This question was closed without grading. Reason: Other
Jan 17, 2018 21:17
6 yrs ago
8 viewers *
German term
Mehrwert
German to English
Social Sciences
Education / Pedagogy
Academia: Description of Center
I actually have a question about this entire sentence (second sentence here, first provided for context), but wouldn't hurt to have confirmation on Mehrwert (additional value in this case)? Just didn't know how to put in an entire sentence in the term field.
Aufgrund der großen Methodenvielfalt in den geisteswissenschaftlichen Disziplinen zeichnen sich diese Daten besonders durch ihre Heterogenität aus. Um den Mehrwert der Daten in ihrer Kontextualität und Diskursivität zu wahren und nachnutzen zu können, kann häufig nicht zwischen „Primärdaten“, die bloß zu archivieren wären, und den oft komplexen und individuellen Systemen der Präsentation und Benutzung von „Ergebnisdaten“ unterschieden werden.
I am not understanding what one part of sentence two has to do with the other. What I have is: In order to be able to maintain and reuse this extra value of the data in its contextuality and discursivity, it is often not possible to differentiate between "primary data", which should merely be archived, and the often complex and individual systems of the presentation and use of "result data".
I don't see any correlation between the sentence parts in the German. With the Um...zu, I would expect something like "it is necessary to..." Does this make sense to anyone else?
Aufgrund der großen Methodenvielfalt in den geisteswissenschaftlichen Disziplinen zeichnen sich diese Daten besonders durch ihre Heterogenität aus. Um den Mehrwert der Daten in ihrer Kontextualität und Diskursivität zu wahren und nachnutzen zu können, kann häufig nicht zwischen „Primärdaten“, die bloß zu archivieren wären, und den oft komplexen und individuellen Systemen der Präsentation und Benutzung von „Ergebnisdaten“ unterschieden werden.
I am not understanding what one part of sentence two has to do with the other. What I have is: In order to be able to maintain and reuse this extra value of the data in its contextuality and discursivity, it is often not possible to differentiate between "primary data", which should merely be archived, and the often complex and individual systems of the presentation and use of "result data".
I don't see any correlation between the sentence parts in the German. With the Um...zu, I would expect something like "it is necessary to..." Does this make sense to anyone else?
Proposed translations
(English)
| 3 +4 | added value |
Michael Martin, MA
|
| 3 +1 | the contribution this data makes [in terms of] |
Lancashireman
|
Proposed translations
+1
1 hr
Lancashireman
United Kingdom
United Kingdom
Native in English
Specializes in field
United Kingdom
Related KudoZ points
:
370
German term (edited):
den Mehrwert der Daten
the contribution this data makes [in terms of]
I am also suffering from added value fatigue.
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Note added at 1 day 17 hrs (2018-01-19 14:44:58 GMT)
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Hi Kaportnoy
I have not attempted a translation of your full sentence and think Michael would have been well advised to refrain from doing so on the basis of what he has offered. I am not sure which aspect of his answer the four endorsers found compelling, as none has backed up their agree with a reason. One of them even seems to revel in the fact that she has not read the sentence!. 'Added value' is a direct lift from a dictionary of marketing terminology, wholly inappropriate to your context. I suppose that is why you asked for alternative formulations.
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Note added at 1 day 17 hrs (2018-01-19 14:44:58 GMT)
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Hi Kaportnoy
I have not attempted a translation of your full sentence and think Michael would have been well advised to refrain from doing so on the basis of what he has offered. I am not sure which aspect of his answer the four endorsers found compelling, as none has backed up their agree with a reason. One of them even seems to revel in the fact that she has not read the sentence!. 'Added value' is a direct lift from a dictionary of marketing terminology, wholly inappropriate to your context. I suppose that is why you asked for alternative formulations.
Note from asker:
| Thank you for all of your help! I ended up going with "full value", which combined what many of you said and seemed to fit well with how I formulated the sentence. |
Peer comment(s):
| neutral |
Michael Martin, MA
: Sometimes, that added suffering has its value:)//Mehrwert is equally trite in German. All translators will say they favor less clichéd expressions. But it's not our job to make the translation better than the original.
15 mins
|
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Classic agree from Birgit Gläser for your dictionary-sourced 'added value' below: "have not looked closely at the full sentence"
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| agree |
Björn Vrooman
: You could up it to "unique contribution(s)." Kaportnoy's page is about data collection in science. There's no "added value" in business terms. I don't have the time to pull up 10 KudoZ questions on compound use in DE and EN to prove my point. Cf d-box.
1 day 13 hrs
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Thanks. If the 'most helpful' criterion were applied here, the points would be headed your way for your contribution in the d-box.
|
+4
1 hr
Michael Martin, MA
United States
United States
Native in German
&
English
Works in field
United States
Creativity wins in the long run
Native in: German (Variant: Germany) 
, English (Variant: US)
Works in: German to English
Related KudoZ points
:
178
added value
Owing to the great variety of methods used in the humanities, these data exhibit a great deal of heterogeneity. In order to preserve and harness the data and their added value in the form of discursivity and contextuality, it is often impossible to distinguish between 'primary data' that will only be archived and the often complex and unique systems of presenting and exploiting data from 'findings'.
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Note added at 2 hrs (2018-01-17 23:18:27 GMT)
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I am not dead set on using 'exploiting' here. Capturing data? It's just that 'benutzen' sounds a bit dull. I was looking for something more vivid here without straying too far from the intended meaning.
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Note added at 1 day 15 mins (2018-01-18 21:33:02 GMT)
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If that's not elegant enough, there are more options:
"In light of/Given the necessity to preserve and harness .., it is often impossible to distinguish between 'primary data' that will only be archived and the often complex and unique systems of presenting and utilizing data from 'findings'.
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Note added at 1 day 22 hrs (2018-01-19 20:09:32 GMT)
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There's no rule in the book that says 'added value' can only be used in a business or marketing context. At its core, it's a run-of-the-mill expression. The whole idea that its overuse in one context taints its use in other contexts seems outlandish to me.
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Note added at 2 hrs (2018-01-17 23:18:27 GMT)
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I am not dead set on using 'exploiting' here. Capturing data? It's just that 'benutzen' sounds a bit dull. I was looking for something more vivid here without straying too far from the intended meaning.
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Note added at 1 day 15 mins (2018-01-18 21:33:02 GMT)
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If that's not elegant enough, there are more options:
"In light of/Given the necessity to preserve and harness .., it is often impossible to distinguish between 'primary data' that will only be archived and the often complex and unique systems of presenting and utilizing data from 'findings'.
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Note added at 1 day 22 hrs (2018-01-19 20:09:32 GMT)
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There's no rule in the book that says 'added value' can only be used in a business or marketing context. At its core, it's a run-of-the-mill expression. The whole idea that its overuse in one context taints its use in other contexts seems outlandish to me.
Note from asker:
| Thanks Michael! Why "exploiting", however? |
| Thank you for all of your help! I ended up going with "full value", which combined what many of you said and seemed to fit well with how I formulated the sentence. |
Peer comment(s):
| agree |
Amy Randles
2 hrs
|
| agree |
Eleanore Strauss
: discursivity is a weird word
3 hrs
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I know it's best to avoid unnecessarily inflated words. But my hands are tied. as I also told LM we shouldn't try to 'improve' the source text.
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| neutral |
philgoddard
: This doesn't answer the question, and you've reproduced the apparent non sequitur.
8 hrs
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Don't see a non sequitur. This is a normal German sentence
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| agree |
Birgit Gläser
: with added value... have not looked closely at the full sentence :-)
14 hrs
|
| agree |
Lirka
1 day 1 hr
|
Discussion
Three other things:
1) Not sure about "reuse"--nachnutzen means to make use of it, interpret it, whatever in another setting. It's not like you can't "reuse" raw data any time you like: https://www.ands.org.au/working-with-data/publishing-and-reu...
It's more about how to incorporate data created by others into your own research: http://ratswd.de/6kswd/style/praesentationen/E-6KSWD_RatSWD_...
2) Please find another word for discursivity if possible:
https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/discursivity
They just put this in there to make it sound...I don't know how to describe it. The use of this word makes no sense to me in this sentence.
3) Data: singular preferred.
Apart from the above, I'm not comfortable with presentation/present either and I think you can probably cut the length in half, but am a bit pressed for time.
Best
Let's recap:
"Um den Mehrwert der Daten in ihrer Kontextualität und Diskursivität zu wahren und nachnutzen zu können"
in ihrer = in ihrer Eigenschaft/Charakteristik
Also @Kaportnoy, please see p. 11 here:
http://webdoc.sub.gwdg.de/pub/mon/dariah-de/dwp-2015-14.pdf
One other quote from this document including "Mehrwert":
"[...] verfügen digitale Editionen und Datenbank meist über einen die Summe der Einzeldateien überschreitenden und häufig auch funktionellen Mehrwert. Ein Mehrwert, der beispielsweise durch (verschiedene) Darstellungs-, Analyse- und Abfragemöglichkeiten generiert wird."
In short: The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.
To rephrase:
"Um den Mehrwert, der durch die Kontextualität und Diskursivität der Daten generiert wird, nutzen zu können..."
You don't even need "Mehrwert" hier! Heck, you don't need half of this sentence! As said, it's not wrong, but it's clumsily written (sorry, authors).
Besides, I still think it's wrong to call this data "primary." See doc above.
http://itfeature.com/statistics/primary-and-secondary-data-i...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raw_data
https://keydifferences.com/difference-between-primary-and-se...
[It has to be noted, however, that some seem to disagree: http://www.emeraldgrouppublishing.com/research/guides/method...
In any case, it may help make the sentence shorter.]
2) There's nothing wrong with this sentence. At all.
3) "kann häufig nicht" -> You may have been wrong about "nicht," but you were right about this one, Phil. It's the same as "kann man häufig nicht..." See also Johanna's comment. I would advise against the use of "we." It's more like a general truth.
The gist
You can't just feed people raw data as if they were machines; you will have to add context and bring these numbers to life.
Best
In order to get full value (derive the full benefit) from the contribution this data makes...
1. It's possible that, as you say, the whole sentence is a non sequitur. In this case, I would put a translator's note saying it doesn't make sense, or come up with a translation that doesn't quite reflect the German but does make sense.
2. "Kann" may have some special significance, eg "in order to preserve... we often do not distinguish between..."
3. "Nicht" is a mistake.
Given that the whole thing is so jargon-ridden, I think the simplest explanation, no. 1, is the most likely.