h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

To say that he invented alienation techniques is maybe a little general? Its uncanny if you ever read anything written by certain ancient Greek thesps - some of them spout exactly the same theories. I think one guy was called Piscator, but I may be wrong.

Has anyone ever told yo the German translation of Creme-Fraiche?

Entschuldigung mir, bitte, aber is it Quark, by any chance? One of the remaining benefits of two adolescent school exchange trips to Hofheim, Main-Taunus-Kreis is the odd snippet of German vocab.

I beg your pardon? Ich bin Auschlander und schprechen nicht gut Deutsch (That is, I expect, perfectly obvious by the probable appalling spelling - I learnt that in the form of a song whilst doing the conga round the playground as a child).

Also Auschländerin - your German's better than my German any day, Freund! Me only learnt French songs in playground, and those were limited to Frère Jacques! Tschüß for now!

How in Munich do you get all your wierd continental letters and umlouts ('scuse the spelling) and suchlike?

Hi Samson - If you're using an Apple computer, I'm not sure that these tips will apply. If you're using a standard WINTEL jobbie, this should work.

One of the Windows '95 Accessories (and probably also Win 3.1 & '98) is something called the Character Map. It shows you all of the 224 possible characters available for any of the fonts on your computer.

The Character Map is useful because not only does it show you all the European Characters, and let you copy & paste them into documents - BUT it also shows you the keystrokes you can use for non-QWERTY characters. For example, ü is Alt+0252 (on the Numeric Keypad).

Hope this helps!

Nice one Dandelion! All I have to do now is learn me a new language with some groovy letters - I was thinking Greek or Russian.

There is no German word for Creme Fraiche. You might want to translate it word by word, `frischer Rahm', but it does in no way mean the same thing. German `saure Sahne' (`sour cream') is what comes closest to Creme Fraiche, although `saure Sahne' has less fat.

Quark is definitely something else.

You get `Sahne' or `Rahm' (cream) by centrifugating the fat out of milk. By lactic acid fermentation it becomes `saure Sahne' or `Sauerrahm' (sour cream).

`Quark', (Curd? Cottage cheese?) on the other hand, is made from milk by acidification or, more commonly, by giving rennin (rennet?) to it, and removing the whey (`Molke', by the way).

Greetings from Germany, and thanks to `Meyers Enzyklopädisches Lexikon' and `Langenscheidts Enzyklopädisches Wörterbuch Deutsch-Englisch'.

All that is true! And if you once are in Germany or Austria and you want to have some Crême Fraîche ask for Crême Fraîche. Thats how we call it to. But if you want to lose weight buy "Saure Sahne" in Germany and "Saurer Rahm" in Austria!
Servus!

Piscator was indeed a primary force in alienation techniques, and Brecht borrowed quite a bit - but Erwin Piscator was not an ancient Greek thespian, rather, he was a European contemporary of Brecht whose work was far more politically marxist than that of Brecht.

FYI
Erwin Piscator --- not a Greek
1893-1966, German theatrical director and producer who, with Bertolt Brecht, was the foremost exponent of epic theater, a genre that emphasizes the sociopolitical context rather than the emotional content or aesthetics of the play. He worked experimentally in Berlin after 1919. As director of the Volksbühne (1924-27), and later at his own theater (on Nollendorfplatz), he produced social and political plays especially suited to his theories. His dramatic aims were utilitarian—to influence voters or clarify Communist policies. He used mechanized sets, lectures, movies, and mechanical devices that appealed to his audiences. In 1927 he produced a notable adaptation of a Czech novel (tr. The Good Soldier Schweik). Piscator went to the United States in 1939 and became director of the Dramatic Workshop and the Studio Theater, which he founded in New York City. He returned to Germany c.1958; he was appointed manager and director of the Volksbühne in West Berlin and received honors from the West German government for his contribution to the arts. His influence on European and American production methods was extensive. See C. D. Innes, Erwin Piscator's Political Theatre (1974).