# Schneeschuhlaufen



## brian

Hallo,

ein Freund von mir, der aus der Schweiz kommt, hat mir gesagt, dass er über die Ferien _Schneeschuh gelaufen_ ist. Weiß jemand, was das auf Englisch heißt? Ich hab schon ein paar Fotos bei Google angeschaut, kann es aber immer noch nicht kapieren. Die wörtliche Übersetzung _Snow-shoe walking_ scheint mir, eine gute Beschreibung der Tat zu sein, aber kommt mir trotzdem sehr komisch vor. 

Danke im Voraus.


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## Ohara321

I would think "Snowshoeing" would be a decent translation. 

Ski laufen/fahren is translated into English as "to ski" or skiiing and not ski traveling or ski walking. It would make sense to me if Schneeschuh laufen was similar to this.


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## brian

I've never heard of snow-shoeing either though.

Then again, I hail from New Orleans, in the south of the States, and though I saw my fair share of snow living in Chicago, it was never the kind you could do sporty things like skiing on. So there's a good chance I've never heard the technical English term before.

You're from Canada, so I guess that means you can definitively say whether "snow-shoeing" is a real thing in English, right?


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## Ohara321

I looked it up on the internet and there is many sources that indicate that "snowshoeing" and "to snowshoe" are technically legitimate. That being siad, I don't ever remember "snowshoe" being used as a verb without an axillary. 

"Want to snowshoe with me?" or "I have snowshoed" - sounds funny to me.

Saying axillary + snowshoeing is much more natural sounding.

"Want to go/come snowshoeing with me?"

As for your quotation,

,dass er über die Ferien _Schneeschuh gelaufen_ ist.

I would say, 

"that he has gone snoeshoeing over the holidays."

*also possible, but colliquial, "That he he's been out with the snowshoes over the holidays"

And for the record, we don't all "snoeshoe" on a day-to-day basis in Canada.


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## Hutschi

_Schneeschuh laufen_ is a synonym to "Ski laufen/fahren" = skiing.* (Correction: there is a difference between Switzerland and Germany. I did not understand this before and wrote here about usage in Germany.)*

"Schneeschuhe" = "Ski" in this context _*in Germany - I was not aware that I told about regional usage. Sorry*_. 

If "snowshoe" are not "ski" in English, "Schneeschuhe" _may be_ "ski" are false friends.
In historical context I do not know if "Schneeschuhe" had another meaning. But now they are "Ski".

If snoeshoeing is skiing, than you can use it as translation_*. (Sorry, this is for my region.)*_


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## Ohara321

What would be the german verb for "snowshoeing"


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## Hutschi

Ís "snowshoing" "skiing" in English?


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## Ohara321

Nope, snowshoeing would be the verb describing the use of snowshoes.


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## ABBA Stanza

Ohara321 said:


> What would be the german verb for "snowshoeing"


The one I am used to is _Schneeschuhwandern_.

But, as Hutschi has already hinted, _Schneeschuhlaufen_ is also OK. _Schneeschuhwandern_ is probably more common, but wouldn't be suitable to describe a competitive sport based on this activity. In that case, _Schneeschuhlaufen_ would be the obvious choice.

Abba


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## Marty*

Hutschi said:


> _Schneeschuh laufen_ is a synonym to "Ski laufen/fahren" = skiing.


Are you sure? I would say_ Ski _and _Schneeschuhe_ are two different things. The latter are much shorter and usually used to prevent you sinking into the snow.


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## Robocop

We have already had a similar discussion. Look here. In *Switzerland*, _Schneeschuhe_ have *never *been known as _Skis (Schis)_.


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## Hutschi

I see. So it is regional different usage in Germany to Switzerland. Or there is a difference between East German language and West German language. 

Are "Schneeschuhe" in Switzerland what is called "Skischuhe" in Germany? It is necessary to understand the difference in order to help. 

Is there a language change in Germany? Wikipedia says that. http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schneeschuh#Schneeschuh_und_Ski

I found pictures for "Schneeschuhe" http://bwyss.files.wordpress.com/2007/11/schneeschuhe.jpg

Are these what you mean?


---

compare: Skischuhe: http://www.snow-how.de/dw/dalbello/dalbello-skischuhe.jpg


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## Lykurg

It was completely new for me that one might use "Schneeschuhe" as a synonym to "Ski(-schuhe)". Because of that, I checked the first 200 results of a google picture search for "Schneeschuhe" - and _did not get a single result _showing skis or ski boots.

Therefore (and considering the given examples on wikipedia) I'd consider that synonymous usage as being outdated (apart from sporadic regional usage).


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## elroy

I have heard of snowshoeing before.  I think it was a friend from Colorado who does a lot of winter sports who first mentioned it to me.


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## sokol

To clear up those misunderstandings about "Schneeschuhe = Ski" and "Schneeschuhe = Schuhe zum Schneewandern":



ABBA Stanza said:


> The one I am used to is _Schneeschuhwandern_.





Hutschi said:


> _Schneeschuh laufen_ is a synonym to "Ski laufen/fahren" = skiing.* (Correction: there is a difference between Switzerland and Germany. I did not understand this before and wrote here about usage in Germany.)*
> 
> "Schneeschuhe" = "Ski" in this context _*in Germany - I was not aware that I told about regional usage. Sorry*_.



The use of "Schneeschuh = Ski" was popular between the two world wars; I think the term "Schneeschuh" was introduced by Austrians - but anyway, the word even was used in the film "Der weiße Rausch".
It came out of use after World War II; nowadays at least here in Austria no one would use "Schneeschuh = Ski" anymore; those who know some old films (or documentaries about the beginning of skiing) know about it - and that's that. (As skiing is extremely popular probably quite some Austrians would know about "Schneeschuh = Ski", but they wouldn't use this in real life.)

Now the other thing, "Schneeschuh = Schuh zum Schneewandern", is a very new trend - of course the thing itself existed already (and for a very long time) but it only became popular in the last two, three years I think; at least in Austria.

I have however no idea how to translate this correctly to English.

(In Austria, by the way, I would say "Schneewandern" is used mainly for walking with those made-for-walking-snow-shoes; or at least that's how we called this before those special snow-walking-shoes were introduced, because the thing itself - walking through the snow - of course already existed before. )


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## berndf

Hutschi said:


> Are "Schneeschuhe" in Switzerland what is called "Skischuhe" in Germany? It is necessary to understand the difference in order to help.


No, "Schneeschuhe" are snow shoes, these things which look like tennis rackets to keep you from sinking into deep snow. If someone would confuse them with ski boots then only because he/she is not familiar with snow shoes. I would be extremely surprised, if this had anything to do with regional differences.


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## sokol

berndf said:


> No, "Schneeschuhe" are snow shoes, these things which look like tennis rackets to keep you from sinking into deep snow. If someone would confuse them with ski boots then only because he/she is not familiar with snow shoes. I would be extremely surprised, if this had anything to do with regional differences.



Yes of course, I forgot to mention this: "Schneeschuhe" never can be "ski boots" - also not in Austria; not even those knowing of the other use of the word ever would confuse both.
In modern use "Schneeschuhe" only refer to those things which look like tennis rackets, as berndf said , and only in outdated use "Schneeschuhe" can refer to "skiers" (as described above).


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## berndf

brian8733 said:


> Hallo,
> 
> ein Freund von mir, der aus der Schweiz kommt, hat mir gesagt, dass er über die Ferien _Schneeschuh gelaufen_ ist. Weiß jemand, was das auf Englisch heißt? Ich hab schon ein paar Fotos bei Google angeschaut, kann es aber immer noch nicht kapieren. Die wörtliche Übersetzung _Snow-shoe walking_ scheint mir, eine gute Beschreibung der Tat zu sein, aber kommt mir trotzdem sehr komisch vor.
> 
> Danke im Voraus.


 
I think the normal English term is "snowshoe hiking".


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## brian

berndf said:


> No, "Schneeschuhe" are snow shoes, these things which look like tennis rackets to keep you from sinking into deep snow.



That's almost exactly how my friend described them when I asked what they were:



			
				my friend said:
			
		

> das sind spezielle schuhe mit denen man auf dem schnee gehen kann ohne tief einzusinken





elroy said:


> I have heard of snowshoeing before. I think it was a friend from Colorado who does a lot of winter sports who first mentioned it to me.



I haven't heard of _any_ of this stuff before except skiing. I should have more snow in my life.


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## Hutschi

sokol said:


> The use of "Schneeschuh = Ski" was popular between the two world wars; I think the term "Schneeschuh" was introduced by Austrians - but anyway, the word even was used in the film "Der weiße Rausch".
> It came out of use after World War II ...


 
This is true, but at least were I live this must be after the unification so that I was not aware of it. 

(Until today I used it active.)


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## sokol

Hutschi said:


> This is true, but at least were I live this must be after the unification so that I was not aware of it.
> 
> (Until today I used it active.)



That's interesting - so you really (still) say "Schneeschuh = Ski"? That's unexpected.


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## Hutschi

sokol said:


> That's interesting - so you really (still) say "Schneeschuh = Ski"? That's unexpected.



Yes, I do.
I know the word from "Erzgebirge" and "Thüringer Wald"
I also found sources were it is used currently. 
It is easier to find if you say "Schneeschuh fahren" rather than "Schneeschuh laufen". 
Here is a picture: schneeschuh.htm 
I found more.


Ich kenne die Bedeutung "Ski"="Schneeschuhe" aus dem Erzgebirge und dem Thüringer Wald.

schneeschuh.htm 

Ich habe eine Reihe von Quellen gefunden, in denen das noch aktuell ist. 
Ein Teil der Bilder ist kommerziell, deshalb sende ich sie hier nicht.

Man findet es leichter unter "Schneeschuhfahren", weil dann die Bedeutung sich fast auf "Ski-Fahren" reduziert. 

Kann man mit den Schneeschuhen, die im Artikel als aktuelle Bedeutung benannt sind, fahren?


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## berndf

Hutschi said:


> Here is a picture: schneeschuh.htm





Hutschi said:


> I found more.


Now I understand what you mean! 
Those are neither downhill nor Nordic skis but walking/hiking skis. You see them more and more nowadays. As I have been living outside the German speaking area longer than those things have been fashionable, I have no idea what they are called anywhere else in the Germany speaking area.


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## ABBA Stanza

Hutschi said:


> I know the word from "Erzgebirge" and "Thüringer Wald"


Maybe it's specific to that region? Here in Hessen, I've heard _skifahren_ zillions of times, but I've never heard _schneeschuhfahren_ even once! I suspect, if you used that word over here, people would look at you rather strangely! 

By the way, I got nearly 2,500,000 hits for _skifahren_ on Google, but only 431 for _schneeschuhfahren_, a ratio of around 6,000 to 1!

Abba


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## Hutschi

ABBA Stanza said:


> Maybe it's specific to that region? Here in Hessen, I've heard _skifahren_ zillions of times, but I've never heard _schneeschuhfahren_ even once! I suspect, if you used that word over here, people would look at you rather strangely!
> 
> By the way, I got nearly 2,500,000 hits for _skifahren_ on Google, but only 431 for _schneeschuhfahren_, a ratio of around 6,000 to 1!
> 
> Abba


You are right. But when you live in such a region you will not start a Google count at first. 
As we already stated, it became outdated. But we had (almost) no snow for a long time. 

When you read the historical documents about "Schneeschuhfahren" in the "Erzgebirge" you will find that the roots were very similar to the current usage in Switzerland. Later "Schneeschuhe" became "Skis".

There is a language development ...


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## berndf

Hutschi said:


> When you read the historical documents about "Schneeschuhfahren" in the "Erzgebirge" you will find that the roots were very similar to the current usage in Switzerland. Later "Schneeschuhe" became "Skis".


The origin of ski were indeed walking aids for deep snow servin a similar purpose as snow shows in North America. Out of the former, Nordic skis evolved in the 19th century. Alpine skis were a further development which started with Zdarski's skis around 1910. During the last 10 years a new generation of touring skis have become popular which are used mainly for "laufen" or "gehen" and not so much for "fahren".


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