Help required please

Richard Hargreaves · Post by **Richard Hargreaves** » Mon Jul 04, 2005 2:46 pm

From Heinrich Bölls letters. It's the bit in italics I'm struggling with.
I've gone for "Will he come? I'm really curious to see" which is very loose, but I'm not sure

Wir warten, warten jede Nacht auf den Tommy, aber er scheint noch keine Lust zu haben. Wenn er mal kommt, ich bin wirklich gespannt darauf. Es ist ein beruhigendes Gefühl, einen solchen Gegner vor sich zu wissen. Hier unten am Strand liegt eine Seenotbereitschaft der Luftwaffe - für abgeschossene deutsche Flieger, die im Kanal landen müssen -, die erzählen uns dolle Dinge von der Noblesse der Engländer. Wenn zum Beispiel ein deutscher Flieger ganz nah an der englischen Küste herumpaddelt, dann brauchen wir nur herüberzufunken und können din, ohne beschossen zu werden, da abholen, bis auf einen Kilometer heranfahren

Thanks in advance

Howard · Post by **Howard** » Tue Jul 05, 2005 12:13 am

Hi Halder,

I'm anxious to see if he's going to come or something like that but I think you've about got it there.

Richard Hargreaves · Post by **Richard Hargreaves** » Tue Jul 05, 2005 1:03 pm

Cheers Howard. My self-taught German's slowly getting better. Slowly.

tirola · Post by **tirola** » Tue Jul 05, 2005 1:48 pm

Hmmm. I'm not quite satisfied with Howard's translation, but I don't think mine is any better:

I'm in suspense for when he (the Tommy) finally comes.

I don't know. Can't get it any better than this.

The writer also expresses his preparedness and eagerness to fight the Tommy.

I hope that helps.

Tirola

Howard · Post by **Howard** » Wed Jul 06, 2005 12:28 am

Hi Tirola and Halder,

no I'm not completely satisfied either. Here's my version of the text with an alternative rendering in italics. I have to say I can't see his eagerness to fight in this passage....

We are waiting, every night we are waiting for Tommy, but he doesn't seem to want to come yet. I'm really curious to see if he does come in the end. It's a comforting feeling to know you are facing such an opponent Down on the beach here there's a Luftwaffe 'salvage' team - for German fliers who are shot down and have to land in the Channel -, who tell us amazing things about the nobility of the English. For example, if a German pilot is paddling along quite close the English coast, then we just need to radio across and we can approach to within a kilometre and pick him up without being shot at.

Richard Hargreaves · Post by **Richard Hargreaves** » Wed Jul 06, 2005 10:04 am

Thanks guys. That's pretty much the way I interpreted it.

I have to say for someone who spent four years as a soldier, Böll's combat service seems to have been limited to a couple of weeks in the Crimea in late 1943. His letters from the West provide very little insight into life on the Atlantic Coast and in the West Wall, amazing given he spent more than a year on station there. And he wrote every day!