franken-l - Nachricht 2007-09 00105

[W. Fred Rump <fredrump(a)gmail.com>]

Henry,
I certainly didn't want to get into the middle here but this is the
message you sent to Günther:

"Erfreut mit Ihrer Arbeit, kann ich dich bitten, vorwärts Abstieg
fortzusetzen die Kress Familie Linie, wenn du eine andere Anweisung
annehmen würdest. Aber uns diese erste Zahlung zu deiner Zufriedenheit
durchführen zuerst lassen."

He understood this to mean that you were happy with his work and
wished for him to continue. as he says below:

Für mich war das ein klarer Auftrag, die Forschung fortzusetzen, wenn
ich die Anweisung annehmen würde. Dies habe ich auch getan. Aber zu
meiner Beruhigung will er mir erst einen Scheck zukommen lassen.

Let me translate what your message seems to be saying: "I am happy
with your work and beg you to continue the research of the Kress
family line". Now, the word 'Abstieg' means to step down but it makes
no sense in the sentence. I think 'vorwärts' and 'fortzusetzen' is the
key here. They both mean to move on and go ahead. Then it says that
you will send a first payment to keep the researcher satisfied. The
assumption here is that there will be additional payments. Now, a
close examination might produce some other meaning but is the
recipient supposed to second guess what he seems to understand?

Apparently you did not mean to write what the program produced but it
did and you did send it. This is not the end of the world as only one
day was involved and Günthers fees certainly are more then reasonable.
I would suggest you compromise and send him half to make peace.

And be careful of automatic translations next time. They can produce
the opposite of your intent. This should be a good example for
everyone.

Fred




On 9/28/07, Henry Zenker <haze2(a)frontiernet.net> wrote:
> Fred,
>
> The translation program worked well. Perhaps it gets the message
> across in stilted German, but the message does get across. And my
> researcher full well understood that I had not given him the go ahead
> to do more research as the researcher asks me on 14 Sept. 2007, "Soll
> ich weiterforschen?" Shall I research further?  The next day I tell
> him no. The day after that the person sends me unwanted research and
> asks for payment.
>
> This is not a case, as you suggest, of me seeing his work and then
> stiffing the person because the results were disappointing. I did not
> want any more work because I came to the conclusion that the
> directions I gave the person, i.e., to go fast and glean as much as
> possible in one day, did not get good results. The research had a
> mother giving birth at 51, and a father in another part 14 years old.
> I do not fault the researcher for these anomalies, but my instruction
> to go fast. Thus, I did not see fit to continue research, and my
> basic goal was achieved, that is, to find out if my ancestors really
> came from Buhler and anything else that could be easily achieved in one day.
>
> And I reiterate, the person well understood my communication as the
> person asks clearly if research should continue. The best I can tell
> is that the person assumed I would continue and the person went ahead
> researching without my assent to do so, then finding their assumption
> to be incorrect fell further into error.
>
> This could have been handled much better by the other party, and now
> I have some research that I do not deserve, feel badly about, which
> has the same type of problems I describe above for which reason I did
> not want it in the first place.
>
> What more can I say?
>
> Sincerely,
> Henry Zenker
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Franken-L mailing list
> Franken-L(a)genealogy.net
> http://list.genealogy.net/mailman/listinfo/franken-l
>


-- 
Fred Rump,
730 5th St. NW Naples, FL 34120
fredrump(a)gmail.com
http://fredrump.phanfare.com
http://picasaweb.google.com/fredrump