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I'm facing a problem quite often when speaking in English with Germans. I'm used to say in some situations "Poke you later..." or "Poke me when you're done with this...".

I know that better ways exist to say that in English but I would like to know what would be my options to not be misunderstood by them when they translate that.

One of the examples of the translation from English would be "stoßen".

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    This is very uncommon in English, I've never heard anyone can "Poke you later", most people would say "See you later". – Noah Cristino Jun 28 '17 at 14:50
  • im asking because im not native english speaker, thats why so i often say that, but ive heard many natives saying that already... – Marcelo Filho Jun 28 '17 at 15:06
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    Totally depends on context. "Sprich mich später nochmal darauf an." "Frag mich nachher nochmal." "Sag mir Bescheid, wenn du damit fertig bist." – dirkt Jun 28 '17 at 15:54
  • This remembers me of the old, past days of the Orkut Glory and it's Budypokes... – T. Sar Jun 28 '17 at 16:17
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    @MarceloFilho I'm a native English speaker, I don't even speak german, I just wanted to point out, that most english speakers wouldn't under stand what your mean. – Noah Cristino Jun 28 '17 at 16:17
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Although I fear that your usage of the English word to poke is at least, say, uncommon, I have to place a bit of a guess on what you might think this means in English -the best way for a close to literal translation to German would maybe be jemanden anhauen.

Wenn du mal wieder Hilfe brauchst, kannst du mich ja einfach anhauen.

Ich hab' den um 'ne Fluppe angehauen, aber er hatte keine mehr.

Note this is a colloquial expression.

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  • I poked him for a ziggy…? Not quite the same nuance methinks. ;) – deceze Jun 28 '17 at 16:40
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Close to the English to poke is the German anstupsen that also can be used in the same context:

Darf ich Dich wegen der fehlenden Bilder morgen nochmal anstupsen?
Stups mich einfach an, sobald Du weißt, wie die Farbe werden soll.

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  • de.wiktionary.org/wiki/stupsen#/media/… – Carsten S Jun 28 '17 at 14:18
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    "anstupsen" is a sort of technical term for the process of contacting in one spcific social media site. I'd not use these formulations outside of that context – Hagen von Eitzen Jun 28 '17 at 14:56
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    @HagenvonEitzen: Funny idea, no longer to use a word in a generic way because some (a few?) consider it as a technical term. – guidot♦ Jun 28 '17 at 15:13
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    I have never heard "anstubsen" being used to mean anything else than either direct physical contact or a social media message (and would be very surprised if someone said what's in your answer to me) – Daniel Jour Jun 28 '17 at 16:39
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    @HagenvonEitzen I believe "poke" has a similar social media origin. – R.M. Jun 28 '17 at 18:30
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I'd suggest

"Ich melde mich später..."

and

"Melde dich, wenn du damit fertig bist ..."

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