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truc

English translation: secret, knack, trick, scheme, plan, tactic

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)
Dutch term or phrase:truc
English translation:secret, knack, trick, scheme, plan, tactic
Entered by: Marijke Mayer

14:04 Mar 19, 2002
Dutch to English translations [PRO]
Marketing / personnel training
Dutch term or phrase: truc
Hello fellow ProZians,

What I thought would be an easy text, is turning out to be quite a nightmare. I do hope you can help, before tonight. :-(

This is the intro to a 1984 video, when I suspect, the Dutch word 'truc' was used more often to describe a shortcut, or a tool. *tool* I wasn't here all that much at that time, so I can't remember. "Trick' in English obviously has the wrong connotation here.

How do you feel, as native speakers? I look forward to receiving your answers!

Thanks a bunch!

Marijke

1.[De zoveelste truc]
[The umpteenth trick/shortcut]

2. Als we maar zicht hadden op onze rol.
It would be nice to know our roles.

3. Als we maar wisten hoe mensen ons zagen.
It would be nice to know how people see us.

4. En dat het beeld wat wij van anderen hebben, ook het juiste beeld is.
And that the image we have of others is correct.

5. Als we maar een truc hadden om zo snel mogelijk, zo veel mogelijk en zo betrouwbaar mogelijk, inzicht te krijgen in hoe de mensen zijn.
It would be nice to have a *tool* available to us to sum people up, as quickly and reliably as possible.

6. Geef me de tools; leer me de tools.
Hand me the tools; teach me the tools.

7. Want uiteindelijk telt alleen het resultaat.
As only results count.

8.De targets, de cijfers, de kwartaaloverzichten.
The targets, the figures, the quarterly reviews.

9.Maar resultaten worden behaald op mensen.
But people count.

Etc.
Marijke Mayer
Netherlands
Local time: 08:21
knack, hang, secret
Explanation:
Just a couple of suggestions.

1.[De zoveelste truc]
Yet another trick up their sleeve.

Sometimes "knack", "hang" or "secret" can prove to be a nice rendering of "truc".

E.g.:
"De truc is echter om een cd-r zodanig te maken, dat ..." = "the secret is to make the CD-R in such a way that...".

And "... dat er dusdanig slimme egels zijn die de truc doorhebben een ei kapot te maken door er hard tegen te meppen ..." = there are hedgehogs that have acquired the knack of breaking eggs by...".

5. Als we maar een truc hadden om zo snel mogelijk, zo veel mogelijk en zo betrouwbaar mogelijk, inzicht te krijgen in hoe de mensen zijn.

If only there were some quick and reliable way of gaining insight into our fellow man. [uugghh!]
Selected response from:

Chris Hopley
Netherlands
Local time: 08:21
Grading comment
I'd like to thank all of you, as I got something out of each answer, and each and every one was valuable, but I ultimately chose Chris' as he came up with something really nice for the title: Another trick up your sleeve, just to make a wee bit shorter as it is a title, and a catchy one. But do hang around the site, there's more to come . . . .
Marijke
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
4scheme, plan, tactic
Yngve Roennike
4see explanation
Ellemiek Drucker
4knack, hang, secret
Chris Hopley
4trick/secret
Lucy Spring


  

Answers


12 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
scheme, plan, tactic


Explanation:
sometimes even ploy, which, however, does not seem befitting here.

Yngve Roennike
Local time: 02:21
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in pair: 14
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18 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
see explanation


Explanation:
Hi Marijke,

First sentence:
there is not really enough context to determine what you should translate it by. I would probably just leave it as trick.

5th sentence:
I do think they mean trick here. (remember the expression, he has a few tricks up his sleeve)
The Van Dale Eng-Ned describes tools as: handwerktuig, werktuig (hulp)middel, instrument, draaibank, penseel etc. So I don't think the word tool fits in this sentence.

6th sentence:
I would only put "give me the tools" here.

I think the Dutch is wrong here and repetitive. I think they use the word tool as "hulpmiddel" in Geef me de tools; leer me de tools. How can you teach someone the tools ???
If you translate it by : Hand me the tools, then you are asking them to litterally hand them to you (Dutch aangeven), which I don't think is appropiate here.

HTH
Good luck
Ellemiek



Ellemiek Drucker
Local time: 07:21
Native speaker of: Dutch
PRO pts in pair: 17
Login to enter a peer comment (or grade)

41 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
knack, hang, secret


Explanation:
Just a couple of suggestions.

1.[De zoveelste truc]
Yet another trick up their sleeve.

Sometimes "knack", "hang" or "secret" can prove to be a nice rendering of "truc".

E.g.:
"De truc is echter om een cd-r zodanig te maken, dat ..." = "the secret is to make the CD-R in such a way that...".

And "... dat er dusdanig slimme egels zijn die de truc doorhebben een ei kapot te maken door er hard tegen te meppen ..." = there are hedgehogs that have acquired the knack of breaking eggs by...".

5. Als we maar een truc hadden om zo snel mogelijk, zo veel mogelijk en zo betrouwbaar mogelijk, inzicht te krijgen in hoe de mensen zijn.

If only there were some quick and reliable way of gaining insight into our fellow man. [uugghh!]


Chris Hopley
Netherlands
Local time: 08:21
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in pair: 2117
Grading comment
I'd like to thank all of you, as I got something out of each answer, and each and every one was valuable, but I ultimately chose Chris' as he came up with something really nice for the title: Another trick up your sleeve, just to make a wee bit shorter as it is a title, and a catchy one. But do hang around the site, there's more to come . . . .
Marijke
Login to enter a peer comment (or grade)

43 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
trick/secret


Explanation:
The Van Dale monolingual is quite handy for the explanation of 'truc' in Dutch. I would agree with Ellemiek that 'trick' is fine for no. 5. 'It would be nice to have a trick for summing people up'.
You may also like to consider 'secret' (as in 'what's your secret?'='how do you *do* that?')

Lucy Spring
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in pair: 117
Login to enter a peer comment (or grade)



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