Nicht die Katze im Sack kaufen

12:51 Jan 11, 2018 

I sadly realized that that is an another case when the question itself is more important for the answerers...

01:07 Jan 11, 2018 

'Look before you leap' is an idiom that could work, depending on further context.

18:17 Jan 10, 2018 

Can you give us the background to this please? i.e. who is saying this and why?
Otherwise all these answers are only really inspired guesses

16:38 Jan 9, 2018 

Björn wrote: "[...] the German sounds trite these days; I wouldn't have used it in the first place."

And that might very well be one possible reason why the asker and her client don't like the pig-in-a-poke translation and are looking for something better.

16:31 Jan 9, 2018 

...may appreciate this link:
https://www.proz.com/kudoz/english_to_german/idioms_maxims_s...

See his reference comment.

Side note:
Most languages listed on the Wiki page about "pig in a poke" use the image of a cat, 26 to be precise. Only six prefer "pig." In addition to English and Irish, that's Finnish and Estonian (which aren't part of the Indo-European language family), Swedish (possibly influenced by its neighbors, just as Hungarian might have been, since it's a Finno-Ugric language too) and Zulu (no clue why). All depends on the relevant target markets.

Additionally, if you need to "educate" your customers first, your entire argument goes down the toilet. The phrase will no longer be snappy or memorable, but time-consuming.

Not sure what Thomas thinks, but the German sounds trite these days; I wouldn't have used it in the first place.

16:05 Jan 9, 2018 

Erzsébet, you are asking: "What I still do not understand, why the client of the Asker was unhappy with the original solution?". Well, that is exactly what I (and others) wanted to find out by asking for the context.

Blindly translating this German idiom into its equivalent English idiom without knowing what the intended meaning is, equals a word-by-word translation (which you rightly condemn as the "biggest mistake a translator can make").

There are dozens of possible translations for this phrase – here are just a few which might or might not fit (depending on context and register):
- Don't want to buy a pig in a poke?
- Money-back guarantee
- Free 30-day product trial
- Our promise: If you are not completely satisfied we gladly offer you a full refund
- Select one of the following packaging options and we will deliver your new pet safely to your door
- Click here to find out more about our offer

15:36 Jan 9, 2018 

Idioms have "pairs" in other languages but the pairs themselves are equivalent idioms. So "die Katze im Sack kaufen" have the equivalent at least in six another languages (the animal mentioned in an idiom will be a cat) and has some parallels whre another animal is used due to cultural background - but the idiom cannot be translated another way. This is the crucial point in translation and one of the biggest mistakes a translator can do: to translate and idiom word-by-word instead of "paralleling" the idiom and seeking its pair in another language.
You can explain what the idiom means but you lose the "taste" of a food... idioms are like a pinch of salt in a god soup.

What I still do not understand, why the client of the Asker was unhappy with the original solution?

08:36 Jan 9, 2018 

Erzsébet, it is you who missed the point. This question is not about what the phrase "die Katze im Sack kaufen" means. The asker knows that. However, the asker does not like the corresponding English phrase in the given context and seeks a better solution. So in order to help we do need to know why the idiom was chosen in the source text and what it is supposed to express in the given context.

02:52 Jan 9, 2018 

please find a book about phraseology and do not wait for a context. if you do, you missed the point.

00:18 Jan 9, 2018 

it is a phraseological unit (PU), absolutely no context is required.
"Phraseological units are word-groups that cannot be made in the process of speech, they exist in the language as ready-made units."
idiom – a complex word-equivalent in which the globality of nomination reigns supreme over the formal separability of elements.
The meaning of the individual words can’t be summed together to produce the meaning of the whole.

Especially to @philgoddard: "to be born with a silver spoon in one's mouth" of course, does not mean that a baby was born with a silver spoon in the mouth. It means that someone is extremely lucky, was born in a good (notable) family. You can also say in some other languages that someone was born in a white cloth / sheet - this means the same. On other languages you say that someone was born unser lucky stars - this means the same as above. And all the meaning of the ***whole phrase!*** can be used / applied / understood as a whole, unseparable unit.

"to be born+with+a silver spoon+in one's mouth" - the meaning of the separate words has nothing to do with the meaning of the whole unit.

23:23 Jan 8, 2018 

you and your client will have to figure it out on your own.

23:14 Jan 8, 2018 

Um was geht es? Was ist gemeint?

23:13 Jan 8, 2018 

What's the context? And why don't you and the customer like it?