Helmuth Hirth

Mudflap Aviation · 6 December 2012, 09:28 AM

Greetings, all!

While waiting for the phone to ring

(or an Email to show up) (anyone need wings or ribs built?) I'm working on a translation project. The book is "20,000 Kiliometer im Luftmeer" and it's an autobiographical account of Mr. Hirth's adventures as a pilot during the pioneer aviation era. Last spring at the Klassic Welt Expo in Friedrichshaven (Lake Constance) I met Stefan Blumenthal, who is a great great nephew (or some such relation) to Helmuth Hirth, and he told me about this book. I offered to see about getting it translated into English.

After reading the book, I was convinced; it would be great to have it in English. So I'm working with a German friend of mine, who is a certified translator. I'm doing the proof reading. Phase one is assembling a worthy presentation to send to a publisher.

But my translator friend is not in aviation, and though I am, I still lack some of the terminology needed for this book, originally published in 1913. (I just build wings and cover airplanes) So with your permission, I would like to ask the Forum for help with this occasionally. I promise to add the Forum onto the acknowledgement page.

Here's a short excerpt:

We were very warmly received in Karlsruhe. It was here that the military pilots joined us. Leutnant (Lieutenant) Mackenthun, with Oberleutnant (1st Lieutenant) as his passenger, flying his sparkling-brand-new Aviatic Biplane for the practice flight, had the bad luck of having to reckon with setting the plane on the highest trees of the nearby woods. It was a peculiar sight, seeing the large bird swaying in the treetops. Both men were unharmed, still in their seats, and as Prince Heinrich called up to them, “Did anything happen to either of you?” came the answer from above, “No, everything here is in order”, a euphemism that caused a great deal of laughter on the ground.

If you know the German "ALLES IN ORDNUNG!" and how often you hear that here, it's even funnier.

First question:

What do you call the can that you use to prime fuel into the cylinders of a rotary engine? The German is "Benzinspritzkanne".

Respectfully submitted,
Shirley Girard,
Mudflap Aviation
Stuttgart, Germany

Catfish · 6 December 2012, 01:18 PM

I'm german and not a native english speaker, but i have translated quite a lot and it sounds fine - to me, that is

We (you) certainly need an english native speaker i know

Rod_Filan · 6 December 2012, 02:10 PM

Hello Shirley,
I would change the above paragraph slightly...

We were very warmly received in Karlsruhe. It was here that the military pilots joined us. Leutnant (Lieutenant) Mackenthun, with an Oberleutnant (1st Lieutenant) as his passenger, was flying his sparkling-brand-new Aviatik Biplane for the practice flight but had the rotten luck of having to reckon with setting the plane onto the tallest trees in the nearby woods. It was a peculiar sight, seeing the large bird swaying in the treetops. Both men were unharmed, still in their seats, and as Prince Heinrich called up to them, “Did anything happen to either of you?”, the answer came from above, “No, all is in order”, the standard euphemism that prompted a great deal of laughter on the ground.

... but that's just me. Others may not entirely agree.
Cheers

Gabriel Voisin · 6 December 2012, 02:35 PM

Shirley,....

greetings Matz

Tork1945 · 7 December 2012, 07:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mudflap Aviation

First question:

What do you call the can that you use to prime fuel into the cylinders of a rotary engine? The German is "Benzinspritzkanne".

Respectfully submitted,
Shirley Girard,
Mudflap Aviation
Stuttgart, Germany

As the German language has the habit of 'sticking' words together like Benzinspritzkanne (Kanne welche Benzin spritzt) I would try the English more descriptive 'benzin can' of 'oil can'.

I was curious if the original text of this paragraph says Aviatic Doppeldecker or Aviatik Doppeldecker. As Mr. Filan gives, it is actually Aviatik Doppeldecker but the original text might give Aviatic. This surely asks for a footnote to the text.

For me the text is okay, but I am also okay with the small changes made by Mr. Filan. By the way for comparison it would be interesting to have the original text in German (Fraktur printing ?) also.

Tork1945

Catfish · 7 December 2012, 08:25 AM

Hi,
some observations - the Leutnant may still have been a Lieutenant in the Wilhelminian army of WW1. The court spoke - of course - french, and alot of french words were en vogue or considered as chic to use at the time, even in the military.
(root ~ Lieu is the location, tenant ist the keeper/owner)

For the same reason some folks would have used the more elegant name of Aviatic, instead of Aviatik. I think even in Jentsch's book (mine is from the 1950ies - antiquariate) they refer to Aviatic.
(I think i even saw the photo of a shed at pre-war Johannisthal with Aviatic, on it. Will have to search for)

"Benzinspritzkanne" is a fuel can with a sharp spout, but probably also either with a soft body to squeeze (maybe not yet invented then) or with a sidelever to pump out the content. Something looking like an oil can, but used for injecting fuel. Benzinspritzkannen were in use until well after WWII.
A fuel spray gun, or can ?

Rod_Filan · 7 December 2012, 08:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tork

As the German language has the habit of 'sticking' words together like Benzinspritzkanne (Kanne welche Benzin spritzt) I would try the English more descriptive 'benzin can' of 'oil can'.

It's actually "benzine" with an E. However, the Brits may use the word, but in North America a lot of people wouldn't necessarily know what benzine is. Using 'fuel can for priming' they would know.

Quote:

For me the text is okay, but I am also okay with the small changes made by Mr. Filan. By the way for comparison it would be interesting to have the original text in German ..

Agreed.

Cheers

Rod_Filan · 7 December 2012, 10:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Catfish

"Benzinspritzkanne" is a fuel can with a sharp spout, but probably also either with a soft body to squeeze (maybe not yet invented then) or with a sidelever to pump out the content. Something looking like an oil can, but used for injecting fuel. Benzinspritzkannen were in use until well after WWII. A fuel spray gun, or can ?

That's what I would imagine.
An oil can looking something like this vs this.

Cheers

Ransom E. Olds · 7 December 2012, 11:29 AM

I think U.S. readers would find "brand spanking new" more congenial than "sparkling-brand-new," even if that is an exact rendering of the German. Also, Friedrichshafen is spelled with an "f" not a "v". Ransom

Mudflap Aviation · 8 December 2012, 12:32 AM

Wow! You guys don't miss a beat! Thank you for all your replies - I'll try to get to each one...(in reverse order)

Ransom: There's a reason I didn't use "brand-spanking new", which was my first thought in translating it: One of the publishers I have on the list of possibilities has detailed instructions on submitting a manuscript for consideration, and one thing the site stressed was that authors should avoid idiomatic expressions that would confuse foreign readers. So actually "sparkling new" would be even better than "sparkling brand new". I can't tell you how many times I've looked up German words that seemed to have no relation to the subject at hand because it was part of an expression. So later when I really would like to say the cows "high-tailed it out of there" or "ran like heck" or some such, I have to restrain the urge.

Also, yes of course, Friedrichshafen, I knew that. Embarrassing.

Rod_Filian:

Oil Can Boyd. LOL!

Catfish: This publisher's site said I should use the original term (as in Leutnant) with the English in parentheses immediately afterward, then use the foreign term throughout the rest of the book, but have it included in a glossary. Your thoughts? I'm leaning toward using 'Lieutenant' and '1st Lieutenant' in this case for the whole book. And thanks.

Another oops! It is Aviatik. Typo.

Need to work on my own proof-reading chops. But because of my error, I learned something regarding the French influence in this era of German aviation.

Tork 1945: The Germans are amazing at compound words - the longer, the better. Almost daily entertainment here.

I can make up a term, like the ones you (plural)(as in y'all) have suggested, e.g. oil can specially marked for fuel, fuel spray gun (eh, that sounds like a paint sprayer to me

) fuel pumping can, fuel pump gun, or so far the best I can think of: fuel priming gun. I just think there must be an official name for the thing, as in "Hey Joe, gotta prime these cylinders, hand me the ---"

Gabriel Voisin: Greetings, Matz, and if you find the time for Kaffee and Kuchen, I'll bring the Plätzchen. In the Weihnachtssaison following our arrival here in 1991, I found out that my favorite cookie recipes handed down from my grandmothers were merely English translations of standard German recipes handed down to them.

Back to Rod: Excellent suggestions! Thanks to you, I found other mistakes, for instance, I had neglected to add "Barends" after "Oberleutnant". The guy had a name. Thank you for taking the time to "edit" the excerpt. (Smile) I ran out of image allotment. (sad)

Current Stuttgart temperature -6 C. Snow.
Cheers,
Shirley