HAL Literature in German?

[jazzsea]

Does anyone on this board have access to or information on getting Holland America information that is printed in German?

 

I have clients in Germany that are sailing with me in January of 2008 and I would like to provide them with something that can actually read. I've worked with a translator and we are doing well. I'd just like to help this family a little more.

 

Specifically I'm looking for info on Massdam Caribbean and the Know Before You Go booklet, all in German.

 

Thanks in advance for your help and suggestions.

 

I've contacted HAL in Seattle and spoken to Ship's Services and am awaiting a call back from International Sales.

[Copper10-8]

Does anyone on this board have access to or information on getting Holland America information that is printed in German?

 

I have clients in Germany that are sailing with me in January of 2008 and I would like to provide them with something that can actually read. I've worked with a translator and we are doing well. I'd just like to help this family a little more.

 

Specifically I'm looking for info on Massdam Caribbean and the Know Before You Go booklet, all in German.

 

Thanks in advance for your help and suggestions.

 

I've contacted HAL in Seattle and spoken to Ship's Services and am awaiting a call back from International Sales.

 

Hi Carol; I've never seen the "Know before you go" 'Wissen Sie, bevor Sie gehen";) booklets in anything other than English. I think HAL Seattle will be your best resource! Good luck!

[sail7seas]

I've never tried them but what about free, on line translation sites?

 

http://www.freetranslation.com

http://babelfish.altavista.com/

 

 

There are others.

 

Maybe if you typed some text into the provided box on those sites, it would translate for you?

 

 

[RetiredMustang]

jazzsea,

 

Probably the best thing to do is for your friends to connect with a tour agency in Germany. We lived there for a while, and found that the agencies were very used to providing brochures in languages other than German (such as English, but also French or Italian were readily available). It seems likely that they would have a German-language HAL brochure.

 

I would think DER or other major agency would be more helpful than trying to find German translations in the U.S. (To be fair, it's not just a cultural thing, but has more to do with economics -- from Germany it is only a short distance to another country with a different language, whereas in the U.S, it may be necessary to travel more than 1,000 miles to find a country or province whose main languge is not English --Mexico or the Quebec province of Canada.)

 

My point is, it may be more practical to find a German-language HAL brochure in Frankfurt or Berlin than in the U.S. or even on line.

 

Dave

[sail7seas]

Which raises the question.......

 

Has anyone ever seen an HAL brochure printed in a language other than English? Such as in Dutch?

 

[RetiredMustang]

Which raises the question.......

 

Has anyone ever seen an HAL brochure printed in a language other than English? Such as in Dutch?

 

 

Sail,

 

It's been a few years since I was in Germany, and cannot swear for sure, but I did see German-language brochures for many of the main lines, including I think HAL. I also seem to remember similar brochures in Italy even more years ago, but again I could be mistaken. I too would be interested to learn if anyone has seen one for sure. Someone from Quebec with one in French perhaps?

 

As a business thing, I would think that HAL (and Princess et al) would go to the expense of printing brochures in other languages, even if it were only the Europe one instead of all of them. I like to think I do O.K. in German, Italian and French when I travel there, but I also know the reality is that I am not really fluent in any of them and there is no way I could absorb all the nuances of the "Know Before You Go" or fine print details of the insurance coverage in one of those languages! Speakers of other languages no doubt face the same problems with English.

 

Dave

[sail7seas]

With the introduction of Eurodam...... the choice of her name..... one would think HAL has a goal of attracting more European cruisers. A brochure in native language certainly would be welcome, I would think.

 

Dave, I envy your fluency. I have always loved language but never became very proficient.... didn't use it so I lost it. ;)

 

[RetiredMustang]

Dave, I envy your fluency. I have always loved language but never became very proficient.... didn't use it so I lost it. ;)

 

 

Sail,

 

Other languages are moderately difficult, but not impossible for me, but are beyond ken for DW; although she studied German for years it was I who got us around there. Why are we wired differently? Both of our sons went to schools or day care where the main language was Italian when we lived there. The elder may as well be a native he is so proficient in Italian. The younger has less Italian than I.

 

As for me, I studied French for four years in high school and two years in college, I took a single semester of German in college, and never took formal Italian training. Yet, my foreign language skills, such as they are, are the reverse -- I speak better Italian (although not fluent) than I speak German, which I speak better than French. Why? I lived in the Naples region of Italy for six years, in southern Germany for two years and only have visited France often. You pick up what others speak. My knowledge of formal French grammar is better, but I find it easiest to get across what I want in Italian.

 

A funny, at least to me, anecdote is that a couple of years ago I traveled on business around the Mediterranean (not on HAL unfortunately but by air) and a fully-fluent-in-English Italian colleague in Catania, Sicily remarked to me after hearing me speak Italian for several minutes, "You are soooo Neapolitan!" He probably meant it as a mild joking insult, but I took it as a compliment -- if I had a regional dialect discernable to a native Italian speaker, I really did learn something in all those years in Naples!

 

This is all off-topic, I guess, but I suppose the bottom line is that my advice is to try to learn a bit of the language wherever you are, no matter how little -- on HAL, they used to pass out sheets that had simple phrases like "please" or "thank you" in Indonesian or Tagalog. I would hammer the phrases badly with the stewards or bartenders, but they would smile and I think, maybe, they appreciated that at least I tried!

 

Dave

[jazzsea]

Thanks for all the comments and advice. I've contacted two tour operators in Nurnberg who have agreed to help me get information to my clients. I still haven't heard from Holland America Line - International. When I do hear from them I will post their responses.

[sail7seas]

Dave........ Interesting. Thank you. I really enjoyed reading your post.

 

 

Would have made my YEAR to have been called "Neopolitan" because of my accent.

 

Fabulous!!! (We've had some great times in Napoli.......incredible food!)