lieber „Abkürzungen in Digitalien“

English translation: rather access information at their fingertips

09:05 Apr 5, 2020
German to English translations [PRO]
Marketing - Marketing / Market Research
German term or phrase: lieber „Abkürzungen in Digitalien“
Dear colleagues,

I'm translating the book AI in Marketing, Sales and Service by Peter Gentsch.

Originally, this book was written in German (Künstliche Intelligenz für Sales, Marketing und Service: Mit AI und Bots zu einem Algorithmic Business) so I'm dealing with the English translation of the German original. And sometimes the English translaion seems rather strange to me and to native English speakers as well.

This is the German original:

Content Marketing muss sich immer am Neuen orientieren

Die Zukunft des Content-Erfolgs liegt darin, alles Gewohnte infrage zu stellen. Durch technologische Innovationen verändern sich die Touchpoints schneller, als manche Marketiers es erwarten. Derzeit konzentriert sich alles auf die Browser-Welt, weil dar- über viele Menschen ihre Inhalte schöpfen. Doch der Information-Overload überfordert zunehmend die Onliner, die deshalb lieber „Abkürzungen in Digitalien“ nehmen und von Links Abstand nehmen, weil sie in der Regel schon genügend Informationen um sich herum wahrnehmen.

This is the English translation:

Content Marketing Always Has to Align with Something New

The future of the success of content lies in questioning the familiar. The touchpoints are changing faster than many a marketer expects due to technological innovations. At present, everything is concentrated on the browser world, because many people obtain their information in this way. Yet, the information overload is increasingly overstraining people online, who thus prefer to take “short cuts in Digitaly” and distance themselves from links, because they usually are perceiving enough information around themselves.

I'm not sure what the part beginning with take "short cuts in Digitaly" means, but my guess is: On the search results page people don't click/open the links and only read the text surrounding the links.

Thank you.
Mikhail Korolev
Local time: 02:21
English translation:rather access information at their fingertips
Explanation:
"But the information overload increasingly overwhelms viewers who would rather access information at their fingertips than click on links, given that they're already drowning in information."

Even though I already agreed to Ramey's entry, it has occurred to me that 'shortcut' could be misunderstood. Perhaps this author should have employed a little more creativity in labeling this concept. Normally, I don't like to translate primarily for 'meaning' because getting the meaning right is more like an essential requirement and that alone doesn't always yield the best translation. But In this case, I'd be happy to get the meaning right at all considering that it feels next to impossible to translate this concept in a way that mirrors the German. I gather that this is about finding intelligent ways to embed information on platforms and places where viewers hang out already - and in that sense this would be a shortcut or shorter pathway to information because it would then have already been distributed to the viewer instead of the viewer having to click on links to get there: "Wenn wir über eine Oberfläche wie Facebook Messenger, WeChat oder Telegram alle Inhalte erhalten, die es bislang nur über Browser, Newsletter und Apps gab, entsteht eine spannende Alternative für die Content Distribution. Schließlich können Bots uns künftig mit relevanten Informationen im richtigen Kontext versorgen." https://www.zielbar.de/magazin/content-marketing-zukunft-110...

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Note added at 11 hrs (2020-04-05 20:16:20 GMT)
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Another idea. How about

'short paths to content'?

"But the information overload increasingly overwhelms viewers who would rather have short paths to content than click on links, given that they're already drowning in information."
Selected response from:

Michael Martin, MA
United States
Local time: 19:21
Grading comment
Many thanks to everyone.
Thank you, Michael.
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
3 +1digital shortcuts/summaries/synopses
Ramey Rieger (X)
3rather access information at their fingertips
Michael Martin, MA


  

Answers


29 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5 peer agreement (net): +1
digital shortcuts/summaries/synopses


Explanation:
The English translation is a nightmare - you have my sympathies. I admit, I am one of those who read the search engine synopsis, hoping for enough information to work without struggling through an entire article.

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Note added at 31 mins (2020-04-05 09:36:37 GMT)
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The English's weak attempt to replace Digitalien with Digitaly is groan-worthy. Perhaps synopses in digitalese?

Ramey Rieger (X)
Germany
Local time: 00:21
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 81

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Michael Martin, MA: Digital shortcuts might work, I think. Not sure the rest describes what is meant here.
3 hrs
  -> To your good health!
Login to enter a peer comment (or grade)

8 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
rather access information at their fingertips


Explanation:
"But the information overload increasingly overwhelms viewers who would rather access information at their fingertips than click on links, given that they're already drowning in information."

Even though I already agreed to Ramey's entry, it has occurred to me that 'shortcut' could be misunderstood. Perhaps this author should have employed a little more creativity in labeling this concept. Normally, I don't like to translate primarily for 'meaning' because getting the meaning right is more like an essential requirement and that alone doesn't always yield the best translation. But In this case, I'd be happy to get the meaning right at all considering that it feels next to impossible to translate this concept in a way that mirrors the German. I gather that this is about finding intelligent ways to embed information on platforms and places where viewers hang out already - and in that sense this would be a shortcut or shorter pathway to information because it would then have already been distributed to the viewer instead of the viewer having to click on links to get there: "Wenn wir über eine Oberfläche wie Facebook Messenger, WeChat oder Telegram alle Inhalte erhalten, die es bislang nur über Browser, Newsletter und Apps gab, entsteht eine spannende Alternative für die Content Distribution. Schließlich können Bots uns künftig mit relevanten Informationen im richtigen Kontext versorgen." https://www.zielbar.de/magazin/content-marketing-zukunft-110...

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 11 hrs (2020-04-05 20:16:20 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Another idea. How about

'short paths to content'?

"But the information overload increasingly overwhelms viewers who would rather have short paths to content than click on links, given that they're already drowning in information."


Michael Martin, MA
United States
Local time: 19:21
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in GermanGerman, Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 116
Grading comment
Many thanks to everyone.
Thank you, Michael.
Login to enter a peer comment (or grade)



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