Language Assistance?

[SBRPearce]

Given the international population of the board, could someone offer suggestions on the proper German translation for the phrase "Airship Marines"? I don't trust Google.Translate.

Thanks

[Westfalia Chris]

Given the international population of the board, could someone offer suggestions on the proper German translation for the phrase "Airship Marines"? I don't trust Google.Translate.

Thanks

Several options, I guess.

The most straightforward would be "Luftschiff-Marineinfanterist". A more "period" version would be "Luftschiff-Marinir" ("Marinir" being a 19th-century term analogous to "Pionier", "Grenadier" and "Musketier" and used for the German naval infantry, as in "Kaiserliches Marinirkorps").

Another option would be to use "Seesoldat" in conjunction with your chosen term for airship (which translates somewhat to "naval soldier", or "naval trooper"). This was used from the early 20th century on, when the Naval infantry came to be called "Seebataillon" ("Naval Battalion").

If you do not want to use "Luftschiff" for airship, "Zeppelin" would be fine colloquially, if not in a "military bureaucracy" way.

So, to sum up:

Luftschiff-Marineinfanterist
Luftschiff-Marinir
Luftschiff-Seesoldat

Zeppelin-Marineinfanterist
Zeppelin-Marinir
Zeppelin-Seesoldat

Hope that's useful!

[Cherno]

Why are they called Marines anyway when they operate from an aircraft?

[commissarmoody]

Why are they called Marines anyway when they operate from an aircraft?

You know, I was thinking the same Lufthansa. Just call them luft grenaders or battalion and call it a day.

[Westfalia Chris]

Why are they called Marines anyway when they operate from an aircraft?

I guess it's fair game since airships are not, strictly speaking, aircraft, as by definition they don't 'fly' but rather 'float' (getting into a bit of a linguistic fix here myself, but in German it's 'Luftschiffe fliegen nicht, sie fahren'). Also, a vast proportion of German airships in WW1 were operated by the navy rather than the army.

[Drachenklinge]

a small addition:

"Luft Enter Kommando" would be a more or less completely invented version, combined from Air (Luft), Enter (to attack/enter a ship, same word in German) and ... well ... commando, but also a very robust one.

So, "Luftenterkommando" even does have a nice abbreviation: LEK.
Maybe Luftentertruppen or Luftenterkommandotruppen might work, too. Please mind, in German it is not unusual to put togehter words in such cases.
So, this goes on with Luftenter-Einheiten (units), Luftenter-Waffen (Armory), Luftenter-Offizier (LEO might make a nice sign on the office ^^), etc.

But, to me "Luftschiff-Seesoldat" would be the best "official" translation, too, though it is very "holperig" 

best wishes
DK

[abdul666lw]

Airborne = Luft  
What about Jäger (= Jaeger) 'Chasseurs' as in Fallschirmjäger (parachutists) if they are also intended to land?
Boarding = Entern
-> Luftenternjaeger  LEJ
Or
Storm troops = Sturmtruppen
 Luftsturmtruppen.       LST

Combined:  Luftsturmjaeger?    LSJ

My extremely limited German does not allow me to justify LSD
(Dragoner Dragoons Luftsturmdragoner is really far-fetched)

[Drachenklinge]

well, speaking of ... "Luftlandetruppen" (from "Luft"/Air, "Lande"/Landing) and "Truppen"/troups) would be a regular term, too.  I guess, these are something like parachuters ...

It really comes down to how inventive you want to be and can be with the term, finally. In that case German is very flexible, actually.

best wishes
DK