German: AktienEnglish translation: stock or shares 
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German to English translations [PRO]
Bus/Financial - Investment / Securities | | German term or phrase: Aktien | Aktien = shares in English and stock in American English
My text is for an American audience and I have so far used stock. However, I have noticed that American newspapers do not always say stock for shares in European companies they say shares for European companies.
If I am describing to an American audience the shares in a German company ABC GmbH which are to be transferred to another German company XYZ GmbH as part of a takeover do I use the American term stock or stick with shares as I am talking about a German company?? |
| | Clarification request(s) and responseAxel Seyler: 4:47pm Jun 2, 2007: The context you give deals with a GmbH. Its equity owners (Gesellschafter) hold Gesellschaftsanteile, not Aktien (you find those in an AG). Therefore, you should ask probably for a translation of Gesellschaftsanteile which is shares.
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| | stock or shares | Explanation:
In AE, stock is "generally" (but not always) used to mean Aktien in a more general sense (collective noun); shares is generally used for Aktien as "units".
It has nothing to do with whether the company is American or European.
But they can often be used interchangeably. Either term is perfectly understandable to a US reader (BTW - I used to be a "stock" broker so I am more than familiar with the usage)
Best illustrated with examples
I own Dell stock. (not shares)
I own 100 shares of Dell stock
I sold my Dell stock
I sold my Dell shares
I sold half my shares in Dell
I sold half my Dell stock/shares.
Dell's share price fell 10% in heavy trading (share because "per" is implicit)
The price of Dell stock fell 10% in heavy trading
ABC AG will transfer all of its shares in XYZ in exchange for ... (I would tend to use shares here and not stock but stock is not "wrong")
ABC will buy back 5% of its stock for its new employee share/stock ownership program
Sorry if I can't give you a hard and fast rule, but that's English for you. |
| Selected response from:
Ted Wozniak
United States
| Note from asker to answererTed, thank you for your long reply. I was reluctant to ask such a simple question at first but I am glad that I did
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer |
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The translation workplace 
peer agreement (net): +3