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Schwarz auf Weiß

English translation: To put it in black & white/putting it in black & white

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)
German term or phrase:Schwarz auf Weiß
English translation:To put it in black & white/putting it in black & white
Entered by: Valentina_D

11:13 Mar 10, 2006
German to English translations [PRO]
Marketing - Linguistics / marketing phrase
German term or phrase: Schwarz auf Weiß
Hi all,

it's a product brochure for a company in the graphic arts industry (friends of mine, I'm just helping them).

Sentence:

Handelsübliche Leuchtstoffröhren der großen Hersteller können diese Werte nicht annähernd erreichen!
Das geben wir Ihnen Schwarz auf Weiß: Jeder Lieferung liegt ein zertifiziertes Messprotokoll bei.

I can't think of a nice way of putting this into English.
Since the company operates in the field of colour assessment, the idea of colours should be retained; an alternative would be something with light/shade (the specific product is a special type of fluorescent light).

TIA!
Valentina_D
Local time: 01:48
To put it in black & white/putting it in black & white
Explanation:
perhaps?
Selected response from:

CMJ_Trans (X)
Local time: 01:48
Grading comment
thanks very much to all of you. I then opted for this answer as I wanted to preserve the 'black/white' reference, but I wasn't sure the same expresssion could be used in English.
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
3 +8To put it in black & white/putting it in black & white
CMJ_Trans (X)
4 +5And we'll give you that in writing, too
klausie-hamburg
4We are going to give you that in writing.
Edith Kelly
3 +1We'll make this as clear as black and white
Harry Borsje
3comment
Ken Cox


  

Answers


5 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5 peer agreement (net): +8
To put it in black & white/putting it in black & white


Explanation:
perhaps?

CMJ_Trans (X)
Local time: 01:48
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 20
Grading comment
thanks very much to all of you. I then opted for this answer as I wanted to preserve the 'black/white' reference, but I wasn't sure the same expresssion could be used in English.

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Richard Benham: Why not?
10 mins
  -> same as in German after all
agree  Rachel Ward
33 mins
agree  Laura Terrett
1 hr
agree  sylvie malich (X): works in English too
1 hr
agree  Meturgan: FIFA also want to amend the rules to put it in black and white that players' shirts and shorts cannot be attached to each other, following Cameroon's attempt to play in an all-in-one strip.
1 hr
agree  Maureen Millington-Brodie
2 hrs
agree  Lucia [Lulu] Lay
6 hrs
agree  Ingeborg Gowans (X)
7 hrs
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10 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
We are going to give you that in writing.


Explanation:
passt hier eher

Edith Kelly
Switzerland
Local time: 01:48
Native speaker of: Native in GermanGerman, Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 16
Login to enter a peer comment (or grade)

17 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5 peer agreement (net): +1
Das geben wir Ihnen Schwarz auf Weiß
We'll make this as clear as black and white


Explanation:
or: You'll know as ....

Harry Borsje
Netherlands
Local time: 01:48
Native speaker of: Native in DutchDutch

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Hermeneutica: Nice job on "clear" but to my mind not as effective as klausie's ...
47 mins
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22 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +5
And we'll give you that in writing, too


Explanation:
I fully agree with EdithK; this way of putting it is just my personal preference

klausie-hamburg
Local time: 01:48
Works in field
Native speaker of: Native in GermanGerman, Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 4

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Rachel Ward: this works well too
16 mins
agree  Hermeneutica: I like this option best for "tone"
41 mins
agree  Diana Loos
2 hrs
agree  Ken Cox: That's what it means; it's a fortunate coincidence for the German text that it ties in with the colour theme.
4 hrs
agree  Lucia [Lulu] Lay: I like this one as well, but a graphic art company will probably go with the wordplay.
5 hrs
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5 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
comment


Explanation:
IMO you should stay with the direct meaning -- 'we'll put that in writing' -- instead of trying to stretch 'black in white' to cover this situation ('black and white' is normally used for imagery, such as photos and films).

If you want to maintain the allusion to colour, you could say something like 'And that's not just a colourful promise -- we'll give it to you in writing...

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 5 hrs (2006-03-10 16:23:10 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

oops: 'black and white'

Ken Cox
Local time: 01:48
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
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