From: ju8025@csc.albany.edu (Johannes Ullrich)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.german
Subject: FAQ: soc.culture.german Ver. 0.999999
Date: 10 Nov 92 18:47:03 GMT
Article-I.D.: fasolt.JU8025.92Nov10104703
Distribution: soc
Organization: State University of New York at Albany


Dies ist die erste FAQ welche ich hier in soc.culture.german poste. Wenn zu
viele Leser Probleme mit Englisch haben (speziell mit meinem Englisch), werde
ich darueber nachdenken, dass ganze auch in deutsch zu veroeffentlichen.
Im wesentlichen bin ich aber der Meinung dass es in soc.culture.german mehr
Leser gibt welche Englisch sprechen als solche welche deutsch lesen/schreiben.

This is the first FAQ I am posting to soc.culture.german. Take it as
first try and send me your comments. In the future I will post this FAQ
(updated) about once a month. If it becomes to large I will post only those
parts which have changed (special the Questions - Answer part needs to be
expanded).

An other possiblity might be to include a list of "Net-Experts" for special
topics. Like some american who worked in germany and is able to give tips to
people who want to do the same.

Until now I will post this FAQ only in english. I am aware that there are
some people reading soc.culture.german who might have trouble with reading
english. My first language is german. I ask everybody to excuse abuse of the
english language found here.

                **************************************
		*                                    *
		*     FAQ for SOC.CULTURE.GERMAN     *
		*                                    *
		**************************************


CONTENS
-------

1	Introduction

2	Mail Order

2.1     Bookstores
2.2     News Papers
2.3     Videotapes, Audiotapes

3	Addresses of Embassies/Consulates

4	Deutsche Welle (shortwave radio)

5	Goethe Institutes

6	E-mail to germany

7       Misc. Addresses

8       How to write Umlaute in soc.culture.german

9       FTP sites of dictionaries

10       Questions and Answers


        - What have I to take care off if I buy electronic equ. in the 
          US and bring it to germany

        - How about phones? Work american phones in germany?






1 INTRODUCTION
--------------

This posting contains answers to frequently answered questions in
soc.culture.german. The answers are neither complete nor prooven.
All information in this postion is free and everybody should feel
encouraged to distribute it.

Please check first this posting before you ask a question in soc.
culture.german.

Input to this list is allways welcome. Please refer to
	ju8025@csc.albany.edu or ju8025@albanyvms.bitnet
if you have questions about the FAQ.

The FAQ was prepared by collecting different postings and e-mail
msgs.

	
Special thanks to:

Jennifer Dodd, jdodd@carson.u.washington.edu
Ed Lieser, ASTRO::LIESER@cs.hh.ab.com
David Weisberger, djweisbe@unix.amhers.edu

--------------------------------------------------------- page 2

2 MAIL ORDER
------------

Here you find some addresses of mail order stores which sell
books or tapes in german or about germany. This list is not based on any
experience which this bookstores.

I don't want to enclude any recommendations. But any comments
about credit card policies and things like that are welcome.

2.1 BOOK STORES

    Mary S. Rosenberg, Inc.
    1841 Broadway
    New York, NY 10023
    Tel: (212) 307-7733; Fax: (718) 857-7163
       Mail order, but no credit cards!  However, checks do not need
       to clear your bank before they send merchandise.

    Schoenhof's Foreign Books
    76A Mount Auburn Street
    Cambridge, MA  02138
    Tel: (617) 547-8855; Fax: (617) 547-8551
       Accept Visa, MC, and Amex.  
       French, German, Italian, and Spanish books

    Adler's Foreign Books, Inc.
    915 Foster Street
    Evanston, Illinois 60201
    Tel: 1-800-ADLERS-1
       Accepts major credit cards,
       no current catalog!

    International Book Import Service, Inc.
    2995 Wall Triana Highway, Suite B4
    Huntsville, Alabama 35824-1532

    Continental Book Company
    80-00 Cooper Avenue
    Bldg. #29
    Glendale, NY 11385

    MAIL ORDER KAISER
    Postfach 401209
    8000 Muenchen 40
    Germany
    Tel: (089) 362001
       Mail order Bookstore in Germany
       Delivery worldwide at german domestic prices.
       Monthly newsletters.
 
    ATS (Associated Technical Services)
    855 Bloomfield Ave.
    Glen Ridge, NJ 07028
       Technical Dictionaries

2.2 Newspapers

    Deutschland Informationen/The Week in Germany

    The German Information Center
    950 Thrid Ave.
    New York NY
    10022 
    phone: (212) 888-9840
    

    Der Spiegel

    German Language Publications, Inc.
    153 South Dean Street
    Englewood NJ
    07631
       published weekly, subscription price for the USA is $280
       per annum

    ZEIT

    (? address ?)

       The Zeit is availeble either via air mail or as international
       edition via surface mail out of canada. The international
       edition is much cheaper but contains less pages.

    The German Tribune

    The German Tribune
    c/o Mass Mailings, Inc.
    540 West 24th Street
    New York, NY
    10011
        in english, about $100 for one year.

    
    Other Addresses

    German News Co., Inc.
    220 East 86th Street
    New York, NY 100028
    Tel: (212) 288-5500

    GLP International
    P.O. Box 9868
    Englewood, New Jersey 07631-1123
    Tel: (212) 736-7455 or (201) 871-1010

2.3 Tapes
 
    VIDEO:

    German Language Video Center
    7625-27 Pendleton Pike
    Indianapolis, Indiana 46226
    Tel: (317) 547-1257
       free catalog

    AUDIO:

    The Olivia and Hill Press
    P.O. Box 7396
    Ann Arbor, Michigan 48107
    Tel: (313) 663-0235; Fax: (313) 663-6590

       Selection of German cassette recordings of novels, plays,
       and radio plays, e.g. Duerrenmatt's "Der Richter und sein
       Henker".  Free catalog.

    Schau ins Land
    P.O. Box 158067
    Nashville, TN 37215-8067
    Tel: 1-800-824-0829

       Monthly audio magazine of news, stories, music, etc.  Comes
       with a written transcription including a vocabulary glossary.
       Approx. $120/yr. in U.S.
    
3. Addresses of Consulates/Embassies

   Consulate General of the
   Federal Republic of Germany
   One Union Square, Suite 2500
   600 University Street
   Seattle, WA 98101

   The German Embassy
   4645 Reservoir Road NW
   Washington, DC  20007   

   Consulate General of the FRD
   2100 Edison Plaza
   660 Plaza Drive
   Detroit, MI 48226-1849
   Tel: (313) 962-6526; Fax: (313) 962-7345

   Consulate General of the Federal Republic of Germany
   460 Park Ave.
   New York, NY
   Tel: (212) 940-9200

4. Shortwave Radio

The official german shortwave station is the "Deutsche Welle". It broadcasts
worldwide in a variety of languages. To get a monthly free schedule write to

   Deutsche Welle
   Postfach 100444
   5000 Koeln 1
   Germany

The Deutsche Welle also braodcasts TV by using INTELSAT.
You are able to receive INTELSAT with special equipment like a satelite dish
all over the US (Alaska??) in NTSC Norm. Write to the mentioned address to
get more information.

5. Goethe Institue

Goethe Institute are funded by the german government to display german culture
in foreign countries. They offer exhebitions, movies and german classes.
Here some phonenumbers to get more informations:

   Ann Arbor       (313) 996-8600
   Atlanta         (404) 892-2388
   Boston          (617) 262-6050
   Chicago         (312) 329-0915
   Cincinnati      (513) 721-2777
   Houson          (713) 528-2787
   Los Angeles     (213) 854-0993
   New York        (212) 439-8700
   San Francisco   (415) 391-0370
   Seattle         (206) 622-9694
   St. Louis       (314) 367-2452
   Washington D.C. (202) 319-0702
   Montreal        (514) 499-0159
   Toronto         (416) 924-3327
   Vancouver       (604) 732-3966
   Kyoto           75/761218-889
   Osaka           6/3413051-53
   Tokyo           3/35843201

7. Misc. Addresses

    Representative of German Industry and Trade
    One Farragut Square South
    Washington, D.C. 20006
    Tel: (202) 347-0247

    Zentralstelle fuer Arbeitsvermittlung
    Feuerbachstrasse 42-46
    6000 Frankfurt/Main
    Fed. Rep. of Germany
    Tel: (01149) 69-71110; Fax: (01149) 69-7111555
This is an important address for people who want to work in germany.

    Association for International Practical Training (AIPT)
    217 American City Building
    Columbia, MD 21044-3492
    Tel: (301) 997-2200

    Chamber of Commerce

    The German - American
    Chamber of Commerce
    465 California Street, Suite 910
    San Francisco, CA  94104
    (415) 392-2262

    German-American Chamber of Commerce
    104 S. Michigan Ave. Suite 600
    Chicago, IL 60603-5978
    Tel: (312) 782-8557; (312) 641-6673

    German-American Chamber of Commerce
    909 Fannin Suite 3750
    Suite 3418
    Houston, TX 77010
    Tel: (713) 658-8230

    German-American Chamber of Commerce
    3250 Wilshire Blvd.
    Suite 1112
    Los Angeles, CA 90010
    Tel: (213) 381-2236; (213) 381-2237

    German-American Chamber of Commerce
    666 Fifth Avenue
    New York, NY 10103
    Tel: (212) 974-8830; (213) 582-7788

    German-American Chamber of Commerce
    Peachtree Center Harris Tower
    233 Peachtree Street NE
    Suite 2701
    Atlanta, GA 30303
    Tel: (404) 577-7228

This office has a listing  of the German companies in the US along with
their address that you can purchase.  The price varies according to how
detailed of a list you wish to have.

6. E-Mail to germany:

The usual Internet extension for german E-mail addresses is .de. Some private
networks are:

MAUSNET    full_name@XX.MAUS.DE        XX ist the Name of the Mailbox the
                                       person has an account

           example: Johannes_Ullrich@WUE.MAUS.DE

PCNET

BTX        BTX is a screen oriented network like Progidy in the US. It is
           operated by the federal german mail. There is no standard BITNET
           /INTERNET Gateway. But some private companies might offer a service
           like that.

TELEBOX    This is a mailbox system operated by the german federal mail.
           There are lots of Gateways.

Compuserve Compusevere has a node in germany.

FIDO       The FIDO Net has a german branch. They have nodes in severall big
           cities

Zerberus   A small net with gateways to bitnet.

...

8. How to write Umlaute

Like everybody might have seen there are different possibilities to write
Umlaute. There is no general accepted way to do this in soc.culture.german.
Once a while you will find hard fights about this topic in this group.

Here the two most common methods:


TELEX-Version   ae oe ue AE OE UE ss or sz
TEX  -Version   "a "o "u "A "O "O "s 

Please don't use the Umlaute if you have a german keyboard because they don't
get dispalyed right at other peoples terminals.


9. Dictionaries

German word lists and German-English dictionaries are available via
FTP from the following sites.  Many of the files are also available
elsewhere, so this list includes only what I believe are the most
current and complete sites.  Brief descriptions of the files follow.

FTP SITES:

At ftp.informatik.tu-muenchen.de in directory /pub/doc/dict :
-rw-r--r--  1 gruner   ftp         37070 Oct 19  1990 exercise.vok.Z
-rw-r--r--  1 hartl    ftp        761528 Aug 21  1991 german-wordlist.Z
-rw-rw-r--  1 stumpf   ftp        761910 Oct 23  1991 german-wordlist.new.Z
-rw-r--r--  1 bartel   staff      137591 May 13  1991 germanl.Z
-rw-r--r--  1 gruner   ftp         55447 Oct 19  1990 idioms.vok.Z
-rw-r--r--  1 gruner   ftp         11089 Oct 19  1990 technik.vok.Z

These files are mirrored at
   ftp.uni-kl.de in directory /pub2/packages/doc.tum/dict
and, of particular interest for people west of the Atlantic,
   arthur.cs.purdue.edu in directory /pub/pcert/dict/german/ftp.informatik.
                                                            tu-meunchen.de

At switek.uni-muenster.de in directory /pub/dict/german :
-rw-r--r--   1 stephan  all           186 Aug 17 11:39 German-English-Computer.dict.README
-rw-r--r--   1 stephan  all         45440 Aug 17 11:39 German-English-Computer.dict.v9.tar.Z
-rw-r--r--   1 stephan  all          1683 Aug 17 11:40 german-english.README
-rw-r--r--   1 stephan  all        102912 Aug 17 11:39 german-english.tar.Z
-rw-r--r--   1 stephan  all        761910 Aug 17 11:44 german-wordlist.new.Z
-rw-r--r--   1 stephan  all          6703 Aug 17 11:40 german.README.1st
-rw-r--r--   1 stephan  all        761919 Aug 17 11:58 german.ispell.Z
-rw-r--r--   1 stephan  all        137591 Aug 17 11:40 germanl.Z

A different version of german.english.tar.Z, called english-german.dic, is
available at
   reseq.regent.e-technik.tu-muenchen.de
     in the directory /physik.archive/mailserv.zdv.uni-tuebingen.de
     
FILE DESCRIPTIONS:

germanl				: alphabetized list of ~ 27,000 German words
german-wordlist,
german-wordlist.new		: alphabetized list of ~160,000 German words
idioms.vok			: 2400 German idioms with English translations
technik.vok			: 810 alphabetized German technical terms
					with English translations
German-English-Computer.dict.v9	: several hundred computers terms in German and
					English, alphabetized by English, some
					with German explanations
german-english			: several English-German and German-English
					lists, including the .vok files


10. Questions and Answers

10.1 American Electronics in germany

If you use american electronics in germany you have different difficulties:

 - German plugs have a different shape.
 - The voltage in germany is 240 V. Not 110 like in the US. The frequency is
   50 Hz in germany instead of 60 Hz.

10.2 International phones in germany

THE LAW: The german phone system is operated by the federal mail. There are
         no private long distance/local phone companies. Every phone/fax/modem
         you connect to a phone line needs to be aprooved by the federal mail.
         Aprooved appliances have a special sticker with an ZFF number on the
         back.

         It is allowed to own a phone and use it without connection to the
         public system even if it has no ZFF number. It is not allowed to
         own radios or cordless phones which are not approved and have a range
         of more than about 300 m (this range definition is not official.
         Has anyone the official definition ??)

Any pulse dial phone should work in germany. Tone dial is not so common and
not available in most areas. But this will change.

A real problem are cordless phones. In germany cordless phones operate on
different frequencies than in most other countries. The frequencies this 
foreign phones use are used by others (police, 911, radio, TV ...). 

Some problems are possible with Hongkong/British pulse dial phones because
the pulses have in Britain/Hongkong not exact the same shape. But the phone
system is very tollerant and most of this phones you can switch to the other
system (same for Modems).

The german wall outlets for phones have a different shape than the usual
modular plug. There are addaptors available in germany (about 20 DM). These
adaptors are no problem with phones. But Modems/FAXs might have problems
if you connect them to a multioutlet. The phone is than not working (it is
just disconnected). If your modem has a plug for the phone than you will have
no problem.


   

    







--
Johannes Ullrich               ju8025@csc.albany.edu            
SUNY Albany                    ju8025@albnyvms.bitnet 
Center for X-Ray Optics        phone (518) 442 4496     
************************ Have fun *********************************************