English translation: Graduate Economist (or leave out or don't translate)
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GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)
German term or phrase:
Diplom-Ökonom
English translation:
Graduate Economist (or leave out or don't translate)
German to English translations [PRO] Bus/Financial - Advertising / Public Relations / business cards
German term or phrase:Diplom-Ökonom
My client e-mailed me a list of job titles and degrees and asked that I translate them. She said "da wir auch unsere Visitenkarten auf den internationalen Standard anpassen möchten," they wanted the titles in English. I do not know if they will be having double-sided cards with the German on one side and English on the other and should perhaps ask about that.
My feeling is that there is a lot that can go wrong when one just attempts to translate a degree being used as a title. For this particular example, I've seen a few possibilities other than simply something along the lines of Graduate Economist.
Here, the name would be on one line and Diplom-Ökonom on the next without the option of putting anything in parentheses to describe the degree.
Should I translate these (and how?), leave them alone or possibly simplify them into just the general meaning? "Economist" I know from other work for this client that several of these people, though Diplom-Geographen, Reiseverkehrskauffrauen, Dipl.-Kaufmänner, etc., actually work for the company as individual project managers.
p.s. I was at a loss of how to code this question.
Explanation: This is my "gut" reaction and backed up by what you wrote.
But I would indeed argue in favour of leaving such Germanic references off business cards entirely. However, having said that, things like MBAs are often shown.
Though some people feel that "graduate" sounds too similar to a graduate "student," I think that if I hadn't convinced my client to reconsider their strategy, I might have gone with this option.
After a great effort on my part, I managed to give my client enough evidence suggesting that it was not common or necessary to include college degrees on the business cards of the managing directors, project managers, etc. of the company. They had suggested something like this:
Bob Jones
Diplom-Ökonom
(Graduate Englineer)
Projektmanager
(Project Manager)
Phone No.
E-Mail
all on one card and it just looked too silly.
Now they are going to do double-sided business cards and are going to leave out the degrees on the English side.
Thanks for everyone's insight. 4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer
I beg to differ. When I was in college, we called them "graduate students". Postgraduate is a European term. The next level would then be post-doctoral students...fellows ( hold PhDs already)... But, it is actually beside the point as this guy is definitely on a lower academic level...
Ken is absolutely right - I think you need to tell the company a word or two about the (cultural?) differences in terms of what is most important on a business card in German-speaking countries vs. the Anglo-Saxon world, where the focus is on the role/function/job title, although academic degrees/qualifications can appear, too.
I suppose you have checked the previous postings on this and related questions. As you say, translating educational qualifications can be tricky due a frequent lack of direct equivalence.
Aside from that, the most important information on a business card consists of the company name, the person's name, and the person's position (job title), plus a company logo to keep the PR department happy. Education qualifications are usually secondary (in the English-speaking world) and are often treated accordingly in terms of typography and layout.
Automatic update in 00:
Answers
1 hr confidence:
BA ( or MA) in Economics
Explanation: If the target audience is in the US, then you can put either BA or MA (Economics) although usually the major is left out and just a BA or MA is written behind the name.
It depends on what level he concluded. I presume that it is not a PhD, but a regular university education in economics.
In this case I would put:
BA ( economics) or MA ( economics)-- an eternal dispute of what the US equivalent of a university education in Europe is. I personally think that it is fair to put a BA ( not an MA!) for regular undergraduate studies. I studied both in the US and Europe ( have a BA in economics as well) and I think Diplom-Oekonom is a BA in economics !
Some universities also award a BS in Economics, but BA is more common.
Good luck
lirka Local time: 08:07 Works in field Native speaker of: English, Slovenian
4 hrs confidence: peer agreement (net): +1
Graduate Economist
Explanation: This is my "gut" reaction and backed up by what you wrote.
But I would indeed argue in favour of leaving such Germanic references off business cards entirely. However, having said that, things like MBAs are often shown.
Jan Liebelt United States Local time: 08:07 Specializes in field Native speaker of: English PRO pts in category: 4
Grading comment
Though some people feel that "graduate" sounds too similar to a graduate "student," I think that if I hadn't convinced my client to reconsider their strategy, I might have gone with this option.
After a great effort on my part, I managed to give my client enough evidence suggesting that it was not common or necessary to include college degrees on the business cards of the managing directors, project managers, etc. of the company. They had suggested something like this:
Bob Jones
Diplom-Ökonom
(Graduate Englineer)
Projektmanager
(Project Manager)
Phone No.
E-Mail
all on one card and it just looked too silly.
Now they are going to do double-sided business cards and are going to leave out the degrees on the English side.
Thanks for everyone's insight.
21 hrs confidence: peer agreement (net): +1
Economist
Explanation: I would be inclined to put the name on one line, and underneath simply 'Economist'. Second choice would be the name followed by BA (Econ.).
I've never seen an English business card with someone described as a 'Graduate Economist'. It sounds that you have to point out that they have actually studied economics (in case anyone is in doubt!). Pedantic and un-self-confident.
As already mentioned, academic qualifications tend to be irrelevant, at least in the UK, once acquired and not given much prominence on a business card.
Might be difficult to sell to the client, though!
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 21 hrs (2008-12-11 09:31:00 GMT) --------------------------------------------------
I wanted to add the note that the card should read Fred Blogs (next line) Economist
Example sentence(s):
Fred Blogs
Slindon Germany Local time: 14:07 Works in field Native speaker of: English PRO pts in category: 4
Notes to answerer
Asker: Thanks for bringing up this point. I had already mentioned to my client that university degrees are often not even mentioned in the Anglo-Saxon business world but that job positions were more important. Today I then told them that when you already have Geschäftsführer under your name, it is no longer important to mention that you have a degree in any field. We'll see what they say.
The translation workplace 
