I know enough German to be dangerous, but not enough to actually converse. I also think that some members here are fluent in German. But even for them, I think translating could take a lot of time, for these reasons:
First, most topics here are handled in a "discussion", which is a very different style from the style of a technical article. Much wordier and less exact, for instance. To make the translation effort efficient, the translator would often have to rewrite or edit the discussion to get the point down to a managable level.
Second, we (as do Germans) use a lot of slang and idioms, which are difficult to translate. There isn't a lot of that, but some.
Third, it takes time to translate, even for one who is fluent.
So, I am not writing to discourage this idea, indeed I'd be happy to do what little I can to help, but what this perhaps points up more than anything else is the potential usefulness of a series of technical articles, which I *think* are being written? Haven't seen any updates on that lately, but I hope the effort isn't dead. Technical articles would go far to eliminating the first and second problems above. Perhaps there needs to be a forum for this "topic" so everyone can keep track of that effort, and maybe jump in and contribute? Or maybe I just don't know where to look?
In the meantime, perhaps what is most efficient for Detlef and other German speakers is to simply ask their questions, and also ask for clarification when translation is difficult. I know for myself that translating what I just wrote here would take me an hour, as well as a decent German-English dictionary...
Inzwischen, veilleicht sollen Detlef und andere Deutsch-sprachige Mitglieder Ihre Fragen einfach zu fragen, und auch als noetig um Klaerung zu fragen wann Uebersetzung schwer ist. Wie immer, wir werden helfen so viel wie wir koennen. Diese kleine Uebersetzung hat nur 10 Minuten gebraucht...
George Davis
'69 280 SL Euro manual
