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Hey guys,

 

seeing as Gemini is going slow, and I needed a break to get some new inspiration, I decided to translate one of my favorite stories to English. A huge thanks to Amon, the author of "Die Maschine", for giving me permission! And let's not forget MrM, LillyLee and Nostic, who have helped me make this work. Thank you! :)

 

This is the bittersweet tale of a German teenager's coming of age.

 

 

When I was translating this story, I quickly realized I was hitting my limits. Some things just cannot be transferred from one language to another without loss. Instead of trying to rewrite the the whole story, I decided to in doubt go with Amon's way to express things. Therefore at times (or maybe all the time), this story might seem like a foreigner is narrating it. I quite like how it turned out and I hope rather than irritate, it will add to the story.

 

This is the place to discuss the story, but also to ask questions about the background or in case you didn't understand anything (be it language or story related).

 

Sadly, the original chapters are short-ish for GA standards. I will try to make up for it with more frequent posts. :)

 

Have fun!

 

Sammy

[sharedmedia=stories:stories:5261]

 

Edited by Sammy Blue
  • Like 2
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  • 3 weeks later...

Hey everyone,

 

seeing as I'm about to post the next chapter of The Machine, I thought I'd add some information about a few words that most of the readers will be unfamiliar with. Of course, I could have left those out or simply tried to find a proper American equivalent, but that would sort of defeat the point of the story being set in Germany, wouldn't it? ;)

 

Abitur:

Basically Germany separates education past 4th grade into three types of school. Hauptschule (finishes after 9th grade), Realschule (finishes after 10th grade) and Gymnasium (finishes after 12th or sometimes 13th grade). Those are different types of schools with different schedules and different lessons on different levels being taught from fifth grade on.

 

After the first two you can go on to do an apprenticeship, or if your marks are good enough, you can switch over to a higher level (that is, after Hauptschule you can add a year to get the Realschule diploma and after Realschule you can go on for three years to a Gymnasium, so one more year than if you'd originally attended the Gymnasium), but only after receiving your Abitur, the diploma that you get from Gymnasium, you can attend a German university or college.

 

In American terms it would be very similar to the International Baccalaureate.

 

Random fact, Abitur is Latin and means something like "a journey away is made".

 

Numerus clausus

A method to limit the number of students for university entrance. While there are also quotas for disabled, foreigners and whatnot, the majority of students in Germany are chosen via this method. Basically, if you apply to a university you have to choose your major at that time. Then the university sorts students by their best Abitur results for each major. For say Psychology they accept the best 50 students (based on their average marks) and let's say the worst student to be accepted has a 1,4 average (which is pretty good, considering 1,0-2,5 translates to an A and 2.6-3.5 to a B in the American system), then that is the N.C. for that year. For example when I applied for teaching German as a foreign language, the past years ranged between 2.5 and 2.8. I had a 2.2 so chances were very good I would get in and I think in my year it was 2.5 again so I did get in.

 

Unlike in the states, in Germany the N.C. varies a lot between different majors at the same university (e.g. psychology has an N.C. of 1.3 while say electrical engineering accepts whoever applies no questions asked, as long as they have the required diploma, even if it's with the worst possible passing grade). However, looking at the same major at different universities, the N.C.  will usually only vary very little.

 

---

 

I hope this was not too long and gave some people a bit of background information. While most of it seems a bit like random details, there might be some words that can give away information about the story... for example what type of school the narrator goes to might give away a lot about him... but that will be revealed at some point later on... ;) )

 

Enjoy the chapter!
Sammy

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Hey Gandalf!

thank you, I'm glad you like the story. :)

 

While Venus im Pelz is an Austrian work (so it was originally written in German), I do not think it was inspired by that. However, knowing Amon (the author of Die Maschine) it might be a possibility. I will forward the question to him and get back to you once he replies. However, even though I am in contact with him, he is not online a lot, so it might take a while.

 

Other names in this story are fairly common, but both Severin and Korbinian are rather uncommon names in most parts of Germany, except for Bavaria (and even there, I'm not sure they're all that common). Actually, I'm not sure about Baden Wuerttemberg either, but in any case, this should give you an indication on where the story is set. ;)

Edited by Sammy Blue
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  • 2 weeks later...

Hey,

I'm back in Germany from my vacation, sorry for taking so long.

 

Modified on 10th May 2016:

 

The name is not inspired by Venus in Furs specifically, but that does not mean that it won't fit. If you feel that it fits the character or you want to read the character that way, that's certainly fine, too. ;)

 

Sammy

Edited by Sammy Blue
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