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Ohne Wissen um das Bessere lässt sich auch das Gute nicht positiv verändern.

English translation: Without knowledge of what is better, not even the good can be improved.

18:35 Nov 20, 2004
German to English translations [PRO]
Linguistics
German term or phrase: Ohne Wissen um das Bessere lässt sich auch das Gute nicht positiv verändern.
Einstein: Every practice is theory at first. Jede Praxis ist zuerst Theorie. Ohne Wissen um das Bessere lässt sich auch das Gute nicht positiv verändern.
Olga Michalik
English translation:Without knowledge of what is better, not even the good can be improved.
Explanation:
Normall, I would translate "positiv verändern" as "change for the better", but it would make this sentence far too weird and seemingly paradoxical. (Although I must admit that Einstein was fond of paradoxical-seeming formulations.)
Selected response from:

Richard Benham
France
Local time: 23:00
Grading comment
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
4 +6Without knowledge of what is better, not even the good can be improved.
Richard Benham
4The good cannot be improved upon without knowing what is better.
Krisztina Vasarhelyi
4 -2Good can not be changed positiv without clue about better.
Tanya Sav


Discussion entries: 1





  

Answers


12 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): -2
Ohne Wissen um das Bessere lässt sich auch das Gute nicht positiv verändern.
Good can not be changed positiv without clue about better.


Explanation:
"Knowlege" might be used instead of "clue" as well, but I think that sounds better. Just attempt.

Tanya Sav
Native speaker of: Native in BelarusianBelarusian, Native in RussianRussian

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
neutral  Richard Benham: Not exactly English.
3 mins
  -> Thanks
disagree  EMatt: poor English
7 mins
  -> Thanks
disagree  Lydia Molea: not really
3 hrs
Login to enter a peer comment (or grade)

18 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +6
Ohne Wissen um das Bessere lässt sich auch das Gute nicht positiv verändern.
Without knowledge of what is better, not even the good can be improved.


Explanation:
Normall, I would translate "positiv verändern" as "change for the better", but it would make this sentence far too weird and seemingly paradoxical. (Although I must admit that Einstein was fond of paradoxical-seeming formulations.)

Richard Benham
France
Local time: 23:00
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 12

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  EMatt
2 mins
  -> Thanks.
agree  writeaway
24 mins
  -> Thanks.
agree  Olaf Reibedanz
26 mins
  -> Thanks.
agree  David Moore (X): Without knowing what ..., perhaps?
28 mins
  -> I don't know whether that is better, and so I can't improve my (already good?) answer. ;-) Seriously, there's a question whether it just means "knowing what is better" or "knowing about the thing which is better", i.e. perhaps also understanding it.
agree  roneill
43 mins
agree  Lydia Molea
3 hrs
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12 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
Ohne Wissen um das Bessere lässt sich auch das Gute nicht positiv verändern.
The good cannot be improved upon without knowing what is better.


Explanation:
said another way

Krisztina Vasarhelyi
Local time: 14:00
Works in field
Native speaker of: Native in HungarianHungarian, Native in EnglishEnglish
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