The next few posts, copied from here, raised a separate topic:

Hennie,
Ek gaan die Motion king 34hs 9801 gebruik. Die kontak van Kobus, het net twee steppers oor. Hy sou vir my uitvind vir nog maar het nooit terug gekom nie.
Dit is dieselfde persoon by wie jy jou motors gekoop het.

I am going to use Motion king 34hs 9801. The contact of Kobus has only got 2 steppers left. He would have checked for me, but hasn't come back yet.
It is the same person from who you bought your motors.

Hy is relatief besig maar baie hulpvaardig.

Ek sal maar die Fulling motors gebruik en kyk of ek dit kan breek. Miskien is ons almal verras.Ek stem ook saam met Kobus daar is niks verkeerd met goed wat uit die ooste kom nie.Vir die oomblik stem ek nie saam met die rand/dollar nie so ek hou maar vas aan my pennies.

He is relatively busy but helpful.

I will use use the Fulling motors and see if I can break them. Maybe we are all surprised. I agree with Kobus that there is nothing wrong with goods from the east. At the moment I don't agree with the rand/dollar and I am holding onto my pennies.

Johan hoe ver is jy?

Johan how far are you?

Ek sal volgende week weet of my fondse goed gekeur gaan word. Dit lyk belowend:D Dan sal ek die elektriese parte aanskaf. Daai groot berg klim. Dis hoe ver ek is.

I will know next week if my funds will be approved. It looks promising:D Then I will buy the electrical parts. Climb that big mountain. That's how far I am.

I wish I could understand what is being said.:(

JR,
Maybe we could get babblefish to translate for the north american guys?

You won't find a decent online translator for this type of chat. I have added the translations above.

Guys, please relax when other languages are used here. The world is a big place :)

Gerald,
Thanks for the translations, I just find that language to be so very interesting. :)

I am reasonably proficient in German (after 50 trips to DE) and can almost follow Afrikaans.

With the translations, I will learn a bit of Afrikaans pretty quick. I thoroughly enjoy other languages and would love it if, once in a while, you translate as you've done. Too bad it is more work. When I come visit, it will be that much more fun with a slight headstart. Although the world is a big place, this forum and the extra effort you just put forth, increases global understanding and makes it a bit smaller --- that is a good thing. Global goodwill is bi-directional and I will put in the effort.

Sorry for the soapbox.

Marc,
Not to me to tell you what to say or how to be, but allow me to ad my dash of salt. I sincerely believe you should not be sorry to feel human and to be in touch with some reality & emotions !
Nicely said Marc… I too trust & hope for bi-directional goodness !!
Thanks, Robert. ;)

Sorry all it is sometimes quicker to say it in my home language and I am also proud of it.So by the way Heath your first lesson in Afrikaans.Rather say "babbel bek" then "babble fish" and "take" is "vat" and "that" is "dit" and " computer" is "rekenaar" and "carton box " is "karton doos " and "dash of salt" is "knype sout" and "human" is "menslik".:D

Will try and reply in English.

Robert, I believe you missed out a "not" in your post? "I sincerely believe you should (not) be sorry to feel human" ???

Hennie, I am perfectly happy that Afrikaans, and other languages creep onto this forum . . . . . as long as you post lots of pictures!!:D

I met a Brazilian community building MechMates the other day and posted a greeting (in English) on their forum. Well, that thread disolved into a discussion of national pride and the use of non-Portuguese on their forum. I was left with the feeling that I would make less waves if I just read their forum and not post there.

Folk posting in their home languages are not gossiping about the other folk, or being underhand, or trying to hide information.

Folk insisting that only English be used are being a little too "greedy" to see and get more.

Nothing against somebody like JR saying he wishes he could understand it - I know he is saying what a lot of people want to say when hearing a foreign language spoken on their "home turf".

Guys like Hennie, Kobus, Johan would be speaking Afrikaans to each other in public, and I would like them to think that they can continue doing so here.

Those translations I did above was basically to show you all that you really missed nothing serious. There is no need for me to continue with translations, just as there is no need to ask people to try and post in English.

Doops…. That’s what occasionally happens when your mother tong is not english !!
Sorry, Gerald is right, I forget this important NOT in my sentence.
But, not to excuse my self, surly other like Gerald pick up my boubou :eek: :o!
Thanks for understanding.
Amicalement, Robert ! ;)

Robert, Don't worry, I got it.

Gerald, I wasn't asking you to translate everything. I was just saying that once in a while, if the mood strikes you. I would really appreciate it. Because, as you noted, the online translators are pretty much useless for any idiomatic phrasing.

I talked to my wife just the other day about a trip to ZA. She really can't imagine herself on a plane that far but she is warming up to the idea. The other day was the first time she said yes.

Maybe that is because I said I would go without her. :D:p:eek:

P.S. The signal to myself that I was a "world traveler" sometime during my 60 or so business trips abroad was when I was OK with not understanding what was going on around me. "Nothing against somebody like JR saying he wishes he could understand it - I know he is saying what a lot of people want to say when hearing a foreign language spoken on their "home turf"." However, it took awhile.

Work on that trip out to South Africa, your wife will love it. Americans are discovering SA as a wedding & honeymoon destination, believe it or not. I know we get very bad press on safety and crime, but tourists don't experience it if they are even slightly streetsmart.

Come visit and make sure you see the Garden Route then we can work on some "Boere Taal".Will be visiting Knysna for some oysters today.

Sorry for writing such long sentences in my mother tong. Like Hennie were saying, it just flows so easy!;) It comes out differantly (sorry spel check is not working) for me in English. I have to keep my descriptions short because I am thinking in Afrikaans. Not so bad if I stick to the technical side. What do you expect from a guy that was Christianed with a name: Johannes Wentzel van der Walt and my granthfather, Johannes was fighting the English (Rooinekke = Rednecks) a 108 years ago!;)
So all I can say is: I are Johan van der Walt.
Mark, if you want to visit SA, make a turn in Natal as well. Very nice part of our country.:)

It is not if but when. I will certainly work with you guys to plan the PERFECT itinerary. I would like to experience: wild, water, wine, culture, history, heritage, language, and diversity of people. I think that about covers it.

You don't want food?

You can edit my last post to add: many, many, types of food. I'll try anything!

Hi Gerald,

just visited that portuguese forum, there are three posts from relatively new users that suggest something in the lines you described, but the most experienced ones are behind you and seem to be grateful that you logged in their humble forum, they were discussing about a guy that is selling MM in the brazilian version of ebay without your consent.

If you need help with portuguese/spanish and you feel that the online translator do not provide a good translation just drop me a PM and I will try to help you.

Now... can I speak in spanish? :D

Hi Gerald,


I believe there was a problem of translation. Portuguese - English :(

Some do not seek to understand the English claimed.

What you wrote was translated into English by the moderator.

Your feedback is valuable :cool:

Yuri

Hi Gerald

I had a read on the thread, on the Brazilian GuiaCNC (CNCGuide) forum. (I am Brazilian, portuguese is my 1st language).

I have to say that I got the feeling that everyone was very stoked that you showed up.

A lot of the guys show that they seem pissed off with the one fella announcing MM's for sale on the Brazilian version of E-bay (Mercado Livre) and I am quite sure that they mean it.

Francis

Gerald,
I don't know how to ask you to sorry me because that happening in my forum...

I tried with another very good friend (Jorge Lourenço) to translate all messagesn in both directions, but unfortunatedly some guys did not understood our effort...

Please disregard any dullness and accept my excuses

Amicalement, Fabio Gilii

Hi Fabio, Yuri, Francis

I mentioned the uncomfortable feeling at the guiacnc forum as an example for this MechMate forum. I was trying to say that the guys here must not get too serious about insisting only on English, because that makes a non-english person feel uncomfortable. Unfortunately I used your Portuguese forum as a recent example, but I did not mean that you have an unfriendly forum. I realised that most of your members were very welcoming of me. No need for excuses from your side! :)

I am still looking for a way to translate whole pages of your forum. If I use google translate, your forum wants a new login and then the translation stops. Do you know of a translator that works better than google translate?

Gerald,

CRTL + C

CRTL + V

http://www.google.com.br/language_tools

But it is very bad

Gerald,

Maybe this helps you:

http://www.humanitas-international.o...more-trans.htm

I tried "Intertrans Service" - it worked with many pages (logged out), but the translation results are not so good...

Heath,
You can expand your Afrikaans by adding "Baie" in front of your "Dankie". That means "Thanks a lot". Now to pronounce it you must keep your lips stiff (not moving them) and say: "Buy a donkey!:D:cool:

Johan,
Baie Dankie for the tip. Dit was baie vriendelik van jou. :) Picking up little bits here and there all the time. Sure sounds like an interesting language. :)