besinnen

18:18 Nov 18, 2009 

for pointing that out ;-)

17:41 Nov 18, 2009 

Since you have entered your own answer in the glossary, maybe you should also add the missing apostrophe.

16:32 Nov 18, 2009 

@David
Yes, 'turned its attention to' is a good paraphrase here as it indicates their actual reorientation, beyond considering (with 'attention' being adequately weaker than 'focus').

13:59 Nov 18, 2009 

"... branched out into ..." (without the 'considered', decided', 'reflected on', 'thought back to' etc)

13:52 Nov 18, 2009 

for this context, it works.

13:40 Nov 18, 2009 

I realise that, but it seems to work in this specific context nevertheless, doesn't it?

13:22 Nov 18, 2009 

Hi. In terms of the show that's what they did, "turned their attention to..." although this is still stronger than the German "sich besinnen auf."

06:21 Nov 18, 2009 

the "shipyard has turned its attention to entry-level boats for beginners"?

06:13 Nov 18, 2009 

in terms of the context here...

21:58 Nov 17, 2009 

"besonnen" verstehe ich hier so: Die Werft hat sich daran erinnert, dass es auch kleinere Schiffe gibt und dass man es damit versuchen könnte, was dann auch getan wurde.

20:39 Nov 17, 2009 

Consider vs. decide

Just to briefly add, in order to determine the core meaning of 'sich besinnen' check out the phrase: "Hast Du Dich nun besonnen?" which translates well into "Have you made up your mind now?" (rather than "Have you considered ~sth?").

19:01 Nov 17, 2009 

@Andrew: No, I don't. I guess we simply disagree about the precise meaning of 'sich (auf etwas) besinnen', which is a rarely used term of Hochsprache.

My point is that 'consider' clearly is too vague here, as 'haben sich besonnen' indicates that the reflection process has come to an end and they have already turned towards building these boats (see Jutta's last post which I fully agree with: 'h a t sich nun überlegt' and before 'konkrete Überlegungen und/oder schon erste Schritte'). This decision for a new building policy is what is mainly implied here by 'besonnen'. And yes - this is my understanding as a native speaker and therefore a mere 'interpretation'.

18:10 Nov 17, 2009 

@ P. Sass: You are changing the source term (besinnen) to suit your own interpretation. Nowhere in the brief context given does it state (merely or otherwise) that "they have made this *decision*".

18:04 Nov 17, 2009 

To clarify, whether or not they have built boats for beginners before is not implied by the meaning of 'besinnnen' or the context ("Üblicherweise"). It is merely stated that they have made this decision after some reflection (also, there's no implication of how far they have come to carry it out).

18:01 Nov 17, 2009 

Ich glaube, Uta meinte "rückbesinnen". Hier scheint es einfach drum zu gehen, dass die Werft bislang einen anderen geschäftlichen Fokus hat, sich nun aber überlegt hat, (auch?) Einsteigermodelle zu bauen (z.B. weil das Kerngeschäft nicht so gut läuft?)

17:42 Nov 17, 2009 

@ Uta: ***Üblicherweise*** baut die Werft Stahlkreuzer.

17:40 Nov 17, 2009 

but I think the opposite is true here.

17:36 Nov 17, 2009 

Maybe there is more context, but this could mean that the shipyard had previously built smaller boats and is now either "going back to it" oder "focusing on these smaller types" (again) or just "considering" to.

17:26 Nov 17, 2009 

"haben sich besonnen auf" heißt, dass sie in der Richtung konkrete Überlegungen anstellen und/oder sogar schon erste Schritte getan haben. Vielleicht kannst Du das aus dem Kontext entnehmen?