A question about German language in the books.

[Eva]

Dear Patty,

thank you so much for writing such wonderful books! I love them all very much and hope you'll write many many more.

I'd love to offer my help in case you have any more German stuff in any of your books, because I'm German (even living in Germany) and a translator by profession. (You would not need to pay me anything though!) If you would like me to check anything or research something to do with Germany, for example in order to flesh out Zee's character more, please let me know. I'd be really happy if I could be of some help to one of my favorite authors.

Love,

Eva

[Mike Briggs]

Hey guys, Mike here.
Sorry, Patty's STILL slammed trying to get "Cry Wolf" edited to her liking (I'll try to post more about that on the Hurog.com home page today), and she's even further behind than usual with emails     

Patty made a "tactical error" with the German.  She has a bachelors degree in German, which she earned many years ago.  She majored in German because it was the first class she took that she didn't get an "A" in, and she was too stubborn to admit defeat.  Languages are really difficult to learn in a couple of hours a day of formal training, and most of the other students had spent months or years in Germany.  It says something about Patty that rather than giving up, she continued to take classes in a subject that didn't come naturally to her until she ended up getting a degree in it

However, even including only a few snippits of German, it's obvious that her skills are rusty -- she's gotten at least twenty letters (most of them very nice) from folks telling her her German is flawed, and many of them have offered to help.  She's actually taken one kind person up on the offer, a Gentleman named Michael Brock who is not only a native speaker but a history student with an emphasis on the history of German language.  All the German phrases from future books will be vetted by him.

By the way, here's a huge "THANK YOU" to everyone who took the time to inform us that the language was a problem, and another to those who offered their time and efforts to help.   The details make the difference between an OK book and a really good read, besides, it's just lazy not to get someone else's language correct!

[salzi]

Hi Mike,

that's cool, thank you!

cheers,
Götz

[Mike Briggs]

cool mike thanks for the update.  feel free to take me up on my offer for spanish help i am in herritage spanish where we learn about the history of the language too.  i really love the fact that patty mixes in languages.  good luck finishing everything up you guys 
Kiersten

Thanks for the offer Kiersten, we may take you up on it sometime.  Fortunately, I speak Spanish pretty fluently.  I used to live in Venezuela for a couple of years, and then I taught science in Spanish in the Tri-Cities.  I'm not as good as I once was (that's the story of my life!), but still good enough for simple phrases.   The cultural Spanish classes are wonderful -- the culture shapes the language, after all.   

Thanks again,
Mike

[Patty Briggs]

Mike's answer looks good to me -- although Michael, my German enabler not my husband, just read Iron Kissed and told me I missed sending him one -- and, of course, I got it wrong.  Which is why I am careful to say that all mistakes are my own! 
Best,
Patty