Ich kann es nicht übersetzen auf Englisch: “Faszinierend finde ich die Hausbootkolonien mit ihren schönen Booten, aber auf die Stege kommt man nur als Anleger.” I find the houseboat colony facinating but ???
but access is restricted to those whose boats have a berth along the pier.
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Wow! I was not even close with my thoughts on this translation. Thanks a bunch!
Can you help me understand how you arrived at this translation. It makes perfect sense but I do not understand the verb here etc.`? Thanks
I do not know if you saw my last question or not…repeating it here. Can you help me understand how you arrived at this translation. It makes perfect sense but I do not understand the verb here etc.`? Thanks
Gern! Auf die Stege kommen = to get onto the piers: here = be allowed to use the piers.
um auf die Stege zu kommen = auf die Stege gelangen = to gain access to the piers. In Vera’s sentence there is the sense of my translation: only people with a berth are allowed to use the piers.
This sentence is a great example of how much content a native packs into a little expression 
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Totally amazing! I have loved German because it is such a powerful language. Only in recent years have I had time to pursue it again (40 years have passed for me since I last studied German.) I would like to get fluent someday so I can visit the country and speak freely with its people in their native tongue. Vera is amazing and I have told her so many times. I believe you may be just like her! Thanks for the extra goodies. When I think my vocabulary has grown from a “reading” to a “speaking” vocabulary, I will be trying my hand at speaking. At such a time, I will probably never want to stop.
Thank you One thing I have learnt over the years is that it is better to pare down one’s reading vocab to a conversation level which does not overwhelm natives. I am sure you’d be fine now if you wanted to talk. (I have first-hand knowledge of the problems of perfectionism.)
Thanks for the encouragement. I feel like a babbling fool when I try and speak German. My pronunciation is good but the constructions just beg for me to “translate them from English to German” and then speak. I dislike this inner process very much and want to think German constructions rather than translate construction but at the beginning one can do not much else it seems. Thanks again for taking time to add more understanding.
You are welcome! Gern geschehen!