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bürgerliche Partei

English translation: mainstream party

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)
German term or phrase:bürgerliche Partei
English translation:mainstream party
Entered by: Patricia Will

10:33 Jan 10, 2008
German to English translations [PRO]
Social Sciences - Government / Politics / Political parties
German term or phrase: bürgerliche Partei
What is meant by this in the German political landscape? And which term would mean most to a US readership? Are these the parties of the centre? Or centre-right? Any help appreciated. Context is article about forthcoming elections.
Patricia Will
Australia
Local time: 15:58
mainstream party
Explanation:
I think you've answered your own question.

For a general context like this, I'd go with mainstream.

Assumably, the text refers to the SPD and the Greens. I wouldn't get into political positioning terms like "center" or "center-left" here. And I would avoid "bourgeois" and "middle class"!


Selected response from:

Paul Cohen
Greenland
Local time: 06:58
Grading comment
Thanks - that is precisely the right term for the context!
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
4 +3mainstream party
Paul Cohen
4 +2middle-class/bourgeois party
Richard Benham
4 +1party with bourgeois outlook
Narasimhan Raghavan
4party of the center / center-right party
mary austria


Discussion entries: 6





  

Answers


9 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +1
party with bourgeois outlook


Explanation:
Help from Leo.
Jede reformistisch-sozialistische Partei ist eine bürgerliche Partei, weil sie letztendlich die kapitalistische Ordnung einer sozialistischen Revolution vorzieht. Sie hat einen Doppelcharakter, insofern sie an ihren sozialistischen Zielen festhält und/oder ArbeiterInnen klassenmäßig organisiert. Die SPD hat ihren Doppelcharakter bereits 1959 mit der Annahme des Godesberger Programms verloren.
See: https://www.ssl-id.de/www.rsb4.de/index.php?option=com_conte...

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Note added at 23 mins (2008-01-10 10:57:55 GMT)
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In case bourgeois is not acceptable, its translation as middle class should do. Sort of right of center.

Narasimhan Raghavan
Local time: 13:28
Native speaker of: Tamil

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Richard Benham: Slight prob: "bourgeois" is pejorative in English, but the German term isn't. See, e.g http://www.fdp-thueringen.de/presse/854-die_einzige_buergerl... where the FDP describes itself as "Die einzige bürgerliche Partei".
9 mins
  -> No longer pejorative in English, I think. With the onset of globalization, the term has gained respect.
agree  YILMAZ KAYA (X)
10 mins
  -> Danke, Yilmaz
agree  Susan Zimmer: I wouldn't use this for a US readership...oh, yes, middle-class works.
44 mins
  -> Thanks SuzieZ
disagree  uli1: Bourgeois outlook would be Dirndl and Lederhosen! Angela Merkel wears neither of them.
1 hr
  -> Bourgeois as understood originally in French has come a long way. At present its meaning varies from person to person. I just gave it an average meaning.
disagree  AllegroTrans: too perjorative
3 hrs
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29 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
party of the center / center-right party


Explanation:
Take you choice, but make it fit the particular party.

mary austria
Local time: 09:58
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
disagree  Richard Benham: I think you need to actually translate what's there. Besides, there are far-right parties in the deutschen Sprachraum who call themselves "bürgerlich" (think of the SVP in Switzerland). The word means "middle-class", when it comes down to it.
17 mins
  -> Granted, middle-class party would be another possibility. But definitely not "bourgeois"!!
agree  uli1: I agree with party of the centre. Like the governing CDU/SPD coalition in Germany. Angela Merkel often refers to her policy as policy "der Mitte". Anoth example is the term "gut-bürgerliche Küche" refers to German food. I disagree with center-right party.
1 hr
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53 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +2
middle-class/bourgeois party


Explanation:
The trouble is that there are no equivalents across political cultures. For example, the (centre-right, for want of a better description) FDP in Germany is also referred to as "die Liberalen", but in the US a "liberal" tends to be regarded as someone with dangerously left-wing views (and in Australia, the "Liberal Party" is in fact the main conservative party)....

The thing is here that the party is described in terms of the social class it appeals to or draws its membership/support from, and it is probably best to do likewise in English. Whatever you do, some brief explanation is called for. I don't think "centre" or "centre-right" (even with US spelling) is acceptable on its own. It effectively puts a gloss on the term that isn't there in the original.



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Note added at 55 mins (2008-01-10 11:28:58 GMT)
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PS I agreed with Narasimham's answer, and he suggested "bourgeois" first. I am not trying to grab points here; I just needed more room to express my views.

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Note added at 2 hrs (2008-01-10 12:40:05 GMT)
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Hello. I have already expressed my reservations about "bourgeois", although it is probably technically the most accurate. I totally denounce the absurd suggestion that the word "bourgeois" in English suggests either Lederhosen or Dirndlkleider (which were not even middle-class garments when they were current).

The English word "bourgeois", although a literal translation of "bürgerlich" and French "bourgeois", has a connotation of self-satisfied narrow-mindedness. This is probably unfortunate when a neutral tone is required, but in an appropriate conext (e.g. political science, where it would just be a technical term), it could fit. Otherwise "middle-class" would be better.

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Note added at 2 hrs (2008-01-10 12:53:54 GMT)
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Hello. I think now with the added context that "mainstream parties" might be the best way to go.

Richard Benham
France
Local time: 09:58
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 12

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
neutral  uli1: Middle-class could eventually do it but not bourgeois. But I think party of the center fits better!
1 hr
  -> Eventually? How long do you think it will take? Would you describe the SVP in Switzerland as a "centre" party? They certainly call themselves "bürgerlich" (and "bourgeois" in French).
agree  Paul Cohen: Sorry, Richard, I hadn't seen that you had departed from your non-point-grabbing elaborations on the word "bourgeois". Yes, now that we have more context, it looks like "mainstream parties" would be the best solution.
2 hrs
  -> Thanks. Just pursuing the explorations a bit further in the light of the further information from the asker.
agree  KARIN ISBELL
5 hrs
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2 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +3
mainstream party


Explanation:
I think you've answered your own question.

For a general context like this, I'd go with mainstream.

Assumably, the text refers to the SPD and the Greens. I wouldn't get into political positioning terms like "center" or "center-left" here. And I would avoid "bourgeois" and "middle class"!




Paul Cohen
Greenland
Local time: 06:58
Works in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 47
Grading comment
Thanks - that is precisely the right term for the context!

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Richard Benham: Thank you for agreeing with me on this one! And congratulations on inventing the word "assumably"!//OK, reviving then. I still think "presumably" better fits your apparently intended meaning....
4 mins
  -> I can't take credit for inventing anything. The Asker answered her own question and "assumably" must have been coined by some other inventive soul (see 1913 Webster's dictionary: http://webster-dictionary.net/definition/Assumably).
agree  mary austria: Brilliant, "mainstream" was the word that was escaping me!!
59 mins
  -> Yup, it hits the nail on the head! ;-)
agree  AllegroTrans
1 hr
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