Apr 30, 2006 10:13
18 yrs ago
5 viewers *
German term

Herr M. überzeugte durch hohe Motivation und große Motivation.

German to English Other Certificates, Diplomas, Licenses, CVs
This sentence is part of a letter of reference. How would you you translate "überzeugen durch" into English? Thanks for your help.

Discussion

Christian (asker) Apr 30, 2006:
Sorry, the sentence should read: "Herr M. überzeugte durch hohe Motivation und große Einsatzbereitschaft." Next sentence: "Seine aufgeschlossene Art hat die Zusammenarbeit in jeder Hinsicht sehr angenehm gemacht."
Henry Schroeder Apr 30, 2006:
Could you give us the following sentence, too?

Proposed translations

+3
13 mins
Selected

We have been impressed by his....

one possibility

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Note added at 16 mins (2006-04-30 10:30:08 GMT)
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Anything with 'convincing/ed' makes it sound as though Herr M is merely putting on a front.

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Note added at 23 mins (2006-04-30 10:37:15 GMT)
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http://www.proz.com/kudoz/81430

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Note added at 27 mins (2006-04-30 10:41:24 GMT)
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"We valued..."
or, retaining Herr M as the subject of the sentence:
"Herr M proved his worth/value..."

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Note added at 49 mins (2006-04-30 11:03:28 GMT)
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http://www.proz.com/kudoz/963518
Peer comment(s):

agree BrigitteHilgner : Sounds convincing to me!
18 mins
agree Astrid Elke Witte : Yes, this sounds about right.
1 hr
agree writeaway : with your initial answer-good, positive language. passive is less convincing and can be very long...
1 hr
Never was a truer word spoken...oops, passive construction ;-)
Something went wrong...
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "Andrew and Henry, thank you very much for your suggestions. I wish I could split the points."
+1
23 mins

Mr. M.'s high level of motivation and willingness to...completely fulfilled our expectations

This is a common German phrase that I also often play around with an wonder what is ideal. There are certainly myriad possibilities.

Duden has this definition:
in seinen Leistungen den Erwartungen voll u. ganz entsprechen: im Rückspiel wusste die Mannschaft zu ü.; <oft im 1. Part.:> überzeugende (einleuchtende, glaubhafte) Gründe, Argumente, Beweise; eine Aufgabe überzeugend (voll u. ganz befriedigend) lösen; eine Rolle überzeugend spielen, verkörpern; was er sagt, klingt [für mich] [recht, nicht ganz] überzeugend.

I have derived my suggestion from this, which may indeed be the idea behind the German "convincing" (überzeugt), though at least to me it is also not exactly clear what Germans specifically have in mind when they say "überzeugt durch", because in English we are just "convinced" but never "through" anything.
Peer comment(s):

agree Textklick
45 mins
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