Hi Beate,
A couple of suggestions on your queries:
Staatsrat = Privy Councillor (for the UK)
For the record, Hamblock/Wessels (GroßWB Wirtschaftsenglisch) gives the terms
Privy Council (UK) and Council of State (US) for the organisation and "state
councillor" for the person.
Staatssekretär = Secretary of State (which is one of the suggestions in H/W)
Ministerrat = Council of Ministers (presumably in the EEC).
As far as a "reliable translation" is concerned, it's generally a question of do
your research (both into the background of the original term and into the
corresponding structures in UK and/or US institutions), decide who you are
translating for (UK, US or others?) and make your own professional judgement. In
the days of the Internet, this research is easier than it once was.
The whisper amongst the translation professionals here is that official and
definitive translations for German institutions of various kinds are not
plentiful, and that even translators within official bodies tend to vary in how
they deal with a number of official terms.
HTH,
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Victor Dewsbery, B.A., BDÜ, MIL
(Freelance translator)
D-13581 Berlin
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
----- Original Message -----
From: Beate Muller <[log in to unmask]>
| Has anyone ever tried to translate terms like "Staatsrat",
| "Staatssekretaer", "Ministerrat" etc - and sweated over it like me?
| And does anyone know of a good dictionary or other source of
| information which would make one's life easier by supplying reliable
| translations for those sorts of terms? Or is it only me who's
| dysfunct?? Any help greatly appreciated!
| Beate
| -----------------------------
| Dr. Beate Muller
| Department of German Studies
| School of Modern Languages
| Old Library Building
| University of Newcastle
| Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 7RU
| Tel.: [+44]0191/2227512
| Fax: [+44}0191/2225442
|
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
|