Horne / Robinson A Basic Vocabulary of Scientific and Technological German

The Commonwealth and International Library of Science Technology Engineering and Liberal Studies
1. Auflage 2013
ISBN: 978-1-4831-3702-5
Verlag: Elsevier Science & Techn.
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: Adobe DRM (»Systemvoraussetzungen)

E-Book, Englisch, 386 Seiten

A Basic Vocabulary of Scientific and Technological German is a collection of common scientific and technological terms used in many fields in science, commerce, and industry. This book provides the most commonly used German terms and words in the applied and pure sciences, such as anatomy and physiology, and in commerce and industry. The author explains German grammar particularly as it is used in modern scientific and research papers. He introduces the concept of separable and inseparable compounds and explains sample uses. Like in English, he also explains how words are compounded and constructed in the German language. German punctuation is also noted. The book discusses irregular verbs that can be grouped into 14 sections. A particular section that can prove useful is a list of abbreviations and their meanings as these are used in German scientific and technical papers. A dictionary, a table of irregular verbs, and other conversion tables are available at the end of this book. This collection can be immensely useful for translators, librarians, researchers in science, students learning German, as well as foreign people conducting business and government affairs in Germany.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Horne, J.

Robinson, Robert

Leseproben

NOTE ON COMPOUND VERBS

German compound words, especially verbs, deserve a special introductory note, for they abound in modern scientific and technical prose. For practical purposes we distinguish, for recognition and analysis, Separable and Inseparable Compounds.

1.  are made up by verb roots and most and

(a)  to arrive ich komme im Laboratorium write down ich schreibe die Formel to go away ich gehe um drei Uhr

(b)  ankommen, aufschreiben, weggehen

(c)  with the syllable ge being interpolated : angekommen, aufgeschrieben, weggegangen

(d)  if he arrives, when he arrives since I write down the formula that I leave (go away) punctually

2.  All inseparable compounds have the accent on the verb root syllable, never on the prefix.

Inseparable compound verbs are made up with only a few prepositions, easily memorized, and in most cases with which are never found on their own. These are so strongly linked with their verbs that in many cases the uncompounded, simple forms have died out in modern use. These prefixes, while having no distinct meanings, confer an idea, a “flavour”, often a degree of intensity, on the verb so compounded :

denotes a beginning action :

to wake to wake up

to gaze to catch sight of

to know to recognize

denotes separation or development from a point:

to remove

to escape

to empty

to unfold, develop

before f.:

to recommend

to receive

(cf. English believe, beset, behave) denotes a concrete meaning from a general one and enables a verb to take a direct object:

to speak to discuss

to seek to visit

to act to treat

-can confer various “meanings”:

(a) Completion or excessive action:

to change

to manufacture

to shed, spill

to rejuvenate

(b) Destruction :

to pale, die

to wither

to bleed to death

to thirst, pine, die of thirst

(c) Sometimes a weak-ended “vor”:

to curtsey …

to confer

to displace, pawn, move

to distribute

(d) Helps to make up “officially emphatic” and pompous-sounding words:

to cause, make someone act

to illustrate, make clear

confers the idea of “extreme” action, usually destructive:

to break to crush, smash

to spring to burst, explode

to tread, step to crush by treading on

(pl.) to shatter

forms new verbs from existing ones, usually intensifying the existing meaning:

to need to use, utilize

to freeze to freeze solid

to hear to belong to

to flow, run to congeal, coagulate, clot

to stand to confess, admit, own up to

(cf. Engl. ) denotes something wrong or amiss:

to respect to ignore, show disrespect

to need to abuse, make bad use of

to act to illtreat, mishandle

to understand to misunderstand

Since also separable compounds exist with the same prepositions, care must be taken, since meanings vary and so does the accent:

(accent on preposition)

to burn through

to lag behind

to go to the rear

to leave behind one

(accent on verb)

to bolt, decamp

to survive

to cheat, defraud

to leave, bequeath

to negotiate

to occur

to dare

to accomplish

to execute, carry out

to refute

to counsel against

to contradict

to do someone’s will, obey

Also: to credit

It may help to remember that in cases where the prepositions durch, um, über, unter appear as prefixes with emphasis of the place they express, the verb is separable:

get (by force), but: to penetrate, permeate

to pour but: to cover, glaze, etc.

to cross row but: to translate, transfer

to wind round, ensnare, but: to embrace

These are treated as

to pay heed, attention

to request

to fix ( firm), determine

to guarantee ( warrant)

to write to one’s credit, credit

to return ( home)

to mislead ( astray)

to let go ( loose, free)

to stand up

to take

to take

to esteem ( worth)

to come again, return

to do one’s will, grant someone a wish

(), to see again: Separable (fetch again), to repeat: Inseparable

Brief Note on Prepositions

The best way to memorize them is with...