Is there an english translation for Prien/Barbas/etc Books?

[Bogdan]

Can anyone tell me if there is an english translation for the famous history books written by Prien/Barbas/etc for JG 53, JG 77, 27 and JG 52? I mean the famous 3-4 volume books, not the 50-100 page editions.
I can hardly believe there is not any, since there may be so many just english speaking- people who might so far have been interested into them.
Thank you much in advance
Bogdan

[yogybär]

For many Prien books, there are english translations. I have all 3 JG53 books in english. If you like, contact me via PM for a deal, as I'd prefer to have the german version being a german guy.

[David P. Williams]

Hi Bogdan,

Try Schiffer Books, as they have published other Geschwader, such as JG 3 'Udet', good quality but a bit pricey.

All the best,

[John Manrho]

I believe only JG 53 (all 3 volumes) and two volumes (out of 4) of JG 3 (I./JG 3 and II./JG 3) are published in english by Schiffer. I never heard that the volumes of JG1/JG11, JG 27 or JG 77 were translated. Lucky enough I have them all in German which works fine with me. JG 52 is a Barbas book, not a Prien volume and also only in German.

cheers,

John

[Jim P.]

I have to say the question of 'English translations' of this or that book comes up often on this board - and I'm sure I'll get royally flamed for this response. Won't be the first time I've stepped in it. 2nd language education in the US sucks. Look at all these guys here from all over Europe and elsewhere where English is not their native language and how well they can converse in my/our language. I'm quite frankly in awe of them and applaud them. I took a semester or two of German when I first went to college some 30+ years ago. At the time we did a lot of weed and half the time when asked to respond to a query from the instructor I'd answer in my bad high-school French - really. It was not one of my better moments or grades. But as my interest in the Luftwaffe and other aspects of the continental air war grew it became obvious that to avail myself to the books, loss records, etc. I had to do the translation work, not somebody else. To this day if somebody asked me to recite some of this stuff out loud from these non-English sources it would sound like gibberish to the native speakers. But I can read most of it, at least with the help of a dictionary for German, French and the other romance languages. I can even figure out loss details in Finnish, some of the Eastern European languages and decipher some Japanese. Stop waiting for someone else to do it for you, get off your butt, buy a dictionary and work it out. It really isn't that difficult and if you're truly interested in this stuff it really is that bloody simple. End of speech.

[Norbert Schuchbauer]

Very well said Jim.

I do have an advantage but I totally agree with you Jim


Norbert

[FalkeEins]

Originally Posted by Jim P.

To this day if somebody asked me to recite some of this stuff out loud from these non-English sources it would sound like gibberish to the native speakers.

.. every thing is available on-line nowadays, even the dictionary.. it really is easy to improve or keep what knowledge you've got ticking over with the interactive language resources on the net - many with English/American tutors....check out the Deutsche Welle site at http://www.dw-world.de which has hundreds of video clips and podcasts on demand to suit all levels - scroll down to 'Learning German with podcasts' and there's a whole range of material to download.. Alltagsdeutsch, Top-Thema mit Vokabeln, Stichwort, Im Gespraech, Slow German, German Word Daily, guter Umgang etc etc. With i-Tunes software these can all be downloaded quickly and free of charge...

..if you have some background and want more formal instruction check out my friend Laura's German grammar pod...the lovely Laura will talk you through verbs, tenses, cases

http://germangrammarpod.blogspot.com/

http://german.about.com is also worth checking out ..their aerospace glossary is here http://german.about.com/library/blraumf.htm

..it'll be a while before you can read everything our favourite German authors have written - some of the longest sentences known to mankind - but it'll come....

http://members.aol.com/falkeeins