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vorteilhaft
Maschinenbaumechaniker
Dec 30, 2008 08:14
15 yrs ago
German term

Neon-Spuk

German to English Marketing Tourism & Travel
Wenn am Bund der Morgen dämmert, ist der Neon-Spuk für einen Augenblick vergessen und das alte China kehrt zurück in die kapitalistische Metropole.

TIA for your help!
Proposed translations (English)
2 +7 neon frenzy
3 +6 neon clamour
4 +3 neon-lit chimera
3 +2 jangling neon half-light
3 +2 neon razzmatazz/razzle-dazzle
4 neon phantom
3 neon-spook, neon-apparition
3 neon mystic
3 neon glow
3 the garish lights of commercialism
Votes to reclassify question as PRO/non-PRO:

Non-PRO (2): bonafide1313, Harald Moelzer (medical-translator)

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Discussion

inkweaver (asker) Dec 30, 2008:
a) The text is about Shanghai (the Bund is Shanghai's most famous road).
b) It is a travel guide.

I don't think that "Neon-Spuk" is referring to a ghostly atmosphere, by the way. The expression is referring to the omnipresent neon advertising in Shanghai, which is not particularly "ghostly".
casper (X) Dec 30, 2008:
a) What does the source text talk about? In other words: more context, please.
b) In what way is the term related to "Marketing - Tourism & Travel" ?

Proposed translations

+7
2 hrs
Selected

neon frenzy

As Katharina says, "Spuk" probably isn't anything to do with ghosts - the word has another meaning of "Lärm, Unfug, Aufhebens" (Wahrig) or "din, racket" (Collins). However, in my view this isn't so much describing the actual noise of the streets (if it were, one could say something like "neon-lit hullabaloo") as the "noisy" effect created by all the neon signs - I'm still searching for a good way to describe that, hence the low CL for my present provisional suggestion.
Peer comment(s):
agree anika10000
1 hr
agree Cetacea : IMO, "frenzy" is very well suited to conveying the aggressive nature of all those (flashing) signs and symbols.
2 hrs
agree Rebecca Garber
4 hrs
agree Kitty Maerz
5 hrs
agree Sabine Lenz : for sure
8 hrs
agree jrgreenw
10 hrs
agree Bernhard Sulzer : I was thinking "neon spectacle" but "frenzy" captures this continuous motion much better, this never-letting up of lights being spit out over and over again (except for that moment of peace described in the text).
12 hrs
Something went wrong...
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "Thank you, Armorel!"
43 mins

neon-spook, neon-apparition

in sense of a ghostly atmosphere
Peer comment(s):
agree Barbara Wiebking
3 mins
neutral Armorel Young : What are all those hyphens doing? If you are using neon as an adjective (and I'm not sure what else it can be) then there's no call for a hyphen in a phrase like "neon apparition".
1 hr
disagree Lancashireman : Partly for reason given above (hyphenation) but mainly because 'neon spook' is absurd.
13 hrs
Something went wrong...
+3
1 hr

neon-lit chimera

As the first rays of dawn light up the façades of the Bund, the neon-lit chimera is briefly forgotten in favour of the capitalist metropolis of an earlier China. (Well, I was feeling poetic this morning)
Peer comment(s):
agree Ivana Zuppa-Baksa : Very nice!
12 mins
agree bonafide1313 : Like your poetry very much, too:); however, I have some concerns which I will put in the discussion field, would you be so kind to help me to understand fully? Ups, the discussion field won't work, I can't open it?!What now?
31 mins
agree Harald Moelzer (medical-translator)
3 days 6 mins
Something went wrong...
+2
2 hrs

jangling neon half-light

In line with Armorel's move away from the spookiness meaning and more towards the "noisiness" of light.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 2 hrs (2008-12-30 10:53:26 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Or you could just say 'jangling neon light'.
Peer comment(s):
agree Armorel Young : I very much like "jangling" - worth fitting that in one way or another
21 mins
Thank you, Armorel
agree Harald Moelzer (medical-translator) : with Armorel
2 days 22 hrs
Thanks, Harald
Something went wrong...
2 hrs

neon mystic

Mystic does not sound as negative as ghastly or ghostly and i think it can be used in this context
Something went wrong...
+2
4 hrs

neon razzmatazz/razzle-dazzle

The sense I get of Shanghai is of a somewhat rootless city: one comment someone from the localization firm I visited said that he didn't think it a very Chinese city, since there are so few bicycles and that the city is clearly laid out with cars in mind. I get the sense that it is more vibrant and cosmopolitan, but perhaps more root-less. I just came back from a boat tour and the towering skyscrapers seem to tussle with each other to get your attention with multi-story hi-def displays, sparkling lights, illuminated spires, or endless ***neon razzmatazz***.
http://www.captmondo.com/weblog/index.php



Beijing is not pretty. the polluted air burns your eyes, but it's less painful than much of the city's architecture. The old temples and palaces seem lost and out of place. Most of them are practically eclipsed by the ***neon razzle- dazzle*** of gaudy tourist hotels, the over- bearing bulk of Mao Zedong's totalitarian public edifices and the glassy anonymity of corporate office towers.
http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-10432550_I...
Peer comment(s):
agree Cetacea
46 mins
Thank you, Cetacea
agree Nandini Vivek
59 mins
Thank you for confirming, Nandini
Something went wrong...
+6
4 hrs

neon clamour

HTH
Peer comment(s):
agree misterherrnau : what a lovely image!
1 hr
agree Rebecca Garber
1 hr
agree jrgreenw
7 hrs
agree Lancashireman
9 hrs
agree Bernhard Sulzer : I don't know the word too well; I believe here it describes a repeated blinking or lighting up of individual neons with characteristics of sound and vision, poss. lending the whole thing some of the "confused movement" of the German "Spuk"
10 hrs
agree Helen Shiner : On revisiting this question, I think this is the best solution offered.
2 days 21 hrs
Something went wrong...
5 hrs

neon glow

I agree, I don't think the neon signs are particularly ghostly.
Something went wrong...
9 hrs

neon phantom

I agree that Spuk doesn't mean that the atmosphere is ghostly, but I think that the author wants to convey that there is something fleeting, or ephemeral about the neon, seen against the background of China's long and varied history. Hence 'phantom'. Another possibility would be 'episode'.
Example sentence:

As dawn breaks on the Bund,, the neon phantom is briefly forgotten and yesterday's China returns to the capitalist metropol.

Something went wrong...
3 days 7 hrs

the garish lights of commercialism

I think in this context it is not the translation of neon but the idea of bright, vulgar advertising which is to be conveyed. Therefore I would offer my suggestion.
Something went wrong...
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