Business Spotlight – Nr.6 2019

SKILL UP! 15

FALSE FRIENDS

OTHER FALSE FRIENDS

You mean... You should say... Don’t say... As this

means...

(Aktien-)Emission , Ihre

jüngste (Aktien-)Emission

hatte einen Wert von fast

€150 Millionen.

issue of shares , Their

latest issue of shares

was worth almost €150

million.

emission Ausstoß (z.B.

von CO 2 );

Ausströmen

(z.B. von Gasen)

die Kosten kontrollieren

, Sicherheitshalber sollten

wir die Kosten noch einmal

kontrollieren.

check the costs , To

be on the safe side, we

should check the costs

once again.

control the

costs

Kosten steuern

(im Sinne von

„kontrollieren“)

TRICKY TRANSLATIONS

How do you say account

in German?

● When account refers to the ar-
rangement with a bank that al-
lows you to keep money there,
we use Konto: “We opened an
account online.” , Wir haben on-
line ein Konto eröffnet.

● In company finances, when the
plural form, accounts, refers to
the detailed financial records
of a company, we translate it as
Konten or Rechnungsbücher: “One
glance at the accounts showed
what the company was really
worth.” , Ein Blick in die Rech-
nungsbücher zeigte, was die Firma
wirklich wert war.

● When we are more specific and
refer to the annual (or year-end)

accounts, we use Jahresabschluss:

“We’re currently preparing the

year-end accounts.” , Wir sind

gerade dabei, den Jahresabschluss

zu erstellen.

● If account refers to a custom-

er who regularly does busi-

ness with a company, we use

Kunde/Kundin. A key account

is a Großkunde/-kundin. “ We

lost several accounts after the

data breach.” , Wir haben einige

Kunden nach der Datenpanne ver-

loren.

● When account means “a de-

tailed description of an event”,

we translate it as Bericht or Ver-

sion: “He used Twitter to give his

account of the events.” , Er hat

Twitter verwendet, um seine Version

der Ereignisse wiederzugeben.