I don’t suppose anyone here could tell me how to say “Watch out, they’ve got a PSYCHIC!” in German? (“Telepath” can be substituted for “Psychic,” if need be.)
Babelfish didn’t quite know what to make of this one, I’m afraid. I can’t imagine why.
Well, thanks for your patience,
Ranchoth
Non-native German speaker here.
“Vorsicht! Sie haben ein Medium.”
Certainly:
Pass auf, sie haben ein Medium! (to one person)
Passt auf, sie haben ein Medium! (to more than one person)
Passen Sie auf, sie haben ein Medium! (formal, to one or more persons)
One of those will work, depending on the context.
Do you know anything on the use of the formal form in German?
As a rule of thumb it is the the default for adults, especially including all strangers. Closer friends would use one of the first two forms, but there are some grey areas in between (and persons of nobility change everything…)
If this is crucial, let me know.
My lovely girlfriend (a native German speaker) says she’s never heard of “Medium” and would instead use “hellseher” (claravoyant according to my german-english dictionary)
…and that one elegantly avoids the whole formality thing.
Medium is a bit specialized in contacting the dead,
Hellseher is a clairvoyant, and the telepath you mentioned would be a
Telepath (focuses on communicating)
(make that …einen Hellseher, …einen Telepathen in the sentence, assuming the psychic is male or of unspecified gender)
Kellner - as a side note, do you find native speakers often construct their sentences to avoid the whole “du” vs “Sie” issue, when it’s not obvious which to use?
The same situation exists in French (which I know way better than German); I noticed that native speakers were masters at walking the tightrope between “tu” and “vous”, without ever giving away which form they were using. A neat trick, when you remember that all the verb endings, pronouns and other things change depending which you are using.
For example, talking with someone you sort of know, too well to use “vous”, but not quite well enough for “tu” - awkward for anyone, especially a foreigner. For example, a friend of a friend from the office…
Here are some samples:
“Alors, on va skiier demain?” (“are we [is one] going skiing tomorrow?”)
“Il ne faut pas oublier les vetements chauds…” (don’t forget warm clothes, avoids using the 2nd person imperative which would be a giveaway)
“On prend quelle voiture?” (to avoid saying, “ta voiture” or “votre voiture”).
I would always try to keep up the Heisengbergian non-“tu” non-“vous” facade as long as possible during conversations, but would inevitably get out-maneuvered.
Oh, und alles gute nachträglich! 
Yes, this is often done and it can sometimes be very strange.
In many situations the choice is obvious because there are rules for that, but sometimes these seem conflicting. e.g. I am 23 and everyone of my age would be “Du” for me as long as I meet him/her privately or at my university (but we are “Sie” for older adults.) If I meet a (unknown) person of my age or slightly younger at their work I am technically supposed to use “Sie” although that can be very odd. So I have to decide why a 19 year old waitress is “Du”, but my bank teller is not (“Du” to a police officer can earn you a fine.)
Similar situations can arise when you work together with a group of people who have the habit of calling each other “Du” but never invited you to do so.
Danke Schoen