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WW1 Belgians with St. Chamond Mortar
- Thread starter Gspragge
- Start date
Hi Gspragge,
I have tried the exercise and it is not easy. It's Flemish dialect. The author is not used to literature, he writes everything one after the other without points or commas. Some words are incomprehensible to me, I replaced them with a question mark in parentheses.
I first translated into French (my mother language) and then into English with the help of Google Translate. It seems to me that the translation is more or less correct and understandable.
"[FONT=&]Once on Sunday from 1 a.m. until 9 a.m., so it's not bad (???) and it's always near a small fire (?) About that I have nothing to complain about. Now I also received a small card from Julia and Madeleine and they both write to me if I did not know where Fineken was with the boat they write to me that they have not heard from you (?) I wrote to Julia that she must have hit you a little on the head that I too had to wait a long time for news from here I don't have much to write that I would like to be on Christmas leave think -you it would be good if I succeeded[/FONT]
[FONT=&]My best wishes and compliments to Ma and Pade your beloved and groom Honoré"
Yoda[/FONT]
I have tried the exercise and it is not easy. It's Flemish dialect. The author is not used to literature, he writes everything one after the other without points or commas. Some words are incomprehensible to me, I replaced them with a question mark in parentheses.
I first translated into French (my mother language) and then into English with the help of Google Translate. It seems to me that the translation is more or less correct and understandable.
"[FONT=&]Once on Sunday from 1 a.m. until 9 a.m., so it's not bad (???) and it's always near a small fire (?) About that I have nothing to complain about. Now I also received a small card from Julia and Madeleine and they both write to me if I did not know where Fineken was with the boat they write to me that they have not heard from you (?) I wrote to Julia that she must have hit you a little on the head that I too had to wait a long time for news from here I don't have much to write that I would like to be on Christmas leave think -you it would be good if I succeeded[/FONT]
[FONT=&]My best wishes and compliments to Ma and Pade your beloved and groom Honoré"
Yoda[/FONT]
Last edited:
I decided to look into this too , my translation is very similar to what yoda writes.
Flemish corrected :
Eens den zondag van 1 tot 9 uur , zo dat is niet slecht niet waar Soephea (?).
En het is altijd bij een warm vuurtje , enfin , daarover heb ik niet te klagen.
Nu heb ik ook nog een kaartje van Julia en Madeleine ontvangen.
Zij schreven mij alle twee of ik niet wist waar bineken/lineken/fineken (?) met het schip.
Bleef zij schrijven mij dat zij van u niet meer wisten te spreken. Oefeen (enfin?)
Ik heb geschreven aan Julia dat zij u maar wat op uw hoofd moest geven dat ik ook lang genoeg om nieuws heb moeten wachten.
Nu liefste schat nieuws van hier weet ik al niet te schrijven als dat ik in congé zou willen komen met Kerstdag wat denkt gij daar van ? Zou dat goed zijn als ik dat kan bekomen?
Nu al mijne beste groeten en complimenten aan Ma en Pa van uwen beminden en getrouwd . Honoré
English translation :
On sunday from 1 till 9 o’clock. That isn’t all that bad , or is it Soephea (?) ?
Also , always near a fire that is nice and hot , oh well , nothing to complain about in that regard.
Now I also received a card from Julia and Madeleine.
They both wrote me to ask me if I knew where bineken/lineken/fineken (?) with the ship/boat.
She continued in her letter she had written to me about how she couldn’t stand to hear or speak a word about you anymore. Oh well ,
I wrote to Julia that she should just tap/hit you on the head and that I also had to wait plenty long until I heard anything.
Now , my dear , I don’t know what news from here I must write to you , but if I could get a day off to come by you on Christmas day , what do you think? Would u like that? If I can get that day off that is.
For now all my best regards and compliments to Mom and Dad. From your beloved husband. Honoré
The part about the ship or boat could be a reference as in ‘Waar het schip strandt’ or in English something like ‘Where the ball lands’ or something. Meaning in this context that they are unsure where or when the situation will be over and what the result will be. This however is just an idea , I could very well be wrong.
I added the image again & marked in yellow which words seemed vague or unclear to me. Hope this helps!
Flemish corrected :
Eens den zondag van 1 tot 9 uur , zo dat is niet slecht niet waar Soephea (?).
En het is altijd bij een warm vuurtje , enfin , daarover heb ik niet te klagen.
Nu heb ik ook nog een kaartje van Julia en Madeleine ontvangen.
Zij schreven mij alle twee of ik niet wist waar bineken/lineken/fineken (?) met het schip.
Bleef zij schrijven mij dat zij van u niet meer wisten te spreken. Oefeen (enfin?)
Ik heb geschreven aan Julia dat zij u maar wat op uw hoofd moest geven dat ik ook lang genoeg om nieuws heb moeten wachten.
Nu liefste schat nieuws van hier weet ik al niet te schrijven als dat ik in congé zou willen komen met Kerstdag wat denkt gij daar van ? Zou dat goed zijn als ik dat kan bekomen?
Nu al mijne beste groeten en complimenten aan Ma en Pa van uwen beminden en getrouwd . Honoré
English translation :
On sunday from 1 till 9 o’clock. That isn’t all that bad , or is it Soephea (?) ?
Also , always near a fire that is nice and hot , oh well , nothing to complain about in that regard.
Now I also received a card from Julia and Madeleine.
They both wrote me to ask me if I knew where bineken/lineken/fineken (?) with the ship/boat.
She continued in her letter she had written to me about how she couldn’t stand to hear or speak a word about you anymore. Oh well ,
I wrote to Julia that she should just tap/hit you on the head and that I also had to wait plenty long until I heard anything.
Now , my dear , I don’t know what news from here I must write to you , but if I could get a day off to come by you on Christmas day , what do you think? Would u like that? If I can get that day off that is.
For now all my best regards and compliments to Mom and Dad. From your beloved husband. Honoré
The part about the ship or boat could be a reference as in ‘Waar het schip strandt’ or in English something like ‘Where the ball lands’ or something. Meaning in this context that they are unsure where or when the situation will be over and what the result will be. This however is just an idea , I could very well be wrong.
I added the image again & marked in yellow which words seemed vague or unclear to me. Hope this helps!
Mortier Delattre - St-Chaumond 142mm , seven stringed metal tubes are placed inside of it with a wooden center piece holding it together. Can also be used to fire one single mortar.
Apparantly the Belgians weren’t very fond to use it as it was pretty dangerous to use to say the least.
Apparantly the Belgians weren’t very fond to use it as it was pretty dangerous to use to say the least.