Der Schwarm (Frank Schätzing) | Informal Reading Club

[omk3]

I was curious and reread the second sentence. Yeah, I just sort of skipped it.
What’s the grammatical error?

Meanwhile I transferred the book onto my iPad and the dictionary is better there, so I’m less at a loss than before But I’m sure I’ll have questions soon, no worries.

Many species of fish or whales I just sort of handwaved instead of looking up properly. Maybe from now on I could look them up and post with pictures.

I’m at the start of April 11. I don’t have a very steady pace, so you just do what’s comfortable for you. Once you’re ahead I’m sure it will spur me on to read faster!

[Biblio]

@omk3

What’s the grammatical error?

I am curious, too.

[Biblio]

I’ve read the prologue and reached “Erster Teil Anomalien” now. Interesting start. I am definitely interested.

[nikoru]

@omk3

I was curious and reread the second sentence. Yeah, I just sort of skipped it.

I found it quite hard to identify what “sie” connects to here… “ohne dass die Welt Notiz davon nahm” is such a standard phrase for me that it did not register as “die Welt”
I had two or three other places where I did quite the double-take, but I think I’ve settled into his writing style now, and it’s going very smoothly.

The grammatical error is in the same paragraph, a bit further down:
“Aber weder Juan Narciso Ucañan noch der Pazifische Ozean vor der Küste Huanchacos im peruanischen Norden gab etwas preis.”

It should be “gaben etwas preis” because there are two that this refers to - the fisherman and the ocean.

[omk3]

Is this an actual rule or about what sounds right? I’m trying out this phrase in my own language and I think it works with both plural and singular. At least it sounds okay in both versions, but maybe one isn’t officially right, not sure.

[nikoru]

@omk3

Is this an actual rule or about what sounds right?

No, this is an actual rule. I found this article: Achten Sie beim Schreiben auf diese Bezugsfallen!

But don’t worry, I think this is a common mistake even for German natives.

[Biblio]

Unfortunately, I have to correct you here. “weder…noch…” allows both plural and singular, though singular is more sophisticated afaik.

Weder sie noch er ist – ähm – sind … – Fragen Sie Dr. Bopp!
Steht das Verb bei ‚weder noch‘ im Singular oder im Plural?.
weder … noch – Wiktionary

[Biblio]

I have reached 23. März which is apparently 8%, so should be somewhere near omk3.
I am really enjoying it so far. It’s giving Blackout vibes in the way you have multiple POV in different countries. And also, the author did some proper research.

While they were flying to the platform in the helicopter, I was like “you can’t just take civilians to an oil platform. You need special training.” and the next sentence was him going “I did the special training.” I work in a company related to that field, thus there is no BSing me.

[omk3]

At this rate you’ll both finish the book before I’m even halfway through

The research gone into writing the book is very evident. I have no expertise in any of the fields discussed, but I do feel like a lot of effort has gone into being as accurate as possible. It’s great to have some confirmation

[Biblio]

@omk3

you’ll both finish the book before I’m even halfway through

I will pause wherever it is you are currently at. You said 11%, do you have a date?

[omk3]

11. April. I’ll continue reading as soon as I’m done with this week’s Achtsam Morden, which should be today. And thanks

How can I avoid having the date autoformat as if it was a numbered list?

[nikoru]

@Biblio

Unfortunately, I have to correct you here. “weder…noch…” allows both plural and singular, though singular is more sophisticated afaik.

Wow, TIL! Thanks - no need to say “unfortunately”, I’m always happy to learn something new.
This now finally made me pull out my grammar book (Hammer’s German Grammar and Usage - highly recommended) to get the “divine” confirmation, and it says this:

So yes, point taken.

[Biblio]

test

11. April
25. Juni

@omk3

How can I avoid having the date autoformat as if it was a numbered list?

there is probably a better way but putting a hidden html marking in front of it, stops the automatic formatting apparently.

I tried the following and only using the end parts seem to suffice.

</s>
</hide>

[omk3]

As long as I’m reading near a computer, I guess I can be compiling a mini sea-creature encyclopedia as I read. I think it will be interesting to refer back to.

Sea creatures auf Deutsch

Zebramuschel (auch Wandermuschel)

The zebra mussel (Dreissena polymorpha) is a small freshwater mussel. The species originates from the lakes of southern Russia and Ukraine, but has been accidentally introduced to numerous other areas and has become an invasive species in many countries worldwide. (from Wikipedia)

Tintenfisch
Coleoidea or Dibranchiata is one of the two subclasses of cephalopods containing all the various taxa popularly thought of as “soft-bodied” or “shell-less” (i.e. octopus, squid and cuttlefish). (from Wikipedia)

Dinoflagellaten

The dinoflagellates (from Ancient Greek δῖνος (dînos) ‘whirling’ and Latin flagellum ‘whip, scourge’) are a monophyletic group of single-celled eukaryotes constituting the phylum Dinoflagellata and are usually considered protists. Dinoflagellates are mostly marine plankton, but they also are common in freshwater habitats. Their populations vary with sea surface temperature, salinity, and depth. Many dinoflagellates are photosynthetic, but a large fraction of these are in fact mixotrophic, combining photosynthesis with ingestion of prey (phagotrophy and myzocytosis).(from Wikipedia)

Bartenwal

Baleen whales, or whalebone whales

Buckelwal

Humpback whale

Tümmler
porpoises

Delphine
dolphins

Robbe
seal

Qualle
jellyfish

Seewespe

Chironex fleckeri, commonly known as the Australian box jelly, and nicknamed the sea wasp, is a species of extremely venomous box jellyfish found in coastal waters from northern Australia and New Guinea to Indonesia, Cambodia, Malaysia and Singapore, the Philippines and Vietnam. It has been described as “the most lethal jellyfish in the world”, with at least 64 known deaths in Australia from 1884 to 2021. (from Wikipedia)

Portugiesische Galeere

Portuguese man o’ war. Although it superficially resembles a jellyfish, the Portuguese man o’ war is in fact a siphonophore (Staatsquelle). Like all siphonophores, it is a colonial organism, made up of many smaller units called zooids. Although they are morphologically quite different, all of the zooids in a single specimen are genetically identical. These different types of zooids fulfil specialized functions such as hunting, digestion and reproduction, and together they allow the colony to operate as a single individual. (from Wikipedia)

Segelqualle

Velella is a monospecific genus of hydrozoa in the Porpitidae family. Its only known species is Velella velella, a cosmopolitan (widely distributed) free-floating hydrozoan that lives on the surface of the open ocean. It is commonly known by the names sea raft, by-the-wind sailor, purple sail, little sail, or simply Velella.

Related vocabulary:

Fluke: die Schwanzflosse der Wale sowie der Seekühe. Im Gegensatz zur Schwanzflosse der Fische ist die Fluke dieser Meeressäuger horizontal zum Körper ausgerichtet und wird nur von Bindegewebe in Form gehalten, enthält also keine Knochen. Die Wirbelsäule endet im Flukenstiel.
Geißel: flagellum (long thin extension used for movement)
Heck (das): stern (back) of a ship
Rumpf (der): hull of a ship

[nikoru]

@omk3

I’m at the start of April 11. […] Once you’re ahead

Mission accomplished

@omk3

The research gone into writing the book is very evident. I have no expertise in any of the fields discussed, but I do feel like a lot of effort has gone into being as accurate as possible.

I really like these kinds of books. Of course not everything can be considered 100% accurate, but compared to what I knew before, I learned a lot already.

@omk3

Have I got it right that Tümmler are porpoises and Delphine are dolphins?

Correct!

@omk3

Geißel

This one has a number of meanings, but in the context of small creatures it’s called flagellum in English (well, actually in Latin, but nevermind, same thing, right?)
It’s a long thin (like a single thick hair, maybe) extension that those creatures use to move or something.
In other contexts, it means scourge - a whip, maybe with many tails, used for torture or self-torture. Or it can be used metaphorically as in “die Geißel der Menschheit” - “scourge of humanity”.

BTW while you are online I can recommend this dictionary: English ⇔ German - leo.org: Start page - it’s excellent and even for words it doesn’t directly contain, there are discussion threads that often give good explanations or translations.

[omk3]

@nikoru

Mission accomplished

Have you finished April 11 or starting it? I’m halfway/towards the end and I can say it’s been quite exciting

Thanks for the dictionary link, bookmarked.

[nikoru]

@omk3

Have you finished April 11 or starting it?

Sorry, should have mentioned: I have finished April 11.

@omk3

I can say it’s been quite exciting

There was nooo way I could have put that down halfway through

[omk3]

In contrast, I was getting bored with the first part of April 12, but now I’m finding the subject matter fascinating for some reason

What’s a Gewabbel?

Riesige Schwärme von dem Gewabbel bedrohten die lokalen Fischbestände.

(the talk is about jellyfish)

[mic]

the verb is “wabbeln“ which means “to wobble“.

[nikoru]

@omk3

but now I’m finding the subject matter fascinating for some reason

The subject matter of the second part?

Finished April 12th, and it’s getting ever more interesting!