ansvarig

07:01 Sep 28, 2012 

What a fun discussion we have here, and Jerry, seems like you're just getting going. One of my first projects, we had a team of language folks working on site where our Swe client always had the final say on terms. Of the many terms we discussed to death, 'ansvarig' was one of the more memorable. The conclusion? Context is king, once again. Example, 'Projektansvarig' vs 'Projektchef' both working together on the same project -- the customer had a US sub and used 'responsible' for non-HR titles, as in whenever someone was assigned to look after something (manage part of a project), but had a formal position as something else (senior programmer, senior consultant, etc.). I reacted to it too, but its the modern way. It can be manager, it can be responsible, and there are US companies that use the same differentiation, but there is no 'correct' answer. But 'in charge' and the others, are not titles like responsible. Good luck with your CVs!!

17:59 Sep 27, 2012 

But George is right, and there's no shame in asking ;)

15:52 Sep 27, 2012 

It might be a good idea to ask the client - which may result in an alteration of the source text to give greater clarity... Rule number one: don't guess.

13:54 Sep 27, 2012 

I think in the case you quote, it would be marknadsansvarig = marketing director and marknadschef = marketing manager, as the word "director" generally indicates a more responsible role than a manager. But it would depend on which role was superior in the company's structure!

13:49 Sep 27, 2012 

The thing is, a company can have both a "marknadsansvarig" and a "marknadschef". Here's where I have my dilemma, the latter is naturally Marketing Manager, but the former is where I don't have a good answer. The same applies to the case of "ekonomiansvarig" and "ekonomichef".

13:49 Sep 27, 2012 

Granted "ansvarig" depends on a particular context, but in those cases I've seen translations in CVs and on web sites the title "responsible" or "in charge", well it just doesn't seem correct, just not palatable.

09:22 Sep 27, 2012 

The word ansvarig is tagged on to the end of almost anything in order to avoid being precise, eg, ekonomiansvarig may refer to someone of rank, a person who is responsible, ie, manager. One should not draw the conclusion that all other persons who are engaged lack responsibility. It's simply something you can't translate without actually having a good picture of the context.