12-14-2008, 02:00 PM
An easy question, but my Dutch-English dictionary does not help me: how can I best translate the German expressions "an sich" and "für sich"?
English translation of "an sich" and "für si
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12-14-2008, 02:00 PM
An easy question, but my Dutch-English dictionary does not help me: how can I best translate the German expressions "an sich" and "für sich"?
12-14-2008, 02:18 PM
I'd suggest "actually" but dependes on the sentence and context. most of the time it's better to avoid literal translation imho.
RESTITVTOR LIBERTATIS ET ROMANAE RELIGIONIS
DEDITICIVS MINERVAE ET MVSARVM [Micha F.]
12-14-2008, 02:59 PM
Quote:dependes on the sentence and context.Yeah, I should have mentioned that: Heinrich Schliemann wanted to solve "historical questions" and was not really interested in the material culture of a civilization an sich.
12-14-2008, 04:05 PM
Quote:Heinrich Schliemann wanted to solve "historical questions" and was not really interested in the material culture of a civilization an sich. Could be: as such or even, to use the Latin, which gets used in English: per se Either of those seem to fit the context.
12-14-2008, 04:05 PM
Quote:L C Cinna:2gkd9a72 Wrote:dependes on the sentence and context.Yeah, I should have mentioned that: hm, why use it at all? "an sich / für sich" is mostly used to reiterate a fact that is (or should be ) already clear from the same sentence. ... but to convey the stylistic meaning I'd think this would do the job. Heinrich Schliemann wanted to solve "historical questions" and was not really interested in the material culture of a specific civilization.
[size=85:2j3qgc52]- Carsten -[/size]
12-14-2008, 04:08 PM
wow, Viventius.
you beat me by a second. :lol:
[size=85:2j3qgc52]- Carsten -[/size]
12-14-2008, 04:40 PM
Quote:hm, why use it at all? "an sich / für sich" is mostly used to reiterate a fact that is (or should be ) already clear from the same sentence.I have a feeling that this is something else; Schliemann was interested in history, generally, and not in the material culture, generally. "Of a specific civilization" is -I think- something else. I think I'll settle for "as such"; there is a difference between - being interested in the material culture of a civilization and - interested in the material culture of a civilization as such because in the second example, it is clearer that S. was not interested in the material culture of no matter what civilization.
12-14-2008, 05:15 PM
Quite right, Jona, there is a clear difference......Viventius has 'hit the nail on the head' ! D
....if you wanted an alternative you could also say ' for it's own sake', but 'as such' or 'per se' would be best,,,,
"dulce et decorum est pro patria mori " - Horace
(It is a sweet and proper thing to die for ones country) "No son-of-a-bitch ever won a war by dying for his country. He won it by making the other poor dumb bastard die for his country" - George C Scott as General George S. Patton Paul McDonnell-Staff
12-14-2008, 05:23 PM
Quote:'for it's own sake'That's the one! Thanks.
12-14-2008, 05:48 PM
Quote:L C Cinna:1fjqn2us Wrote:dependes on the sentence and context.Yeah, I should have mentioned that: ah ok, well the others have solved it already. I first thought you meant the whole phrase "an und für sich".
RESTITVTOR LIBERTATIS ET ROMANAE RELIGIONIS
DEDITICIVS MINERVAE ET MVSARVM [Micha F.] |
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