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Altbauten
in hoheitlichem Auftrag

Glossary entry

German term or phrase:

Politikernkopf

English translation:

close-up of a politician's face

Added to glossary by Oliver Walter
Aug 7, 2004 20:07
20 yrs ago
German term

Politikerkopf

German to English Social Sciences Government / Politics perhaps non-technical
"Auf den meisten Plakaten wird eine Personifizierung von Politik durch Abbildung von bekannten Politikern oder Politikerköpfen vorgenommen."
Literally "politicians's heads" or perhaps "politicians' faces", but that doesn't sound right after "politicians" in English. What is the distinction between (Abbildung von) Politiker and Politikerköpfe to a German?
(This is an article about a German publicity campaign with posters.)
Proposed translations (English)
5 depiction/presentation of well-known politicians or just close-ups of their faces
3 +4 does the distinction matter?
4 +1 images of well known politicians or merely their heads
4 political (expert/specialist/guru)
3 "the depiction of the heads and faces of well-known politicians"

Discussion

Non-ProZ.com Aug 11, 2004:
To Hamo Your idea of "political experts" was good in principle, but not applicable in this case as "Nicht mehr die Politiker (oder deren K�pfe)" appears elsewhere in the same text.
Kevin Pfeiffer (X) Aug 8, 2004:
I like Fred's because it seems to me to capture the subtle satirical note I sense in 'Politikerkopf' as well as to have a smooth, non-stilted flow, and stay quite close to the original. Am I wrong about 'Politikerkopf'?
mckinnc Aug 7, 2004:
It does seem to matter to the person who wrote the original text. It seems to me that if you don't make that distinction, you're really straying from a faithful translation.
Non-ProZ.com Aug 7, 2004:
Does the distinction matter? Armorel's question was in my mind when I asked this. If I do want to keep the distinction, I could use Colin's idea;, although Fred's and Kevin's are also "correct", I would probably hesitate to use them in translating the quoted sentence.
Siegfried Armbruster Aug 7, 2004:
"Abbildung von bekannten Politikern" shows the whole person
"Politikerk�pfe" only shows the head or face

Proposed translations

50 mins
Selected

depiction/presentation of well-known politicians or just close-ups of their faces

In second thoughts, I prefer it this way

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Note added at 1 hr 33 mins (2004-08-07 21:40:33 GMT)
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Full-length portraits of politicians or just close-ups of their faces

Something went wrong...
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: ""close-ups of their faces" is closest to what I finally used (and I ignored the distinction in one of the occurrences in the text). My original question should have said "Politikernkopf", not "Politikerkopf""
7 mins

"the depiction of the heads and faces of well-known politicians"

my shot
Peer comment(s):
neutral Trudy Peters : what happened to the rest of the body?
16 mins
"Off with their heads!" :-) Was a looser attempt meant to preserve the flow. But I like the Doc's better.
Something went wrong...
+1
26 mins

images of well known politicians or merely their heads

Or: images of well known politicians or merely the heads of such politicians

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 29 mins (2004-08-07 20:36:17 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

On most of the signs a personification of politics is attempted (or: is achieved) by depicting (or showing) well known politicians or merely their heads (or: the heads thereof).
Peer comment(s):
agree Kevin Pfeiffer (X) : Sounds good and close to original!
20 mins
Thank you, Kevin.
Something went wrong...
+4
1 hr

does the distinction matter?

At the risk of being accused of being too free, I'd be inclined to omit the distinction. In English usage, a picture of XXX can equally well be a full-length picture or a face-only one, so just to say "pictures/illustrations of politicians" covers both options quite satisfactorily. For the same reason, the oder/or distinction is shaky either in German or English, because the two things aren't discrete - pictures of politicians' faces are a subset of pictures of politicians, not an entirely separate category.
Peer comment(s):
agree Trudy Peters
9 mins
agree Meturgan
1 hr
agree Christine Lam
2 hrs
agree Ingrid Blank
8 hrs
Something went wrong...
2 hrs

political (expert/specialist/guru)

Is this not an anglicism taken from the US colloquial expression "talking heads" -- people who have a good notion of a thing or matter and are well-known voices on their subject. In this sense a politician and a political expert are two very different kinds of people.
Something went wrong...
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