er hätte sich nur durch offenen Bruch widersetzen können
English translation: he could only have refused to comply through a clear break
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GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)
German term or phrase:
er hätte sich nur durch offenen Bruch widersetzen können
English translation:
he could only have refused to comply through a clear break
German to English translations [PRO] Art/Literary - Poetry & Literature
German term or phrase:er hätte sich nur durch offenen Bruch widersetzen können
Having some financial problems, the character has tried many times to avoid following something ordered to him and one who posted the order said
"er haette sich nur durch offenen Bruch widersetzen koennen"
Break in the sense of speaking one's mind, opening up, confronting the situation, i.e., a clear break from the imposition of having to follow orders...that's my interpretation within your context. And thanks for the KudoZ!
thank you very much. But could you please explain a little bit more. "Break" from what?? I just have no idea at all. 4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer
But I think we're still curious as to what this is all about. In particular, what does "avoid following something ordered to him and one who posted the order" mean?? Doesn't make much sense to me ...
Thank you very much. For F.Lee this is for publication.
From many suggestions now I think I've got the answer that makes sense now. Bravo. You Guys are really brilliant. Danke schoen Herr Sulzer, Ihre Erklaerung ist ja klar!!
...no longer be on speaking terms. More than just a "rift" even, more of an unbreachable rift. This text seems to go into that direction. This can result from all rules being broken, as Henry suggested.
The context here is not enough to be sure. What order? Payments? What is the relationship between the people involved? ein "offener Bruch" in German usually is a "complete break-up" of a relationship, sometimes constituting an "all-out war", people will..
Were you asking this question out of personal interest or in connection with e.g. a translation for publication? What kind of "order"? And can you tell us why you selected "clear break" - which has me thinking of a sports context?
er haette sich nur durch offenen Bruch widersetzen koennen
only by blatently breaking xxx could he have defied yyy
Explanation:
This "durch" in direct speech must be avoided in the translation. Nobody speaks like this in America.
I would suggest a construction like: only by blatently braking xxx could he have defied yyy where the xxxs and yyys are replaced by nouns taken from the context.
My guess would be: only by blatently breaking the rules could he have defied the order
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 3 hrs (2007-05-08 04:46:57 GMT) --------------------------------------------------
Aside: Recently in a terrible book on literary translation I read that the English language is more specific than many other foreign languages. I'm still not quite sure how to assess this generalization, not able to agree or disagree yet, but it seems like your phrase might be an example of what the author was trying to say. In your case I would definitely turn the general phrase into something specific, as I have suggested.
Henry Schroeder United States Local time: 08:18 Specializes in field Native speaker of: English PRO pts in category: 88
13 mins confidence: peer agreement (net): -1
er haette sich nur durch offenen Bruch widersetzen koennen
he could only have refused to comply through a clear break
Explanation: albeit a literal translation, clear break could also mean confrontation or resignation, at least that's how I see it
Break in the sense of speaking one's mind, opening up, confronting the situation, i.e., a clear break from the imposition of having to follow orders...that's my interpretation within your context. And thanks for the KudoZ!
Katarina Peters Canada Local time: 08:18 Specializes in field Native speaker of: Hungarian, English PRO pts in category: 8
Grading comment
thank you very much. But could you please explain a little bit more. "Break" from what?? I just have no idea at all.
Marcus Malabad's old entry - "er haette sich nur durch offenen Bruch widersetzen können" => "he could only have refused to comply through a clear break"
Katarina Peters's old entry - "er haette sich nur durch offenen Bruch widersetzen koennen" => "he could only have refused to comply through a clear break"
The translation workplace 
peer agreement (net): +1
