Mar 7, 2007 14:40
17 yrs ago
German term
United States
German and "Geek" to English!
Native in: English
Works in: German to English, English
vom Nützlichen durchs Wahre zum Schönen
German to English
Art/Literary
Poetry & Literature
Goethe quote
Hello all! Does anyone have an "official" translation for this Goethe quote?
Vom Nützlichen durchs Wahre zum Schönen
(If not, I'll just translate it myself, so please feel free to take a crack at it - it's for a cosmetics company).
Thanks a lot!
Hilary.
Vom Nützlichen durchs Wahre zum Schönen
(If not, I'll just translate it myself, so please feel free to take a crack at it - it's for a cosmetics company).
Thanks a lot!
Hilary.
Proposed translations
(English)
Change log
Mar 7, 2007 17:31: Marcus Malabad changed "Term asked" from "Vom Nützlichen durchs Wahre zum Schönen" to "vom Nützlichen durchs Wahre zum Schönen"
Proposed translations
+5
3 hrs
Johanna Timm, PhD
Canada
Canada
Native in German
Specializes in field
Canada
Friendly, fast & certified!
Native in: German (Variants: Germany, Swiss, Platt / Nieder (Low German), Austrian) 
Works in: English to German, German to English, German
Related KudoZ points
:
69
Selected
Exploring the practicable, searching for purity, uncovering beauty
simpler version: Practical, pure, and beautiful
Peer comment(s):
| agree |
Stephen Reader
: Yes to the tendency. Can't imagine Goethe 'working' on the Ger. pack'g really, either, except that it has his credentials. If the text reads like an essay (blurb with kultcherd Anspruch), & the product's marketed as "Gmn", a std trans of Goe. 'd be OK
1 hr
|
| agree |
Hildegard Klein-Bodenheimer (X)
: Maybe beneficial instead of practical, would also fit in both versions.
6 hrs
|
| agree |
yieto
1 day 2 hrs
|
| agree |
Sarah Appleby (X)
: 3 adjectives much snappier
1 day 14 hrs
|
| agree |
Mercuri@
: Agree, nice simplification as wel, but what about keeping up the alliteration as in: Practical, pure and pretty? ;-)
10 days
|
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer.
Comment: "Selected automatically based on peer agreement."
25 mins
From the useful via the true to the beautiful
For, as the author of Götz and Werther, Goethe represented the bourgeois fronde. ... And another motto ran: ‘From the useful via the true to the beautiful. ...
newleftreview.org/?view=139
newleftreview.org/?view=139
+1
1 hr
Purdue_PhD
Native in German
Specializes in field
bilingual
Native in: German 
, Turkish
Works in: English to German, English to Turkish, German to Turkish, and 3 more.
From the useful through the true to beauty
Hi,
This is a quote from Goethe's "Wilhelm Meisters Wanderjahre," Book I, chapter 6. I don't know the official translation. I would probably translate it as follows:
"From the useful through the true to beauty" or "From beneficial to beauty by means of the true" (the 2. one is a translation more oriented towards cosmetics ?)
This is a quote from Goethe's "Wilhelm Meisters Wanderjahre," Book I, chapter 6. I don't know the official translation. I would probably translate it as follows:
"From the useful through the true to beauty" or "From beneficial to beauty by means of the true" (the 2. one is a translation more oriented towards cosmetics ?)
2 hrs
the beauty of utilitarian things is revealed in their essence
You could also try to maintain the abstraction of the German with 'the beauty of the utilitarian is revealed in its essence', at the risk of going over many people's heads.
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Note added at 2 hrs (2007-03-07 17:04:28 GMT)
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By the way, I wouldn't suggest passing this off as a Goethe quotation.
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Note added at 5 hrs (2007-03-07 20:26:25 GMT)
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hmmm -- if it's a slogan, how about 'revealing the essential beauty of the everyday world' ('mundane' is what actually fits there, but it probably has too many negative connotations).
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Note added at 2 hrs (2007-03-07 17:04:28 GMT)
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By the way, I wouldn't suggest passing this off as a Goethe quotation.
--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 5 hrs (2007-03-07 20:26:25 GMT)
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hmmm -- if it's a slogan, how about 'revealing the essential beauty of the everyday world' ('mundane' is what actually fits there, but it probably has too many negative connotations).
Discussion