• @[email protected]
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    fedilink
    132 days ago

    American here who studied German for eight years, graduated with a minor in German, and lived there for one year:

    I’m not sure how to properly translate this children’s book.

    The long word breaks into easily-understood pieces:

    “help-ability-extinguish-group-travel-thing”

    But in order to get a proper concept back out of it you need to know what order the pieces go together in and I don’t know that.

    travel-thing is a vehicle.

    help-ability is emergency services

    Beyond that I have to guess — Is group-travel-thing a crew vehicle, making this a crew vehicle for extinguishing?

    Or maybe extinguish-group is a fire crew and this is a vehicle for fire crews?

    Either way I feel like the author is using a lot more word-parts than they should have to for what is (clearly in the picture) better described as a pump truck.

    • @[email protected]
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      fedilink
      172 days ago

      I had to look it up, it’s the technical term for a certain firefighting vehicle.

      In particular, what distinguishes it from a normal crew firefighting vehicle (Löschgruppenfahrzeug) is its equipment for “Technische Hilfeleistung” (technical help-providing) which basically means it carries equipment beyond basic extinguishing agents. If you’re physically stuck in your car after a crash, a Hilfeleistungslöschgruppenfahrzeug has to arrive to cut open the doors.

      A Hilfeleistungslöschgruppenfahrzeug

      A (small) Löschgruppenfahrzeug. Note that it only contains firefighting equipment.

    • @Jesus_666
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      172 days ago

      No, that’s actually the official term for a very specific type of vehicle. It’s a hybrid between a Löschgruppenfahrzeug (a multipurpose firefighting vehicle) and a Rüstwagen (which carries equipment for light non-firefighting purposes).

      People who actually deal with them just say “HLF”.

        • @Jesus_666
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          52 days ago

          Full disclosure to avoid claiming false valor: I’m not a firefighter; my girlfriend used to work for a special purpose vehicle company.