John Cook writes:
My rather poor translation went something like this
a few small corection to clarify... your translation is good!
Und die müssen extreme Probleme
haben.
and they must be experiencing some serious problems
Die haben halt in das Flugzeug alles integriert über einen
einzigen Computer
They've gone and integrated all systems into a single computer,...
- da ist so ein riesen Computer drinnen der ausser
Flugsteuerung eigentlich alles macht.
..., so there's this monstrous computer inside which controls
bascially everything except the flight control (here he means the
really basic direction setting an manoevering that the pilot
decides).
Wenn uns etwas ausfällt, dann übernimmt ein
anderer Computer die wesentlichen Funktionen des defekten Systems.
If something in one of our systems fails then another computer takes
over the major fuctions of the defective system.
Die Amerikaner haben halt das Problem,
dass wen dieser Computer
abstürzt oder Fehler hat, dann geht alles unter - inklusive
Kommunikation, Navigation und allem.
The Amercans have this problem now that when there computer fails
gives errors, everything goes down including of Communications,
Navigation, everything.
(`halt' used in the above few situations is a colloquial term, similar
in meaning to 'gone and [done]', an indication that the thing that is
talked about is kind of wishy-washy or lackadaisical, not so well
thought out, or could be better)
Und die Piloten haben erzählt,
sie haben jetzt Vorrichtungen im Cockpit wo sie ein Handy eingebaut
haben, damit der Pilot mit unten telefonieren kann wenn nichts mehr
geht
The pilots now have an installation for a `handy' (the German word
for mobile phone in the cockpit so that the pilot can phone the blokes on the
ground when nothing works anymore. [Ooh boy, this sounds fun!]
Well, my German's about as rust as you can get, and still order Beer,
but what I make of the above is that he's commenting on the high level
of integration of ancilliary systems, and that it's tough for
Third-Party (Not on the System Prime) team to integrate their stuff
into the aircraft. I don't read "unten telefonieren" as Cell Phone
though. In context, and allowing for what appears to be a bit of
circular translation, it's more like a "backup voice radio" than
anythig else. Which could be anything from a standard UHF/VHF set in
the panel to a handheld in the Pilot's Pubs Bag. (Which is pretty
much the norm - when I've been flying things that need a radio, I
always bring a handheld, just in case, and whe my brother's off in his
767, he's got a handheld in his Jepp Case. (Along with a Maglite, the
appropriate sectionals, etc.) Which would just be prudent.
OK, maybe it isn't in fact a cellphone... who knows. Can you ask?
Think about it - in this context, an Aviation Band transceiver makes
much more sense than a cell phone.
Yeah, but so do backup systems in the computer system :-)
Ah, that said - Cell phones are nice and small:-), I really have
trouble with some German colloquial sayings and translating it into
English, one classic example of English to German springs to mind
"out of sight ,out of mind" got translated to "invisible maniac"
Great stuff, these translators, huh!
--
G Hassenpflug * IJN & JMSDF equipment/history fan
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