Up, Up and Away! (Auf, Auf und Weg?)

November 24, 2010 3:47 AM

Luftfahrtsieb: Das Luftfahrtarchiv ist eine interessante Website, die handelt sich um die frühe Geschichte des Luftwesen in Deutschland und anderswo. Es botet Artikeln, die diskutieren die frühste Fliegversuche des Mensch, berühmte Fliegstaten wie die erste Flüge über den Ärmelkanal oder den Atlantik usw., aber vielleicht interessanter sind jene, die sich mit anderer Fächer befassen. Es gibt zum Beispiel Geschichten der Bemühungen des Graf von Zeppelin, einen erfolgreichen Luftschiff in seiner schwimmenden Halle auf dem Bodensee zu bauen und des Flugplatz in Johannisthal, wo findet deutsches Luftwesen seines Anfangrichtige. Man kann auch lernen, wie Kunstflugmanöver zu erbingen sind, oder die richtige Methode, sein Luftschiff zu starten oder landen.

The site is entirely in German, but even if you don't speak it you may find some of the galleries showing the more, um, hopeful early aircraft designs to be worth a wee gander.

posted by Dim Siawns (48 comments total)

Innovation stymied by insistence on use of Weimar's largest Currywurst.
posted by Abiezer at 3:52 AM on November 24, 2010 [1 favorite]

Hurra, Wir Fliegen! (für diejenigen, die Captain Future geguckt haben)
posted by chillmost at 4:03 AM on November 24, 2010 [2 favorites]

Note to self: learn German.
posted by malibustacey9999 at 4:11 AM on November 24, 2010 [4 favorites]

It probably would have been more helpful to post the "more inside" part of this post as the "main page" part of the this post, and visa versa.
posted by EndsOfInvention at 4:21 AM on November 24, 2010 [4 favorites]

Well, that's certainly not what _I_ expected from an archive of luft fahrts.
posted by Mike D at 4:25 AM on November 24, 2010 [3 favorites]

I somehow have a feeling that this will not last long which is a pity as we need more posts which are not totally anglo-centric. I also realize that if Dim Siawns had posted in his/her location language we would be even more fucked so there we go. B+ for content; E for effort.
posted by adamvasco at 4:43 AM on November 24, 2010 [2 favorites]

I, for one, welcome our new German overlords. My father would have killed me if I'd said that while he was alive. Also, mein Luftkissenfahrzeug ist voller Aale.

Seriously though, it's nice to see a non-English post, although I'm not sure what the MeFi stance is on that. We will see.
posted by Decani at 4:49 AM on November 24, 2010 [3 favorites]

Razzn frazzn crazy moon language.
posted by Halloween Jack at 4:55 AM on November 24, 2010

No worries, adamvasco, I barely speak any Welsh, certainly not enough to make an FPP. I got in contact with the mods before making this post to check that a post in forrin would be alright for MeFi, and was given a qualified go-ahead, so hopefully the post will stand.

Auch, "Anfangrichtige" sollte nur "Anfang" sein, weisse gar nicht wie ich Anfangrichtige geschrieben habe.
posted by Dim Siawns at 4:56 AM on November 24, 2010 [1 favorite]

I thought it was awesome, but then again I can read enough German to parse this pretty well. I won't try to write any, though: I always eff up the genders and cases, and then the exchange student makes fun of me.

Genders in language are stupid.
posted by norm at 5:07 AM on November 24, 2010 [2 favorites]

Does the fact that the German of the FPP is rather poor, and obviously by an English speaker, influence the debate?
posted by fcummins at 5:09 AM on November 24, 2010 [5 favorites]

Its pretty easy German.
posted by Ironmouth at 5:17 AM on November 24, 2010

Chrome kinda-sorta translates websites in a bunch of languages, and this one came out pretty well in English.
posted by briank at 5:18 AM on November 24, 2010

This fine website brought to you by Johann Gambolputty de von Ausfern schplenden schlitter crasscrenbon fried digger dingle dangle dongle dungle burstein von knacker thrasher apple- banger horowitz ticolensic grander knotty spelltinkle grandlich grumblemeyer spelterwasser kurstlich himbleeisen bahnwagen gutenabend bitte ein nürnburger bratwustle gerspurten mitz weimache luber hundsfut gumberaber shönedanker kalbsfleisch mittler aucher von Hautkopft of Ulm.
posted by Avenger at 5:28 AM on November 24, 2010 [5 favorites]

Herf der fergrenberger?

In mein flugzeug!
posted by delmoi at 5:29 AM on November 24, 2010

Dim Siawns: "Auch, "Anfangrichtige" sollte nur "Anfang" sein, weisse gar nicht wie ich Anfangrichtige geschrieben habe."

s/wie/warum/
posted by brokkr at 5:47 AM on November 24, 2010

I'm all for links to sites not in English, but why put the text of the FPP in German, especially as someone said above, it is in German as a second language German? That dramatically reduces the number of people who could get something out of your post. And seems silly, if your German isn't great to begin with.
posted by vincele at 5:54 AM on November 24, 2010 [3 favorites]

Well, mathowie said we shouldn't post sites that are not in English and it is his site.

Reminds of me the Eddie Izzard comment. He's in New York and starts a joke by saying. "I'm from England..." Then he pauses, looks out to the American audience and says something like "Oh right. I'm in America. I will have to explain this joke. You DO realise that there are other countries."
posted by three blind mice at 6:04 AM on November 24, 2010 [2 favorites]

A German colleague informs me these are some very interesting links, thanks. I have views on the style of the post but think that kind of discussion belongs on MetaTalk, not here.
posted by londonmark at 6:06 AM on November 24, 2010

I like this. More foreign languages. I don't care about the grammar; just write whatever you can. Also, more airplanes. Lots more airplanes. Especially Focke-Wulf 190s, arguably the most beautiful Flugzeug ever produced.
posted by MarshallPoe at 6:07 AM on November 24, 2010

Take it to MeTa and quit derailing, please.
posted by BeerFilter at 6:20 AM on November 24, 2010 [3 favorites]

Seriously though, it's nice to see a non-English post, although I'm not sure what the MeFi stance is on that

The mefi stance is that there's nothing fundamentally wrong with it; Dim Siawns was thoughtful enough to ask via the contact form ahead of time, even, and we said go for it. Sticking the explanatory English bit above the fold would probably have been better presentation, but, eh, it's fine. Anybody who wants to talk about this further should indeed do so on Metatalk and let this thread be.
posted by cortex at 6:24 AM on November 24, 2010

[Good morning! We gave the thumbs up on the German post; if you need to complain I'd suggest MetaTalk.]
posted by jessamyn at 6:28 AM on November 24, 2010

Full translation for non-german speakers:

Here
posted by blue_beetle at 6:57 AM on November 24, 2010

...it is in German as a second language German...

And, elsewhere, English as a second language English:

"Hello. This is the German Coast Guard. What are you thinking about"?

posted by ericb at 7:01 AM on November 24, 2010 [1 favorite]

Yo no hablo alemán!
posted by nomadicink at 7:04 AM on November 24, 2010 [1 favorite]

Stop complaining people. You see "luft", you think "99 Luftballoons", you see "Zeppelin" and you think of the cover of Led Zeppelin 1, and your not all that far off. It's German for God's sake. It can only be about engineering, philosophy, or conceptually ambitious pornography.
posted by Pastabagel at 7:11 AM on November 24, 2010 [6 favorites]

Up, Up and Away! (Auf, Auf und Weg?)

Auf und davon?
posted by slater at 7:17 AM on November 24, 2010

I didn't think anglocentricity on MeFi was intended for any other purpose but accessibility; I wish we were all multilingual but sadly that has yet to occur (especially in the US).

That said, I grew up with German relatives and can so can parse this well enough to state these are some fine links and this is a fascinating, fun post, one which I'm looking forward to curling up with during the upcoming holiday weekend. Haben Sie vielen Dank, Dim Siawns!
posted by kinnakeet at 7:54 AM on November 24, 2010

I learned something new. I knew that Zeppelins were based in Friedrichshafen on Lake Constance (Bodensee), but I didn't know about the 'schwimmende Halle' (floating hangar). Interesting.
posted by tippiedog at 7:57 AM on November 24, 2010

German, it's like they've got a different word for everything!
posted by OHenryPacey at 8:15 AM on November 24, 2010

Seeing the Pfalz plane reminded me of the first season of the german tv series Heimat.

I couldn't find any planes more recent that +/-1930. According to the Impressum that's intentional. Too bad.

Pretty good german I'd say. You may want to look into the wordorder of subjunctive sentences as your next step in learning German. In those the verb ends up at the end of the sentence. Unlike in English where word order for top level sentences and subjunctive sentences is the same.
posted by joost de vries at 8:30 AM on November 24, 2010

German, it's like they've got a different word for everything!

It's not that - it's that if the word doesn't exist, they'll just make one.

They're superwordmakerupperpeople.
posted by Pogo_Fuzzybutt at 8:36 AM on November 24, 2010 [3 favorites]

You may want to look into the wordorder of subjunctive sentences as your next step in learning German. In those the verb ends up at the end of the sentence. Unlike in English where word order for top level sentences and subjunctive sentences is the same.

That was the thing that always killed me when I took German in college -- if it wasn't the genders and the cases, it was the syntax!
posted by blucevalo at 8:43 AM on November 24, 2010

They're masters of concatenation, is all. Or, as the Germans would say, hintereinanderschaltung.
posted by cortex at 8:45 AM on November 24, 2010 [2 favorites]

Hey, Immelmann turn animated gif!
posted by Artw at 9:03 AM on November 24, 2010

Was für ein schöner Weg, um uns von der Anglo Zentrismus MetaFilter entlasten. Es ist eine gute Idee, uns selbst hin und wieder strecken.

Ich glaube nicht lesen oder sprechen Deutsch, obwohl habe ich einige Unterricht in der Grundschule. Aus den Bildern sehe ich, dass John F. Kennedy, Leonardo Da Vinci und Charles Lindbergh am frühen Entwicklung von Flugzeugen zusammen. Wie wunderbar! Ich wusste nicht, dass.
posted by Xoebe at 9:34 AM on November 24, 2010

i) This website is cool, thanks.

ii) I see no problem with posts in other languages with a reasonable number of speakers - it's clear there's enough German speakers on metafilter.

There was a post which appeared to be a long World of Warcraft forum post wherein the creator of the thread responded to all questions in the form of an old school text adventure game, creating a WoW story in this style over the course of some 20 odd pages.

I would think the number of people on metafilter who speak German would be at least as large as the intersection of whatever psychotic Venn diagram represents the nicheness of the WoW post.

And more power to both groups.
posted by Alex404 at 10:33 AM on November 24, 2010

Stop complaining people.
posted by Pastabagel at 3:11 PM on November 24

Who's complaining? I don't see any complaints. I see a few people saying it's kinda nice.
posted by Decani at 10:42 AM on November 24, 2010

Fliegstaten
So, are those stunt pilots, electric flies, immobile planes, or flying potatoes?

And: Genders in language are stupid
Genders in floating hangars are even stupiderer. But that's German for you, speak it or suffer. Any Google translation for German speakers, btw.?

This post made me google for Weserflug, the company that employed my granddad, who was an engineer. Dark were the days. He was one of the responsible people for the Liegnitz factory, which apparently didn't go too well because of work discipline issues (one would like to know more about that, wouldn't one now?). My dad, who went to school in Bratislava during that year or so, tells me that they wrapped up their stuff pretty quickly and went back to Bremen-Lemwerder.
posted by Namlit at 10:54 AM on November 24, 2010

It's been over twenty years since I took any German, and had you asked me how much of it I remembered, I would have said virtually none. So I was pleasantly surprised that I could make out the general gist of this post, though still far from knowing every word. Danke!
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 10:58 AM on November 24, 2010

Note to self: learn German.
make that a note to OP. Dim Siawns is practically raping my language.

I, for one, welcome our new German overlords.
are you offering to do my laundry?
posted by krautland at 1:13 PM on November 24, 2010 [4 favorites]

Oh dear. Well, I found the website and, since it was mostly text and all in German, thought it didn't make too much sense to put up a post in English pointing to text that was all German; seeing as anyone that would be getting anything from the link would speak German anyway it seemed a bit weird, somehow, to point to it in English. I figured that my German was certainly good enough to string together a few coherent sentences for a post, but if the native speakers here on MeFi think otherwise I guess I'd better take my lumps. Apologies to those whose mother tongue I've mangled.
posted by Dim Siawns at 1:43 PM on November 24, 2010

Don't worry a bit, we're just being rude. German specialty.
posted by Namlit at 2:24 PM on November 24, 2010

you're taking krautland too seriously, I really welcome your post. Subject matter is interesting and it's a welcome change - there's even the interest factor in spotting any errors ;)
posted by Wilder at 5:43 AM on November 25, 2010 [1 favorite]

oh coooooome ooooon, you can't take me THAT seriously? it's the internet! badafuuukoooo!
posted by krautland at 9:18 AM on November 25, 2010

This thread has made me crave authentic Bavarian cuisine.
posted by Decani at 3:53 PM on November 25, 2010

"Das Luftfahrtarchiv ist eine interessante Website" is totally like dialoge you'd give a German character in a comic when everything else they say is in English, in order to tip readers off to their Germaness but still let them be understood.
posted by Artw at 4:26 PM on November 25, 2010