sinecure

German translation: Zuckerschlecken, kein einfaches Unterfangen

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)

English term or phrase:	sinecure
German translation:	Zuckerschlecken, kein einfaches Unterfangen
Entered by:	Rebekka Groß (X)

13:28 Apr 3, 2009

English to German translations [PRO]
Tech/Engineering - IT (Information Technology) / modern ways of communication: Video chat

English term or phrase: sinecure

context:
Client contact settlement via chat: why?
Chatting with companies is something most people are not so familiar with. As opposed to America, where customers ask their questions via chat more often, European companies still find it scary to talk to their customers this way. The anonymity, the fact that it is easy accessible, doesn’t that cost more than it brings in? The benefits of live web chat are often still seen as disadvantages in the ‘Old Europe’.
The phenomena of ‘video chat’ seems too futuristic for most companies. Video chat slowly starts to persuade people in the United States, partly because the distances between people are often large. In the Netherlands the first pilots came to nothing a few years ago. Mail order company Wehkamp, and financials like ABN AMRO, MoneYou, Postbank and Rabobank – they all gave video chat a chance about three years ago. After a trial period of a couple of months they each came to the conclusion that client contact settlement via video chat is no sinecure.

FYI: Many of the texts in this series have been written by non-native speakers and the source text is often pretty ropey. The client is French and won't be able to help much but the project manager is trying her best to help with interpretation when I'm unsure.

Here's my query for the PM:
Never heard this term before and the definitions I found on the web don't shed much light into its meaning in this context (see below)

my interpretation: is no magic bullet/panacea OR is no free lunch (obviously the latter isn't idiomatic but you get the idea)...Am I on the right track

# a benefice to which no spiritual or pastoral duties are attached
# an office that involves minimal duties
wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn

# A sinecure (from Latin sine, without, and cura, care) means an office which requires or involves little or no responsibility, labour, or active ...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinecure

# A position that requires no work but still gives a payment
en.wiktionary.org/wiki/sinecure

# any job or post that carries a salary but has either very little, or no work attached to it.
www.historyhome.co.uk/peel/dict.htm

# noun - 1. originally, a church benefice not involving the care of souls 2. any office or position providing an income or other advantage but ...
www.gdiproductions.net/srdamd/

And here's her reply:
This is difficult! It would make sense without the word "no" because it would imply that using webcams in business was not successful in Europe because it was seen as working wihtout putting the proper and required effort into the job - i.e. a lazy wzy out. However, as the word "no" is in the sentence, I guess that they are saying they do want an easier way of doing things but that after trials they have concluded that for them the easier way is the traditional way of face to face meetings, emails, letters etc.
I suggest tranlsating literally if there is a German equivalent of sinecure.

My reaction:
There is a German equivalent for "sinecure" but I think it's used purely in the church sense so that's a no-go. Suggesting a literal translation may sound like an easy option to a non-translator but we all know that that's not necessarily the case. I'm inclined to stick with interpreting it as "no panacea".

Any thoughts from my esteemed colleagues here on ProZ.com? :)

Rebekka Groß (X) KudoZ activity Questions: 415 (none open) (18 without valid answers) (12 closed without grading) Answers: 327
Local time: 09:30

Zuckerschlecken

Explanation:
aufgrund der genannten Banken bin ich mir sicher, dass der Begriff wörtlich aus dem Niederländischen übernommen wurde:
dat is geen sinecure / Das ist kein Zuckerschlecken
(Van Dale, Groot Woordenboek Nederlands-Duits)
Im NL ist eine sinecure auch ein Amt, das nur die Würde und Bürde, aber keine Entlohnung kennt (sog. Ehrenamt), dasher hat der Begriff der sinecure auch die Bedeutung: schwieriges Geschaft/mühevolle Aufgabe

Selected response from:

Hans G. Liepert
Switzerland
Local time: 10:30

Grading comment

Sometimes KudoZ really rocks! Of course, I should have mentioned that the author is most probably a Dutch native speaker but it never occured to me that "sincecure" might be a common term in Dutch since I don't speak that language. Anyway, thanks to your explanation it all falls into place. In this context, it simply means "..., dass der Kundenkontakt über Video-Chat gar kein so einfaches Unterfangen ist"
2 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer

Summary of answers provided

4 +1

Zuckerschlecken

Hans G. Liepert

2 +2

s.b.

Kay Barbara

Discussion entries: 8

Answers

20 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +2

s.b.

Explanation:
I agree with you, Rebekka. I think phrasing it as somthing like "kein Wundermittel" or "nicht die beste Lösung" should convey what the text says.

However, my first thought was whether the "no" really is correct. Does the whole text promote CRM via chat? Or do you have any information whether the companies continued that service? This would help on this issue...

Kay Barbara
United Kingdom
Local time: 10:30
Specializes in field
Native speaker of:

German
PRO pts in category: 23

Notes to answerer

Asker: Not sure whether you'll be notified but just to let you know that I've answered your request for more info in the clarification section.

1 hr confidence:

peer agreement (net): +1

Zuckerschlecken

Hans G. Liepert
Switzerland
Local time: 10:30
Native speaker of:

German
PRO pts in category: 130

Grading comment

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German translation: Zuckerschlecken, kein einfaches Unterfangen

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