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Ausländerbeauftragte

English translation: Commissioner for Foreigners' Affairs

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)
German term or phrase:Ausländerbeauftragte
English translation:Commissioner for Foreigners' Affairs
Entered by: Ian M-H (X)

17:24 Jan 5, 2005
German to English translations [PRO]
Social Sciences - Government / Politics
German term or phrase: Ausländerbeauftragte
Zusätzliches Amt eines Ministers auf Bundes- oder Landesebene
Marianne Jung
Italy
Local time: 09:21
Commissioner for Foreigners' Affairs
Explanation:
EdithK got this, and got it quickly, but I'm entering this in order to give some additional information. I'm confident that it's correct but am *not* after Edith's points ;-)

For the job at federal level, the German Embassy in London has used "Federal Commissioner for Foreigners' Affairs".

http://www.german-embassy.org.uk/reform_of_germany_s_citizen...

Many Länder and the federal government now use the term "Integrationsbeauftragte/r" for the job once known as "Ausländerbeauftragte".

http://www.integrationsbeauftragter.nrw.de/

At federal level it's currently Marieluise Beck (who *is* a Staatssekretaärin): "Beauftragte der Bundesregierung für Migration, Flüchtlinge und Integration".

At local (Stadt/Kreis) and regional (Land) level, however, the position and powers of ABs varies greatly. Some have decision-making powers and staff, others are part-time and only have an advisory or consultative role. Some are only concerned with "Ausländer", others also have other jobs.

The BBC and others have used "Commissioner for Minority Affairs" to translate this. One of the "!others" is here:
http://www.wiltonpark.org.uk/web/conferences/documents/progr...

But this translation leads to problems: "Minorities" isn't the same as people of "Black and Minority Ethnic" background - and even it if were, that wouldn't take into account the fact that many Ausländerbeauftragte/Integrationsbeauftragte are not responsible for the large number of people with an immigration background who are, legally, ethnic Germans.

Francis has also pointed to something important: what is meant by "Ausländer" in Germany isn't the same as most native speakers of English understand when someone says "foreigners". (I have frequently looked after visiting Germans in West Yorkshire (area of the UK with large ethnic minority populations in urban centres) and heard them remark repeatedly on the large number of "foreigners". They were simply seeing non-white faces, and hearing Punjabi and Urdu being spoken, and drawing what in many parts of Germany would be the most likely conclusion, empirically: someone of e.g. Turkish background in Germany is still more likely than not to be a Turkish rather than a German national, although this is changing.

But I can't agree with Francis that we should use "aliens". Whilst it is indeed the officially-used term in the US, and thus technically correct for a US audience, it would often be misunderstood (or not understood) in the UK. When writing about immigration and ethnic minority issues in Germany for a UK audience, I explain the background briefly and define terms (such as "integration commissioner"). If your text doesn't do this, then I suggest you use commissioner for foreigners' affairs". It's not precise, and it won't lead to a full understanding of what the job is, but I've been working in this field for 15 years and not found a better option.


--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 15 hrs 42 mins (2005-01-06 09:06:25 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Oops - a couple of typos in the above. Comes from trying to type a lot into a little white box... Please regard parentheses as closed and pretend that the sentences are all grammatically correct. ;-)

Selected response from:

Ian M-H (X)
United States
Local time: 03:21
Grading comment
Thank you, I agree. I needed the word for the translation of my CV referring to the "Ausländerbeauftragte" at regional level in Baden-Württemberg, where I did an internship. During which I also learned that there are different terms according to the Land or the federal level.
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
3 +2Commissioner for Foreigners' Issues
Edith Kelly
3 +2Commissioner for Aliens
Francis Lee (X)
5Commissioner for Foreigners' Affairs
Ian M-H (X)
3 +1"Minister with responsibility for ---"
Barbara Cashin (X)
4 -1official looking after foreign immigrants
BrigitteHilgner


Discussion entries: 1





  

Answers


4 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5 peer agreement (net): +2
Ausländerbeauftragte
Commissioner for Foreigners' Issues


Explanation:
From a UK website

... The homepage of the Federal Government Commissioner for Foreigners' Issues provides
facts and figures on the situation of foreigners in Germany. ...
www.ex.ac.uk/flc/germtips/foreign.html

Edith Kelly
Switzerland
Local time: 09:21
Works in field
Native speaker of: Native in GermanGerman, Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 43

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  mstkwasa: Or simply "Commissioner for Foreigners"
5 mins
  -> Thanks.
agree  Ian M-H (X): This is a common and acceptable translation for a job that to my knowledge doesn't exist in e.g. Britain, the US. An alternative would be something with "ombudsman", but not all Ausländerbeauftragte have an ombudsman role. "Affairs" better than "issues"?
5 mins
  -> Thanks, right you are
neutral  Francis Lee (X): "foreigners" is not officialese // and was evidently translated for that website by a University of Essex student // Edith! Most "Ausländer" in German society are not migrants - they were born here!
32 mins
  -> Well, it comes from a British website. ADD: To be pc, it should probably be called something like migrants.
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17 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5 peer agreement (net): +1
"Minister with responsibility for ---"


Explanation:
Here in Ireland, government ministers with responsibility for particular issues are referred to as "Ministers with responsibility for ----". This gets quite a few hits on a search engine search.

Barbara Cashin (X)
Local time: 08:21
Native speaker of: English

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Francis Lee (X): "for Aliens" // Christian: trust me, "Aliens" is the proper term for Ausländer here. Check the thousands of offical websites with "Alien Registration"
8 mins
agree  Christian: for "foreigners"; against "aliens"!
31 mins
agree  Ian M-H (X): True, but an Ausländerbeauftragter in Germany is often (more often than not) not a minister or Staatssekretär. So this is fine in Asker's context ("zusätzl. Amt") but wouldn't be right more generally. Oh yes: I'm against "aliens", too!
1 hr
disagree  Edith Kelly: No, also in Ireland (and I'm Irish), it's not a Minister, the Beauftragte has no ministerial status, not even as a Junior Minister (Staatssekretär) in Germany. It's a relatively low ranking. So who is the Minister in Germany having this additional job?
1 hr
neutral  mstkwasa: Agree with Edith about the status of the officials. My tuppence worth on the pc debate: I have to agree with Francis that "alien" is the official/legal term in the US, even though I personally prefer "foreigner" or "non-German nationals/citizens" etc.
7 hrs
disagree  Terry Moran: EdithK's right, this isn't anything like a ministerial function.
15 hrs
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2 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): -1
Ausländerbeauftragte
official looking after foreign immigrants


Explanation:
Translation provided by PONS COLLINS Großwörterbuch für Experten und Universität, Dt.-Engl., Engl.-Dt.
Ernst Klett Verlag

BrigitteHilgner
Austria
Local time: 09:21
Native speaker of: Native in GermanGerman
PRO pts in category: 25

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
neutral  Francis Lee (X): "Ausländer" as in understood in Germany are not "foreigners"
13 mins
disagree  Ian M-H (X): The job is about the concerns/interests (individual and collective) of non-nationals, not usually or primarily about "looking after" them/us/me [;-)]. And it's quite definitely not only about "immigrants".
12 hrs
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9 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5 peer agreement (net): +2
Ausländerbeauftragte
Commissioner for Aliens


Explanation:
laut dem Deutsch-Englisch-Glossar des Sprachendienstes des Bundestags

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 12 mins (2005-01-05 17:36:41 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

\"the Ausländerbeauftragter (Commissioner for Aliens) on the state or federal level...\"
www.unesco.org/most/p97kolne.doc

(obwohl - \"ON the state level\" deutet auf eine sprachtechnisch nicht ganz zuverlässige Quelle)

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 2 hrs 15 mins (2005-01-05 19:39:50 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

well, how about \"Commissioner/Minister for Foreign Nationals\"
(just anything but \"foreigners\", please!))

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 13 hrs 57 mins (2005-01-06 07:22:00 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

\"immigrant communities\" is an alternative term, here

It might well be best after all to choose an explanatory phrase à la Brigitte rather than a single term. And as Ian pointed out, the German term itself varies, e.g. Migrations- und Integrationsbeauftragte
So how about:

\"official responsible for the integration of immigrant communities\"

Francis Lee (X)
Local time: 09:21
Works in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 88

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  mstkwasa: Hmmm... Makes sense - the good old Ausländerbehörde was called the Aliens' Office as I distinctively remember.
3 mins
neutral  Edith Kelly: No longer pc
1 hr
  -> Then tell US immigration: http://www.usembassy.org.uk/cons_web/visa/iv/issuance.htm
agree  Terry Moran: If it's not pc, that makes it perfect in my eyes.
15 hrs
neutral  Ian M-H (X): "foreign nationals" is nice: both accurate (as regards the responsibilities of most AB/IBs) and would be understood. "Immigrant communities" doesn't work, though - see my answer.
16 hrs
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15 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 5/5
Ausländerbeauftragte
Commissioner for Foreigners' Affairs


Explanation:
EdithK got this, and got it quickly, but I'm entering this in order to give some additional information. I'm confident that it's correct but am *not* after Edith's points ;-)

For the job at federal level, the German Embassy in London has used "Federal Commissioner for Foreigners' Affairs".

http://www.german-embassy.org.uk/reform_of_germany_s_citizen...

Many Länder and the federal government now use the term "Integrationsbeauftragte/r" for the job once known as "Ausländerbeauftragte".

http://www.integrationsbeauftragter.nrw.de/

At federal level it's currently Marieluise Beck (who *is* a Staatssekretaärin): "Beauftragte der Bundesregierung für Migration, Flüchtlinge und Integration".

At local (Stadt/Kreis) and regional (Land) level, however, the position and powers of ABs varies greatly. Some have decision-making powers and staff, others are part-time and only have an advisory or consultative role. Some are only concerned with "Ausländer", others also have other jobs.

The BBC and others have used "Commissioner for Minority Affairs" to translate this. One of the "!others" is here:
http://www.wiltonpark.org.uk/web/conferences/documents/progr...

But this translation leads to problems: "Minorities" isn't the same as people of "Black and Minority Ethnic" background - and even it if were, that wouldn't take into account the fact that many Ausländerbeauftragte/Integrationsbeauftragte are not responsible for the large number of people with an immigration background who are, legally, ethnic Germans.

Francis has also pointed to something important: what is meant by "Ausländer" in Germany isn't the same as most native speakers of English understand when someone says "foreigners". (I have frequently looked after visiting Germans in West Yorkshire (area of the UK with large ethnic minority populations in urban centres) and heard them remark repeatedly on the large number of "foreigners". They were simply seeing non-white faces, and hearing Punjabi and Urdu being spoken, and drawing what in many parts of Germany would be the most likely conclusion, empirically: someone of e.g. Turkish background in Germany is still more likely than not to be a Turkish rather than a German national, although this is changing.

But I can't agree with Francis that we should use "aliens". Whilst it is indeed the officially-used term in the US, and thus technically correct for a US audience, it would often be misunderstood (or not understood) in the UK. When writing about immigration and ethnic minority issues in Germany for a UK audience, I explain the background briefly and define terms (such as "integration commissioner"). If your text doesn't do this, then I suggest you use commissioner for foreigners' affairs". It's not precise, and it won't lead to a full understanding of what the job is, but I've been working in this field for 15 years and not found a better option.


--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 15 hrs 42 mins (2005-01-06 09:06:25 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Oops - a couple of typos in the above. Comes from trying to type a lot into a little white box... Please regard parentheses as closed and pretend that the sentences are all grammatically correct. ;-)



Ian M-H (X)
United States
Local time: 03:21
Works in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 48
Grading comment
Thank you, I agree. I needed the word for the translation of my CV referring to the "Ausländerbeauftragte" at regional level in Baden-Württemberg, where I did an internship. During which I also learned that there are different terms according to the Land or the federal level.
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