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Ein schwarzer Schwan

English translation: Black Swan

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11:16 Oct 24, 2009

German to English translations [Non-PRO]
Linguistics

German term or phrase: Ein schwarzer Schwan

I don't have any context but was wondering if the term is similar to "black sheep" in English.

caitriona KudoZ activity Questions: 913 (7 open) (7 without valid answers) Answers: 5
Local time: 23:13

English translation:Black Swan

Explanation:
I came across this document recently (see link), and it is quite interesting! Maybe this helps?

Selected response from:

Céline Solenthaler
Local time: 00:13

Grading comment

Thank you Céline, the article was very interesting and appropriate.

Regards
Caitriona
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer

Summary of answers provided

4 +7

No, it just means a black swan.

lindaellen

4 +3

Black Swan

Céline Solenthaler

Summary of reference entries provided

Black swans in the philosophy of science

Annett Kottek

Answers

2 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +7

No, it just means a black swan.

Explanation:
No, it just means a black swan.

lindaellen
Switzerland
Local time: 00:13
Specializes in field
Native speaker of:

English

5 hrs confidence:

peer agreement (net): +3

Black Swan

Explanation:
I came across this document recently (see link), and it is quite interesting! Maybe this helps?

Reference: http://www.allianzglobalinvestors.de/privatkunden/data/pdf/r...

Céline Solenthaler
Local time: 00:13
Native speaker of: German

Grading comment

Thank you Céline, the article was very interesting and appropriate.

Regards
Caitriona

Reference comments

51 mins peer agreement (net): +9

Reference: Black swans in the philosophy of science

Reference information:
Philosophers often cite the example of the black swan if they want to underline the uncertainty of inductive reasoning (i.e. reasoning from experience). Europeans for thousand of years only ever observed white swans and thus came to the conclusion that ‘All swans are white.’ That proposition was proven untrue, however, when, in the late 18th C., black swans were discovered in Australia. To cite the black swan is to draw attention to the fact that just because something hasn’t been observed yet, that does not mean that this something does not/cannot exist.

See also the section on Karl Popper here: http://www.philosopher.org.uk/sci.htm

Or maybe: http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falsifikationismus

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Note added at 1 Tag20 Stunden (2009-10-26 07:27:07 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

‘The black swan metaphor refers to the dangers of deriving general rules from observed facts, and only from those observed facts, a notion called Hume's problem of induction.’
http://books.google.com/books?id=y-SLU3b7FtsC&pg=PA24&lpg=PA...

‘On detecting and classifying aberrant behavior in unmanned autonomous systems under test and on mission …in the Age of the Black Swan

[…]

A Note on Black Swans
The Black Swan metaphor is used currently to signify a low probability but catastrophic event. Popular usage emphasizes this low probability. What is ignored in many examples of recent black swan events is that they have been enabled by situational evolution, and will occur with increasing frequency.’
http://209.85.229.132/search?q=cache:Hflm3cTmSYoJ:www.parshi...

Annett Kottek
United Kingdom
Native speaker of:

German

Peer comments on this reference comment (and responses from the reference poster)

agree

Helen Shiner: Yes, useful to have this appended to this question.

16 mins

-> Thank you, Helen. And it looks like Taleb's book [Michael’s comment below] has popularized the black swan metaphor.

agree

Ingeborg Gowans: very interesting comment

35 mins

-> Thank you, Ingeborg.

agree

kriddl: Yes, exactly.

46 mins

-> Thank you, kriddl.

agree

Rebecca Garber

1 hr

-> Thank you, Rebecca.

agree

franglish

3 hrs

-> Thank you, franglish.

agree

Teresa Reinhardt: ..and so it doesn't 'just mean a black swan'

3 hrs

-> Thank you, Teresa. I hadn’t realized how widespread the black swan metaphor has become. According to one document I found online, we are now in the ‘Age of the Black Swan’.

agree

Michael Hudson: You may enjoy a book on this subject "The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable" by Nassim Taleb. Author's insights based on the work of Karl Popper. At Barnes & Noble, Amazon.

3 hrs

-> Thanks for reminding me, Michael! I haven’t read the book - - yet, but I saw Taleb lecture on it here in London. He seems to have single-handedly popularized the metaphor, judging from the many online references to it.

agree

Thomas Pfann: very interesting

22 hrs

-> Thank you, Thomas.

agree

yyyzzz: Looks like lindaellen's answer could be heading for the 'most helpful' accolade: "No, it just means a black swan."

2 days6 hrs

Voters for reclassification
as
PRO / non-PRO

Non-PRO (1): EdithK

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Changes made by editors

Oct 25, 2009 - Changes made by Cilian O'Tuama:
Level	PRO => Non-PRO

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Ein schwarzer Schwan

English translation: Black Swan

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Ein schwarzer Schwan

English translation: Black Swan

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KudoZ™ translation helpThe KudoZ network provides a framework for translators and others to assist each other with translations or explanations of terms and short phrases.

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