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21:40 Feb 11, 2011
German to English translations [PRO] Bus/Financial - Economics
German term or phrase:Hauruck-Kapitalismus
In a text about changing attitudes among managers following the financial crisis:
Die Chinesen wollen immer die Balance zwischen widersprüchlichen Bedingungen und unterschiedlichen Beteiligten halten.
Die Suche nach dem Gleichgewicht indes ist keine spezifisch chinesische Angelegenheit. Egal, welche Nationalität CEOs haben: Wenn sie ihre Strategien darlegen, ist immer mehr von „Stakeholdern“ die Rede. Nicht nur die Interessen von Kunden und Kapitalgebern sollen berücksichtigt werden, sondern auch Beschäftigte, Politik, die Gesellschaft im weiteren Sinne. Die Krise scheint das Denken vieler Manager verändert zu haben: Eine neue Rücksichtnahme tritt an die Stelle des Hauruck-Kapitalismus.
I understand that they mean something that isn't really thought through but can't remember a corresponding English term being used. Is there a frequently used term or would something like "knee-jerk capitalism" or "slapshot capitalism" or "quickfire capitalism" be fine?
Gung ho is a term used to mean "enthusiastic" or "dedicated."
The term was picked up by United States Marine Corps Major Evans Carlson from his New Zealand friend, Rewi Alley, one of the founders of the Chinese Industrial Cooperatives. Carlson explained in a 1943 interview: "I was trying to build up the same sort of working spirit I had seen in China where all the soldiers dedicated themselves to one idea and worked together to put that idea over. I told the boys about it again and again. I told them of the motto of the Chinese Cooperatives, Gung Ho. It means Work Together-Work in Harmony...."
Later Carlson used gung ho during his (unconventional) command of the 2nd Marine Raider Battalion. From there it spread throughout the U.S. Marine Corps (hence the association between the two), where it was used as an expression of spirit and into American society as a whole when the phrase became the title of a 1943 war film, Gung Ho!, about the 2nd Raider Battalion's raid on Makin Island in 1942.
"Gung ho" is an anglicised pronunciation of "Gong He" (工合), the shortened version and slogan of the "gōngyè hézuòshè" (工業合作社) or Chinese Industrial Cooperatives, which was also abbreviated as INDUSCO.
The two Chinese characters forming the word Gung Ho are translated individually as "Work" and "Together".
The linguist Albert Moe studied both the origin and the usage in English. He concludes that the term is an "Americanism that is derived from the Chinese, but its several accepted American meanings have no resemblance whatever to the recognized meaning in the original language" and that its "various linguistic uses, as they have developed in the United States, have been peculiar to American speech." In Chinese, concludes Moe, "this is neither a slogan nor a battle cry; it is only a name for an organization." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gung-ho
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 1 hr (2011-02-11 23:26:23 GMT) --------------------------------------------------
'Knee-jerk capitalism' would be a reaction to some other (failed) economic system. 'Gung ho' represents a more dynamic and proactive approach.
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 1 hr (2011-02-11 23:29:46 GMT) --------------------------------------------------
Sorry, but neither 'hard-hitting', nor 'slapshot' (?), nor 'quickfire' nor 'cmon', nor 'heave ho' collocate at all convincingly with 'capitalism'.
answers already. General acceptance speaks for "Gung Ho". The Rewi Alley slogan seems plausible but it does not give us the actual Chinese words. The abbreviation for industrial cooperatives (gong for 'industry', he for 'co-op') may not be strictly relevant. I would not be sure whether bringing in pidgin Chinese is a good idea, or whether it actually conveys quite the rudeness of "Hau-ruck"? "Heave-ho" would at least give people an idea what the writer was thinking. And I would have suggested "madcap capitalism", but enough is enough!
making a concerted effort to drag China as quickly as possible into what China considers capitalism. The German "hau-ruck" corresponds to the English "heave-ho".
The translation workplace 
peer agreement (net): -1
