. l A NGUAGE TRANSLATION
by MIKE SEYMOUR
FALSE FRIENDS
You mean .. , You should say .. , Don't say .. , Why not?ängstlich
Seit er überfallen wurde, ist er
sehr Angst/ich geworden.anxious, worried, scared, frightened
He has become very anxious since being
mugged.angry angry = verargert,
Wse, sauerDampf steam damp
Die Kuche war voller Dampf, als
ich die Tür öffnete.The kitchen was full of steam when I
opened the door.damp = feucht,
FeuchteKonterfei image, likeness, picture counterfeit counterfeit =
gefAlscht,
FA/schungAuf seinem T-Shirt prangte das
Konterfei von Sigmund Freud,Emblazoned on his T-shirt was the like-
ness of Sigmund Freud.mondän
Zur Feier war nur mondAnes Pub-
likum geladen.(very) fashionable, sophisticated,
elegant, chicmundane mundane =
aIlMg/ich, banal
Only (very) fashionable people were in-
vited to the party.tanken get same petrol,
get (some) gas UStank
Erinnern Sie mich bitte daran,
dass ich nachher noch tanken
muss.Please remind me that I've got to get
same petrol later.tank = Tank;
Panzer; klAg/ich
scheitern WS ifml.)TRICICY TRANSLATIONS
Mt iJ iiih ,How do you say gegenüber in English?
Gegenüber is used as apreposition (Es gibt eine nette Bar
gegenüber vom Büro) or as an adverb (Er wohnt gleich
gegenüber). The preposition is translated as oPposite or
acrass fram ("There's a nice bar opposite the office"), and
the adverb as acrass ("He lives fight across the street").
Gegenüber is also used for abstract pOSitions (Mir
gegenüber ist er freundlich) or concepts (Rollenspielen
stehe Ich skeptiSCh gegenüber). This is translated as
to(wards) ("He's friendly towards me") or with regard to
('Tm scepticai with regard to role playing").
The ward is also used in comparisons: Der Umsatz ist
gegenüber dem Vorjahr um 12 Prozent zurückgegangen.
This is translated as compared to Cf (sometimes for figures)
on: "Turnover is 12 per cent down on the previous year."
As a noun, Gegenüber is aperson doing a similar job:
Mein Gegenüber bei Intel ist OSne. This is counterpart or
opposite number: "My counterpart at Intel is a Dane."EXERCISE 1 Translate the following sentence.
Sie saßen sich gegenuber.74 BusinessSpoII;ght
(][) Do an exercise on false friends on Business Spotlight Audio
How do you say " pitch" in German?
In business, a "(sales) pitch" is aseries of statements andJor
queslions used 10 persuade people 10 buy something; "You
have 10 tai lor your sales pitch to your audience." This is
translated as Verkaufsgespräch, Verkaufsargumente, Ver-
kaufstaktik or (pejoratively) Verkaufsmasche: Sie müssen
Ihre Verkaufstaktik auf Ihre Zuh6rer zuschneiden. It is also
used as averb: "The product is being pitehed at teens."
In this sense of "aim at", it is translated as vermarkten:
Das Produkt wird an Teenager vermarktet. The verb is also
used in the sense of "present": "How do you want to pitch
it to the elient?" Here, the best translation is präsentieren
or verkaufen. This use of the word probably comes f,om
American baseball, where it means " throw" (werfen, Wurf).
In aeoustics, "pitch" is translated as Tonfageor Tonhöhe.
Managers wlth a high-pilChed voice (hohe/schrille Stimme)
often get vOlce training 10 sound more authorltatlve.
Other uses of "pitch": football pitch = Spielfeld; pitch
of the roof = Dachneigung; pi tch·black = pechschwarz;
fever pilch = Höhepunkt (der Spannung/Aufregung).EXERCISE 2 Transiate the foliowing sentenee.
That was the stupidest sales pitch I have ever heard!Answers on page 874/2010