Steffen Walter Feb 28, 2019:

Good idea, Ramey Thank you for reminding me ;-)

Ramey Rieger (X) Feb 28, 2019:

hi Steffen that's a good place to stop and go out in the garden :-)

Steffen Walter Feb 28, 2019:

A-ha ... ... I thought you were working for a direct client.

Daniel Arnold (X) (asker) Feb 28, 2019:

It's from an agency (and a really good one TBH). I don't care how they write their reports, I only care about the translation :-)

Steffen Walter Feb 28, 2019:

Doublespeak Yes, political doublespeak to be able to continue on the BAU (Business As Usual) route.

Björn Vrooman Feb 28, 2019:

Also... ...I agree that commas are something "on the substance." You can't put them in there unless, for example, they are used to replace words you'd have to repeat.

Best

Björn Vrooman Feb 28, 2019:

First off, thanks for the response, Daniel!

Second, Steffen, I know that you know what there is to know, you know =) That's why I got so confused and wrote it down again, so as to try to figure out where we disagree.

I don't typically translate sustainability reports, but I have a lot of docs that have some relation to renewables and this sentence could have as well been written by some policymaker.

Whether we're talking about governments or industries, everyone wants to have some kind of "sustainability road map" these days. I can understand Daniel here because some of this is really hard to translate, since it needs to be extremely vague, not promise too much--but, at the same time, it needs to make some sense.

Political doublespeak. Ugh.

Best

Steffen Walter Feb 28, 2019:

@ Daniel A-ha, some kind of "placebo" then, aka greenwashing ... If I were you, I would think twice before accepting assignments from this type of client.

Steffen Walter Feb 28, 2019:

Thank you, Björn ... ... I am aware of all this, but authors of relevant source texts may not be in each and every case. (And I agree that "Solving tomorrow's problems today" might be too far removed from the original intent here.)

Björn Vrooman Feb 28, 2019:

Enquete-Kommission:
""Nachhaltigkeit erfordert allerdings zugleich auch die gerechte Verteilung der Chancen heute lebender Generationen einschließlich der Überwindung der Geschlechterkonflikte. Neben einem auf Dauer ökologisch tragfähigen Entwicklungspfad wird dies als entscheidende Voraussetzung für Zukunfts Verantwortung [sic] anerkannt."
https://archive.org/stream/ger-bt-drucksache-17-13300/171330...

I'm not saying that I'm completely right here, but I'm not that far off either: Auf Dauer is definitely a reference to Nachhaltigkeit. If that's social, econonmic or environmental is the question, I guess.

In any case, it's odd that I agree your solution (built to last) is one of several that could work, but I really don't understand how you get from there to an agreement with "tomorrow's problems"; that isn't directly related.

Tomorrow's problems may be solved by a "quick fix" as well. I do think that Ramey's second option is a good starting point. You should use the imperative here to make it snappier. Any kind of sentence is inappropriate for a heading.

Best wishes

Daniel Arnold (X) (asker) Feb 28, 2019:

Actually the whole report is blah blah - but I do agree with Björn that the "auf dauer angelegt" is a reference to "sustainability" in a way. Thanks to everyone for your help. As the whole report is written in blah blah style (and funny enough my customer advised me that it is all just for show anyway and the company doesn't really care what's in that report or its style as long as they have one and - nice one - they don't even want it to read too well because they prefer people to only understand it vaguely (isn't that some statement!! Chemical industry!)) I didnt spend too much time on coming up with the most catchy phrase here. In the end I chose "What is meant to last requires special care and attention in the here and now".

Björn Vrooman Feb 28, 2019:

Hello Steffen Nachhaltigkeit:
"Nachhaltigkeit bedeutet, Ressourcen jeglicher Art so zu nutzen, dass ihre Verfügbarkeit jederzeit und auf Dauer erhalten bleibt. Die wichtigsten innerbetrieblichen Ressourcen im Sinne dieser Definition sind Rohstoffe und Vorprodukte, Produktionswerkzeuge und Energie sowie Personalressourcen."
https://www.iww.de/bbp/unternehmensberatung/sustainability-r...

Here's TU Munich:
"Nachhaltigkeit kann als Gegenbegriff zu Kollaps bezeichnet werden (vgl. Heinrichs & Michelsen 2014, S. 4). Er bezeichnet, was standhält, was tragfähig ist, was auf Dauer angelegt ist, was widerstandsfähig ist. Das heißt: Etwas Nachhaltiges ist gegen den ökologischen, ökonomischen und sozialen Zusammenbruch gefeit."
https://docplayer.org/58845698-Soziale-verantwortung-und-nac...

[...]

Steffen Walter Feb 28, 2019:

@Björn I very much doubt that the author has even made the slightest attempt at following your line of thought, namely that, to quote you, "'Auf Dauer angelegt" is a direct reference to sustainability/regeneration/renewable sources of energy". Question is thus if the "blah-blah" attribute applies to the whole sentence, rather than just the second part. Also, the concept of "Nachhaltigkeit/sustainability" has been overused to such an extent that it has become increasingly blurred/vague/"catch-all" as a result.

Björn Vrooman Feb 27, 2019:

Or something like this... ...from Henkel's Sustainability Report (heading "Fokus auf Nachhaltigkeit"):
"Die Produktentwickler bemühen sich um eine gute Verträglichkeit und vermeiden mögliche Nebenwirkungen durch die Wahl der Rohstoffe. Nur gute, verträgliche Kosmetika gewinnen auf Dauer das Vertrauen der Kunden in die Leistung und Qualität der Henkel-Produkte."
https://www.henkel.de/resource/blob/20040/d064545f387d9b8313...

But, yes, I agree, it's a bit bad without more context.

And where I do agree with Phil is that it needs to be snappy. The German bit doesn't end with a period (full stop).

Best

Björn Vrooman Feb 27, 2019:

@Phil It is a sustainability report; that's all the context I'd need to know. But because it is a bit vague, I'll refrain from posting one of my (rare) disagreements, as I really don't agree with you here.

"Auf Dauer angelegt" is a direct reference to sustainability/regeneration/renewable sources of energy.

That this may be tomorrow's problem is beside the point--actually, it's already an issue nowadays; that is what the heading refers to. Daniel posted another sentence in the discussion box. But as he said himself, it isn't much help, as it's mainly a reference to "besonderen Umgang (im Hier und Jetzt)."

Also, why would it be a problem tomorrow? And who said you can solve any of it today? "Ausrichten" is more like "Weichen stellen," i.e., you can take the first steps to bring about a solution. Why do you think they have emissions and renewables targets if it could all be solved in a matter of months?

Plus, @Daniel, I know it's not your fault, but the second part of the sentence is typical blah blah. It says very little. I've seen a lot of similar docs and I think it may be about asking for funding opportunities and new (market) regulations.

Best wishes

philgoddard Feb 27, 2019:

If this is a heading We need a large chunk of text from underneath. That's the context. At the moment, we still don't really know what this is about or what the company does. I think we need something more snappy for a headline.

Daniel Arnold (X) (asker) Feb 27, 2019:

Yeah, this is good, thanks to all!!

Ramey Rieger (X) Feb 27, 2019:

Hi Daniel you asked for it!!! :-)

Daniel Arnold (X) (asker) Feb 27, 2019:

I wish I could give you more. The next sentence is "Wir nehmen mit unseren Entwicklungen heute Einfluss auf zukünftige." - probably not of much use either....... My current thinking goes along the lines of "What's meant to make a lasting impact....." or alike... maybe one of you has a better idea :-) The thing is that it doesn't say anywhere what the "Was" is supposed to be, could be anything....

Sabrina Stolfa Feb 27, 2019:

I wondered about a little more context too. As it stands, the title communicates to me that it is about not taking a short-term view if you want something to last, rather than focusing on special attention per se. ...

Daniel Arnold (X) (asker) Feb 27, 2019:

Hi Ramey, I wish I could tell you, but it is just a headline, nothing else...... there is nothing that connects to it.

Darin Fitzpatrick Feb 27, 2019:

With Ramey I would rewrite to something like, "Long-term issues need to be addressed carefully in the here and now." -OR- "Long-term solutions need special attention in the here and now."

franglish Feb 27, 2019:

(A) Long-term orientation requires particular attention/care in the here and now. But without context - see Ramey's comment - one can only guess.

Ramey Rieger (X) Feb 27, 2019:

Hi Daniel! It would be extraordinarily helpful to know just WHAT is intended to last? An old tradition (of pesticides, resource waste, etc.)? Or a pro-planet installation (wind, water, solar power)?