Help req from fluent German speaker please, english to german translation !

[WSM]

I hope this isn't too cheeky but I've sold something through Ebay auctions and a German lady has bought it. Unfortunately her English is really bad and I can just about understand what she writes but would like to email her in German so that I can be sure that she understands the payment/postage instructions clearly. Can you help ?

The paragraph I need translating into German is this....

"Can we do a money transfer instead ? I don't like the idea of sending a cash in the post. If I give you my bank account number and sort code can you just ask your bank to put the £11.50 into my bank account ?

Regards
Luci"

Thanks very much

HI WSM. Get yourself onto www.babelfish.altavista.com/tr and it will translate for you.

It is reliable I use it at work!

Hi KS. Yeah I do use it for work! Not for paragraphs of text but for odd words and it's always been helpful for me. We organise conferences and get lots of foreign delegates who sometimes send emails which need deciphering. But no, I've never translated lots of foreign text into english, but I will try. What happens? I'm worried.

Wish I could but try JJ

Hope this helps

"können wir eine Geldübertragung anstatt tun? Ich mag nicht die Idee des Sendens eines Bargeldes im Pfosten. Wenn ich Sie gebe, kann mein Bankkontozahl- und -artcode Sie Ihre Bank gerade bitten, die £11.50 in mein Bankkonto zu setzen?

Shit! I'd better warn everyone here, just incase.
Thanks KS!

Koenten wir eine Bankueberweisung machen? Bargeld durch die Post senden habe ich nicht gern. Wenn ich Ihnen meine Bankdetails gebe, koennten Sie £11.50 bitte ueberweisen. Mit freundlichen Gruessen, Luci.

Try this WSM - not the most elegant translation (I've got to rush out in a sec) but it is at least fairly real German (unlike babelfish...) Germans do most transactions by bank transfer, so it's not an outragous request.

WSM don't take my advice. Clearly babelfish is crap!

I'd second Nome's translation.

A free translation website did this for me:

(It's here if you want to try it for anything else.

I will just translate it back again (love doing this!):

(Teehee )

Sorry - didn't check it in preview. This should work!

Hi WSM
try this

"Koennten wir die Bezahlung durch Ueberweisung regeln? Bargeld mit der Post senden habe ich nicht so gern. Wenn ich Ihnen meine Kontonummer und meine Bankleitzahl schicke, koennten Sie mir die £11.50 bitte auf mein Konto ueberweisen?

Mit freundlichen Gruessen
Luci"

The only problem for the lady will be that you have to pay a fee if you want to transfer money directly, and this fee can be so high that it might not be worth it for her when the goods are only worth 11.50. Another common way for Germans to pay is to use a so-called "Euroscheck" - maybe you could ask your bank if they would accept one of those? Oh, and if you use the transfer option you might need to find out the IBAN number of your account - it's like an international bank account/sort code which German banks insist on using when transferring money, IME.

I agree with ks. The other problem with babelfish and german is that it translates into only 'formal' Sie and not informal 'du' and as it translates word for word in the same order you put them in than the grammar is completely shit. I use it in desparation to get the basic idea of stuff, but I only pass it on to others if I want them to have a giggle.

In my opinion Luci, you would be just fine to write to her in english. Just about all germans under the age of 35 studied english in school and many older people have good english too. Every german would have at least one friend that they regard as an excellent english speaker, probably from having lived and worked in an english speaking country for a period of time.

BTW. I'm living in germany at the mo with passable german.

AS, my one put the verbs at the end in German and then back in the middle in English so it was a bit right - is it still a crap translation? (Might use it to send a letter to Chernobyl child who comes in the summer so I'd like to know if it's talking rubbish!)

ks, I just tried it with "the quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog" back and forth a few times - it came out slightly different every time!

Just tried it with "voulez vous couchez avec moi ce soir?" - the only bit of French my addled brain could come up with - and it did this to it:

"Want put to bed you with me tonight?"

They really really want you to pay for it, don't they?

WSM, could you risk just sending cash through the post? If you're going to lose most of it in bank charges anyway?

Hi all, only just got back from mum and toddler...

Thanks so much for all your help. I went with Emkarens suggestion as I seem to remember that she is a proper bona-fide German person .

JanH, she is paying me, not the other way around

Mm, sorry, WSM, I put that badly! Could you risk her sending you the cash (euros or £?

Oh - just reread my post - the third bit ("they really want you to pay for it" was referring to the translation website - you can get crap translations free or proper ones if you pay!

...

TWO accidental winkies!