de soepele pedaalslag terugvinden

English translation: recover / get back to a smooth pace

07:36 Apr 22, 2008

Dutch to English translations [PRO]
Idioms / Maxims / Sayings

Dutch term or phrase: de soepele pedaalslag terugvinden

Foreword to the employee magazine by the new Managing Director of an international courier company.

1 april. Op die wel heel opmerkelijke datum ben ik hier beginnen werken. Meteen sta ik, samen met jullie, aan het begin van een nieuw tijdperk voor X. En dat gevoel is een sterk gevoel. Het zorgt voor een vliegende start. Ik heb me hier trouwens heel snel thuis gevoeld. Dat zal me helpen om na een lange bewogen periode samen opnieuw **de soepele pedaalslag terug te vinden.**

Possibly some play on words associated with planes (cf vliegende start)?

MoiraB KudoZ activity Questions: 725 (none open) (1 without valid answers) (21 closed without grading) Answers: 545 France
Local time: 17:09

English translation:recover / get back to a smooth pace

Explanation:
... or something along these lines.

This is a cycling metaphor (is your text Belgian?), and 'soepele pedaalslag' literally means a smooth, easy pedaling cadence, which is desirable for efficient cycling (good endurance).

Selected response from:

Ken Cox
Local time: 17:09

Grading comment

Thanks, everyone. Liked the 'groove' idea, but it wasn't quite the right register here.
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer

Summary of answers provided

3 +2

recover / get back to a smooth pace

Ken Cox

get back into the groove

Marie Brotnov

regain the smooth pace / regain the smooth swing

Max Nuijens

Discussion entries: 3

Answers

27 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +2

recover / get back to a smooth pace

Ken Cox
Local time: 17:09
Native speaker of:

English
PRO pts in category: 12

Grading comment

Thanks, everyone. Liked the 'groove' idea, but it wasn't quite the right register here.

5 hrs confidence:

regain the smooth pace / regain the smooth swing

Explanation:
regain fits better to terugvinden or hervinden, because of the hard work involved to get back into shape, to follow the bicycling metaphore.

If a smooth translation is required, rather than a wordly account of what is said, 'smooth swing', which relates to golf, would be an option.

This would match the 'vliegende start', which is a swift and fast start, since smooth swings result in golfballs flying high.

Max Nuijens
Netherlands
Local time: 17:09
Native speaker of:

Dutch
PRO pts in category: 11

8 hrs confidence:

get back into the groove

Explanation:
it is, indeed, a cycling term, and it's about finding an easy rhythm so the work feels more or less effortless. I think "get back into the groove" expresses that same feel.

Marie Brotnov
United States
Local time: 08:09
Native speaker of:

Dutch,

English

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de soepele pedaalslag terugvinden

English translation: recover / get back to a smooth pace

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de soepele pedaalslag terugvinden

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