This site uses cookies. Some of these cookies are essential to the operation of the site, while others help to improve your experience by providing insights into how the site is being used. For more information, please see the ProZ.com privacy policy.
Cookie settings
Heilpraktikerschein
Crossenregion

Glossary entry

German term or phrase:

Weniger Illusion als Affirmation

English translation:

not so much illusion as affirmation/more affirmation than illusion

Added to glossary by philgoddard
Apr 28, 2010 21:57
14 yrs ago
German term

Weniger Illusion als Affirmation

German to English Art/Literary Cinema, Film, TV, Drama
I'm struggling to unpack the meaningof this sentence about theatre in Africa.

Weniger Illusion als Affirmation sind mithin die Wirkungsweisen eines Theaters, das nicht frei ist von der sich reproduzierenden Moral.

I'm also not sure whether Wirkungsweisen is 'the effect theatre has on the audience' or 'the devices used in theatre to create an effect'.

Many thanks is advance!
Proposed translations (English)
4 +4 not so much illusion as affirmation
4 +1 Affirmation rather than illusion is the effective mode....
3 +2 more affirmation than illusion
4 Affirmation prevails over illusion
3 less make-believe and more middle-of-the road
3 the theatre's driving force is based/grounded more on affirmation than illusion
Change log

May 12, 2010 04:30: philgoddard Created KOG entry

Discussion

Johanna Timm, PhD Apr 29, 2010:
my understanding A theater that perpetuates existing moral values will affirm the (political/social) status quo rather than transcend/rise above it (i.e. be a vehicle for social change)
Valeria E. (X) Apr 29, 2010:
that's what I've been thinking since I started on this word.
oa_xxx (X) Apr 29, 2010:
@Eggert1 - the sentence mentioning machine was just an example from the dictionary of how wirkungsweise is used! Obviously in the context of theatre that means the music, lights, script whatever as you say - Wirkung means effect, wirkungsweise means the way you achieve that effect ... maybe not always necessary to explain for sure, depends on the context ;-)
Valeria E. (X) Apr 29, 2010:
Theatre itself achieves results plainly thru being theatre in itself. Why should there be machines involved? Ein Ergebnis wird also irgendwie erziehlt, durch Theater, durch Musik, Lichter usw. und evtl. duch Technik. Wirkungsweisen in my eyes means: effects (point blank)
What concerns the morality, I am 'überfragt'.
oa_xxx (X) Apr 29, 2010:
Wirkungsweise - die Art, wie etwas Ergebnisse erzielt oder funktioniert // jemandem die Wirkungsweise einer Maschine erklären - the way the theatre achieves effects/results, not suggesting that as a translation, too clumsy, just agreeing that it refers to the way/the methods/devices used etc

One thing that I noticed is that people were saying the "morality that it reproduces" it standing for theatre - whereas I understood it to mean more a self-perpetuating morality, a morality that reproduces itself, as Johanna says... does that make sense? ;)
Valeria E. (X) Apr 29, 2010:
well, could be both right? That one can only see in the entire text, which I don't have.... So I believe in my belief. And the Asker doesn't even really know. That's baffling.
Lonnie Legg Apr 29, 2010:
Wirkungsweisen Sorry, Eggert1, but I disagree. "Weisen" refers not to the result("effect") but the "devices" or "modes" used.
Valeria E. (X) Apr 29, 2010:
Wirkungsweisen I think here it has to do with the 'effect theatre has on the audience', because one speaks of morality after that.
Johanna Timm, PhD Apr 28, 2010:
"sich selbst reproduzierend" would make more sense.

Proposed translations

+4
3 mins
Selected

not so much illusion as affirmation

You haven't given much context, but presumably this means that it is used not so much to deceive as to make statements.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 7 mins (2010-04-28 22:05:43 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Wirkungsweisen just means the way it works, or achieves its effect. You could translate "sich reproduzierenden Moral" as "prevailing morality".

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 14 mins (2010-04-28 22:12:33 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Or you could turn it round, and make it more concise, by saying "more affirmation than illusion".
Peer comment(s):
agree Rebecca Rönty : I agree with Phil. "Wirkungsweisen" here is talking about the way the theatre works - a platform for affirmation rather than for illusion
15 mins
Thanks - exactly.
agree Lancashireman : The stage as a platform? I like it, but I'm somewhat concerned to discover that 'die Moral' may be reproducing.
53 mins
Thanks Andrew.
agree Rolf Keiser
8 hrs
Thank you.
agree mill2
12 hrs
Thanks.
Something went wrong...
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "Selected automatically based on peer agreement."
+1
8 mins

Affirmation rather than illusion is the effective mode....

Another approach..
Peer comment(s):
agree Jim Tucker (X) : Clear and gives the sentence a reason to live.
6 hrs
Thanks, Jim:-) Привет!
Something went wrong...
23 mins

less make-believe and more middle-of-the road

The original German sounds like they're saying theater really isn't totally free if it has to stay within the current moral climate.

So this is my attempt at a literary translation - which also aims to maintain the prosody (using alliteration in the paired terms in English to sort of echo the assonance in the paired terms in German).



--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 24 mins (2010-04-28 22:21:50 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

TYPO:
less make-believe and more middle-of-the road

SHOULD BE:
less make-believe and more middle-of-the-road

Sorry!
Something went wrong...
32 mins

the theatre's driving force is based/grounded more on affirmation than illusion

a free stab at it :)

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 36 mins (2010-04-28 22:34:32 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

or: springs more from etc.
Peer comment(s):
neutral Lancashireman : Perhaps the theatre needs a shorter wheelbase.
35 mins
Something went wrong...
+2
41 mins

more affirmation than illusion

it's quite hard to get the sentence to flow in english without inserting something, i think "this" makes a good substitute for "mithin".

More affirmation than illusion, this is the the effect of a cinema which is not free from the morality it reproduces.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 12 hrs (2010-04-29 10:22:36 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Theatre, not cinema...!
Peer comment(s):
agree Helen Shiner : sounds better to me
1 hr
neutral philgoddard : I've already said this.
1 hr
agree British Diana : yes, because of "this"
7 hrs
neutral Lonnie Legg : "more a than i" is okay--but I don't agree with your sentence translation. "Wirkungsweisen" is not about "effect"--and "which" should be "that".
11 hrs
Something went wrong...
12 hrs

Affirmation prevails over illusion

Affirmation prevails over illusion among the devices (or more literally: modes of influence) wielded by (or simply, if you prefer: of) a theater that is not free from the morality it reproduces.
Example sentence:

The illusion of psychotherapy: "Thus, ... wisdom prevails over scientific caution."

Reference:

http://books.google.de/books?id=Y-aEispShP8C&pg=PA48&lpg=PA48&dq=%22wisdom+prevails+over+illusion+among%22&source=bl&ots=q-8Eobg95x&sig=axuY

Something went wrong...
Close search
Term search
  • All of ProZ.com
  • Term search
  • Jobs
  • Forums
  • Multiple search