Topos Gastarbeiter

English translation: topos of the guest worker

15:38 Apr 25, 2008

German to English translations [PRO]
Art/Literary - Social Science, Sociology, Ethics, etc.

German term or phrase: Topos Gastarbeiter

I understand "Gastarbeiter", of course, but I can't figure out what a "Topos Gastarbeiter" is. Online searches have not been helpful, as none of the meanings for "Topos" I've found in German (see, for example, http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Topos ) seem to really fit the context, which is:

"Ich suche den Topos Gastarbeiter oder Migrant in der Prosa, in der Lyrik, auf der Bühne, in der bildenden Kunst, in der Musik, in der Oper, im Ballett. Ich lese also Wolfdietrich Schnurre, Günter Grass und Martin Walser."

BrettMN KudoZ activity Questions: 55 (none open) (1 closed without grading) Answers: 32
Local time: 07:20

English translation:topos of the guest worker

Explanation:
Same word in English. I'm not sure whether this is considered a foreign word, and thus should be italicized.

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Note added at 26 mins (2008-04-25 16:05:05 GMT)
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Though I agree this is a 10-dollar word for a 50 cent meaning, the definition is straightforward enough:
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/topos

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Note added at 2 hrs (2008-04-25 18:05:42 GMT)
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If you do choose to stick with "Gastarbeiter," I suggest italicizing it, as it is indeed a foreign word, even if well understood. This is in contrast to anglicized words such as "angst" or even "weltanschauung."

Selected response from:

Darin Fitzpatrick
United States

Grading comment

I'll go with this one, as "topos" seems just as ... well, pretentious or rarely used... in German than in English (maybe a bit less so). I agree that Gastarbeiter need not be translated in most contexts. I'm not adding to the gloss personally, but here are the points. Thanks!
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer

Summary of answers provided

4 +4

topos of the guest worker

Darin Fitzpatrick

topic

Sonja Biermann

Gastarbeiter-Theme

Thoth

Discussion entries: 12

Jim Tucker (X)

United States

16:19 Apr 25, 2008

Oh, and by saying that "topos=set piece" was originally a misuse, I don't mean to imply that this usage didn't take hold, or become the dominant one, which it obviously did.

Jim Tucker (X)

United States

16:14 Apr 25, 2008

...opposites or contrasts, like city/country and the like). But if you want to preserve the literary flavor of the term while divesting it of its pretentiousness, you could do something like "Scenes of the Guest Worker."

Jim Tucker (X)

United States

16:12 Apr 25, 2008

Deleted my note to Darin, as he already dealt with the issue (topos = literary set-piece or recurring figure - which by the way is itself a misuse, but no room for it here except to say that a topos is originally a rhetorical theme denoting paired....

Thoth

16:09 Apr 25, 2008

..although you should be aware who your target audience is: 'archetype' has a very clear definition in Jungian psychoanalysis.

Thoth

16:07 Apr 25, 2008

Sorry Darin, me too!

BrettMN

ASKER

16:06 Apr 25, 2008

Sorry, Darin, I spelled your name wrong!

BrettMN

ASKER

16:06 Apr 25, 2008

Darren, I like "archetype" a lot. I certainly have the sense of it now.

Thoth

16:02 Apr 25, 2008

Agree with Darren. You would find the term in literary criticism or anything that wants to come over as sophisticated/academic writing; I suggested 'theme' because it would be a colloquial and fitting - if not completely accurate - paraphrase.

Darin Fitzpatrick

United States

16:00 Apr 25, 2008

Yes, you need to decide whether and how to convey the original pretention. :-)

Darin Fitzpatrick

United States

15:59 Apr 25, 2008

"Topos" is not a common German term, either, so I suppose it depends on the target audience. See my other suggestion as well: "archetype." The context is that the archetype-image-theme of the migrant is found throughout the arts.

BrettMN

ASKER

15:57 Apr 25, 2008

I can see it as "theme" (still seems an oddly pretentious word to use in the original though). Thanks.

BrettMN

ASKER

15:54 Apr 25, 2008

Hmmmm.... it still doesn't really work for me. Not only is "topos" used incredibly infrequently in English (making it a rather non-useful translated word for most people), I still don't see how that term fits in with Gastarbeiter in what is otherwise a pretty straightforward passage. Thanks though.

Answers

14 mins confidence:

Gastarbeiter-Theme

Explanation:
a term used in literary theory

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Note added at 14 mins (2008-04-25 15:53:45 GMT)
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or leave as 'topos'

Thoth

32 mins confidence:

topic

Explanation:
I believe it comes very close to "Gegenstand" as in "zum Topos der Kunst wurde die Straße".

Reference: http://www.wissen.de/wde/generator/wissen/ressorts/bildung/w...

Sonja Biermann
Local time: 14:20
Native speaker of: German

13 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +4

topos of the guest worker

Sammlungen solcher Topoi entstanden und führten zu ihrer Erstarrung zu festgefügten Klischees, zu Versatzstücken, zu konventionellen Gemeinplätzen. Beispiele sind etwa der Topos der „bösen Stiefmutter“ oder der „liebliche Ort“ (lat. locus amo

Reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Literary_topos

Darin Fitzpatrick
United States
Native speaker of:

English
PRO pts in category: 4

Grading comment

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