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Prospekt

English translation: vista

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)
German term or phrase:Prospekt
English translation:vista
Entered by: mill2

14:35 Jun 8, 2009
German to English translations [PRO]
Social Sciences - Philosophy
German term or phrase: Prospekt
This is actually from an essay in an art catalogue, but the context is political/philosophical. The passage in question is metaphorical and concerns the alleged impossibility of a utopia or a different political arrangement of society:

Parallelen, wird uns gesagt, sind Linien, die sich niemals treffen. Egal welcher wir folgen, wir werden nie wieder die andere zu Gesicht bekommen. Zu Gesicht bekommen vielleicht, aber doch außer Reichweite, in gleich bleibender Distanz, als *Prospekt*.

I asked the author what he meant exactly by Prospekt and he wrote:

es ist primaer im Sinne von Ansicht, Aussicht gemeint, was sowohl fuer Landschaften verwendbar ist, als auch fuer eine Buehne. In jedem Fall aber die Distanz des Betrachters betont, vor dem sich etwas ausbreitet. Natuerlich ist mir hier auch die Assoziation zum Warenhausprospekt willkommen. Aber prospect will do, denke ich.

prospect won't do, as the definition of a sketched landscape is obsolete and I, for one, wouldn't get it if I came across it in this context. I thought of vista, but am hoping you might have some better ideas.

Thanks!
mill2
Local time: 01:49
reword
Explanation:
Am I right in understanding this was originally intended to be wordplay with "Prospekt" as in the brochure? If so you'll have to forget that, so perhaps you could reword a little while you are at it.

A prospect is a view, but I can't see quite how you could use it effectively here, in this sentence (werde gerne eines besseren belehrt!).

Parellel lines, we are told, never meet. Whichever one we follow, we will never face the other. We may see it, but always out of reach, never coming closer, a distant vista.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 59 mins (2009-06-08 15:34:38 GMT)
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"Three great vistas are the landscape designer William Nesfield's indelible signature on today's Kew." http://www.kew.org/places/kew/pagoda.html
Selected response from:

Anne Brackenborough (X)
Germany
Local time: 01:49
Grading comment
decided to go with far-off vista - and I also used your "never coming closer" Thanks very much!
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
4 +4Prospect seems fine to me.
Jack Doughty
4panorama / vista / outlook
Helen Shiner
3distant horizon//perspective
polyglot45
3(visual) percept / aspect
swisstell
3reword
Anne Brackenborough (X)


  

Answers


8 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
distant horizon//perspective


Explanation:
one senses there should be something better though

You would have to reword and say something about seeing it, always the same way off, a sort of distant horizon

polyglot45
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish, Native in FrenchFrench
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9 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
(visual) percept / aspect


Explanation:
and adding to the above 2 possibilities these further thoughts:
scene, view, panorama, visual image, tableau

swisstell
Italy
Local time: 01:49
Native speaker of: German
PRO pts in category: 4
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11 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
panorama / vista / outlook


Explanation:
or maybe you have to 'unpack' it a bit

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 13 mins (2009-06-08 14:49:20 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

as part of the landscape
encompassed within our sights

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 16 mins (2009-06-08 14:52:01 GMT)
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within the sweep of the horizon
in what we survey

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 18 mins (2009-06-08 14:54:01 GMT)
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as part of the scene surveyed - this might relate as your client suggests to a stage or landscape painting, without it sounding too far off and yet not too near.

Helen Shiner
United Kingdom
Local time: 00:49
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 43
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25 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +4
Prospect seems fine to me.


Explanation:
I don't agree that "prospect" in this sense is obsolete or hard to understand.
There ia a well-known and often quoted line frm the hymn "FromGreenland's Icy Mountains": "Where every prospect pleases, and only man is vile", which is clear enough. I think also of the misprint in a hotel brochure quoted by Gerald Hoffnung in a radio programme: "There is a French widow in every bedroom, affording delightful prospects."

Jack Doughty
United Kingdom
Local time: 00:49
Native speaker of: English

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Kim Metzger: And the word is loaded with appropriate connotations.
6 mins
  -> Thank you.
agree  Tom Tyson
49 mins
  -> Thank you.
agree  Barbara Wiebking
1 hr
  -> Thank you.
agree  Inge Meinzer
11 hrs
  -> Thank you.
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54 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
reword


Explanation:
Am I right in understanding this was originally intended to be wordplay with "Prospekt" as in the brochure? If so you'll have to forget that, so perhaps you could reword a little while you are at it.

A prospect is a view, but I can't see quite how you could use it effectively here, in this sentence (werde gerne eines besseren belehrt!).

Parellel lines, we are told, never meet. Whichever one we follow, we will never face the other. We may see it, but always out of reach, never coming closer, a distant vista.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 59 mins (2009-06-08 15:34:38 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

"Three great vistas are the landscape designer William Nesfield's indelible signature on today's Kew." http://www.kew.org/places/kew/pagoda.html

Anne Brackenborough (X)
Germany
Local time: 01:49
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 4
Grading comment
decided to go with far-off vista - and I also used your "never coming closer" Thanks very much!

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
neutral  Kim Metzger: Autor: "Natuerlich ist mir hier auch die Assoziation zum Warenhausprospekt willkommen."/Maybe the author did originally intend it to be a wordplay with brochure. And you're right, I wouldn't try to capture that in English.
8 mins
  -> As I noted; but "prospect" isn't used for a brochure or leaflet, and I can't think of another word meaning both a brochure and a vista, can you?
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