September 29, 2008

(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

(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

(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

(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

(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

(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

(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

(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

(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.)