German term
sich für etw. einsetzen
though not working out of my mother tongue as a rule, I am trying to provide Kadda, a good friend of mine, with a translation of their text, which is going to be proofread by AE-natives. So an AE-equivalent for the phrase in asterisks would be much appreciated. TIA
The ST-section follows:
„Ziel des Vereins ist die Verbesserung der Lebensumstände von gesellschaftlich Benachteiligten und Ausgegrenzten, insbesondere Obdachlosen bzw. von Obdachlosigkeit bedrohten Menschen. Ihnen soll ermöglicht werden, *sich für ihre Eigenen Belangen und Interessen einzusetzen*, eigenverantwortlich Initiativen und Projekte aufzubauen und durchzuführen und so selbst eine Veränderung und Verbesserung ihrer Lebenslage herbeizuführen.“ (§2 der Satzung von XYZ)
Non-PRO (1): Bernd Runge
When entering new questions, KudoZ askers are given an opportunity* to classify the difficulty of their questions as 'easy' or 'pro'. If you feel a question marked 'easy' should actually be marked 'pro', and if you have earned more than 20 KudoZ points, you can click the "Vote PRO" button to recommend that change.
How to tell the difference between "easy" and "pro" questions:
An easy question is one that any bilingual person would be able to answer correctly. (Or in the case of monolingual questions, an easy question is one that any native speaker of the language would be able to answer correctly.)
A pro question is anything else... in other words, any question that requires knowledge or skills that are specialized (even slightly).
Another way to think of the difficulty levels is this: an easy question is one that deals with everyday conversation. A pro question is anything else.
When deciding between easy and pro, err on the side of pro. Most questions will be pro.
* Note: non-member askers are not given the option of entering 'pro' questions; the only way for their questions to be classified as 'pro' is for a ProZ.com member or members to re-classify it.
Proposed translations
to champion (their cause)
--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 11 hrs (2008-10-13 05:49:20 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------
While you can champion (sb's) concerns and interests, "champion" usually collocates with "cause" -- which is indeed a tighter way of saying "interests and concerns".
R.
| i kind of do favor that one, just to make sure: is it also idiomatic "to champion concerns and interests"? |
| maybe, even, to "neat-put" *interests and concerns" by *their cause* sounds good... |
| agree |
Inge Meinzer
1 hr
|
| agree |
Armorel Young
: very neat - I like that
1 hr
|
|
Thx, Armorel. Just havin' a good day I s'pose :-)
|
|
| agree |
Paul Cohen
: Andrew: no need to worry. On the other side of the Atlantic we also say "to champion a cause"
2 hrs
|
| agree |
Lancashireman
: ...// Sorry, just agreed with this before reading that AE is required. Please discount my agree, as my knowledge of this variant form of English is limited.
2 hrs
|
| agree |
Henry Schroeder
: It doesn't matter what side of the Atlantic we're on, we're all going bankrupt!!! linguistically? or financially? or metaphysically?.. And where is Francis Lee? He's disappeared from the directories.
11 hrs
|
| agree |
babli
: agree
11 hrs
|
| agree |
Alan Johnson
: to champion (their _own_cause) in this case
13 hrs
|
| agree |
Nandini Vivek
15 hrs
|
| disagree |
Graham Timmins
: I don't get this! The idiom is to champion a cause, not to champion concerns and interests! which makes no sense to me at all.
2 days 2 hrs
|
|
That may be the idiom you are familiar with (as it also appears more frequently than the other variations), but by no means is it the only one. Please read my comments at the beginning of my post. It might have saved you the disagree.
|
Austria
more than thirty years of experience
Native in: German 
Works in: Greek to German, English to German, Greek to English, and 5 more.
to fully commit themselves to their own .....
Fast and accurate - letter for letter
Native in: German 
Works in: German to English, English to German
to fight for
to fight for their own concerns and interests
If that is a little too harsh, you could replace 'fight' with 'stand'
| agree |
Inge Meinzer
: perhaps also stand up for
1 hr
|
| agree |
Graham Timmins
: fight is good, campaign for is also possible
2 days 2 hrs
|
bilingual, bi-cultural, thorough
Native in: English , German
Works in: German to English, English to German
devote oneself/commit oneself (to a good cause)
--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 32 mins (2008-10-12 19:01:32 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------
within this particular context involving self-help related efforts, of course, and promoting the ability to devote/commit oneself to one's own cause, namely a right to shelter and human dignity...
| agree |
Helen Shiner
: This would be my interpretation
21 mins
|
|
Thank you, Helen!
|
|
| agree |
Harald Moelzer (medical-translator)
10 hrs
|
|
Danke, Harald!
|
defend (their own interests and...)
United Kingdom
33 years of experience
Native in: English
Works in: Arabic to English, German to English
to fight their corner
to stand up for
| agree |
Lirka
: ja, could be
15 mins
|
| agree |
Ingeborg Gowans (X)
1 hr
|
| agree |
Harald Moelzer (medical-translator)
8 hrs
|
Greenland
Will work for blubber
Native in: English
Works in: German to English, French to English, Danish to English
voice their needs and interests
Networks and partner organizations empower people to voice their needs and interests.
Discussion