OK, what IS he saying?

[K.A. Miles]

Alrighty, here's a question for all you German speakers. What exactly is the German guy saying on the CMBB .wav file #00032005? The reason I ask, is because I set that sound file to play whenever a new email arrives on my computer.

Just curious, seeing as I'm going to be hearing it alot!

[PseudoSimonds]

I think it's "Achtung. Unten bleiben." which means something like "Watch out. Stay down." or sumfink.

[K.A. Miles]

I thought "Achtung" meant "Attention"? I guess "watch out", or "be alert" could sorta be the same thing.

I picked this file, because I could actually recognize one of the words.... and it sounded very German.

[K.A. Miles]

Oh, and thanks, Pseudo, for the German wording! I went to a free online German-English translator, and this is what it gave me:

"Attention. Below remain."

Does that sound about right?

[Yskonyn]

It's just a call for cover. Like: "Stay Down!".

[tankibanki]

Gotta love those online translators.

Yea, the German words are correct and so is the first translation.

On the one hand, "Achtung" means attention in formal military orders, but in this case it means "Watch out".

[K.A. Miles]

OK, thanks Tankibanki, and thanks everyone else! Now I know what he's saying, so when my Mom asks: "What is your computer TALKING about in there???" I'll know the answer.

[flamingknives]

Just don't ask for the Russian translations. They're a bit... fruity.

[RockinHarry]

Originally posted by PseudoSimonds:

I think it's "Achtung. Unten bleiben." which means something like "Watch out. Stay down." or sumfink.

Official confirmation from german native speaker. "Watch out! Stay down." would be the most appropiate translation.

"Attention!" as said is normally used as order to demand attention (to wait for a command) or salute the CO ect.

"Achtung!" in the above case (and in the context with "Unten bleiben") means pointing your comrades to a possible danger (approaching enemy, incoming fire ect.)

Interestingly enough, I checked my german training regulations and found the "official" command for the mentioned case would rather be "Volle Deckung" which means "(take) full cover"! Another alternative would be "Hinlegen!" (lay down). Officially there is no "Unten bleiben!" (Stay down) in german squad command language as it is assumed that after "Hinlegen!" and "Volle Deckung!" the german Landser would "Stay down" anyway, UNLESS given another command to do an action like "Stellung! Feuer frei" (prepare for shooting and engage designated target) or any move command. However the game has alternative files for the sound clues and "Achtung! Unten bleiben!" alternates with above mentioned "Volle Deckung!" anyway.

To cease fire a "Stopfen!" command ( file 00031400.wav) is given, followed by a "Volle Deckung!" (file 00031707.wav) (see above) normally.

That´s just a few examples out of "Heeresdruckvorschrift 130/2a" (the basic training regulation/manual for the german infantryman).

Now the main point in Combat mission is that the various sound files are rather meant as game clue, to tell you about what the unit is doing at the moment (or what it intends to do), as well as about unit state changes! So while the above "Achtung! Unten bleiben! command did not exist in reality, it is rather meant to tell you that the state of the unit just changed to the worse. Same goes for most of the other Hollywood style stuff like "Die bringen uns alle um!" (they kill us all), when a unit is panicking ect. The alternative sound stuff is just to provide variety and to provide some more human touches.

One really should learn all these game clues, which isn´t all that difficult since every audio clue in the game has its counterpart in the other nations files. "Achtung! Unten bleiben!" starts with file 00032000.wav and the alternatives end with 00032011.wav.

For italians the same files would be 00062000.wav to 00062005.wav

For russkies files 00082000.wav to 00082007.wav

Though I don´t understand russian language, I appear to "Hear" something like "Watch out" and "Take cover" or something.

I checked my original german landser dictionary (german-russian) and found "Hinlegen!" (take cover/lay down) to be"lashissj"

German language files 00032900.wav to 00032909.wav all include demands the enemy to surrender (Waffen fallen lassen=lay arms down, Hände hoch=hands up, ect.) If you check the corresponding russian language files (00082900.wav to 00082908.wav) you´ll find the infamous (to germans) "ruki w_wjärch".

Some technical issue with various speech sound files is that there´s many that have more of that "indoor" sound touch, caused by not using a correct recording environment (damping of rooms!) during speech recording. Apparently the different speakers recorded in different environments. Most files are ok though and with full sound=on in the game, you probably won´t notice the indoor effects at all.

[General Bolt]

Originally posted by K.A. Miles:

Oh, and thanks, Pseudo, for the German wording! I went to a free online German-English translator, and this is what it gave me:

"Attention. Below remain."

Does that sound about right?

Sounds fine to me.

"Below Remain" is the correct translation. It is a well known fact many of the Naazi were occultists. When a battle went bad they would conjur up the demons. At the point in the battle where you heard this response the battle was probably going OK for the Naazis. Thus they were requsesting the evil spirits to "BELOW REMAIN". ...