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German: an der falschen Stelle sparen

English translation: trying to save money in the wrong places







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GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)
German term or phrase:an der falschen Stelle sparen
English translation:trying to save money in the wrong places
Entered by:Eszter Bokor
Options:
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5:17pm Aug 1, 2007Login or register (free) for more options.
German to English translations [PRO]
Art/Literary - Idioms / Maxims / Sayings
German term or phrase: an der falschen Stelle sparen
Lehrer müssen bestimmte Unterrichtsmaterialien selbst bezahlen. Aufruf des Direktors: "Ich bitte jedoch nicht an der falschen Stelle zu sparen, da alle Muster
auch bei späteren Schulungen bzw. Präsentationen eingesetzt werden können."
Eszter Bokor
Austria
Clarification request(s) and response
Marcus Malabad: 8:38pm Aug 1, 2007: Eszter, no need for the quotation marks and please classify question properly (Idioms / Art-Lit / Pro). Thanks, Marcus
xxxFrancis Lee: 4:41pm Aug 2, 2007: Context/readership? What are your own ideas? And with all respect to Marcus: this shouldn't be under Art/Lit. - or should it?
Eszter Bokor: 8:56am Aug 6, 2007: Thank you for all your suggestions! Unfortunately, I can only chose one, but the others were very useful as well. Thanks everybody!

trying to save money in the wrong places
Explanation:
I'm not keen on 'make false economies' as an imperative and the others sound a bit too whimsical. Why not a fairly direct translation?
Selected response from:

Stephen Roche
Germany
Note from asker to answerer
Thank you!
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
3 +2do not make any false economies
mbrodie
4Do not spoil the ship for a ha'porth of tarCilian O'Tuama
3 +1trying to save money in the wrong places
Stephen Roche
4penny wise, pound foolish / lindaellen
3 +1spend less now, pay more laterKen Cox
3don't go cutting the wrong cornersxxxCMJ_Trans


  

Answers

18 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5 peer agreement (net): +2
"an der falschen Stelle sparen" do not make any false economies

Explanation:
this is how I would say it

mbrodie
United Kingdom
Works in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 24

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree Armorel Young: yes, maybe "this is not a time for making false economies"
19 mins
agree Alf Hall
2 hrs
neutral xxxFrancis Lee: I've never heard of this phrase - is it really that common? ;-)
23 hrs
neutral Cilian O'Tuama: "false economies" ist ein Begriff, klar, but I must admit I haven't heard this phrase before either
2 days7 hrs
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48 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
"an der falschen Stelle sparen" don't go cutting the wrong corners

Explanation:
idiomatic

xxxCMJ_Trans
France
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 60
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11 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
"an der falschen Stelle sparen" penny wise, pound foolish /

Explanation:
The director is saying not to save money on the wrong place, i.e. buy the cheapest material that will also have a short "life" - since the material can be used later, and therefore should be durable.

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Note added at 2 hrs (2007-08-01 19:18:48 GMT)
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Yes, you're right - save money in the wrong place, but save money on cheap products.

lindaellen
Switzerland
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
Notes to answerer
Asker: Would you actually say "save money ON the wrong place"? I assumed it's "IN the wrong place".

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2 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5 peer agreement (net): +1
"an der falschen Stelle sparen" spend less now, pay more later

Explanation:
I would turn this around, along the lines of 'Please bear in mind that... can be also be used again for..., so if you spend less now, you may end up paying more later'.

Some of the other suggestions, such as 'don't make any false economies' or 'don't go cutting the wrong corners', could be used equally well in this construction.

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Note added at 2 hrs (2007-08-01 20:12:25 GMT)
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or 'don't save money in the wrong places'

Ken Cox
Netherlands
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 57

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree xxxFrancis Lee: don't save money in the wrong places
20 hrs
  -> I stole this from a sales pitch often used to try to pursuade customers to buy top-end products.
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17 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5 peer agreement (net): +1
trying to save money in the wrong places

Explanation:
I'm not keen on 'make false economies' as an imperative and the others sound a bit too whimsical. Why not a fairly direct translation?

Stephen Roche
Germany
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 12
Note from asker to answerer
Thank you!

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree xxxFrancis Lee
6 hrs
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23 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
Do not spoil the ship for a ha'porth of tar

Explanation:
an old-fashioned equivalent to am falschen Ende sparen

Cilian O'Tuama
Germany
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 52
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