52 http://www.business-spotlight.de 2/2014Don’t confuse...
loose, lose and lossnThe adjective loose [lu:s] de-
scribes something that is not fixed
or tight: “Remove all loose tiles
(lose Fliesen).” “There’s a loose
connection (Wackelkontakt).”
nLoose can also mean “not con-
nected”. If you have lots of coins,
you have loose change(Kleingeld).
A loose translation(freie Überset-
zung) is not very exact.
nIf you set animals loose (frei-
lassen), you set them free.
nLose [lu:z](verlieren) is a verb and
means “stop having something” or
“fail to keep something”. The past
tense is “lost” [lQst]: “Over 500
people lost their jobs.”
nLose is also the opposite of win:
“They lose every week.”
nLoss [lQs]is a noun and refers to
the act or result of losing some-
thing or someone: “The cuts led to
job losses.”
nIf you make a loss (einen Verlust
machen), you lose money. Some-
thing sold at a loss(mit Verlust) is
sold for less than it cost to make it.False friends
You mean... You should say... Don’t say... As this means...
Aktion campaign action Handeln;
Wie läuft die Aktion in How’s the campaign going Handlung
Schottland? in Scotland?
Karton cardboard carton Behälter aus Pappe;
Karton wäre sehr viel billiger Cardboard would have been Karton (als zählbares
gewesen. a lot cheaper. Nomen)
spenden donate spend ausgeben
Wir haben viel Geld gespendet. We’ve donated a lot of money.Tricky translationsby Mike Seymour
How do you say “vice” in German?
In senior job titles, “vice” indicates that someone holds a position below someone
else and can represent that person. It can be translated as Vize-, stellvertretende(r).
The US vice president is quite important, but a vice president in a company might
not be at all. In some cases, the title may even be translated as Referent(in)or
(Fach-)Bereichsleiter(in). British universities have a vice chancellor (Rektor(in)).
The noun “vice” means something completely different. It’s a bad habit or weak-
ness: “Smoking is my only vice.” Here, it is best translated as Lasteror Untugend:
Rauchen ist mein einziges Laster.“Vice” can also refer to crimes involving prostitu-
tion, gambling or drugs, which are investigated by the “vice squad” (Drogendezernat
or Sittenpolizei).
In technical English, a “vice” is a tool used to hold an object very firmly so that
you can work on it. It is translated as Schraubstock.How do you say Abkürzungin English?
Abkürzungdescribes a shorter, quicker and/or more direct way of getting somewhere
than the usual one: Zum Glück kannte der Taxifahrer eine Abkürzung. Here, it is
best translated as shortcut: “Luckily, the taxi driver knew a shortcut.”
An Abkürzungis also a shorter version of a word or expression: Im Englischen
wird die Abkürzung Tsd nicht benutzt.In this sense, we translate it as abbrevia-
tion: “In English, the abbreviation Tsd is not used.” When the shorter version of
an expression or a group of words creates a new word, we refer to it as an acronym:
Wofür steht eigentlich die Abkürzung SWOT?— “What does the acronym SWOT
[swQt]actually stand for?”
Finally, when we use Abkürzungto mean “making the length of something short-
er”, it is translated using shorten or cut short. Eine Abkürzung der Vertragslaufzeit
ist nicht zulässig.— “It is not permitted to shorten the term of the contract.”LANGUAGE TRANSLATIONExercise
Translate the following sentences.a)After the show, the vice squad arrested two men.b)Nachts würde ich die Abkürzung nicht nehmen.Answers on page 64mediumDo an exercise on false friends on
Business Spotlight Audio52 Translation 2_14DD 14.01.14 13:49 Seite 52