Posted by John Collins (194.164.38.151) on April 30, 2003 at 00:13:49:
Nick Hall wrote :-: -- There is real ambiguity in the accuracy of many of the English translations - his German was "quirky" to say the least.
I must concur with that. I don't really speak German and have had to rely on a friend who is an expert on 18th C. German. He tells me that in "Apologia" Bessler would alter word endings and sometimes spellings just to make the words rhyme. Mike (my translator) has enjoyed the job and says that he has great respect for Bessler's use of language and has found him to be a very amusing author who uses some extraordinary metaphors.
Also he mixed Latin and German words and sometimes words from other languages as well. Sometimes when I have wished to check up on a word used by Bessler I have been unable to find it anywhere - not in any of my five German dictionaries, nor in any of the local library dictionaries nor in the big Birmingham library, nor the local University library and finally not on the internet. Mostly it is just the spelling that is different, and I know that you could find the same in 18th C. English too. Spelling wasn't formalised the way it is now and when you throw in 18th C. German idioms it can all cause us problems in translating accurately.