[quote user="jackoverthehill"]er. mercedes, bmw, volkswagon?
beer fest, sausage galore.....
...
where do u guys learn to speak german?
[/quote]
Jackoverthehill:
I learned German the HARD way. About 12 years ago, I bought my first German game - Settlers of Catan. All the rules were in German. I have never seen a German game before, but I heard of SoC. All my games were either American or British, but SoC was my first German game. I first spotted it during a skiing trip to Austria, via Germany, after seeing a German group play it in a German pub. I was playing Magic 2nd Ed at that time, as well as DBA and Avalon Hill games. The SoC at the pub looked reeeally cool. I so wanted toplay it. I really, really wanted to play SoC at that time, so I bought a German dictionary to translate the whole rulebook into broken English. I tried SoC out solo several times, and managed to play it well. Then I introduced my friends to SoC. They enjoyed it as well. Then I got Lowenherz, Serenissima, El Grande, Tigris & Eiphrates and Bohnanza. These were all in German. You see, in the early days of German games, all rules were in German. No translation included. If one does not know German, tough luck. Those times were exciting 'cos one learns to play a game as well as learning a new language. So, phrase, by phrase, sometimes, letter by letter, I translated all them German rulebooks. It was exciting at times like for example when, after 10 hours, I'd find the meaning of an obscure German word. The toughest was Tigris and Euphrates. The game concept was radical, the mechanisms were unique, the scoring was brilliant. Translating the rules from the German was the toughest task I have ever done. It took me ten whole days to do it. At the end of the tenth day, I was exhausted. Really exhausted. I had developed a cough and a fever. Then there was this rash. I had to go to the doctor 'cos the cough was getting worse and the fever was getting very high. And the rash..you don't want to know about the rash...So I went to the doctor. The doctor listened to my chest, took my temp, looked at my throat, inspected my spots,and said "You have German measles".
