar to the pot calling the kettle black argument.)

March 5, 2009

2009-03-06T11:35:00.000-08:00

(The following have been deduced from a Rammstein song and Discworld. Unfortunately, because the text disappears after the dialog ends, I wasn't able to take the screenshots fast enough.)

Gewicht = weight
entgehen = to miss (I originally saw it as entgangen)
Jammern = lamentation
Laterne = lantern
Versteck = hideout

Ich Will

Ich will,
Ich will,
Ich will,
Ich will,
Ich will,
Ich will,
Ich will,
Ich will, ich will dass ihr mir vertraut,
Ich will, ich will dass ihr mir glaubt,
Ich will, ich will eure Blicke spüren,
Ich will, jeden Herz schlaf kontrollieren,
Ich will, ich will eure Stimmen hören,
Ich will, ich will die Ruhe spüren,
Ich will, ich will dass ihr mich gut seht,
Ich will, ich will dass ihr mich versteht,
Ich will, ich will eure wandern sehen,
Ich will, ich will euer Energie,
Ich will, ich will eure Hände sehen,
Ich will, in beifall untergehen,

"I want (repeat several times)
I want, I want that you trust me,
I want, I want that you believe me,
I want, I want to feel/sense your pulses (I guess.),
I want to control every sleeping heart (I guess, also. I think I just don't know a few words here, or I've just never seen them like this before.)
I want, I want to hear your voices,
I want, I want to feel the silence,
I want, I want that you see me well,
I want, I want that you understand me,
I want, I want to see you wander (or hike; I don't really know.),
I want, I want your energy,
I want, I want to see your hands,
I want, to sink in 'beifall' (Don't know that one.),"

Seht ihr mich,
Versteht ihr mich,
Fürt ihr mich,
Hört ihr mich,
Kannt ihr mich hören,
(Wir können nicht!)
Kannt ihr mich sehen,
(Wir können nicht!)
Kannt ihr mich fuhlen,
(Wir können nicht!)
Ich verstehe euch nicht,
Kannt ihr mich hören,
(Wir können nicht!)
Kannt ihr mich sehen,
(Wir können nicht!)
Kannt ihr mich fuhlen,
(Wir können nicht!)
Ich verstehe euch nicht,

"You see me,
You understand me,
You lead me,
You hear me,
Can you hear me,
(We cannot!) (I actually found it hard to hear the crowd, so I don't know if this is actually correct. The syllables seem to match though.)
Can you see me,
(We cannot!)
Can you feel me,
(We cannot!)
I do not understand you,"

Ich will,
Ich will,
Ich will,
Ich will,
Ich will,
Wir wollen, dass ihr uns vertraut,
Wir wollen, dass ihr uns alles glaubt,
Wir wollen, eure Hände sehen,
Wir wollen, beifall untergehen, ja,

"I want (repeat several times),
We want that you trust us,
We want that you believe us all,
We want to see your hands,
We want to sink 'beifall', yes,"

Kannt ihr mich hören,
(Wir können nicht!)
Kannt ihr mich sehen,
(Wir können nicht!)
Kannt ihr mich fuhlen,
(Wir können nicht!)
Ich verstehe euch nicht,
Kannt ihr uns hören,
(Wir können nicht!)
Kannt ihr uns sehen,
(Wir können nicht!)
Kannt ihr uns fuhlen,
(Wir können nicht!)
Wir verstehen euch nicht,
Ich will,
Ich will.

"Can you hear me,
(We cannot!)
Can you see me,
(We cannot!)
Can you feel me,
(We cannot!)
I do not understand you,
Can you hear us,
(We cannot!)
Can you see us,
(We cannot!)
Can you feel us,
(We cannot!)
We do not understand you,
I want,
I want."

March 3, 2009

2009-03-03T18:26:00.000-08:00

(The following have been deduced from Rammstein songs and a German fansub of Naruto. The former is a listening exercise. You may notice that I haven't managed to figure out the lyrics completely, but if I figure something out, I may revisit these same songs in the future.)

"I will do it, forehead girl!" (Stirn = forehead)

Weißes Fleisch (Goodness, this song is really good and funny. I find those growl-sighs particularly funny. This was a fun song to do though.)

Weißes Fleisch!
Du auf dem schwul auf ich zum töten bereit, ja
Und keine ihr weißt von mein Einsamkeit,
Roter Striemen auf weißer Haut,
Ich tue dir weg, und jammest gelaut,
Jetzt hast du Angst, und ich bin so weit,
Mein schwarzes Blut, versaugt ihr das Kleid,

"White flesh!
(I don't quite know what this line should be. I'm not even sure I heard it right. Something about being already dead or killed?)
And none of you know about my loneliness,
Redder streams from the whiter 'body' (Well, it seems to work.)
(I do something to you, and I don't know the other words, though I think gelaut has something to do with calling out or shouting.)
Now you are worried, and I am so far,
My black blood soaks your dress, (I think that's what versaugt is.)"

Dein weißes Fleisch erriecht mich sooo,
Ich bin doch nur ein Siegel, oh,
Dein weißes Fleisch erleuchtet mich,

"Your white flesh 'pleases' me so (So I don't really know what erreichen is.)
I am only a 'Siegel', oh, (I thought it sounded more like Schiegel or Djiegel, but since I don't know what any of those words are, it doesn't really matter, I guess. At least until I see one of them elsewhere.)
Your white flesh delights me,"

Mein schwarzes Blut, und dein weißes Fleisch,
Ich möchte immer keine von deinem gekreisch,
Der Angschweiss da auf deiner weißen Stirn,
Tagert in mein pranges Gehirn,

"My black blood, and your white flesh,
I would like none from your 'gekreisch' (Another word I don't know),
The 'Angschweiss' there on your white forehead (Thank you, fansub! Maybe it has something to do with the worry-wrinkles on her forehead, who knows.)
It is worth in my brain (don't know pranges, or if I heard it right.)"

Dein weißes Fleisch erriecht mich sooo,
Ich bin doch nur ein Siegel, oh,
Mein Vater war, genau wie ich,
Dein weißes Fleisch erleuchtet mich!

"Your white flesh pleases me so,
I am only a 'Siegel', oh,
My father was, exactly like me,
Your white flesh delights me!"

Jetzt hast du Angst, und ich bin so weit,
Mein Pranges das ein Acht Lösung schreit,
Dein weißes Fleisch werd Meinschaft folgt,
In meinem Himmel gibt es keinen Gott,
Ooooooh, Gott,

"Now you are worried, and I am so far,
My 'pranges' there cries 'for attention' (Not sure either.)
Your white flesh would follow 'Meinschaft' (Well, Gemeinschaft is company, but I don't know about this one.)
In my heaven, there is no god,
Oh god,"

Dein weißes Fleisch erriecht mich sooo,
Ich bin doch nur ein Siegel, oh,
Dein weißes Fleisch erleuchtet mich,
Mein Vater war, genau wie ich,
Dein weißes Fleisch erriecht mich sooo,
Ich bin ein trauriger Siegel, oh,
Dein weißes Fleisch erleuchtet, mich!

"Your white flesh pleases me so,
I am just a 'Siegel' oh,
Your white flesh delights me,
My father was, exactly like me,
Your white flesh pleases me so,
I am a sadder 'Siegel', oh,
Your white flesh delights me!"

February 28, 2009

2009-03-01T10:23:00.001-08:00

(The following have been deduced from Rammstein. This is another listening exercise.)

Hilf mir
Ich war, ganz allein zu Haus,
Die Eltern waren beide aus,
Das ei plotzlich vor mir stehen,
an zu sehen,
Eispreich wie schön und fein,
Das muss ein trefflich Spielzeug sein,
Ich sönder mir ein höltzen an,
Wieso oft die Mutter hat getan,

Help me
"I was entirely allone at home,
The parents were both out,
[noun] stood before me, (I couldn't figure out what that thing was that was standing in front of the kid; it probably has something to do with whatever caused the fire to begin with. The next line probably has something to do with it.)
(I didn't know what the first word was supposed to be, but I think he's saying he's great and fine.)
That must be a "fine" toy (I don't really know what trefflich is.)
(I believe he's using that object, but I can't really tell what those words are; I'm actually just not sure if they're the right ones.)
As often as mother has done,"

Immer wenn ich einsam bin,
Zieht es mich zum Feuer hin,
Warum ist die Sonne rund,
Warum wirklich nicht gesund,

"Whenever I am alone,
It takes me to the fire here,
Why is the sun round,
Why it is really not healthy,"

Es greifft an mir, ich wer mich nicht,
Springt mir, mit Krallen ins Gesicht,
Es beiß sich fest Schmerz mich sehr,
Es springt in zu mein Hemd und Haar,
Oh wenn die Flamme fest das Kleid,
Die Akte brennt echte leuchtet weit,
Es brennt die Hand, es brennt das Haar,
Ich brenne, im ganzeleit sogar,

"It attacks me, I am not myself,
Jumps to me, with "Krallen" in the face, (another word I don't know.)
It bites me tight, much pain,
It jumps in to my shirt and hair (I could have sworn I heard ich and not es, but it didn't really make much sense.)
(I don't actually know if the first two words are right, but I think it's saying something like the flames are eating the clothes.)
'It burns far' (No idea about this either),
It burns the hand, it burns the hair,
I burn entirely,"

Immer wenn ich einsam bin,
Zieht es mich zum Feuer hin,
Warum ist die Sonne rund,
Warum wirklich nicht gesund,

"Whenever I am alone,
It takes me to the fire here,
Why the sun is round,
Why it is really not healthy,"

Das Feuer liebt mich!
Hilf mir!
Hilf mir!
Das Feuer liebt mich nicht!
Hilf mir!
Hilf mir!
Das Feuer liebt mich nicht!
Hilf mir!
Hilf mir!
Das Feuer liebt mich nicht!
Hilf mir!
Hilf mir!
Das Feuer liebt mich nicht!

"The fire loves me!
Help me!
Help me!
The fire does not love me!
Help me!
Help me!
The fire does not love me!
Help me!
Help me!
The fire does not love me!
Help me!
Help me!
The fire does not love me!"

Ich bin verbrannt mit Haut und Haar,
Verbrannt ist alles, ganz und gar,
Aus der Asche, ganz allein,
Steig ich auf, zum Sonnenschein,

"I am burned, in the body and hair (I guessed what Haut is; I don't really know what it is.)
Everything is burned, entirely,
From the ashes, entirely alone,
I ascend, to the sunshine,"

Das Feuer liebt mich,
Das Feuer liebt mich,
Das Feuer liebt mich,
Das Feuer liebt mich,

"The fire loves me" (repeat four times)

Ja,
Das Feuer liebt mich,
Das Feuer liebt mich nicht,
Das Feuer liebt mich,
Das Feuer liebt mich nicht,
Das Feuer liebt mich,
Das Feuer liebt mich nicht,
Das Feuer liebt mich,
Das Feuer liebt mich,
Hilf mir!
Hilf mir!
Hilf mir!
Hilf mir!

"Yes,
The fire loves me,
The fire does not love me, (repeat those two lines a few times)
Help me!
Help me!
Help me!
Help me!"

February 27, 2009

2009-02-28T10:46:00.000-08:00

(The following have been deduced from a few Rammstein songs and Mario RPG. A note: This is not quite the same as my usual text deductions, but is, instead, a listening exercise. The whole point of it is to try to figure out what the lyrics are and what they mean in German without using any of the other lyrics printed on the Internet or elsewhere. If I did that, it would defeat the purpose of this. Which means I do know that I might make some mistakes with what the lyrics actually do say because I heard it wrong or haven't learned that word yet (In which case you will see ellipses.))
Morgenstern
"Morning Star"

Die ist hasslich,
das ist geraut,
Wenn sie in dem Himmel schaut,
Dann furstet sich das Licht scheint ihr von unten ins Gesicht,
zu musst sie sich an dann verschenken (may be verstenken)
Wir will das Licht doch nicht der Schrenken,
Liebt in Schatten bis der Schein vergeht,
Sieht einen sterben sie Licht prangen, und Pflicht,
Meine schön ein aufgewangen,

"She is ugly,
That is (I've probably seen geraut somewhere before, but it's probably a word like obvious, clear or something else entirely that I'm not thinking of.)
If she looks in the sky,
Then she bids the light shine her in her face from under,
... (no clue about this line; I couldn't tell what to make of "sie sich" or what it should even be. Could be lots of stuff.)
We want the light, but not the (don't know what Schrenken is...)
She lives in shadows until the shine has gone, (I guess it's shine...),
She sees a ... (I don't know what prangen is, or if that even is the right word.)

Morgenstern erscheine,
Auf das ... mein,
Wirf ein warmes Licht,
Auf mein Ungesicht,
Sag mir ich bin nicht allein,

"Morning star appear,
On that...
Throw a warm light,
On my 'face', (I originally considered it was Gesicht, but then I have no idea where the "un" goes or what it's doing. Maybe it's a poetry thing I don't know about.)
Tell me I am not alone,"

Hasslich,
Du bist hasslich,
Du,
Du bist hasslich,
Ich bin allein,
Zur noch ich gangen,
Die späten Vogel nicht mehr sangen,
Sasonnenkinder in den Himmel und soll
Lief ich in den gesturtzen Himmel,

"Ugly,
You are ugly,
You,
You are ugly,
I am alone,
to which I still went,
The late birds don't sing anymore,
The sun child in the heaven (I don't really know about that first word), and should,
I left in the collapsed sky, (not sure about this either)

Morgenstern erscheine,
Auf die Liebste meiner,
Wirf ein warmes Licht,
Auf ihr Ungesicht,
Sag mir sie ist nicht allein,

"Morning star appear,
On my loved (one),
Throw a warm light,
On her face,
Tell me she is not alone,"

Morgenstern erscheine,
Auf die Seele meiner
Wirf ein warmes Licht,
Auf ein Herz das bricht,
Sag mir das ich weine den,

"Morning star appear,
On my soul, (on the soul of mine)
Throw a warm light,
On a heart that broke,
Tell me that I cry (to/for) that (Since I'm not familiar with the genders of some of these nouns, I'm not quite sure which the "den" refers to. It's masculine though.)

Du,
Du bist hasslich,
Du,
Bist einfach hasslich,

"You,
You are ugly,
You,
Are simply ugly,"

Der Mensches doch ein Augen Tier schönen den Wunsches mir doch du,
Du bist geschön, nein,

"The people of animal eyes wishes beauty to me but you, (Not sure here either)
You are beautiful, no, (Well, "schon" means beautiful or great, but I don't know about geschon.)"

(Morgenstern erscheine, Morgenstern erscheine, Morgenstern...)

(Morning star appear, Morning star appear, the morning star...)

Morgenstern erscheine,
Auf die Liebste meine,
Wirf ein warmes Licht,
Auf ihr Ungesicht,
Sag mir sie ist nicht allein,

"Morning star appear,
On my loved (one),
Throw a warm light,
On her face,
Tell me she is not alone,"

Unter Stern will scheinen,
Auf die Liebste meiner,
Wer die Brust mir bet...
Wo das Leben schlecht,
Mit dem Herzen sehen,

"Want to appear under the star,
On my loved (one),
Who (don't know what this verb is) the chest to me,"
Where life is terrible,
With this heart see,

Sie ist wonderschön.

"She/it is wonderful."

Mein Herz brennt

Nun liebe Kinder, gibt fein acht,
Ich bin die Stimme, aus dem Kissen,
Ich hab euch etwas, mitgebracht,
hab es, aus meiner Brust, gerißen,
Mit diesem Herz, hab ich gemacht,
Die Augen lieder, zu erfressen,
Ich singe bis, der Tag erwacht,
Ein heller, scheilem fermament,
Mein Herz brennt!
Sie kommen zu euch in der Nacht,
Der Mondengeist der schwarzer fernen,
Sie kriechen aus dem Killerschacht,
Und werden unter Betts euch sehen,
Nun liebe Kinder, gibt fein acht,
Ich bin die Stimme, aus dem Kissen,
Ich hab euch etwas, mitgebracht,
Ein heller, scheilem fermament,
Mein Herz brennt!
Mein Herz brennt!
Sie kommen zu euch in der Nacht,
Und stielen eure kleinen heissen Tränen,
Sie warten bis der Mond erwacht,
Und drucken Sie in meine kalten Feelen,
Nun liebe Kinder, gibt fein acht,
Ich bin die Stimme, aus dem Kissen,
Ich singe bis der Tag erwacht,
Ein heller, scheilem fermament,
Mein Herz brennt!
Mein Herz brennt!
Mein Herz brennt!
Mein Herz brennt!

My Heart Burns

"Now dear children, pay close attention" (This literally says "now dear children, give fine attention.")
I am the voice from the pillow,
I have brought you something,
I have ripped it from my chest,
I have made, with this heart,
The unfortunate eyes to eat,
I sing until the day grows (Or maybe it means awakens, I forget.)
A lighter, (I couldn't catch the rest of it. Maybe it was schreien ihr... or something.)
My heart burns!
They come to you in the night,
(I don't quite know what the last word is exactly, and I have doubts about "Monden", but if I had a guess, it was the moon spirit of some darker thing.)
They crawl/creep/climb from the "Killerschacht" (I don't believe I've seen this word before. I might have heard it wrong.)
And will see you under beds,
Now dear children, pay close attention,
I am the voice from the pillow,
I have brought you something,
A lighter...
My heart burns!
My heart burns!
They come to you in the night,
And steal your small hot tears,
They wait until the moon awakens,
And press them in my cold "Feelen" (I think I heard this last word wrong, or I don't know what it is.)
Now dear children, pay close attention,
I am the voice from the pillow,
I sing until the day awakens,
A lighter...
My heart burns! (repeat several times)

(From Mario RPG)

"Chancellor: The only thing we can do is wait! Do not disappoint us!" (Enttäuschen = to disappoint)

Spring

Auf eine Brucke, ziemlich hoch,
helt/hat ein Mann die arme auf,
Da steht der nun, und zur Gärter noch,
Die Menschen stürmen gleich zu Haus,
Auch ich lass mir das nicht entgehen
Das will ich aus der Nähe sehen,
Ich stell mich in die Erdfereier
Und schreie,

Jump
"On a bridge, rather high,
Had a man on the arms,
There he stood now, and to "Gärter" still (I had trouble translating this word; I don't know what it should be),
The men streamed home (I could have sworn he said "Hauf", but then I don't know what that means),
I also do not let myself go, (Don't know what the "ent" does),
I place myself in the "Erdfereier" (Never saw this word before. I don't even know if I heard it right),
And cry,"

Der Mann will von die Brucke steigen,
Die Menschen fangen an zu hassen,
Bilden heinen nicht den reigen,
Und woll nie nicht nach unten lassen
Zu steigt her, noch mal nach oben,
Und der Macht fangt an zu toben,
Sie wollen seine Innereien,
Und schreien,

"The man wants to get up from the bridge,
The men begin to hate,
(I couldn't quite catch what was going on in this line, so I'll just leave it),
And never didn't want to let after,
To get up here, still upwards,
And the strength began to fade (I'm taking a guess as to what toben means),
They want his "Innereien" (Don't know this word either),
And cry,"

Spring, Spring, Spring, Spring,
Erlöse mich,
Spring,
Entäusch mich nicht,
Spring für mich, springen zu Licht,
Spring,

"Jump, jump, jump, jump,
(I don't know what erlöse means),
Jump,
Do not disappoint me (Thanks to that line from Mario RPG)
Jump for me, jump to light,
Jump,"

Jeden ... Mann zu weinen an,
Heimlich, Hitzich, einer Wolke,
Frag sich was am Hitz getrang
Vor die Sonne, es wird kalt,
Ich wollte nur zur aus ich gehe,
Die Menschen laufen größe die Schreien,
Und in den Abend Himmel sehen,
Und sie schreien,

"(Unfortunately, because the instruments were too loud at the beginning, I couldn't catch the first line very well.)
Content, heated, a cloud,
Ask yourself what (Don't know getrang),
Before the sun, it becomes cold,
I wanted only to go out,
The men run, the great screams,
And see in the evening sky,
And they cry,"

Spring, Spring,
Sie schreien,
Spring, Spring,
erlöse mich,
Spring,
Entäusch mich nicht,
Spring für mich, springen zu Licht,
Spring,

"Jump, jump,
They cry,
Jump, jump,
...
Jump,
Do not disappoint me,
Jump for me, jump to light,
Jump"

An die sieht sich einer Wolke, vor die Sonne, es wird kalt,
löch tausend Sonnen wirmen, nur für dich,
Ich steig mich heimlich auf die Brucke,
Tret ihm vom hinten in dem Rücken,
Erlöse ihn, von dieser Schwach, ja,
Und Schreien nach,

"(Something about seeing a cloud), before the sun, it becomes cold,
(Something about a thounsand suns), only for you,
I get myself up on the bridge contentedly,
Touched it from behind in the back,
(Don't know this one either),
And cry after,"

Spring, Spring, Spring, Spring,
Erlöse dich,
Spring,
Entäusch mich nicht,
Spring, Spring für mich,
Entäusch mich nicht.

"Jump, jump, jump, jump,
...
Jump,
Do not disappoint me,
Jump, jump for me,
Do not disappoint me."

November 6, 2008

2008-11-07T07:07:00.000-08:00

(The following have been deduced from Final Fantasy VII.)

"My front legs......my hind legs...... my tail is almost being ripped out!!" (there's a screenshot where I actually show an instance of Schwanz being tail; the first time I saw it was in a battle, but it usually goes away too quickly for me to get the screenshot; Vorderbeine = front legs; Vorder = "front", Bein = leg, hinter = behind; reißen = to rip; I suppose ab may as well mean "off", but then I wonder if there's a difference between using aus and ab.)

This is the ending sequence to the game. I just thought it would be cool to include it.

"......Lifestream?"

"......I believe, I understand so slowly."

"What?"

"An answer from the planet..." (I guess that means "von" takes the indirect object.)

"The promised land..." (I always thought Versprochen was a promise though. Maybe it's a synonym.)

"I believe I can meet her...there" (Although the ellipses actually occurs before the verb, "to meet".)

"Let us go and see her after."

"Hey, then where is everyone?"

"Heeeey!"

"I am happy, that you are all in safety."

"They all appear also to be in safety."

"But...what would we do now?"

"Holy would soon set itself in motion," (Bewegung = motion; as in bewegen = to move; as for sich, it's probably a reflexive pronoun. Maybe.)

"And that means, that everyone/everything here..."

"Oh, luck, don't leave me now..."

"Shit!!" (I was told there was a more idiomatic word for this...In other words, Mist = crap, plain and simple.)

"The flowergirl?" (Blumen = flower)

"But wait a minute!"

"What would happen with Midgar?"

"We cannot let that!" (It doesn't actually say "happen"...)

"I have sent everyone in the slums,"

"to bring themselves in safety,"

"But now it seems as so..." ("such")

"It is too late for Holy."

"The meteor nears the planet itself." (näheren (or is it nähern?) = to near, approach; as in nähe = near, the preposition)

"Holy has the opposite effect." (I would like to see entgegengesetzten more often, but for now, I'll simply concede it means opposite; it is, afterall, simply "set against"; ent- + gegen + gesetzen)

"Forget Midgar,"

"We must take care of the planet ourselves."

"What is that!?"

"What the devil IS that......?"

"......Lifestream."

"It is coming." (Literally, it says "he", which might imply that "Lebensstrom" or "Strom" is masculine, but how does that little girl know that? She's supposed to be as clueless as everyone else on that airship was...)

Chor = choir, Sopran = soprano, Alt = alto (not to be confused with the adjective, alt = old; but that's not hard if alt isn't capitalized) Tenor = tenor, Bass = bass

I think I saw the name of that song in the English credits some time ago, but now I can't remember what it was called...was it "All Creation" or was it some variation of it?

November 5, 2008

2008-11-06T10:30:00.000-08:00

(The following have been deduced from Final Fantasy VII.)

I took the time to take screenshots of all the limit breaks in German. For the purposes of comparison, I also did the same with the English version.

Some words used in compounds:
Mut = courage; the adjective is brave or courageous; Kreuz = cross; Angriff = attack; Schlag = hit, strike, blow; Strahl = ray, beam; Kling = "sound"; Gefahr = danger, hazard; Regen = rain; Sprung = jump; Drache = dragon; Macht = force, power; vernichten = to destroy, damage, harm (something like that); Zahn = fang; Tempo = speed; Blut = blood; Stern = star; Mond = moon; Heulen = to howl; Erde = earth; Gedächtnis = thoughts, memory; Biest = beast; Todes = death; Hölle = hell; Blitz = lightning; Panzer = armor, armored; Handschuh = glove (from Hand and Schuh = shoe); Ende = end; Leben = life; Kraft = power, ability; Heilen = to heal; Böse = bad, evil; versiegeln = to seal; Atem = breath; Zorn = fury, rage; Große = large, big, great; Lehre = teaching; Rad = wheel; Wasser = water; Tritt = kick; Delphin = dolphin; Himmel = heaven

1: "Brave attack", "Cross strike"
2: "Sound beam", "Climhazard"
3: "Meteorain", "Last touch" (I'm not sure if Schliff is touch...)
4: "Omnistrike"

1: "Mega jump", "Dynamite"
2: "Hyper jump", "Dragon"
3: "Dragon jump", "Random attack" (Not so sure about the first compound...)
4: "Highwind" (It's just a name)

1: "Power strike", "MP-destroyer"
2: "Grenade", "Hammer blow"
3: "Satellite Beam", "Ungarmax" (Yet another name)
4: "Catastrophe"

1: "Sledfang", "Lunar Speed"
2: "Bloodfang", "Stardust Ray"
3: "Howling Moon", "Earth Attack"
4: "Cosmo Memory"

(There are only four for this one)
1: "Galian Beast"
2: "Deathgigas"
3: "Hellmask"
4: "Chaos"

1: "Greased Lightning" (I suppose it's greased), (no idea at all...)
2: "Earth Hazard", "Bloodfest"
3: "Armor Glove" (which really just amounts to Gauntlet anyways), "End of the Living"
4: "Spiritual Power"

1: "Healing Wind", "Seal Evil"
2: "Breath of the Earth", "Fury Sound"
3: "Planet Protector", "Life Pulse"
4: "Great Teaching" (No idea if that's plural or singular)

(Yes, this one only has two.)
1: (It looks like "throw" as in "throwing a dice", but the English one says Dice...)
2: "Wheels" (I suspect that's the plural for "Rad"; in which case, I guess they say "wheels" in German if you want to say gambling slots.)

1: "Hitstorm", "Sommersault"
2: "Water kick", "Meteodrive"
3: "Dolphin Blow", "Meteorstrike"
4: "Final Heaven" (I have also seen "Endgültiger" as in "Endgültiger Angriff", for Final Attack.)

November 3, 2008

2008-11-06T10:20:00.000-08:00

(The following have been deduced from a German translation of an excerpt from the Apocolocyntosis, a Latin work written by Seneca. I just love it when I get to figure out what's being said in two different languages that I'm not familiar with. Particularly because I'm also studying Latin.)

Da nahm Mercurius, der an des Mannes Talent immer sein Wohlgefallen gehabt hatte, eine von den drei Parzen auf die Seite und sprach: "Wie magst du doch, grausames Weib, den armen Mann so leiden lassen? Nie hätte er so lange geplagt werden sollen! Es sind jetzt schon vier und sechzig Jahre, dass er mit etwas zu kämpfen hat, was doch nur Luft ist. Warum bist du ihm und dem Staat so gram? Lass doch endlich einmal eintreffen, was die Astrologen sagen, die ihn, seitdem er den Thron bestiegen hat, jedes Jahr, jeden Monat zu Grabe tragen. Und doch darf es nicht befremden, wenn sie irren; niemand weiß seine Stunde, denn kein Mensch hat ihn jemals als geboren betrachtet. Tu deine Pflicht!

"There Mercury, who had always had his favor on the man's talent, took one of the three fates on the side and said: "But how do you like, cruel woman, to let a poor man suffer so? Never should he have been plagued for so long! It is now 64 years, that he had struggled with that, that is but only spirit. Why are you so (envious?) to him and the state? But finally let at once (I really have no idea what ein + treffen amounts to...), what the astrologers say, that they carry that since he had the throne, every year, every month to his grave. But it is not strange, if they err; no one knows his hour, then no man had ever considered him as being born. Do your duty!"

(Well, I sort of knew that Gefallen was some sort of word relative to favor, but I guess adding "Wohl" in front of it makes it a good favor, I guess. Parzen = fates; the Greek ones; Weib = woman; not as common as Frau, I guess. plagen = to plague; at least I think that's the infinitive; irren = to err; probably. The seine Stunde was the same as it was in the Latin; I believe they're referring to his death. betrachten = to consider; Pflicht = plight (that's actually where the English word comes from); duty)
Gib ihm den Tod; es nehme den Thron ein besserer Fürst ein!"

"Give him death; it takes the throne a better...(sorry, don't know that one either.)"
Aber Clotho sprach: "Fürwahr, ich gedachte ihm noch ein wenig Zeit zuzulegen, bis er die Handvoll Leute, die noch übrig sind, mit dem Bürgerrecht beschenkt hätte." (Er hatte ja beschlossen, alle Griechen, Gallier, Spanier, Britannier in der Toga zu sehen.) "Weil du es aber für gut hältst, dass noch einige Ausländer als Samen übrig bleiben, und du es so haben willst, wohlan!" Sie öffnete hierauf eine Kapsel, und langte drei Spindeln hervor. Die eine war die des Augurinus, die andere die des Babas, die dritte die des Claudius. Diese drei, sprach sie, will ich in einem Jahr bald hintereinander sterben lassen, er soll nicht ohne Gesellschaft dahingehen. Denn es wäre nicht in Ordnung, den auf einmal allein zu lassen, der eben noch erlebte, wie so viele tausend Menschen ihm voranzogen, so viele ihm nachfolgten, so viele sich um ihn drängten. Indessen mag er mit diesen Weggefährten zufrieden sein.

"But Clotho said: "For truly, I still thought to leave him a little time, until he had presented a hand full of people that are still remaining with the state." (He indeed had decided to see all the Greeks, Gauls, Spanish and British in the toga.) "But because you held it for good, that staying as a seed remaining... still an outsider (I have no idea how the grammar works there...I feel like I'm missing a verb or it's all in the wrong order.), and you want to have it so well!" Here she opened a chest, and before him, three long spindles. One of them was that of Augurinus, the other that of Babas, the third, that of Claudius. These three, she spoke, I want in a year should be killed soon, one after the other, he should not go away without company. Then it was not alright to let him at once be alone, who still had "seen" so many thousand men before him, so many after him, so many around him. He liked to be at peace with these wayfarers."

(Handvoll = hand full; it's just Hand + Voll; übrig = remaining, left over; ja = indeed; when used as a conjunction, beschlossen = to decide; Kapsel = capsule; maybe chest as it is in Latin; Spindeln = spindles; maybe the singular is Spindel; hintereinander is just hinter + ein + ander; one behind the other; Gesellschaft = company; allies--I shall have to see if I did actually see this in Final Fantasy VII. I might have...)
(Additional notes: I have finally considered that there is a posessive article for masculine nouns. At least. It's "des". I suspect you just use die and das for the other genders, but I've noticed the "des" used throughout this passage like that. I have considered this outside of this passage, but I conjecture that certain verbs have a past tense form which involves replacing the main vowel with "a". So sehe becomes "sah", finden, "fand", isst, "asst", treffe, "traf", nehme, "nahm", gebe, "gab", etc. These verbs are probably the ones that have "e" in them. As for the verbs that contain "a", I wouldn't really know...maybe they become "e"s? The form that I have found seems to replace either the first person singular or the third person singular--or both.)

October 31, 2008

2008-11-01T10:55:00.000-07:00

(The following have been deduced from Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney.)

"I have heard he should dance after her pipe." (An idiomatic expression meaning that he'll do anything she says.)

"That poor Hammer would hurt no one ever!" (never hurt anyone) (arme = "poor")

October 30, 2008

2008-10-31T07:23:00.000-07:00

(The following have been deduced from Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney.)

"O-oh, oh... My behind is in danger if I do not find it..." (An idiomatic usage in German to say that one is in trouble, perhaps? Ja, I know it says "4" in Gef4hr, but I can assure you it's "133t" for Gefahr.)

October 29, 2008

2008-10-31T07:21:00.000-07:00

(The following have been deduced from Final Fantasy VII.)

"No, if I had a choice, I would rather put it on science." (he probably means he would bet it on science; I just thought maybe lieber used here would mean "rather"--at least idiomatically in English.)

"Okay! We'll jump over Midgar with parachutes!" (Fallschirmen = parachutes; so I guess the singular is Fallschirm; it's just Fall + Schirm; the former is "fall", and the latter is an umbrella or screen. A "falling" screen.)

October 22, 2008

2008-10-23T09:56:00.000-07:00

(The following have been deduced from Final Fantasy VII.)

"He is a phenomenon. He knows all." (Phänomen = phenomenon)

"The spirits that return back to the planet meld with one another and roam the planet." (I guess vershmelzen = meld, and I have finally noticed this, but miteinander is simply mit + ein + ander; with, one, and other/another; similarly, there's einander. Not so sure about durchstreifen; it said "roam" in the English one.

Here is a puzzle:

"The cover of the chest with the most oxygen." (At least I think Sauerstoff is oxygen. But meisten = most.)

And there it is, on the back of that box. The oxygen is from the plants.

"Behind black and white without heaven." (Without heaven? I have no idea what that last part is all about.)

And there it is, behind the piano. Well, it is most obviously black and white.

"...on the floor at the chair on the second floor... then after five steps left, nine steps up, two steps left, and six steps up." (Yes, I don't quite know what Knarren is... Schritte = steps)

And there it is, on the floor. I think that was the only place on the second floor where you could make those steps anyways.

"The fourth target is written with invisible ink..." (unsichtbarer = invisible, Sicht = sight, Tinte = ink. I think.)

"...That the one that I love most, that I respect most..." (where I originally considered meisten = most)

"Shut your mouth! Plant your behind on the chair there and drink the damned TEA!" (Haha, this is one of his more quotable things. But I suppose pflanzen = to plant, and it seems it can be used this way, and not just for real plants. Out of interest, the English one says "Sit your ass down in that chair and drink
your goddamn TEA!")

"With much sugar and honey. And don't forget the lard." (Zucker = sugar, Schweineschmalz = lard; I noticed that Schwein for pig was in that word, so I took the time to look up lard, and yes, lard does contain pig parts. So I guess that's what it's doing there.)

October 21, 2008

2008-10-23T09:55:00.001-07:00

(The following have been deduced from Final Fantasy VII.)

"At that time, I had lost something irreplaceable. I don't know what I have done wrong..." (Unersetzlich = irreplaceable; un- + ersetzen + -lich; ersetzen = to replace. I guess I didn't mention that I originally found ersetzen on the German version of Mac OSX while replacing a file.)

October 21, 2008

2008-10-22T07:20:00.000-07:00

(The following have been deduced from Final Fantasy VII.)

"Our coal has been treasured since generations. Our fathers and their fathers have risked their lives for that." (Kohle = coal, Väter is plural for Vater; and another construction which confirms what I think of dafür.)

October 20, 2008

2008-10-21T11:20:00.000-07:00

(The following have been deduced from Final Fantasy VII.)

"Good question. But difficult to answer. I am what you see." (schwer = difficult; seems I can use "zu" after an infinitive for some sort of [adjective] + infinitive verb construction. I shall have to pay more attention to things like these. I'm wondering if German has its own form of the supine, or if that's only specific to Latin.)

"'Ride' the motorcycle with the (direction buttons), and rescue your friends in the 'truck' from the pursuing Shinra troops." (Taste = button; not so sure about lenke or Lastwagen though. Verfolgertruppen = the pursuing troops; it's Verfolger + Truppen; so I guess this is a sort of participle usage. Ironically enough, Motorrad might appear on my vocabulary quiz. I never expected it to appear here.)
UPDATE: Motorrad DID appear on my quiz. Kein Zufall...

"My mother is Jenova... Jenova-Project...Is that a coincidence?" (Zufall = coincidence)

Verräter = traitor

"Ha, ha, ha...my sadness? About what (where) should I be sad about?" (Trauer = sadness (ie, the noun) I've noticed things like davon, dafür, daraus, darauf, daran, danach, damit, dahinter, etc. are all simply da + [preposition], and it seems that if the prepositions starts with a vowel, an "r" is added before the preposition. They probably mean "with that", "from that", etc. although they sometimes probably don't need to be translated idiomatically in English, but work much better in German. Worüber is no exception, except replace "that" with a question word.)

October 19, 2008

2008-10-20T07:13:00.000-07:00

(The following have been deduced from Final Fantasy VII.)

Perverser = pervert

October 18, 2008

2008-10-19T10:43:00.000-07:00

(The following have been deduced from Phoenix Wright: Justice for All and Final Fantasy VII.)

"It seems as if you have found the real basis for the murder!" (the "sieht so aus, als..." construction means "seems as if..." I've seen it a lot, but I think that's what it amounts to.)

Unfall = "accident"

I've seen it enough times, so I suppose je- could be added to lots of words like the definite article der.

Schwanz = tail

"My leg is stuck." (I don't know what fest is. But Bein = leg)

"How the devil should I know that? Do I seem like a mind reader?" ("zum Teufel" is an expression for "how/what the devil..." although "zum" seems to indicate "to the devil" (I just used a more idiomatic expression) and Gedankenleser = mind reader; Gedanken (thoughts) + Leser (reader))

"psst...whisper...whisper...(The first reactor that we have blown up was in the north sector.)" ("Luft jagen" literally means to chase air, but I think it may be used idiomatically to mean to blow up.)

einschalten = to switch on; ein + schalten (this complements the ausschalten I've been seeing in the menu of my Mac in German; that's simply aus + schalten, to switch off. In English, we simply say "shut down".)

October 18, 2008

2008-10-18T09:17:00.000-07:00

(The following have been deduced from Phoenix Wright: Justice for All.)

Wie immer = "however"; a conjecture: was immer = whatever, mal/wann immer = whenever.

"She says that with the whip in her hand..." (Peitsche = whip; there he is, making a "dumme Gesichte", haha.)

October 17, 2008

2008-10-18T08:58:00.000-07:00

(The following have been deduced from Grimms Märchen I and Phoenix Wright: Justice for All.)

(From Marienkind)
Im Herbst sammelte es die herabgefallenen Nüsse und Blätter und trug sie in die Höhle, ...

...She collected the fallen nuts and leaves and carried them in the cave... (Here, we see herabgefallenen used as a past participle. At least that's what I think. Blätter is the plural form of Blatt for a leaf. I don't quite know what the first part says though.)

Der König nahm es auf seinen Arm, trug es auf sein Pferd und ritt mit ihm heim, und als er auf das Königliche Schloß kam, ließ er ihm schöne Kleider anziehen und gab ihm alles im Überfluß.

The king took her by her arm, carried her on his horse and rode with her home, and as he came to the royal castle, he let her wear beautiful clothes and gave her all "he had." (Not so sure about that last bit there. But ritten = to ride; this would probably be related to Ritter for knight; or more literally, a horse rider.)

(From Märchen von einem, der auszog, das Fürchten zu lernen)
Darauf läufete er die Glocke, ging heim, legt sich, ohne ein Wort zusagen, ins Bett und fort schlief.

...He rang the bell, went home, "lay down", without saying a word, went to bed and slept. (I don't really know what "legt sich" and that first word are. But I think ging is some past tense form of gehen.)

"Foolish fool, who foolishly dreams foolish dreams..." (That's her famous "foolish fool..." line. I believe that's good practice for grammar. So traumen = to dream, and it's a vowel changing verb, and Träume is the plural of Traum, which works like it does with Baum, and kopf is masculine, since "Dummer" ends in -er; then "dumme" ends in -e, so it might be used with a plural noun.)

"Your honor. You can now swing your little gavel." (There were some words I didn't know in there... and Hämmerchen = little hammer or gavel; I believe my professor wanted one of those.)

"There is no reason for foolish cries from a foolish fool." (Haha... I have often seen Grund used to mean a basis in the sense of a reason.)

"Oh how a foolish fool makes foolish faces, while he dreams foolishly." (Gesichter is plural for Gesichte for face (now I can't remember if that e was supposed to be there or not), but it's preceded by "dumme"; it probably is because nouns that end in "er" are rarely ever feminine.)

"There is no such prosecutor. They are all the same." (Staatsanwalt is a prosecutor, but it's just Staats + Anwalt; I guess Staats is the opposite of Verteidigung for defense, and Anwalt is a lawyer. But solche = such.)

October 15, 2008

2008-10-16T09:25:00.000-07:00

(The following have been deduced from The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages.)

"A great library lies..." (Bücherei = library)

"Our sea is clean again and..." (rein = clean)

"Set course on (for) Holodrum, ..." (Kurs = course)

October 13, 2008

2008-10-15T08:07:00.001-07:00

(The following have been deduced from SaGa Frontier II.)

Erwachsener = adult

October 11, 2008

2008-10-12T10:57:00.000-07:00

(The following have been deduced from SaGa Frontier 2.)

..."This way, she uses no steel knife, but also an entirely normal kitchen knife of stone." (Messer = knife; not so sure about that conjunction in the front. And also; schmieden = to smith, to forge)

Hieb = "slash"

Dolch = dagger (probably)

"Aunt, uncle, I'll be on my way then," (Tante = aunt, Onkel = uncle)

October 10, 2008

2008-10-12T10:52:00.000-07:00

(The following have been deduced from Grimms Märchen I. Unfortunately, it was part of the non-circulating shelf in the library, so I wasn't allowed to take it home with me.)

(From that story about the Frog prince and Heinrich)
Brunnen = well (I probably should have remembered this from The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. But I didn't quite remember it...)

(From Marienkind)
Holzhacker = woodcutter

October 8, 2008

2008-10-09T09:45:00.000-07:00

(The following have been deduced from The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages and Phoenix Wright: Trials and Tribulations.)

"For whom would you write now?" ("wem" is the relative clause used when the reference is the indirect object in the question.)

"...seeds and the owl statue." (Eulen = owl)

"What is your name, boy?" (or how are you called... but Knabe = boy; apparently, that's one of the root words for "knave". I noticed that similarity.)

sodass = "so that..." (but I have strangely only seen this once...I guess purpose clauses aren't nearly as popular as they are in Latin.)

"...that, after which Ambi longs (for)?" ("wonach" --> wo + nach, where + after; verlangen = to long (for))

"...the Crescent island! Search for the..." (Sichel = crescent; or I guess sickle. And spüre, in the previous part of the sentence I initially took to mean to fear, but it is probably to sense. Since you don't fear that an essence is in the southern sea; you can sense it, but fear is probably the wrong word in the given context.)

"...taste entirely terrible!" (I guess we use scheußlich to say something tastes bad.)

"...I know that sounds rather ridiculous, but that is no joke." (I don't quite know about that last one, but I guess lächerlich = ridiculous, as in laughable.)

"Is that not obvious? Find the evil doer that has done that!" (offensichtlich = obvious; I eventually find out what those words mean; always.)

"Oh! It's you, little girl!...Um , ahh..." (Kleine = little girl; Kleiner = little boy; -e is apparently a feminine ending on certain words. Perhaps it's the ones that have "ein" in them?)

"Okay! Great to see you again, Mr. Inspector Dick!" (wiederzusehen = to see again; a greeting, not the same as saying auf wiedersehen, a farewell.)

"Puuuuh! Man, you have scared me! I almost had a heart attack, you idiot!" (Well, I don't quite know if erschreckt means to scare, but Herzinfarkt = heart attack)

October 7, 2008

2008-10-08T07:22:00.001-07:00

(The following have been deduced from The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening.)

"...Go up the ladder after..." (So Leiter is ladder. It could also be director.)

(Will check to see if "ob" is if.)

October 6, 2008

2008-10-08T07:19:00.000-07:00

(The following have been deduced from Phoenix Wright: Trials and Tribulations. I'm so happy; the European release of this game just came out three days ago...)

"And yes, I am 'cold'. I wear this mask also." (Is Darum some sort of conjunction? "Therefore", perhaps? The construction, "is cold" is used to say one has a cold. "Man ist erkältet.")

"Sigh. My hemorrhoids are playing up again..." (Hämorrhoiden = hemorrhoids; I'm not sure what the singular might be.)

"Find the evidence that you need..." (Conjecture: the relative clause "that, which, etc." takes the same gender and case of the word in the main clause it refers to. And Beweis for evidence is masculine.)

"My hemorrhoids never lie. It is over, Mia." (I just thought that was funny. And vorbei = "over".)

"Uumpf! My stomach is but no football, Mia!" (It was a funny line too. And then that means Bauch = stomach. Still.)

"Therefore, I really believe that fate has brought us together." (zusammengefähren= to bring together; just zusammen + gefähren, literally, I guess that would be "to lead together".)

"I cannot believe that she did nothing to stop her 'lover'!" (Well, I thought Lieber would be "dear" or "lover", but I don't really know what Liebsten should be...Actually though, this just made me wonder if kaum is some sort of negation.)

"Ooohhh...You have really lit a fire in my heart...and in my bottom!" (I believe he's referring to his hemorrhoids...I can't help it; it's funny. I'd still like to see more usages of entfachen.)

"I don't know what is more inflamed-- my spirit...or my hemorrhoids!" (another usage of kaum for the same thing.)

"But... the container was nowhere to be found, was it?" (I don't know what verdächtige is. I'm getting from this that nirgend- is the negation of irgend-.)

"What in three devils' names should we just do now!!" (That's an interesting idiom...I don't know why three though. And I guess I used "nur" as "just" here.)

October 5, 2008

2008-10-08T07:14:00.000-07:00

(The following have been deduced from The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening.)

"I'll tell you something important,"
(Apparently, besides "sagen", you can also use "verraten" to mean "to tell".)

"Wow! The rooster lives again!" (Gockel = rooster/cock)

October 4, 2008

2008-10-05T10:35:00.001-07:00

(The following have been deduced from The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening.)

Besen = broom;

"But is that for me, or...?" (The "it", refers to the broom. So Besen is masculine.)

October 3, 2008

2008-10-04T10:32:00.000-07:00

(The following have been deduced from Chrono Trigger, The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening and The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages.)

gegen can also mean "against". In Chrono Trigger, I saw it as "Gegenangriff", a counterattack, and in Oracle of Ages, I saw it as "...gegen mich!" (Sorry, I missed the screen cap too.)

Verlauf = "flow"; apparently, since I saw it with "den", it's masculine.

"It is unknown, whose memories these are..." (I think "whose" is wessen.)

I suppose I have seen this enough, so... euch = accusative form of "ihr".

Sicht = "sight" (perhaps. I missed the screencap. Again.)

"Graphics Directing" (I think "Leitung" is related to "Leiter" for director.)

"Cartridge Graphics" (I know "Karte" is a card, but there weren't any card games in Chrono Trigger. So I think this is the closest thing it means.)

"This patch is unofficial and not from Nintendo bzw." (I still don't know what bzw. is...)

"The author of these patches thanks you cordially..." (For playing this game? For beating it?)

"The copyright of the German texts belongs solely to Manuel Charisius."
(Well...thanks. For letting us know all that.)

I've seen it enough, so Holz = wood. In this case, the abbreviated "Holzschwert" is a wooden sword.

haupt = main (as in Hauptmenu, as I keep seeing.)

"...Dreamed I was a raccoon." (Waschbär = raccoon)

bloßen = "bare"

lächen = to smile

October 2, 2008

2008-10-03T13:15:00.000-07:00

(The following have been deduced from Chrono Trigger.)

"Probably full of great stuff!" (Well, I'm not entirely sure if that's supposed to be just "stuff" or "treasure"...)

"If I do not return, then please pour it on my tombstone." (So I think "legen" is probably to pour...But for some reason, it just looks like another verb I've seen before. Maybe in the English context, it means to pour, and perhaps in German, it may simply be to put it on the tombstone.)

"Oh, you have a "pair" of tools." (Werkzeuge = tools)

"Are you lending them to a friend?" (So "leihen" = to borrow, lend, and perhaps "einem" may be the indirect object form of the indefinite article.)

Schnitter = Reaper

Narr = fool. Probably.

September 29, 2008

2008-09-30T11:50:00.000-07:00

(The following have been deduced from Chrono Trigger, and some German book I found at a booksale. I forgot its name, so I'll edit this post after I get it.)

"But to activate this, he or she (the deceased) must be important for the space-time-continuum."
(Where I learn Verstorbene = deceased, and how you indicate he/she in German.)

Bauch = stomach? (I missed the screencap, but it was the one that says the switch to turn it off is on the Nu's stomach. At least if I remembered correctly, it was on its stomach.)

Wir wohnten zwischen einem Krankenhaus und einem Friedhof.
We lived between a hospital and a graveyard. (I think Krankerhaus is a hospital, since "krank" means sick, and then I also learn that zwischen = "between".)

September 27, 2008

2008-09-28T10:36:00.000-07:00

(The following have been deduced from Phoenix Wright: Ace Attourney and a math history paper on Greek math.)

(Excerpts from A. Szabo's Anfänge der griechischen Mathematik)

...auch dann hat man bisher noch mit gar keiner konkreten Angabe wahrscheinlich machen können, dass die Griechen in voreuklidischer Zeit eine solche Algebra wirklich gekannt hätten. (Die Griechen haben nicht einmal die positionelle Bezeichnungsart der Zahlen von den Babyloniern übernommen!)

Then also, with no concrete evidence, can one probably "show" that the Greeks had really known Algebra before Euclid's time. (The Greeks have not once adopted the positioning of numbers from the Babylonians!)
(At least I think that's what it says...I think they're referring to the base 60 way in which Babylonians write their numbers. I have no idea what the literal German of Bezeichnungsart is.)

Aber es kann gar keine Rede davon sein dass diese Theoreme ursprünglich "algebraische Sätze" oder Lösungen für "algebraische Aufgaben" gewesen wären. Nein, diese sind alle sowohl die Sätze wie auch die Aufgaben -- rein geometrischen Ursprungs. Auch II.5 ist ein rein geometrischer Satz. Wohl kann man diesen Satz in der modernen Interpretation mit einer "Algebraischen Aufgabenlösung" vergleichen...

But there can be no explanation that these theorems were originally "algebraic propositions" or (okay, I admit I don't know what that is exactly.). No, these propositions, as the "Aufgaben" (I don't know, a corollary? Explanation? Proof?) too, are geometric in origin. Also, II.5 is a geometric proposition. One can assimilate this proposition in the modern interpretation with an "Algebraic explanation" (That Aufgaben word again, whatever it is...).
(So now Satz is a proposition, and Sätze, the plural. I think vergleichen is the word for to assimilate, since it has "gleich" in it.)

"Nein, ich macht nur Spaß."
No, I am only joking. (Literally, I only make fun.)

"Can you come this evening in my office around 9 o' clock?" (I can't make out the rest of it; I don't know that verb. But I think I would like to test that gegen = around. Not the physical one though; I think that's what "rund" is for.)

"I am still in training." (where I learn Ausbildung is training.)

"She has said that I should call him, in the case that I ever get in trouble." (I think, judging by the way this game keeps using "Fall" as case, that falls here is some construction like deshalb, but it means "in the case"... more literally--it could be used as "if" though. I'm not sure about the grammar in the last part of that sentence though.)

"Sure, why not? I would ask him." (It seems "wieso" is why--I do not yet know if there is a difference between using "warum" and "wieso".)

"That is my condition." (Where I learn "Bedingung" is a condition.)

September 27, 2008

2008-09-27T08:46:00.000-07:00

(The following have been deduced from Phoenix Wright: Justice for All.)

"That plays no role! ...it is terrible for us!" (Apparently, the first sentence seems to be a German way of saying something does not matter.)

"That is an "offensive" contradiction of the facts." (Widerspruch is probably a contradiction. Not sure about offensichtlicher though.)

"They were a pair known very well to the police." (waren = past tense of "to be"; I think. It would be the third person plural form.)

"Ah, thank you very much! I have been searching for my cellular phone." (Well, "Handy" is an interesting way of saying cellular phone.)

Schlag = "slag"

September 24, 2008

2008-09-25T09:11:00.000-07:00

(The following have been deduced from Chrono Trigger.)

"We have almost made it." (Where I think "fast" is almost.)

"The all mighty life force of Lavos lives in us all... You are a part of it!" (Which makes "mächtige" "mighty". The word I've been looking for all along.)

September 22, 2008

2008-09-25T09:06:00.000-07:00

(The following have been deduced from Chrono Trigger.)

I neglected to mention I found "Affe" means ape. And this is the plural, "Affen".

Alright, I suppose I've seen this long enough. Verlieren = to lose (but I forgot the screen cap. Sorry.)

So I said Schuldig is guilty, and there's another root--"Schuld" is fault. So, "Not through Magus' fault does Lavos live!" (However, I don't really know if that apostrophe should be there.)

September 21, 2008

2008-09-22T07:14:00.000-07:00

(The following have been deduced from Chrono Trigger.)

"So long as life is in these bones, I would." (Where I finally concede that Knochen = bones.)

"Glenn, escape while I hold them." (I don't know what Schach might be, but I've now figured out that "während" is while.)

"Heh, Glenn... I play with my thoughts to become a knight..." (Well, that's what it says...I mean spielen is to play. It's probably something used in German that's more idiomatically translated into English to mean "consider".)

September 20, 2008

2008-09-21T10:38:00.000-07:00

(The following have been deduced from Chrono Trigger.)

"Hopefully, it won't fly in the air again." (Probably an idiomatic way of saying something blowing up.)

Jahrhunderts = "century" (that says one hundred years literally)

Erfindungen = invention

Rückseite = "backside" (since "seit" is side) (And then I think that perhaps zurück also has "Rück" as a root, since their meanings are similar.)

I guess "Puppe" is cutie. I figured it would look more like "hübsch".

I have seen two words so far that seem to indicate a switch or a lever (I guess German is more specific about that), but "Schalter" is switch (ie, a button or something small) and "Hebel" is lever.

"The queen awaits you up in her room." (where I learn that "Gemach" is also room.)

I originally thought weg was the word for "way", but as an adjective, it would be "away" or "gone". As shown above.

"As far as I know, someone should have rescued her. But history was changed!" (I originally thought of "weit" as wide, but it could mean far.)

"We want nothing (other) than world peace... or a graveyard-world, heehee..." (wollen is to want, and I know "Welt" is world, and "Friedhof" is a graveyard; put that together, and it probably means a graveyard the size of the world; the land of the dead. I believe they wrote it like that as a play on the word "Weltfrieden". Frieden is probably peace then.)

And another one that uses "wollen" as I thought: "Good, as you wish. I'll rescue the queen." (you could say "want" in place of "wish", but "wish" just sounds better in English. Same meaning though.)

"Burp! The new ones don't taste bad. And the caught soldiers seem fat and juicy..." (fett = fat, schmeckten = to taste; I saw that one several times already, but I guess I'll concede with this definition now. Saft = juicy. I originally thought it was "soft", but a different example later made it clear that it's juicy. I didn't get the chance to take a screenshot of it though. )

"No false modesty! You are really amazing! I would immediately switch my royal ancestry for your genius!" (I think that's what it says... but I'm sure Bescheidenheit is modesty and tauschen is to switch.)

I neglected to mention that "schuldig" is guilty--apparently, this is one of the root words in Entschuldige, the word for an apology.

"He was found guilty, and you must now fulfill his verdict." (where I learn "Urteil" is verdict, so the previous screen says "The verdict 'is'...not guilty!" What a dirty liar that Kanzler is...)

"Seed? But can something grow in a place like this?" (Another example where Samen is seed.)

"Probably, because we are healthy!" (so, gesund is healthy, as in "gesundheit" and wahrscheinlich is probably, the root from which wahrscheinlichkeit for probability comes from. Well, there were several other instances of wahrscheinlich, but I wanted to see it several times more before conceding that definition. This sentence also confirms what I think of "weil".)

"Kuppel" is apparently masculine, since it is preceded by "der"--then I noticed that there are three forms of "zu": the adverb used with verbs or by itself to mean "too" (not also "too" but as a comparative; eg, too much), and "zum" and "zur", as in "to (insert place name)"--I saw Protokuppel appear after "zur", so I claim that you use "zur" for masculine nouns, and "zum" either for neuter or feminine--I will find examples to confirm this.

Raum = space (I originally thought this was "room", but perhaps it could be either.)

Brille = glasses

uhrzeigersinn = clockwise ("clock" + "pointer" + "sinn"; I have forgotten what "sinn" is...)

Feinden = enemies ("fiend" root for English)

"You don't understand something so simple. That's why you are human." (Yes! I've finally had an idea of what deshalb might possibly mean! Well, I think it goes something like "That's why..." or "For that reason...")

"Two become one..." (Please, please, tell me that "werden" isn't become...That short line in the English version wasn't difficult to remember.)

September 18, 2008

2008-09-19T07:11:00.000-07:00

(The following have been deduced from The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap and Final Fantasy Mystic Quest.)

I'm going to like this word. "probability" = Wahrscheinlichkeit

"They appear in every Zelda game and spit stones at you." (spucken = to spit, and treten = to appear; more literally, the verb is "to meet", so it would probably say "you meet them in..." This context makes sense though because the description may treat its reader as a stranger, and use the polite form of the 2nd person pronoun, "Sie". The only problem is that I'm not sure if you can use the same pronoun for different meanings or lose it completely after the "und". Perhaps "They meet in..." is idiomatically translated as "They appear in..." in English.)

And here's another example of "spucken": "'Floats' on the lava and spits flames that burns everything." (I doubt that's a literal translation of "float" because I'd expect it to look more like "Flugel", but it was the only English equivalent I could think of. I would think "versteckt" is closer to stand, but you don't say people stand on lava--particularly when the pictured creature above doesn't have any legs with which to stand on the lava.)

"...Tower, once the heart of this world, is now the center of darkness!" (Finsternis is probably some evil associated word--we already saw "finster" from Zelda; this is the noun.)

Can you move the boulder aside? (where I learn schieben = to move, shove)

"In the Ghost Forest grows a strange tree." (another example where wachsen = to grow)

"In the forest a tree blocks the way outside." (versperrt = block (in 3rd person))

I guess I remembered it wrong; it's Ausgang, not Zugang.
"We must reach the exit in the north."

"He has poisoned me! Poisoned, exactly like the trees!" (vergiften = to poison, Bäume = trees (the plural form))

"As soon as I have taken the power elixir, I will be alright again..." (the dark textbox; sobald = "as soon as..." probably.)

I missed the screenshot, but "so-" seems to be something added to certain words for constructions like "as (word) as..."

September 17, 2008

2008-09-18T10:24:00.000-07:00

(The following have been deduced from The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap.)

So, maybe that says "But would it be great..." Well, I know those "bombs" are supposed to detonate at will, but I can't say I know what the German equivalent, "Fernzünder" is really. Idiomatically, they may be the same, but I'd like to know what that is. Perhaps I'll find its roots through other examples before this though. I am thinking of "Fern" and "zünder".

Does tauschen mean to switch? This example makes it more obvious--I'll find some more examples.

"Volle" = full (It says "You must have full energy.")

I saw this one before too.
"Your heart count increased and your energy is filled again!"

Okay, I've seen this word enough times. Abenteurer = adventurer
(I believe that says something like "Many tips for adventurers! For the special price of only 200 rupees!")

Could that "Bestellung" be related to a word for sale? I also saw the verb, bestellen, (see screens below) but "kaufen" means to buy. I don't know if this is just a synonym or it has a special usage for books.

"Shortcut to the foot of the mountain" (It says "Base" in English, but this means that "foot" is used in German for a similar manner, and "Abkürzung" is shortcut.)

It seems "hängt" in this context means "depends"--I saw Vorstellungskraft before this, which said it was required.

getrennt = apart (probably)

Oh, an interesting word: exzentrisch = eccentric (and another example with "wäre")
"Magnus is eccentric (I don't know what ziemlich is...). How was it when you trained with him?"

But now we see "ziemlich" again--could this be "rather" or "quite"?
"So, Link? Quite dark, isn't it? (Is finster a synonym of "dunkel"? I may have seen an instance of this before...)

Frucht = fruit
"Is the fruit that you ate, to understand the Minish the Laberbirne?" (Laber is not the German word for chatter.)

Mantel = mantle, cloak, etc.
"Does the recent king of Hyrule, Dartus, have a white cloak?"

(Oh wow, I got all those questions right on the first try...There was a question on how many mountain minish there were--I actually didn't remember exactly how many there were, but got it right anyways; it was a yes/no question.)

Krähe = crow
"This crow! It has the graveyard key!"

I sort of knew this, but when you say someone or something relies on you (or a person, I guess), the construction is that it "lies in your hand".
"The fate of the entire Hyrule lies in your hands, kid..."

Oben = up (I asked about this before, and I guess this is the meaning. The sign says up because it's the correct direction in this dark forest.)

Schwester = sister (I was looking for this for the longest time ever...)

Wolken = clouds (the singular is "Wolke")

Lüge = lie (I may have seen this before too...)

I know that's supposed to say the same as the beginning...But besides the Wie being "like", I'm afraid I don't know how that works.

And that one says same as two before (where's the "zwei" I'm looking for? Perhaps "vorletzten" simply means before the last--then what's "Schild"? Is it a sign? I thought "Schild" was a shield from the other Zelda...)

Dach = top
"At the top is a whirlwind. With it, you will arrive at the Palace of Wind."

robuste = robust; strong
"This is a very strong wall. Let us wait for more friends to come..." (that was idiomatic; I don't know how the grammar quite works in that last sentence.)

Schmetterling is probably a butterfly.
"A luck butterfly! Now you can dig faster than before!" (graben = to dig; I had to experiment with this for awhile until I figured out which one this one was; there were three luck butterflies.)

"The wind-element has 'bestowed' the power that carries seeds and brings fruit."
(I think Samen is seeds.)

"...and then let it go to fire a beam,..." (I think Strahl is a beam.)

"This hero drove out the darkness with his wisdom and courage." (Where I learn "vertrieb" is some verb like drive out, Weisheit is wisdom and Tapferkeit is courage.)

The more I see this, the more I think "brachte" is the past tense of "bring". As in "brought".

This actually confirms two things for me: that Grausamkeit is cruelty (ie, grausam is cruel) and Grenzen is limit (ie, grenzenlose is limitless. Not sure about the plural bit though...).
"His cruelty knows no limits!"

"We were changed into stone by Vaati one by one!"
(Would the "einer" indicate "one by one"? That's what I think...I'll find more examples.)

"Ah! Link! It is terrible!" (I forgot to mention how often I've seen schrecklich...only to finally admit that it is, indeed, "terrible".)

"Link! You have the holy sword. You are our only hope!" (So, we already know "hoffen" is to hope, but "Hoffnung" is the noun, hope.) (And his cloak isn't white. Yes, that's the king.)

"Swing the sword at the highest point of the jump!"
(Two things: zücke is swing and Sprung is jump, the noun.)

"But it doesn't go kaput easily..." (and now we know where that word comes from.)

September 16, 2008

2008-09-17T07:18:00.000-07:00

(The following have been deduced from The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap.)

I have decided to have some of these examples displayed in screenshots instead. The context may become more clear.

Stop! The floor is of ice! (I think Boden would be the word for "floor" or "ground".)

schmelzen = to melt

But in this context, "Boden" would actually be closer to "bottom". "The 'hint' is hidden at the bottom of the pot." (I really don't know what Wegweiser would really be... and the "dem" that precedes "Boden" may be a different form of the article--ie, one that may be used as the adjective of an object of a preposition when it is masculine, considering the "Boden" in the first example is preceded by "der".)

September 15, 2008

2008-09-16T13:20:00.000-07:00

(The following have been deduced from The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap and a German textbook, Deutsch: Na Klar!)

wachsen --> to grow (probably)

Nähe = area, region

drehen = to turn (Preview in Mac OS X in German has "rotate right" and "rotate left" as "rechts drehen" and "links drehen". The context of the usage "erdrehen" in Minish Cap was "flip" in English. "To turn" works well for both contexts.)

"wirbel" = "whirl"

Eben = field

grenzenlose = "limitless"?

Krug = pot (Krüge = pots) (this has allowed me to make another observation--plural forms of nouns either end in -e or -en; some verbs have an umlaut added to a vowel)

Have skimmed some German entries in the back of a German textbook, and noticed the nouns are preceded by die, der, or das--perhaps this refers to the gender of the noun? If that is the case, I have already been taught that "Nacht" is feminine, and "Tag", "Morgen" and "Abend" are masculine--if that is the case, then all three articles appearing in front of Tag, Morgen and Abend should be the same, and Nacht, different from those three. Apparently, it is true--Tag, Morgen and Abend are all preceded by "der", and Nacht, by "die". That leaves "das", which refers to the only gender remaining--neuter. If that's true, it means "Buch" is neuter--I have seen "das" used with "Buch". I shall watch further deductions in the future for this pattern. To sum what I have found from this, "die" indicates a feminine noun, "der" indicates a masculine one, and "das", for neuter. If they are used.)

I have finally figured out, perhaps, for the longest time, what "irgend-" is doing. Maybe. It's like "nie-" and "je-" in some ways. I've seen it in front of "wo", "wie" and "was", so it would mean "somewhere", "somehow" or "somewhat".

Hm? Ich habe so ein komisches Gefühl.
Hm? I have a funny feeling. (I have also seen komisch used with Mütze, so I think it means "funny".)

Böse seems to be more specific to evil than it does to just plain "bad". Seems there are lots of words that describe the English word for "bad". In this case, "Schlimmes" is probably "bad" in the sense of something gone wrong.

Schlafmütze = "sleepyhead" (although "Mütze" I've found is hat, so it isn't literal. But then there's Dummkopf...)

Perhaps the verb "bitten" I was looking for might be a polite form of asking. As in asking a favor:
Ja! Ich werde Magnus bitten, ein Buch zu schreiben...
Yes! I would ask Magnus to write a book...

Laden seems to mean "hut" in addition to the other meaning I found, for "load". It seems more related to the verb than the new meaning I found.

Tafel = panel, tile

Enkelkind = grandson (looks like Enkelin)

hilflos = helpless

Leiter (might this be ladder?)

Considering "wäre" as a possible form for the past tense of "ist".

Kleeblatt = clover

September 14, 2008

2008-09-14T15:57:00.001-07:00

(The following have been deduced from Illusion of Time and The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap.)

Es geschieht alle 800 Jahre.
It appears every 800 years. (In which I find another example where "geschieht" means appears. Or come. I should find more.)

Wir erlebten den Untergang des Inka-Reiches.
We lived (through) the destruction of the Incan empire. (In which another example suggests "Untergang" to mean the end of something.)

überbleibsel --> "remnant" (notice the root for "bleiben", to stay.)

Hass --> hate (the noun from hassen)

Eingang = entrance (I wonder if the "Zugang" I saw before was "exit". I have forgotten.)

Du bist sehr hartnäckig!
You are very...(what? Annoying, perhaps? Probably another one of those interesting words.)

schenken --> to give (as a present) --> Geschenk; a present

berühren --> to touch

Sieger --> "champion" (I have heard "Gewinner" though, but probably closer to "winner". Then there's Siegerehrung. In the English script, it's "award ceremony".)

Kiste = chest

Aber ich werde nicht aufgeben!
But I would not give up! (Another example where "give up" appears. It's not quite the same word though as I found in a previous example.)

Zwergen = thumb (perhaps?)

Schrein = shrine

langsam = slow (well...it was the word on the far left of the text-speed option.)

Viel besser! Wenn ich hier oben bin, kannst du mir nicht mehr davonlaufen.
Much better! If I am over here, you cannot run from me anymore. (I have considered "oben" to be "up" because given the context, it makes more sense. Will try to find more examples.)

zackizacki! (some kind of interjection?) "Los, auf geht's, zackizacki!"

solange --> "So long (as)" (perhaps...I'll find more examples.)

Wenn ich dabei bin, kannst du dort so klein werden wie ein Minish!
If I am "around", you can be small as a Minish! ("bei" means "at", so I figured "dabei" was a similar word; it's been pointed out to me that "werden" doesn't mean "become", but there aren't really a lot of other things this can be, besides "to be". I'm not saying it's a literal translation of English necessarily, only that you could use this word idiomatically to mean the same thing. In fact, the English script of this line is not literal at all. Particularly when...)

Um wieder groß zu werden, drückst du erneut R.
To be big again, press R. (and in idiomatic English, you could take the verb to be "become".)

Wenn du groß bist, ist es eine kleine Pfütze, wenn du klein bist, ein Meer.
If you are big, it is small puddles, if you are small, a sea. (Where I learn that Pfütz is a puddle. At least I think that's the singular form.)

Eeile = hurry (which confirms my speculations about the verb, eeilen.)

hausen = to house, settle (ie; to make a home there--> Haus = house)

greifen = to grab
ziehen = to pull
schieben = to push

Fass = barrel

"in der Lage" (I suppose this is sort of like saying "in the league". I have seen it used in places where it indicates someone or something at a level that is able to do something.)

September 13, 2008

2008-09-13T20:20:00.000-07:00

(Deduced from Illusion of Time.)

Auch in scheinbar bedeutungslosen Melodien steckt ein Sinn.
Also in apparently meaningless Melodies, is a message.
(schein, I have known to mean "appear", as in apparently, but it's being used as an adjective here. I have the hardest time remembering bedeutung. I don't know why, but I do. And here, we see "los" added to the end of a word analogous to the English -less.)

Abhang --> hill (I'd like more examples though.)

Hindernisse = obstacle(s)

erfrischend = refreshing (so the root is probably frisch(en), and frisch is fresh; I've probably found the participle or something.)

Ich spüre, daß etwas Schreckliches geschehen wird.
I fear that something terrible will happen.
(Besides the "Ich habe Angst" construction, this is probably an easier way to say "I'm afraid..." Will find out more about its usage from other examples.)

beschützen --> Schutz = protection; Schutzwall = barrier ("Wand" is wall though...)

Du erinnerst mich an deinen Vater...
You remind me of your father... (Seems erinnern can also mean "remind" when there's a particular pronoun used as the direct object.)

einzige = only (I know "nur" means only as well, but it is used as a conjunction, and not as an adjective to refer to there being no others. So this is probably "only", the adjective.)

September 12, 2008

2008-09-13T14:10:00.000-07:00

(The following have been deduced from Illusion of Time*.)

Nichts kann ihn aufhalten, wenn er jemanden jagt.
Nothing can stop him, when he chases someone. (Another example where "jagt" means chase.)

"Sorge" seems to have some sort of relation with "upset".

bewahren = to hold, keep, store (some word like that)

eilen = hurry (similar to schnell, so it seems...There's also beeil, which I've seen used in a similar way.)

uberrascht = surprised

Göttern sei Dank!
Gods be thanked. (I think...In which case, "Göttern" is plural for god.)

In diesem Dorf gibt es Kinder im gleichen Alter wie ihr. Bitte werdet Freunde.
In this village, there are children older than her. Please become friends. (I wonder if werdet means become--seems that way; there may have been some other examples that indicated that, but finding the right words for an abstract concept is not always easy--they may look like something else. I guess I didn't mention that I already figured out the "es gibt" construction for "there is".)

*The American release of this game was called Illusion of Gaia.

Prior to September 12, 2008

2008-09-13T13:58:00.000-07:00

(The following notes have been deduced from the German versions of Terranigma and The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. Unfortunately, I didn't document my findings as closely as I am now, so some of what I have figured out is a bit sketchy.)

I can't exactly explain how I figured out the sentence structure and most of the important words in any German sentence that appears quite frequently--most of the time, they're in sentences where characters introduce themselves, or they are similar to or are roots of English words as well. For example, "Pfeife" is the root word of "fife" and "Diebe" is the root word of "theif". It is also easier to pick off words from shorter sentences.

unsterblichkeit = immortality --> un-, sterben, -lich, k/heit
Geheimnis = secret --> ge-, Heim, -nis
grunsamkeit = rudeness --> grunsam, -k/heit
weitgereister (don't know exact definition; something like an experienced traveller) --> weit, ge-, reisen, -er
Kraft = power, as in Kraftpunkte (for HP) but plural seems to be kräfte
-kennen has similar meaning to weißen, but in all cases of usage, usually refers to knowing a person.
Erfolg -- could this mean success? The root is the verb, folgen, to follow.
wirklich = really; wirklichkeit = reality
ändern = to change (or see verändern); found the 3rd person singular to be ändert (with umlaut)

"would" or some other tense auxiliary verb: wird, wirst-- have not identified the infinitive form yet. The first is a 3rd person singular, and the second is 2nd singular.

schaffen = to create (the opposite, zerstörten, to destroy)
Geschichten = history (is this used in plural? Have forgotten what the singular form might be)

Ich versuchte die *mächtigen Mondsteine zu finden.
I tried to find the Moonstones.
*could this adjective be "majestic" or related in meaning?

I have seen bitte used to mean please. But what about a verb? Have seen "Ich bitte..."

Großartig! --> "Great!"

brauchen --> does this mean "to need"?
Du brauchst nicht zu sagen.
"You need to say nothing."
Ich brauche gerade nichts.
"I need nothing..." (I have not figured out what gerade means...)
Wir brauchen Hilfe.
"We need help."
Seems as if these examples point towards it.

Wie grausam ist doch das Leben...
How cruel is (but) that life... (Note: I have often seen "doch" inserted into sentences like this.) (I supposed grausam is cruel, since I have already figured out what "Leben" is.)

In Zeiten wie diesen Muß ein Mann Starke zeigen!
In times like these, a man must show strength! (Note: "Zeiten" seems to be plural for "Zeit". Then another example indicates zeigen is most likely the verb for "show": Zeig ihn mir! --> "Show it to me!")

Einer allein ist schwach, doch gemeinsam sind wir stark.
Alone, one is weak, but together, we are strong.
(It seems gemeinsam is another way of saying "together"; I may have seem "zusammen" used the same way; will need more examples. And here, we see schwach = weak.)

Claim: the imperative is the verb stem. This is true in most sentences, except some exceptions: Spiele die Melodien... --> Play the melody, or Höre... "Hear...". Will try to find more examples.

Sag uns, wenn du nette Dorfer und Stade findest.
Tell us if you find nice towns or cities. (Sagen can be used as "tell" in imperative. I'm not sure if Dorfer or Stade refer to towns or cities; just places where people live.)
UPDATE: it seems Dorf has more commonly been associated with village in other examples. Stadt may still mean city or town.

war --> past tense, 1st, s
warst --> past tense, 2nd, s
wart --> past tense, 3rd, s (I guess...) Will need more examples on plural forms. I'm fairly sure these are past tenses.

Es scheint von dem Tisch dort in der Ecke zu kommen.
It appears to come from the desk in the corner. (I think Ecke is corner; I have not figured out what exactly "dort" means.)
UPDATE: Another example has confirmed that "Ecke" is corner.

Is it hilfen or helfen? In almost all cases, it appears as some form of "helf-", but an example says "Hilfe...Bitte hilf mir."

Lass den Knopf los!
Let the button go! (another interesting usage of the word, "los" for "go")

CLAIM: add -den after the infinitive for the gerund. --> Ein Kelch soll die Trinkenden den Göttern nahebringen.
for participles, I have seen both -d and -de--> arbeitende

Ein Löwe! Ein Löwe jagt mich.
A lion! A lion is chasing me.

The "I wonder..." construction: Ich frage mich, or literally, "I ask myself..." for other constructions, just change the person to 2nd or 3rd accordingly (he asks himself, they ask themselves, etc.)

Sie hat mich aufgemuntert und mir Mut gemacht, nicht aufzugehen.
The original translation in English is written as: "It would cheer me up saying light will shine on if I live on." But the last part says "...and gives me courage not to give up." (well, I'm not really sure about that last part; I made an educated guess. It seems the construction for giving courage requires the use of the make/do verb.)

Rettungsteams --> probably "Rescue team"; root from retten.
Anhänger --> "pendant"; Ich weiß es. Nimm deshalb diesen Anhänger.
I know it. Take this pendant. (I cannot, for the life of me, figure out what deshalb means. I will eventually. Mark my words, I will.)

Mädchen --> girl
(I wondered about this for awhile; but then several more examples seemed to indicate that was so; Kannst Du das Mädchen beschützen? --> Can you protect this girl? (Now why is "Du" capitalized? I thought pronouns weren't supposed to be. There might be a stylistic reason for this I'm not aware of. Otherwise, it's just a stray grammar error.)

Von hier aus will ich Zeuge des Weltuntergangs sein.
From off (of) here, I will be witness of the end of the world. (I guess welt + unter + gangs somehow refers to the end of the world; using the process of elimination and the script, that's the only thing it amounts to. Other examples show that "Zeuge" is quite likely to mean a witness.)

Das sind meine Gedanken.
Those are my thoughts. (That's what the context seems to imply. But Gedanken looks more like it came from dank for thanks.)

Die Leute denken nur an heute, niemand denkt an morgen.
The people think only about today, but never about tomorrow. (well, the script said tomorrow, but morgen means morning. Could that really be the "tomorrow" I'm looking for?)

Viele Menschen ließen ihr Leben im heißen Sand.
Many people lose their lives in the hot sand. (the script said "harsh" rather than hot; I'm not sure if heißen can mean harsh.)

nie - a negation used with mals and mand; (never, no one). By itself, I've seen it can mean "never". If there's a distinction between using either nie or niemals, I haven't figured it out.

je- or jede; every, all; with -mand, it means anyone, someone or maybe everyone.

Wie kommt er also hierher? (another interesting usage of "wie", which I've seen to mean "like" as well; in this case, it's just How come... as it is in English.)

Kelch; goblet; plural is Kelchen

allein = alone; another similar word: einsam --> lonely; now add "keit" and you get loneliness. (it seems the h in "heit" after an "m" is also changed to a k.)

schau - look

Menschen sind sehr pathetisch.
People are very pathetic. (in the script, it says Humans are pathetic creatures.)

wunschen = to wish; Wünschen is the noun form; wishes, desires.

verschwindeln - to lie, swindle
verschwinden - to disappear
erscheinen - to appear (compare schein, to appear for more abstract usage)
Ich mache Dich zum Gott...Zum Todesgott!
I'm going to make you into a god...(into) a death god! (another example where a pronoun is capitalized...)

Bevor ich die Welt verlaße, will ich Dir etwas öffenbaren.
Before I leave this world, I will offer you something. (that's where I was convinced offenbaren means offer. And bevor is before.)

Niemand wird es verstehen.
No one would understand it. (another of those strange verbs. Wirst is the 2nd person singular.)

Du wurdest nur benutzt...
You were only used...

Das Ende des Lebens ist banal.
The end of life is trite. (where I find that banal is trite, since I know the meaning of every other word.)

Grabstein = Tombstone

Weißt Du warum? Weil Du der legendäre Held bist...
Do you know why? Because you are the legendary hero... (Well, the script says "because", but I'm not sure if "weil" means because. I don't see this very often.)

stören = to disturb (compare with zerstören)

Vermaledeit = ? I can't find this word! It appeared 3 times! (Well, in the English translation, it was used in place of "Shoot!")

Zeigen --> Zeiger; to point--> pointer (eg, on a clock)

Ich bin supersauer.
I'm going to sulk. (that was in the script.)

Teufel = devil

Benutzen = to use --> nutzlich --> useful; nutzlos --> useless

fur immer --> forever, perhaps?
immer --> seems to be always... (these words always take the longest to figure out because they could be anything.)

Lebewesen = living things (I found this out much before this sentence:)

Doch ich bin ein Wesen aus Fleisch und Blut...
But I am a being of flesh and blood... (so I implied the wesen in Lebewesen and that sentence.)

die Lady mit dem Schwert.
(Does German not have a word for swordswoman? With so many compounds, there ought to be one...)

Enkelin --> granddaughter, perhaps? (I only saw it once.)
durch --> seems to mean "through".
unheimlich --> uncomfortable, scary; un-, heim, -lich
unmöglich --> impossible; un-, moglich
unglaublich --> unbelievable; un-, glauben, -lich

Doppelganger (saw this in two separate games; one was actually the name of the character in English; so I suppose "Doppel" is double.)

Genieße deshalb Diene letzten Tage...
Enjoy your last day... (I suppose Genieße is enjoy. I can't see what else it would be, since I have not seen "deshalb" in any other form.)

(un)wichtig = (un)necessary or (un)important.

bald = soon

Himweis

2008-09-13T13:52:00.000-07:00

"Deutschdeduktionspiel" means "German Deduction Game".

This blog details all the things I have discovered while reading certain things in German. Afterall, that is how I will have learned it. Because I have often already read English scripts or versions of the media that I am reading in German, I will already know what it is saying. All that's left to deduce is what the words in German mean, as well as its grammar structure.

Because I am doing this entirely without any help, I may make mistakes. The things I am reading may not be a literal translation of what I have read in English. For those who know German, you may laugh. For those who don't, take what I learn with a grain of salt; I may be making a fool of myself.