German-English technical dictionary: - UK Vintage Radio Repair and Restoration Discussion Forum

neutronic · 29th May 2015, 4:20 pm

Lot of people are collecting and repairing those large German sets of the fifties and sixties.
Thus in need of reading the original service documentation.
Because by using the Google translation you don´t always get the correct technical answers.
And there are probably only few other sources for old German radio terminology.
Maybe this site can help.:
http://www.welt-der-alten-radios.de/...eutsch-27.html

Jard N.

paulsherwin · 29th May 2015, 5:02 pm

Very useful link, thankyou.

emeritus · 29th May 2015, 6:37 pm

I have the German-English-(and French) volume of a technical dictionary (second edition, 1955) that is roughly contemporaneous with that era. If you are having problems with any words, PM me and I will see if they are listed.

lesmw0sec · 30th May 2015, 8:52 am

Normally, German-English translations work very well, but I well recall an English version of a Siemens data book where an analogue IC was available in three types: "Medium", "Fast" and "Damned Fast"!

Well - it was correct!

Herald1360 · 30th May 2015, 8:37 pm

My favourite work related one is a part description which went to Germany as a "choke assembly" ( it was two large inductors in a frame) and came back as a "throttle valve assembly". Methinks some confusion with automotive parts had occurred.

That also involved Siemens.

mole42uk · 31st May 2015, 5:26 pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by neutronic

Maybe this site can help.:
http://www.welt-der-alten-radios.de/...eutsch-27.html

A superbly useful link, thank you.
I am translating the service manual for a UNIGOR 3n multimeter at the moment, and your link will be very useful. My partner speaks German, but some technical terms cause her a bit of head-scratching.

emeritus · 31st May 2015, 9:16 pm

It can take some years for technical expressions used in innovative technologies to appear in the technical dictionaries. I remember circa 1980 that we were puzzled to find English abstracts of German documents referring to circuits as "Blocking Oscillators" when they were clearly outputting DC. The circuits proved to be Flyback Converters, "Sperrwandler" in the German original, the circuits being of the type where current is first made to flow in an inductor and is then turned off, the conversion taking place after the supply current has been interrupted. We had to ask a technical contact in Germany to find this out. The contemporary professional translators had evidently done their best: "Sperr" can mean "block" in the sense of turning off, while possible meanings of "Wandler" include oscillator, transformer and converter. They had probably heard of blocking oscillators, but were insufficiently familiar with circuitry to realise that the circuits in question were not of that type.

In the early 1970's I do recall seeing devices in the product line of a US company's high-performance comparators being described as "Fast" and Damn Fast", so the Germans were probably just following American terminology

G6Tanuki · 2nd Jun 2015, 8:04 pm

The Germans also have a literal-constructionalist approach to naming animals: http://www.babbel.com/magazine/funny...ames-in-german

You can usually work out a translation if you deconstruct the individual components of a composite word: "Netzteil" being "power supply", "Zwischenfrequenz" is intermediate-frequency, "Endstufe" being "[final|output] stage", "Abstimmung" being tuning, and anything with "kraft-" in it invariably meaning 'power' in the sense of power-output rather than power-supply.

"Verstärker" is always found compounded too, as in Zwischenfrequenz- or Niederfrequenz-Verstärker [IF- or AF-amplifier].

29th May 2015, 4:20 pm	#1
neutronic Pentode Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: Bergen, North Holland, The Netherlands Posts: 180	German-English technical dictionary: Lot of people are collecting and repairing those large German sets of the fifties and sixties. Thus in need of reading the original service documentation. Because by using the Google translation you don´t always get the correct technical answers. And there are probably only few other sources for old German radio terminology. Maybe this site can help.: http://www.welt-der-alten-radios.de/...eutsch-27.html Jard N.

29th May 2015, 5:02 pm	#2
paulsherwin Moderator Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Oxford, UK Posts: 27,947	Re: German-English technical dictionary: Very useful link, thankyou.

30th May 2015, 8:52 am	#4
lesmw0sec Octode Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Carmel, Llannerchymedd, Anglesey, UK. Posts: 1,507	Re: German-English technical dictionary: Normally, German-English translations work very well, but I well recall an English version of a Siemens data book where an analogue IC was available in three types: "Medium", "Fast" and "Damned Fast"! Well - it was correct!

30th May 2015, 8:37 pm	#5
Herald1360 Dekatron Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Leominster, Herefordshire, UK. Posts: 16,535	Re: German-English technical dictionary: My favourite work related one is a part description which went to Germany as a "choke assembly" ( it was two large inductors in a frame) and came back as a "throttle valve assembly". Methinks some confusion with automotive parts had occurred. That also involved Siemens. __________________ ....__________ ....\|____\|\|__\|__\_____ .=.\| _---\__\|__\|_---_\|. .........O..Chris....O

31st May 2015, 9:16 pm	#7
emeritus Dekatron Join Date: Jan 2012 Location: Brentwood, Essex, UK. Posts: 5,339	Re: German-English technical dictionary: It can take some years for technical expressions used in innovative technologies to appear in the technical dictionaries. I remember circa 1980 that we were puzzled to find English abstracts of German documents referring to circuits as "Blocking Oscillators" when they were clearly outputting DC. The circuits proved to be Flyback Converters, "Sperrwandler" in the German original, the circuits being of the type where current is first made to flow in an inductor and is then turned off, the conversion taking place after the supply current has been interrupted. We had to ask a technical contact in Germany to find this out. The contemporary professional translators had evidently done their best: "Sperr" can mean "block" in the sense of turning off, while possible meanings of "Wandler" include oscillator, transformer and converter. They had probably heard of blocking oscillators, but were insufficiently familiar with circuitry to realise that the circuits in question were not of that type. In the early 1970's I do recall seeing devices in the product line of a US company's high-performance comparators being described as "Fast" and Damn Fast", so the Germans were probably just following American terminology

2nd Jun 2015, 8:04 pm	#8
G6Tanuki Dekatron Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: Wiltshire, UK. Posts: 13,998	Re: German-English technical dictionary: The Germans also have a literal-constructionalist approach to naming animals: http://www.babbel.com/magazine/funny...ames-in-german You can usually work out a translation if you deconstruct the individual components of a composite word: "Netzteil" being "power supply", "Zwischenfrequenz" is intermediate-frequency, "Endstufe" being "[final\|output] stage", "Abstimmung" being tuning, and anything with "kraft-" in it invariably meaning 'power' in the sense of power-output rather than power-supply. "Verstärker" is always found compounded too, as in Zwischenfrequenz- or Niederfrequenz-Verstärker [IF- or AF-amplifier]. Last edited by G6Tanuki; 2nd Jun 2015 at 8:17 pm.