Nazis and spelling

Imported from an older Blog

The Ultimates Annual 2, from October 2006 features another sort-of undead Nazi scientist (his mind has been copied into a computer), as well as some German language. The latter includes the most hilarious mess-up in that field I found so far.

Nothing to say about Zola but "another undead Nazi scientist?", so, language.

In case you're not interested in longer ramblings, here's the fun bit:

A kind of biological weapon was called "Weiber Staub" - "dust of broads".
I can see how that happened: They translated "white dust", found "weißer Staub" and mistook the ß for a B, giving them "Weiber", which is the plural of "Weib", which is an old-fashioned and nowadays derogatory term for "woman" or "wife".

To the helpful part: If you come across ß and can't use that letter, replace it with ss. If you are writing in allcaps, even do that if you could use ß, since this letter only exists in lowercase.

So, any and all German apart from "ja", "nein" and "Heil"...

Cap: "Haben Sie keine angst". (Don't be afraid.)
Nearly; It should be "Angst" - all nouns start with a capital letter.

Cap: "Ich verletze Sie nicht." (I don't hurt you.)
It sounds a bit stilted, but is not incorrect.

Cap: "Wissen Sie, wohin sie gehen?" (Do you know where they are going?)
Correct, and got something kinda tricky right: "Sie" can mean "she" or "they", or, as a formal form of address, "you". In cases where it means "you", it starts with a capital letter.

Minor note: "Sie" as an address is formal. It's what you use talking to strangers, your boss, generally when you're being polite. A grown-up talking to a child would use "du"; e.g. "Weißt du..." - But, well, all things considered (for example that German isn'T Cap's first language) it works.

Boy: "Zur geheimen Festung. In den Bergen. Wo die geistmänner sind." (To the secret fortress in the mountains. Where the ghost men are.)
That should be "Geistermänner" - again, all nouns get capitalized, and, well, I can't explain the compound well. "Geistmänner" reads more like "men of the spirit" than "ghost men".

Cap: "Danke, kleiner Soldat." (Thanks, little soldier)

Boy: "Guter glick, Kapitän Amerika."
Unless that boy is speaking a dialect I don't know, that should be "Viel Glück" - you wish "much", not "good" luck in German. Even if it was "good", it would be "gutes", because Glück is neuter case, not masculine.

Zola: "Schlecht und tot!" (Evil and dead.)
Pretty much right. I think "böse" is a better match for "evil" than "schlecht", but it works.

Zola: "Schützen Sie mich!" (Protect me!)
Zola is surprisingly formal here, but what do I know about etiquette 40 years before I was born...

"Siegsoldat" translates to "Victory Soldier".

Zola: "It's as der Schwarze says. I am nichts." (... the black [man] ... nothing)
Right, if silly, all that language switching.

The "Weiber Staub" bit goes here.

Zola: Ich bin nur der Geist in dieser maschine. (I'm only the ghost in this machine.)
Again with the capital letter: Maschine.

"Seigsoldat" ...
Oh, come on, you got it right the first time. :(

Zola: Sicherung Kapitän Amerika!
"Sicherung" can mean "fuse" (the one that blows when something with electronics goes wrong) or "safety (catch)" (the one that keeps a gun from firing), or "protection".
Maybe they wanted "Sichert ...!" ("Secure ...!") ?

Zola: Herr general!
General. Noun.

Zola: Amerika today, and tomorrow der welt! (... the world)
That should be "die Welt".
"Der Welt" would be posessive case, for example "der Rest der Welt" (the rest of the world).
The full phrase in German would be "Heute Amerika, morgen die Welt".

Zola: Nicht wieder! (Not again)
Nitpicking: should be "Nicht schon wieder." It's just one of those phrasal things.

All in all, the German here was better than I have come to expect from American comics. :)

Some random commentary: I like Cap's oldschool costume here way better than the modern one. The shield also looks way better to me than the bullseye design nowadays.
The slight redesign they did in Ultimates v2 to make his hood look at least slightly like a helmet seems also like an improvement to me.