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Fallehre
Stromverdrängungsläufer
Oct 5, 2010 12:12
13 yrs ago
German term

sorgt für Wind

German to English Marketing Advertising / Public Relations
In the title of an article about wind power:

"Industrielle Kommunikation sorgt für Wind"

Source: http://www.sps-magazin.de/?inc=artikel/article_show&nr=56257

Obviously, this is a play on words, but I'm not sure how best to transpose it into English, ideally retaining the metaphor.
Proposed translations (English)
4 +3 helps harness the wind
4 +3 creates tailwind
4 +1 "Industrial communication takes care of wind"
3 +1 winds of change in industrial communication
3 +1 makes things a breeze
3 fresh wind is ensured by industrial communication
3 keeps things moving
3 Industrial communication has the wind in its back
3 creates a stir
3 generates wind
3 Industrial communication is the way the wind is blowing
3 creates new wind
2 Industrial communication puts its back into the wind
Change log

Oct 5, 2010 17:02: Astrid Elke Witte changed "Term asked" from "\"sorgt für Wind\"" to "sorgt für Wind"

Discussion

Lancashireman Oct 5, 2010:
Hi Michele! When I was a teacher... (as so many of my stories begin), I always impressed on exam candidates the need to read and answer the question as it was framed, not as they would like it to have been worded: "ideally retaining the metaphor". Of course, David may decide to move the goal posts.
And BTW, this is not a gerund (noun form) but a present participle.
Michele Johnson Oct 5, 2010:
@Bernd: School of Hard Knocks apparently.

@Andrew: Excellent point about gerunds in headlines. I can't disagree with or even give a neutral to your suggestion, but it itself seems very literal to me. Why not a more typical sailing metaphor, like I dunno: billowing sails, filling sails, setting sail, charting course for, making headway, etc.?
phillee Oct 5, 2010:
Hehe - Poor David. Spoilt for choice! Why don't we ask the native German contingent decide what the phrase is actually supposed to mean in this context and let the English speaking people decide on a pleasing stylistic interpetation? Not sure tailwind is appropriate. IMHO This is more about causing discussion and hype than speeding things up ... but then again, I'm not a native speaker. Unless of course you want to sacrifice the semantics in favour of the metaphor. I guess this would be Ok if impact of the headline is the primary motivator.
gangels (X) Oct 5, 2010:
Perhaps "The winds are blowing toward industrial communication".
But must agree with Michele. "Into the wind with...." almost sounds like "to hell with...." or the aforementioned "pee"
Lancashireman Oct 5, 2010:
Literalism Here is an example of the different approach to headline/title composition in English and German: http://www.weirdfiction.de/article_database/robert-a-heinlei...
The original title (The Puppet Masters) is intriguing whereas the German title (Weltraum-Mollusken erobern die Erde) is a plot summary.
Another point: Instead of a fully formed sentence with subject, transitive verb and object (e.g. Industrial communication creates tailwind), a headline is more likely to feature a participle form, e.g. Industrial communication creating tailwind
Bernd Runge Oct 5, 2010:
@ Michele I have been dwelling on pointing, leaning, facing, turning, ... but p...ing.
Where have you been brought up? ;-)
Michele Johnson Oct 5, 2010:
@Bernd: I would say no way - sounds dangerously close to the phrase "pissing into the wind"!
Bernd Runge Oct 5, 2010:
How about "Into the wind with industrial communication"?

Proposed translations

+3
3 hrs
German term (edited): "sorgt für Wind"
Selected

helps harness the wind

I would say the article looks at how Communication Technology (Industirelle Kommunikation) helps in yielding or harnessing wind energy.
My suggestion:
How Communication Technology Helps Harness the Wind.
... or somewhat like that.
Peer comment(s):
agree philgoddard : This is good - I think many of the punning answers are too labored.
1 hr
Thanks, Phil!
agree Michele Johnson : I am a big fan of "free translation" and have to agree with Phil - the German fondness for puns often sounds really dumb in English. Plus there is so much potential for undesired humor here - I'm thinking "Break Like the Wind" for instance.
2 hrs
Thanks, Michele!
agree Roy Williams : I think this option works best; it doesn't sound like a used car salesman
20 hrs
Thanks, Roy. By the way, do you need a 16 year old car? ;-)
neutral Bernhard Sulzer : it's good but it sort of misses the "causes quite a stir" meaning. But it sounds great. :)
1 day 6 hrs
Thanks, Bernhard! I don't believe we're talking about it in the sense of "Aufsehen erregen". It is rather the fact that Com.Tech. is aiding in connecting wind turbines either via Ethernet, IWLAN or optical fiber, and this all happens in the background.
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4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "Selected automatically based on peer agreement."
+1
20 mins
German term (edited): "sorgt für Wind"

"Industrial communication takes care of wind"

This is quite humorous, and has more than one meaning. 'Wind' can be the 'hot air' spent in talk about something, rather than in taking effective action.Hence it can mean that industrial communication is very practical and effective. Of course 'wind' is also the bodily emission of gases from orifices like the mouth, so it is a humorous take on a possible medicine advert to cure that physical problem.It depends on how it fits into your context and register!
Peer comment(s):
agree Aleksandar Ristić
1 hr
Thanks !
neutral gangels (X) : ...and relieves constipation??
1 hr
maybe !
neutral philgoddard : I don't think this works. People will think it's an unintentional double entendre.
5 hrs
Something went wrong...
+3
19 mins

creates tailwind

provides tailwind

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 22 mins (2010-10-05 12:34:41 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

A tailwind is a wind that blows in the direction of travel of an object. A tailwind ***increases the object's speed and reduces the time required to reach its destination***.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tailwind
Note from asker:
Yes, thanks. Being a cyclist, I'm very familiar with and appreciative of tailwinds :-)
Peer comment(s):
agree gangels (X) : I like that, matter of fact, blows me away
1 hr
You always were a hard man to pin down, Klaus.
agree franglish
2 hrs
neutral Bernd Runge : Hello Andrew, the only thing you don't want to have being the wind park owner is tailwind (means the yaw control doesn't work) ;-)
3 hrs
Headline writers in the English-speaking press are allowed a degree of latitude. Not really a job for a 'literalist'. Not that I am suggesting for one moment that this is some sort of German characteristic... // Or maybe I am (see above).
agree Bernhard Sulzer : a stronger wind is blowing
17 hrs
Something went wrong...
43 mins
German term (edited): "sorgt für Wind"

fresh wind is ensured by industrial communication

just like that
Something went wrong...
53 mins
German term (edited): "sorgt für Wind"

keeps things moving

context-specific ... seems to offer a particularly natural/functional English parallel for the source metaphor
Something went wrong...
2 hrs
German term (edited): "sorgt für Wind"

Industrial communication has the wind in its back

I.e., sailing along smoothly
Something went wrong...
2 hrs
German term (edited): "sorgt für Wind"

Industrial communication puts its back into the wind

It's an entirely different pun, and maybe too long, but seems to me to preserve the original meaning.
Something went wrong...
+1
2 hrs
German term (edited): "sorgt für Wind"

winds of change in industrial communication

-
Peer comment(s):
agree gangels (X) : a nice one, too
2 hrs
Thanks Gangels
neutral Michele Johnson : This somehow reminds me of the Chinese curse "May you live in interesting times", and it also carries with it perhaps some unintended cultural baggage: "TAAAAKe me, to the mAAAgic of the MOOOMent on a GLOOOORY night..."
3 hrs
Don't quite see the Chinese curse, but I'd love to have heard you with that!
Something went wrong...
3 hrs
German term (edited): "sorgt für Wind"

creates a stir

... not exactly the metaphor you are looking for but the meaning
Peer comment(s):
neutral Bernhard Sulzer : that is the meaning - I think although others don't think so - makes for quite a breeze :)
1 day 7 hrs
ah well - that's why we have the voting :)
Something went wrong...
3 hrs
German term (edited): "sorgt für Wind"

generates wind

just a suggestion
Something went wrong...
+1
3 hrs
German term (edited): "sorgt für Wind"

makes things a breeze

Looking at the full title:
"Lösungen für die Vernetzung von Windturbinen: Industrielle Kommunikation sorgt für Wind",
I would avoid any idiom with "wind", because you'll be repeating yourself (wind turbines).

"Networking wind turbines: industrial communication makes things a breeze."
"Networking wind turbines is a breeze with industrial communication."
Peer comment(s):
agree Andrew Bramhall : l Like this !
11 mins
Something went wrong...
5 hrs

Industrial communication is the way the wind is blowing

I've come to this question rather late, but here is my suggestion:

Solutions for the networking of wind turbines - industrial communication is the way the wind is blowing

or some variant of "how the wind blows", "the way the wind blows", e.g. shows the way the wind is blowing, is how the wind blows/is blowing, etc.
Something went wrong...
1 day 10 hrs

creates new wind

more in the sense of creating quite a stir, making waves
not totally sure if it works but I have a feeling it could.

The article tries to convince the reader how much technology contributes to harvesting.harnessing wind power more efficiently and keeping energy ready to use, always.

Technology is in no small part responsible for the successful production and maintaining of (more) wind power (energy). It makes for "stronger/more reliable" wind (power).

The phrase "sorgt für Wind" is used to mean "creates/attracts attention/quite a stir" but here it is supposed to say something about the wind or how the wind/wind power is now better served/harvested/harnessed/produced/maintained etc. through new technologies.
Therein lies the challenge.

"makes good/strong/more wind (power)" would be the literal translation.

new technologies make wind power/energy more reliable/better than ever
makes wind power more reliable/efficient - but that lacks the attraction component of the original


http://www.focus.de/wissen/bildung/sprichwoerter/sprache_aid...
"Tohuwabohu“ sorgt für Wind aber „Fisimatenten“ macht sich noch besser. Ein knappes Kopf-an-Kopf-Rennen zeichnet sich bei der Wahl zum besten eingewanderten Wort ab.

http://www.youngsmartglobal.org/snap-cup
...transforming the stagnate manufacturing-based wind of the past into the ferocious, entrepreneurial gale of the future. ...
...it runs, it jumps, it explodes. It creates NEW WIND.
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