Spotlight - 10.2019

LOST IN TRANSLATION 10/2019 Spotlight 53

LOST IN TRANSLATION

VANESSA CLARK turns her attention to

a particularly interesting word or expression

that could be a challenge to translate.

ADVANCED

Usage
The “baggage” referred to here isn’t literally a load of bags or
suitcases. It’s a figurative weight that we bear — a short form of
the phrase “emotional baggage” — in other words, the bad expe-
riences we have in childhood and past relationships, which we
tend to carry into future relationships.
Just like real baggage, this abstract form can often be a bur-
den and make it difficult to move forward in life. Popular advice,
therefore, is to “stop carrying your emotional baggage about
with you” or to “unpack your emotional baggage”.
Similarly, we all bear a certain amount of “cultural baggage”, a
term used in sociology for the attitudes, beliefs and expectations
we bring from our home culture to intercultural situations.
In German, this is often translated literally as Gepäck. A much
more idiomatic term, however, would be emotionaler Ballast. Yo u
could say, for example, wirf endlich deinen Ballast ab, or du schleppst
zu viel emotionalen Ballast mit dir herum.

Background

The expression “emotional baggage” comes from the language

of relationship counselling, life-coaching and self-help books.

There is no agreed source for the exact origins of this expression,

but it dates from the late 20th century.

Although most British speakers refer to suitcases and bags as

“luggage” rather than as “baggage”, which is more common in

North America, the abstract kind of burden is always “baggage”

and never “luggage” — on both sides of the Atlantic.

Example

“How to deal with a partner

who has baggage”

Wendy Lu, http://www.bustle.com,

17 January 2017

This is the headline of an article with

advice on personal relationships.

burden [(b§:d&n]
, Last, Bürde

counselling [(kaUns&lIN]
, Beratung

figurative [(fIgErEtIv]
, bildlich, symbolisch

life-coaching

[(laIf )kEUtSIN]

, Lebensberatung

literally [(lIt&rEli]

, wortwörtlich

Answer: A

A

noun [(bÄgIdZ]

baggage

Exercise

In which of the following contexts would “baggage”

make sense?

A. “I don’t want to date a guy with three ex-wives. Far too

much !”

B. “It’s really healthy to bring a load of emotional

into every new relationship.”