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  2. German to English
  3. Journalism

Ran an die Kohle!

English translation: Worth its weight in coal

07:58 Sep 15, 2010
German to English translations [PRO]
Tech/Engineering - Journalism / US English
German term or phrase: Ran an die Kohle!
Eine Überschrift für einen Artikel über Braunkohle-Tagebau
Es geht um die Technologie, um dieses kapitalintensives Geschäft wirtschaftlich zu gestalten

so it is about coal, but if I translate it as coal, I lose the meaning of the phrase any suggestions?
Wendy Lewin
United Kingdom
Local time: 07:17
English translation:Worth its weight in coal
Explanation:
Substituting 'coal' for the usual 'gold' in this expression may be one solution to express how invaluable a role technology plays in this capital-intensive industry.
Selected response from:

Sarah Bessioud
Germany
Local time: 08:17
Grading comment
This just fits the bill!
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
4 +3Worth its weight in coal
Sarah Bessioud
4 +1Where there`s muck there`s money!
Frosty
5Let's turn coal into gold!, Brown is the future!
Gabriele Hanselmann
3Let's grab it!
BrigitteHilgner
3Let's dig in!
Armorel Young
3Getting to the coal
Judith Shiozawa (X)
3At the coalface
Nicole Tata
3well then, let's turn brown into green!
Bernhard Sulzer
Summary of reference entries provided
let's get on with the coal then!??
mustafaer

  

Answers


52 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +3
Worth its weight in coal


Explanation:
Substituting 'coal' for the usual 'gold' in this expression may be one solution to express how invaluable a role technology plays in this capital-intensive industry.

Sarah Bessioud
Germany
Local time: 08:17
Works in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 4
Grading comment
This just fits the bill!
Notes to answerer
Asker: wow - I like it! thanks!


Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
neutral  Mary Worby: But surely something that's worth its weight in coal wouldn't actually be worth very much! Coal is not a valuable commodity ...
11 mins
  -> On the other hand, coal is one of the world's most valuable natural resources in some regions, for example http://www.mining-technology.com/features/feature57365/featu... and plays a huge role in certain countries' economies.
agree  Tom Tyson: Nice jeu de mots, if you ask me.
1 hr
  -> Thank you Tom
agree  Mark Cole: Great idea, just the sort of headline to grab the reader's attention - and that's the main point of a headline.
5 hrs
  -> Thank you Mark
agree  Jenny Streitparth: Great! I agree with M. Cole and that the technology is what's worth its weight. Ran an die Kohle [ran an's Geld]= obviously the source of profit is the coal, in the author's opinion.
14 hrs
  -> Thank you Jenny
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1 hr   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
Let's grab it!


Explanation:
Genauso zynisch wie das Original (ich gehe davon aus, dass die Leser Ausbeuter der Braunkohlelager sind und keine betroffenen Anwohner/Verbraucher).

BrigitteHilgner
Austria
Local time: 08:17
Native speaker of: Native in GermanGerman
PRO pts in category: 20
Notes to answerer
Asker: Thanks for that!

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1 hr   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
Let's dig in!


Explanation:
Would have a bit of a double meaning, although not exactly parallelling the German pun.

Armorel Young
Local time: 07:17
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 16
Notes to answerer
Asker: Thanks for that!

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1 hr   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
Getting to the coal


Explanation:
This title suggests that the mining technology is discussed.

Judith Shiozawa (X)
Germany
Local time: 08:17
Native speaker of: English
Notes to answerer
Asker: Thanks!

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5 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +1
Where there`s muck there`s money!


Explanation:
As they used to say about the UK coal-mining and other industries; when we had them! As for brown coal - "muck" will certainly be applicable.

Frosty
Local time: 08:17
Native speaker of: English
Notes to answerer
Asker: Like it thanks!


Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  phillee: money=>brass but I nice analogy
3 hrs
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13 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
At the coalface


Explanation:
just a thought .... if you want to stick with the coal image.

Obviously not a direct translation, and it loses the wordplay on Kohle (coal/dosh) - but i guess some artistic licence might work here?

hope it helps :-)

Nicole Tata
United Kingdom
Local time: 07:17
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish, Native in GermanGerman
PRO pts in category: 7
Notes to answerer
Asker: Thanks!

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14 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
well then, let's turn brown into green!


Explanation:
maybe that way?

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 14 hrs (2010-09-15 22:52:25 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

or: let's turn coal into cash!


--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 18 hrs (2010-09-16 02:09:54 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

maybe too strong:
let's make that coal mine a gold mine




--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 18 hrs (2010-09-16 02:29:36 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

...let's 'turn' that coal mine into a gold mine

Bernhard Sulzer
United States
Local time: 02:17
Native speaker of: German
PRO pts in category: 8
Notes to answerer
Asker: Thanks!

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1 day 13 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 5/5
Let's turn coal into gold!, Brown is the future!


Explanation:
since journalism uses short, down-to-the-fact language, you need a short, brief but expressionate, appealing slogan, I think that the above would be a good title for the article since it covers the intention of the article about the technology.
I actually put 2 options out there, or you can combine them...

Example sentence(s):
  • see above
Gabriele Hanselmann
Local time: 02:17
Native speaker of: Native in GermanGerman, Native in EnglishEnglish
Notes to answerer
Asker: Thanks!

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Reference comments


15 mins
Reference: let's get on with the coal then!??

Reference information:
ran an die Arbeit oder an den Speck! = let's get on with it then!

mustafaer
Türkiye
Native speaker of: Native in TurkishTurkish, Native in EnglishEnglish

Peer comments on this reference comment (and responses from the reference poster)
neutral  writeaway: imo it's a play on words. Kohle is coal but also slang for money (dough). /is this a reference? where's the URL?
18 mins
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