Login or register (free and only takes a few minutes) to participate in this question.
You will also have access to many other tools and opportunities designed for those who have language-related jobs (or are passionate about them). Participation is free and the site has a strict confidentiality policy.
11:12 Oct 31, 2006
Slovak to English translations [PRO] General / Conversation / Greetings / Letters
Slovak term or phrase:zazemie
as in "rodinne zazemie". And please no "background" because that is not it. It is more like roots or ties or something like that. Any suggestions?
OK Diana, my remark was meant mostly for the "adjustments" to the text following translation. I am a Slovak and I personally meant no harm to Slovak translators in and of themselves. The translation is not the issue, I only meant that the final text is almost always better in the Czech rendition than in the Slovak, and that is because the Czechs seem to have better "vyrazy" than the Slovaks. I mean, who can better say that "lod vyploula". I may have written this in bad Czech but you get my meaning. I live in Slovakia and no offence was intended. And "neuctive voci kolegom" is out of place because I truly endeavor to place only the most professional questions in this forum. I find help elsewhere when necessary. Try not to be offended.
After you provided the context, I would suggest "a big family base." A osobna poznamka: Renata, nemozete urobit vseobecne vyhlasenie (a zvlast nie na tomto fore), ze "Czechs translate from English at a much better level than the Slovaks." Po prve, je to hrube subjektivne zovseobecnovanie, po druhe, je to neuctive voci kolegom, ktori sa vam snazia pomoct.
It's too late to call them now, but the commercial does have elements of humor, where they say that things are getting smaller and smaller (like their examples of dogs and cars), but I don't think this was meant to be one of the ironic points. In any case, the identical commercial runs on Czech television but leaves out the part about rodinne zazemie. I was hoping that the Czech translation would be better (because sadly, the Czechs translate from English at a much better level than the Slovaks). That is assuming that the commercial was translated from the English or other language :)
Tiez si myslim, ze ziaden preklad tuto uvedeny nie je vhodny v tomto pripade. Nuz, niekedy treba hladat preklad v niecom inom, ako ten doslovny. BTW, in the commercial they show a man standing by a hammock when they say "velke rodinne zazemie". Huh?
Jako bonus muzete pak zakaznikovi na zaver gratis prelozit stare ceske prislovi, ze za malo penez je malo muziky. Mimochodem, ani jeden z prekladu se mi nelibi. Neco tomu chybi.
Diky za vysvetleni, ale tohle uz vlastne nei preklad, ale copywriting in English, a to je velmi draha zalezitost. Pokud je vam to zakaznik ochoten zaplatit, konzultoval bych native copywriter z cilove zeme a dal mu vyse uvedene info.
OK, this was specifically for a television commercial for a certain financial concern, where they say that everyone wants big things for their family - a big pension, big plans, "velke rodinne zazemie". I agree with webguru that family background is not the case here. That just means where you come from, what your roots are, but not what you have now and what keeps your family strong. That is why I completely disagree with the word "background"
Explanation: I don't know the whole sentence you need to use this in, but if someone has "rodinne zazemie" it can be put as "having (supportive) family behind him/her."
[Removed name] Local time: 06:04 Specializes in field Native speaker of: Slovak
Explanation: I personally believe that "family background" also means or can be translated to Slovak as "rodinné zázemie" so I do not quite understand why you so strongly believe it is not "background". Please tell us then how you would translate "family background" to Slovak - just as a matter of interest.
So I am suggesting the above term to you just as a possible solution if you do not want to use "background".
Slavomir BELIS United Kingdom Local time: 11:04 Works in field Native speaker of: Slovak
Notes to answerer
Asker: Slavomir, family background works if I am talking about my past, say my grandparents or other aspects of my family. But if I say family background I don't think that any English speaker would take that to mean anything other than expressly that - my "background", as in who my parrents and grandparents are or were, where I grew up, etc. In some cases this would work but not in this case.
46 mins confidence: peer agreement (net): -1
family bond
Explanation: Without much context, I think the closest to "zazemie" would be "family bond".
Thanks for the message, Renata. This is a tricky one! I know it's not the exact translation per se but what do you think about just using "FAMILY HAPPINESS". It might fit into the grand scheme of things here and does convey the general idea quite well.
lingua chick Local time: 11:04 Specializes in field Native speaker of: English
Notes to answerer
Asker: Hey lingua chick, although I like your suggestion I can't seem to fit it into the "big" thing. I guess that's what's throwing me. I guess I've got it stuck in my brain!
The translation workplace 
