{"id":5227,"date":"2014-07-21T19:50:18","date_gmt":"2014-07-21T19:50:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/?p=5227"},"modified":"2017-11-15T14:59:13","modified_gmt":"2017-11-15T14:59:13","slug":"translation-request-wirklichkeit-gestalt-and-gefuge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/translation-request-wirklichkeit-gestalt-and-gefuge\/","title":{"rendered":"Translation request: Wirklichkeit, Gestalt, and Gef\u00fcge"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Dictionary\"<\/a>

Das W\u00f6rterbuch: Dictionary. Photo by jwyg on Flickr.com under CC BY-SA 2.0<\/p><\/div>\n

This post comes from a comment Dirinella left me on one of my recent posts<\/a>:<\/p>\n

vielleicht kannst Du (oder andere) helfen, und zwar bei der \u00dcbersetzung des deutschen Begriffs \u201cWirklichkeit\u201d. Das englische \u201creal\u201d trifft es leider \u00fcberhaupt nicht, denn Wirklichkeit oder \u201cdas Wirkliche\u201d sagt nur aus, dass etwas Wirkung hat, auch ohne dabei real sein zu m\u00fcssen.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00c4hnliche Schwierigkeiten ergeben sich auch bei den im Deutschen durchaus pr\u00e4zisen Begriffen \u201cGestalt\u201d und \u201cGef\u00fcge\u201d.<\/em><\/p>\n

Hast Du Vorschl\u00e4ge?<\/em>
\n Vielen Dank!<\/em><\/p>\n

To sum up, Dirinella wanted me to help find English translations of the German words Wirklichkeit, Gestalt, and Gef\u00fcge, as she finds these three particularly difficult to translate. When I started replying to Dirinella\u2019s comment, I realised that my answer was too much to squeeze into a comment box, so I decided to make a post out of it. I won\u2019t lie \u2013 these words are more complex than the usual words I translate on here (it took me a while to get my head around Gestalt, for one thing) but I wanted to challenge myself and give it a go. Here is what I came up with.<\/p>\n

Wirklichkeit<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Harrap\u2019s dictionary translation of Wirklichkeit<\/em> is ‘reality’. It then translates In Wirklichkeit<\/em> to ‘in actual fact.’<\/p>\n

There is confusion here because ‘reality’ is considered subjective, whereas ‘fact’ is not. As Dirinella points out, translating Wirklichkeit<\/em> as ‘real’ is not accurate enough because \u201eWirklichkeit oder \u201cdas Wirkliche\u201d sagt nur aus, dass etwas Wirkung hat, auch ohne dabei real sein zu m\u00fcssen.\u201c (“Wirklichkeit or \u201adas Wirkliche\u2018 only says that something is in effect, without it having to be real”<\/em>).<\/p>\n

So does it mean \u2018reality\u2019 or not? A distinction is often made between Wirklichkeit and Realit\u00e4t (which, confusingly, also translates to \u2018reality\u2019). The distinction is that Wirklichkeit concerns hard facts, and actuality. Realit\u00e4t, on the other hand, is as it looks: it means \u2018reality\u2019; and reality is considered subjective from one person to another. In other words, Wirklichkeit is considered similar to objectivity, while Realit\u00e4t is closer to subjectivity.<\/p>\n

However, it is common to say \u201cwirklich?\u201d as an exclamation meaning \u201creally?\u201d, which suggests that Wirklichkeit also refers to reality, or your perception of it.<\/p>\n

Although ‘actuality’ is probably more in line with its facual nature, I think both \u2018reality\u2019 and \u2018actuality\u2019 are acceptable translations, because even in English the meaning of those terms are often debated, as you can see. Sometimes it is not the word itself, but the stigma around its meaning that makes a word difficult to translate!<\/p>\n

Gestalt<\/strong><\/p>\n

This is a tricky one.<\/p>\n

The Harrap\u2019s dictionary translates Gestalt as ‘build; shape; form’. The verb \u2018gestaltigen\u2019 is translated as ‘to form\/shape someone\/something\u2019s personality; to create; to arrange; to organise’.<\/p>\n

I have also seen it translated as ‘The essence or shape of an entity\u2019s complete form’.<\/p>\n

The word Gestalt is best known in the English language in accordance with Gestalt psychology. <\/a><\/p>\n

The way I understand Gestalt is: When you put lots of individual elements together to create something (a \u2018whole\u2019), that thing takes on a new life that has nothing to do with the elements used to create it. For instance, a song has Gestalt because of its meaning, though that meaning has nothing to do with the individual letters, notes and instruments used to make it. The song takes on new life once it has been created.<\/p>\n

For that reason, I think the word \u2018characteristic\u2019 might be appropriate to describe Gestalt. For instance, when saying that something has \u2018good gestalt\u2019 you may be implying that it has \u2018good characteristics\u2019.<\/p>\n

The English phrase \u2018The whole is greater than the sum of its parts\u2019 is also appropriate.<\/p>\n

However, Gestalt is a term now used in the English language, which hints that there is actually no equivalent in English, and that it might just be impossible to translate!<\/p>\n

Gef\u00fcge <\/strong><\/p>\n

The Harrap\u2019s dictionary translates Gef\u00fcge as ‘structure’. However, the word ‘structure’ has a very broad definition, so let me explain it in more detail.<\/p>\n

Other words used as a translation of Gef\u00fcge are: framework, structure, system, formation, makeup of, fabric of. What that means is that the word Gef\u00fcge can be used to describe physical things, such as the composition of metal, or abstract things, such as the ‘structure’ of society.<\/p>\n

One example sentence is:
\nDas wirtschaftliche und soziale Gef\u00fcge eines Staates:<\/em> A country\u2019s economic and social fabric (structure\/makeup\/formation).<\/p>\n

I think that \u2018structure\u2019 is a pretty accurate definition in this case. The only thing is that the word \u2018structure\u2019 has many definitions and many appropriate synonyms, so it may seem a bit vague.<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

What I have learnt from writing this post is that some words are difficult to translate because the meanings of those words are ambiguous, subjective, or otherwise complex in themselves.<\/p>\n

So here\u2019s my little language-learning tip for the day:<\/strong> If you come across a word in German that you\u2019re having difficulty translating and\/or understanding, try to think about why that might be (ie. what is it about the word that makes it difficult?), instead of getting frustrated with yourself for \u2018not being able to do it\u2019. You never know – there may be a reason why you can’t find a clear definition for it. You may not come to any solid conclusions, but you will probably learn a lot more than you bargained for!<\/p>\n

Finally, Thank you to Dirinella for providing these words. I hope I have managed to shed even a little bit of light on them. Of course, if anyone has any more advanced insights, please do leave a comment!<\/p>\n

Bis zum n\u00e4chsten Mal – U<\/span><\/span>ntil next time!<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"\"

This post comes from a comment Dirinella left me on one of my recent posts: vielleicht kannst Du (oder andere) helfen, und zwar bei der \u00dcbersetzung des deutschen Begriffs \u201cWirklichkeit\u201d. Das englische \u201creal\u201d trifft es leider \u00fcberhaupt nicht, denn Wirklichkeit oder \u201cdas Wirkliche\u201d sagt nur aus, dass etwas Wirkung hat, auch ohne dabei real sein…<\/p>\n

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