My American protagonists are visiting Austria in 1983. The concierge at the hotel desk tells my heroine a certain news program from Germany will be on TV at a given hour. (I haven't yet decided if the conversation is in German or English, if that matters.) My American FMC would say it starts at "8:00 PM" or at "eight o'clock this evening." What would the Austrian concierge say, if she was keeping to local custom? Would central Europe have been on a 24-hour clock? If so, 20:00, yeah, but how would that sound, spoken out? Not "twenty hours," or "twenty o'clock," surely? I'd be grateful if any German speakers would chime in and tell me what the Deutsch would be, I can translate.
I'm not German or Austrian but I live in central Europe and I can tell you that "twenty o'clock" is only used in official statements or formal speech. I usually just go with "eight this evening", "four in the afternoon", etc. If the part of the day is clear, like negotiating dinner I just say something like "I'll be there at seven". (we use the 24-hour format more often in written communication) With that said, an employee of a luxury hotel my be more formal with guests than in his/her private conversations.
In military time I think it would be "twenty hundred hours". 8 in the morning would be "Oh eight hundred hours". Of course every time some schlepp like me tries to say something about the military, a real military person comes along and tells us we're woefully misinformed about their secret societies and procedures, and that you must be a full member of the cult to even be privy to the first level. (Where's that salute smiley?)
If they wanted to be very formal, they would say 'um acht Uhr' / 'at eight hours'. Colloquially, which I'd expect in that scenario, they'd say 'um acht'/ 'at eight'. Edit: As @Vandor76 says above, the 24 hour clock is very much for written purposes, when speaking you'd get some very odd looks if you used that format.
Adding to that... very formal and strict would be 'Pünktlich um 8 Uhr' or 'Punkt 8 Uhr' or even 'Punkt 8' (the last is more than a bit abrupt. Could be because the speaker is harried, or because he doesn't feel the need to be especially polite).
Thanks. Not a luxury hotel, more like a ski resort hostelry that's big enough to have its own dining room, TV lounge, etc. Unless I'm stretching things there? Would a place like that even have a concierge?
Vielen Dank. In this case, the speaker is being very polite, responding to a query about television news. She refers my FMC to Der Tagesschau.
I‘m not Austrian but German. If it‘s any help, I would keep it simple. Using something like „Punkt 8" or „Pünktlich um 20 Uhr“ will put an emphasis on the time. It could be translated „exactly at 8 pm“ or „at 8 pm sharp“. In the context you‘ve given, I don‘t think I would use that. I would highly recommend using "20 Uhr“ (8 o‘clock) in this case. It will keep the formality of the situation with proper distance and etiquette while also keeping a neutral tone. In my opinion „8 Uhr“ is too informal for this situation. BUT make it so it suits the character. If your concierge is really friendly, you might want to go for „8 Uhr“. Edit: I saw one of your other comments. Normally I wouldn‘t correct people on this but I thought if you‘re gonna use it in your novel, it‘s better to know now. Tagesschau is a feminine word, meaning it‘s die Tagesschau.
I speak fluent German and I lived there. basically it's "20:00 uhr" or "Zwanzig uhr" As for how she would say that in English... it depends on how she understands English.
Interestingly, every time I see it referred to online, it's just "Tagesschau," without the article, and often or usually not capitalized. How does that work, I wonder? Thanks for the heads up about the gender.
I'm happy it was helpful. As for why it is capitalized, in German every noun is capitalized. It's a grammar rule. I'm guessing some people, who don't speak German, don't know about this and therefore they don't capitalize it. As for why people are referring to it without an article, I have no clue but I assure in Germany we definitely use the article for it.
