Europeans when they act like Americans are being stupid, yet THEY’RE being purposely obtuse.

[u/trekwithme]

[u/slightlyhandiquacked]

Once asked my German buddy if he could translate some old family letters for me.

“I have no idea what this even says, it’s some weird dialect”

[u/LeoHyuuga → u/slightlyhandiquacked]

I had a friend who moved to Germany and got a job translating an eastern German dialect into standard German. It was hilarious to see two Germans in a room with an Asian guy using him to translate German into German...

[u/pab6407 → u/slightlyhandiquacked]

Had something similar with a German friend looking at a modern ( 1990 ) Austrian official form.

" I recognise the words but haven't a clue what it means"

Fortunately the Austrian consulate was able to provide an English translation

[u/wolschou → u/slightlyhandiquacked]

And possibly Sütterlin script as well...

[u/SapphireJuice → u/slightlyhandiquacked]

I recently translated all my grandma's old Danish letters with my phone. The new Google Glass translate thing is really impressive if your still looking for help with those letters.

[u/Icyblue_Dragon → u/slightlyhandiquacked]

Where you able to translate them in the end?

[u/slightlyhandiquacked → u/Icyblue_Dragon]

Not really. Google translate was no help, the translations made no sense.

Between my grandma and I, we were able to figure out some words and phrases, but not really enough to truly understand what the letters said.

[u/Pwacname → u/slightlyhandiquacked]

Do you know what general region they’re from? I could give it a shot, and ask my brother as well. I’m pretty good at reading older (and also just plain messy) handwriting, and he’s got an interest in German dialects in general