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German: umsteigen ... | ||
Tags: Meaning of words | German | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages |  | |
| montmorency Diglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4827 days ago 2371 posts - 3676 votes  Speaks: English*, German Studies: Danish, Welsh | Message 1 of 11 17 October 2012 at 10:42pm | IP Logged | ||
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I was booking a UK rail journey online the other day, and the summary part of the timetable referred to the number of "changes", and I wondered what the German word would be.
I assumed it would be some compound of "umsteigen", such as "Umsteigerungen" or just "Umsteigungen", but my dictionary didn't offer anything like that. I did a quick search for an imaginary journey on DB (not quite as user-friendly as I remember it, but perhaps my memory is faulty) and all I can see is "Umst." so I don't know what the full word is. Perhaps "Umsteigen" - making a noun from the Verb? (what would the plural be?) If you expand the timetable, they show the choice of "Verbindung(en)", i.e. connections, directly corresponding to the English. No further mention of "Umst." in any form. Thank you for any light thrown or offered. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Bao Diglot Senior Member Germany tinyurl.com/pe4kqe5 Joined 5765 days ago 2256 posts - 4046 votes Speaks: German*, English Studies: French, Spanish, Japanese, Mandarin | Message 2 of 11 17 October 2012 at 10:59pm | IP Logged | ||
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Umstieg (m)
the station is called Umsteigebahnhof (m) but that's official language, in colloquial language I'd say 'ich muss n-mal umsteigen' (einmal, zweimal etc.) 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Spinchäeb Ape Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 4469 days ago 146 posts - 180 votes Speaks: English*, German | Message 3 of 11 18 October 2012 at 11:54am | IP Logged | ||
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Also look for the term "gleich umsteigen" when traveling by rail. It means you change trains at a station and when you do, your new train is on the track immediately parallel to the one you just got off of. One time I needed to translate at the train station in Germany for some Americans when the man at the station didn't know English. I didn't have a good English equivalent to "gleich umsteigen" and had to say something really awkward like, "change trains to the immediately parallel track."
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| Josquin Heptaglot Senior Member Germany Joined 4843 days ago 2266 posts - 3992 votes Speaks: German*, English, French, Latin, Italian, Russian, Swedish Studies: Japanese, Irish, Portuguese, Persian | Message 4 of 11 18 October 2012 at 9:39pm | IP Logged | ||
This idiom does not exist. "Sie können gleich umsteigen" simply means "You can change trains directly". By the way, "Umsteigerung" would be derived from the hypothetical verb *umsteigern. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Spinchäeb Ape Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 4469 days ago 146 posts - 180 votes Speaks: English*, German | Message 5 of 11 18 October 2012 at 11:02pm | IP Logged | ||
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"Gleich umsteigen" is said every day in every train station in Germany. I'm not sure what you mean when you say it doesn't exist. Did you mean it's not a noun? It's not that. It's used as a verbal phrase.
We don't have anything equivalent in English. "Change trains directly" doesn't convey the meaning. If that were said to an American tourist in Germany, he or she would not know to expect the train to be on the parallel track to the one he just got off. Edited by Spinchäeb Ape on 18 October 2012 at 11:03pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Bao Diglot Senior Member Germany tinyurl.com/pe4kqe5 Joined 5765 days ago 2256 posts - 4046 votes Speaks: German*, English Studies: French, Spanish, Japanese, Mandarin | Message 6 of 11 18 October 2012 at 11:35pm | IP Logged | ||
I can't recall having heard it ever before. What they do say in the announcements is something like "der Zug nach Aachen fährt auf Gleis 6, am gleichen Bahnsteig gegenüber". 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Spinchäeb Ape Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 4469 days ago 146 posts - 180 votes Speaks: English*, German | Message 7 of 11 19 October 2012 at 3:39am | IP Logged | ||
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I didn't typically hear that expression over the PA. It was usually when getting directions from en employee of the Deutsche Bundesbahn, something like, "... und dann in Heidelberg gleich umsteigen." If he used that word "gleich" I always knew I didn't have to go looking for my connection. My next train would always be on the track parallel to the old one. If he had only said "umsteigen," then I needed to make sure I knew the track number of my connection.
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| Josquin Heptaglot Senior Member Germany Joined 4843 days ago 2266 posts - 3992 votes Speaks: German*, English, French, Latin, Italian, Russian, Swedish Studies: Japanese, Irish, Portuguese, Persian | Message 8 of 11 19 October 2012 at 9:24am | IP Logged | ||
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This seems to be your individual experience. "Gleich umsteigen" doesn't convey the meaning that the train is standing on the same platform. I go by train regularly and I have never heard it being used in this way.
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