liberal

English translation: free-market liberal FDP

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)

German term or phrase:	liberal
English translation:	free-market liberal FDP
Entered by:	Jonathan MacKerron

14:08 Jan 3, 2007

German to English translations [PRO]
Social Sciences - Government / Politics

German term or phrase: liberal

"...er wurde in den Bundesvorstand einer deutschen Partei gewählt, der *liberalen FDP*."
Need help in phrasing this for a US readership. Am wondering if might use something like "the free-market Free Democratic Party)??

Jonathan MacKerron

free-market liberal FDP

Explanation:
I work at Deutsche Welle and we now call them 'the free-market liberal FDP'. I think this pretty much sums up what they're about...

Selected response from:

Kirsti Green (X)
Local time: 10:35

Grading comment

the author also thought this to be the best solution - thanks to all contributors!
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer

Summary of answers provided

3 +5

liberal

Ulrike Kraemer

4 +1

free-market liberal FDP

Kirsti Green (X)

pro-business party

Paul Cohen

2 +1

libertarian

Darin Fitzpatrick

the right-of-center FDP

gangels (X)

centrist

Francis Lee (X)

classical liberal/liberal in the classic sense (hier)

Bernhard Sulzer

Discussion entries: 10

Francis Lee (X)

15:57 Jan 3, 2007

"er wurde ..." Hang on. What's the actual context here? Is all this fuss over a resumé? Anyway, perhaps "centrist" (as the FDP are commonly called) would be the safest bet? I myself consider them "center-right", but many others do not ...

Ken Cox

15:36 Jan 3, 2007

It sounds like a cop-out, but the best solution may be to simply ignore the term (is it actually essential - or even significant - in the context of the CV?).

Darin Fitzpatrick

United States

15:11 Jan 3, 2007

Bottom line - check with the client to make sure he's happy with the connotations of the final result. If he's looking for a political job, then semantics = politics.

Darin Fitzpatrick

United States

15:04 Jan 3, 2007

Jonathan, it seems there is no good answer to your semantic conundrum. You need a paragraph! (or a laundry list: free market, free trade, free healthcare, free love...) :^)

Jonathan MacKerron

ASKER

15:00 Jan 3, 2007

Perhaps I should reframe my original question "since the word liberal means so many different things in different countries in terms of political bias, how can I best avoid using the word to describe the FDP? Even within Europe there is no standard definition of "liberal parties".

Ken Cox

14:38 Jan 3, 2007

Well, if your audience is polisci-savvy, they should understand 'liberal' in the German context. Otherwise you should probably provide your own descriptive paraphrase (modern liberals do not always have the same platform as the party's founders...).

Jonathan MacKerron

ASKER

14:32 Jan 3, 2007

closest thing to a liberal party in the US was Ross Perrot's run for the White House a few years ago, he was basically for open markets and against all government regulation, which strangely enough in the US is more a "conservative" view than a "liberal" one!

Jonathan MacKerron

ASKER

14:26 Jan 3, 2007

Ken, sorry I didn't answer your question, readership here is erudite persons in the know

Jonathan MacKerron

ASKER

14:22 Jan 3, 2007

Ken, but in the past 50 years at least "liberal" in the US has been synoymous with "left-wing", it's really more of a semantic problem than a political one. Certainly not a dirty word if you're approaching it from the left...

Ken Cox

14:14 Jan 3, 2007

What sort of readership? Educated readers would understand 'liberal' correctly (or at least I hope so), despite the efforts of certain persons to make it a dirty word.

Answers

7 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +5

liberal

Explanation:
Why not "liberal"? Wikipedia has the following for FDP:

The Free Democratic Party (Freie Demokratische Partei - FDP) is a liberal political party in Germany. The party's ideology combines some free-market economics and individual liberties with social features of the welfare state Germany. The FDP is currently the third-largest party in the Bundestag.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freie_Demokratische_Partei

Ulrike Kraemer
Germany
Local time: 10:35
Native speaker of:

German
PRO pts in category: 16

Notes to answerer

Asker: in the US "liberal" means "left-wing", which is certainly not the case in Europe!!

Asker: I'm afraid my question requires some intimate knowledge of US politics, not just a simple comparison with the UK realities

54 mins confidence:

pro-business party

Explanation:
You're right, it's best to avoid the world "liberal" because it has a different connotation in German.

I used to work as a journlist at Deutche Welle TV and we got around the problem by calling the FDP : "...the pro-business FDP party..."

Example sentence(s):

Germany's FDP Scores Best Election Result Since Reunification Germany's pro-business Free Democratic Party, out of power since 1998
The CDU has actively courted the Free Democratic Party (FDP), a pro-business party that has a history of playing kingmaker in German politics.

Paul Cohen
Greenland
Local time: 07:35
Works in field
Native speaker of:

English
PRO pts in category: 47

Notes to answerer

Asker: thanks Paul, this is more or less the direction I thought this might go

1 hr confidence:

peer agreement (net): +1

free-market liberal FDP

Explanation:
I work at Deutsche Welle and we now call them 'the free-market liberal FDP'. I think this pretty much sums up what they're about...

Kirsti Green (X)
Local time: 10:35
Specializes in field
Native speaker of:

English
PRO pts in category: 8

Grading comment

the author also thought this to be the best solution - thanks to all contributors!

Notes to answerer

Asker: Kirsti, thanks for your valuable input here, it more or less confirms my initial take

32 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +1

libertarian

Explanation:
Jonathan, here are some other choices, since you're not happy with the plain "liberal." (Note that I also agreed with LittleBalu!)

"libertarian" - with a lower-case "l", it refers to the philosophy, not the party, but this could easily be confusing to readers. Also, FDP is not exactly libertarian.

"classical liberal" - term used by classical liberals to describe themselves, but not used by many others. Would be understood by a political readership but also carries connotations of support for the philosophy.

"center-right" - not the most accurate term, but might capture the relative position of the FDP.

"indepedent" - meaning nothing more than "not one of the two leading parties," which really doesn't mean much, of course.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 1 hr (2007-01-03 15:09:34 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Bottom line - check with the client to make sure he's happy with the connotations of the final result. If he's looking for a political job, then semantics = politics.

Darin Fitzpatrick
United States
Native speaker of:

English
PRO pts in category: 16

Notes to answerer

Asker: the US libertarian party is quite a different kette of fish, and nowadays in the US the Republicans see themselves as "center-right": In Germany the term "liberal" has mostly free trade connotations, with only a dab of real liberterian ideology left over from its origins

1 hr confidence:

the right-of-center FDP

Explanation:
That clearly defines their political philosophy.

If you insist to hang on to 'liberal', then perhaps the 'FDP of classic liberal persuasion'.

gangels (X)
Local time: 02:35
Specializes in field
Native speaker of:

English,

German
PRO pts in category: 47

22 hrs confidence:

centrist

Explanation:
The FDP have shifted to center-right on economic policy (although that's my subjective opinion), but have at the same time also taken up eco-friendly policies to compete with the Greens.
So "centrist" is IMO the safest option here.

[FDP] centrist German political party that advocates individualism, capitalism, and social reform
http://www.britannica.com/ebc/article-9035280

the Free Democrats (FDP), a centrist party that has been part of Kohl's governing coalition.
http://www.cnn.com/WORLD/europe/9809/27/german.elex.02/index...

Mr Moellemann, the former deputy leader of Germany's centrist Free Democratic Party (FDP)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/2965952.stm

Hope those references are credible enough!

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Note added at 2 days2 hrs (2007-01-05 16:59:09 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Googling german + party + fdp + bbc shows that the BBC's preferred designation is indeed "centrist".

Francis Lee (X)
Local time: 10:35
Works in field
Native speaker of:

English
PRO pts in category: 88

9 hrs confidence:

classical liberal/liberal in the classic sense (hier)

Explanation:
or also (politically) libertarian:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberal_Party_(Sweden,_2005)
classical liberal party

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classical_liberalism
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libertarian

http://medienkritik.typepad.com/blog/2005/04/understanding_g...
classic liberal

http://www.answers.com/topic/liberal-forum
liberal party in the classic sense

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Note added at 10 hrs (2007-01-04 00:24:45 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

http://www.lp.org/lpnews/article_829.shtml
libertarian FDP

"laissez-faire" FDP is another suggestion:
http://www.mydd.com/story/2005/9/18/162740/260

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Note added at 5 days (2007-01-08 16:19:33 GMT) Post-grading
--------------------------------------------------

should read: liberal in the classic"al" sense or classical tradition

Bernhard Sulzer
United States
Local time: 04:35
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: German
PRO pts in category: 60

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