Hi, I have the feeling this is a stupid question, but better to ask for advice now than to show up at the railway station with the wrong idea. I'm booking an overnight 3-person sleeper from Vienna to Florence for my adult family group: two men, one woman. Everything works out fine on the OBB website, but at some point, it switched over into German from English, and I've been using both Google Translate and travel forums to make sure I understand all the terminology. But I can't figure out this bit: quote: Abteilart Wird nicht das gesamte Abteil gebucht, so ist eine Geschlechtertrennung zwingend vorgesehen Google Translate gives me: quote: Abteilart Not the entire compartment is booked,
it is a system of segregation made ??mandatory and then the options I get are: "Herr" and "Dame", presumably "male" and "female." Now, does this mean, "If" the entire compartment is not booked? And why can't the system see that the entire compartment is booked, since it notes that I'm reserving a "Schlafwagen 3er"? I guess I need to pick one or the other to proceed, or can I leave it unselected? It doesn't seem to me possible that there is no family sleeping on the train, but I need to be sure of all the details before making the booking. Thanks for any suggestions you can give. I'm now reaping the fruits of not studying and thus failing German 101. ;-) Eileen
Posted by
Seattle, WA
17454 posts
This is the trouble with Google translation-the subtlety is missing. The "wired niche" is conditional, meaning "if you don't" book the entire compartment, then men and women will be separated into sex-segrated compartments. Since you are booking the entire compartment, it won't be a problem. Edit: should read "wird nicht" not "wired niche". Blame autocorrect and poor proofreading.
Posted by
Lakewood, Colorado
19275 posts
Lola, "wired niche"? I think you mean "Wird nicht .." (Or shouldn't it be Wurde nicht ..") Anyway, I see this problem as procedural. What does she put down for gender, "Herr" or "Dame"? Or does she also have the option to just not put anything.
Posted by
Seattle, WA
17454 posts
Sorry, typing on myiPad and I didin't notice the auto-correct. Of course I meant "wird nicht" as written by the OP. And in this context it can be read as conditional tense, the short form. (Instead of "Wenn . . . nicht gebucht wurde....")
Posted by
San Francisco
14980 posts
Eileen, If you want to render the sentence as close as possible to the original German, you could say...."If the entire compartment is not booked, then a separation by sex is absolutely provided for." But you got the idea anyway from the above poster...good.
Posted by
OP
Edmonton
2 posts
Thanks so much for the answers! I guessed the problem was with my non-existent German!