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  2. German to English
  3. Engineering: Industrial

zum Dichten angeregt

English translation: has always inspired creative minds

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)
German term or phrase:zum Dichten angeregt
English translation:has always inspired creative minds
Entered by: Amy Billing

11:47 Dec 18, 2009
German to English translations [PRO]
Marketing - Engineering: Industrial
German term or phrase: zum Dichten angeregt
I'm translating a brochure for a company that makes seals (Dichtungen). The final page is about the company's location in the Rhine-Nekar metropolitan region. I have an idyllic photo of a boat on a river with the caption:

Der Kulturraum rund um Neckar und Rhein hat die Menschen schon immer zum Dichten angeregt – nicht erst seit der Industrialisierung.

I currently have:
The cultural life around Neckar and the Rhine has always inspired poetry – not only since the age of industrialisation.

However, this completely loses the double-meaning of Dichten as poetry and sealing and doesn't really make sense with the bit about industrialisation (i.e. when seals became more popular). Any ideas of how I can get around this?
Amy Billing
United Kingdom
Local time: 10:21
has always inspired poets and thinkers...
Explanation:
and since the beginning of the industrial age also engineers and designers ????? or something on this line

I can't see how you could make it work with Dichten but it could work with thinkers.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 3 hrs (2009-12-18 15:39:36 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

has always inspired thinkers...
and since the beginning of the industrial age also great designs

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 4 hrs (2009-12-18 16:11:24 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

or short and sweet:

... has always inspired great thinkers and designs
Selected response from:

Norbert Hermann
Local time: 10:21
Grading comment
Thanks for your help - I actually opted for 'has always inspired creative minds' in the end but got there from this posting.
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
3 +2has always inspired poets and thinkers...
Norbert Hermann
4inspired poetry
PhilippID
4... has always inspired Dichter in both senses of the German word ...
Lancashireman
3running a "tight" ship
Michele Johnson
3has a high density in poets
Nicole Backhaus
2sealing
Armorel Young
2a source of inspiration and innovation
Cilian O'Tuama


Discussion entries: 6





  

Answers


4 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
inspired poetry


Explanation:
region.. has always been an inspiration to poetry

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 6 mins (2009-12-18 11:54:53 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

inspired poets..

PhilippID
United Kingdom
Local time: 10:21
Works in field
Native speaker of: Native in GermanGerman, Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 4

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
neutral  Cilian O'Tuama: "However, this completely loses the double-meaning of Dichten as poetry and sealing..."
25 mins
neutral  Armorel Young: isn't that what the asker said herself (but was dissatisfied with)?
2 hrs
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3 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 2/5Answerer confidence 2/5
sealing


Explanation:
Sealing a relationship with the landscape: the Neckar/Rhein area has inspired both poets and industrialists

Not entirely convinced - just kicking the idea about.

Incidentally, Kulturraum to me implies a geographical area - I'd prefer area/region to "life" (and would perhaps drop the "cultural altogether - it sits less happily in English than Kultur in German).

Armorel Young
Local time: 10:21
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 36
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3 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5 peer agreement (net): +2
has always inspired poets and thinkers...


Explanation:
and since the beginning of the industrial age also engineers and designers ????? or something on this line

I can't see how you could make it work with Dichten but it could work with thinkers.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 3 hrs (2009-12-18 15:39:36 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

has always inspired thinkers...
and since the beginning of the industrial age also great designs

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 4 hrs (2009-12-18 16:11:24 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

or short and sweet:

... has always inspired great thinkers and designs


Norbert Hermann
Local time: 10:21
Works in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish, Native in GermanGerman
PRO pts in category: 37
Grading comment
Thanks for your help - I actually opted for 'has always inspired creative minds' in the end but got there from this posting.

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Teresa Reinhardt: yep, das Land der Dichter und Denker; I like this best
51 mins
  -> thank you!
agree  Annett Kottek (X): I like it. Alternatively maybe 'has always stirred the creative spirit'- - the addition of 'not only since the age of industrialisation' makes clear their creative attitude towards seal making. (And some puns are frankly not worth saving.)
16 hrs
  -> thank you!
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5 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
running a "tight" ship


Explanation:
Now this is sort of going in the other direction and losing the poetry connection. But if it's not mentioned elsewhere, you could possibly get away with it. Are there more sentences about poetry or is that it? I think you're going to have to compromise, and at least here there's a double entendre that fits well with the picture. So instead of portraying the locals as writers you paint them as efficient and disciplined, thereby confirming every positive stereotype of Germans around the world :)

Michele Johnson
Germany
Local time: 11:21
Works in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
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7 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
... has always inspired Dichter in both senses of the German word ...


Explanation:
"The Rhine-Neckar region has always inspired Dichter in both senses of the German word – first it was poets and then, with the Industrial Revolution, came the seal manufacturers."

Sometimes, you just have to bite the bullet and explain rather than translate. The alternative is to ask the client company to rewrite its front page - minus puns.

Lancashireman
United Kingdom
Local time: 10:21
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 108
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7 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 2/5Answerer confidence 2/5
a source of inspiration and innovation


Explanation:
(has always been) a source of inspiration and innovation

?



Cilian O'Tuama
Germany
Local time: 11:21
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 101
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10 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
has a high density in poets


Explanation:
versuche dichten und dichten unter einen Hut zu bringen. Nur so ein Vorschlag.

Nicole Backhaus
Local time: 02:21
Native speaker of: German
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