unter Einhaltung einer Kündigungsfrist von drei Monaten zum Ende des Monats

English translation: cancelled {in this case, for an order; otherwise "terminated"} by giving three months' written notice as of the end of a given m

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)

German term or phrase:	unter Einhaltung einer Kündigungsfrist von drei Monaten zum Ende des Monats
English translation:	cancelled {in this case, for an order; otherwise "terminated"} by giving three months' written notice as of the end of a given m
Entered by:	Beth Jones

17:46 Apr 1, 2003

German to English translations [PRO]
Law/Patents - Law: Contract(s)

German term or phrase: unter Einhaltung einer Kündigungsfrist von drei Monaten zum Ende des Monats

3. Periodische Aufträge

Aufträge für regelmäßig wiederkehrende Druckarbeiten können vorbehaltlich anderweitiger Vereinbarung schriftlich unter Einhaltung einer Kündigungsfrist von drei Monaten zum Ende des Monats gekündigt werden.

I’m just not sure about their complicated wording. Is this even close?:

Subject to other agreements, orders for regularly recurring printing work can be cancelled in writing at the end of a given month when in compliance with a three-month cancellation period.

Beth Jones KudoZ activity Questions: 102 (1 open) (1 without valid answers) (3 closed without grading) Answers: 83 Austria
Local time: 14:21

with three months' notice to the end of a month

Explanation:
Just another way of putting it. It is quite possible to write 'to the end of a month' in English (I've researched this in the past, but can't give sources now).

'Except as otherwise agreed, orders for regularly recurring printing work can be cancelled in writing with/by giving three months' notice to the end of a month' (I think it should be 'a' month, though the German says 'the').
It means you actually give notice at the beginning of a month, and thus the notice period ends at the end of the third month following. You don't give notice *at* the end of the month. 'Zum' means 'the notice expires at the end of the month'.

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Note added at 2003-04-02 06:32:55 (GMT)
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Response to Maureen Holm: \'month\'s end...\': If I have to give a month\'s notice to the end of a month, or at least there is \'eine Kündigungsfrist von einem Monat zum Ende eines Monats\', it means the latest date I can give notice is at the beginning of that month. Of course I can give six weeks\' notice if I want, but the German uses the term Monat because it\'s the minimum.

As to the possessive, see Chicago Manual of Style, 14th ed, 6.21: \'Analogous to possessives, and formed like them, are expressions based on the old genitive case: an hour\'s delay, in three days\' time\'
This is not the same case as \'three cups full\'. You may disagree with the Chicago Manual of Style, of course, but I wouldn\'t describe it as a modern practice that is \'bad, bad, bad\'.
As for the \'English speaker and lawyer\'s ear\', I have two of each of those too, but I am British, and that\'s probably why my English sounds odd to you.
A Google search produced U.S. hits on \'one month\'s notice *prior* to the end of the month\'.

Selected response from:

Margaret Marks
United Kingdom
Local time: 13:21

Grading comment

I thank you ALL for your many insights and ideas (AND add’l info)!
Here is my solution -- it’s a combo of your suggestions and insights and includes all the German “particles” (but no more than that, cuz I don’t want to overinterpret.) Let me know if you hate it, but otherwise “this is it” -- thanks!

De:
Aufträge für regelmäßig wiederkehrende Druckarbeiten können vorbehaltlich anderweitiger Vereinbarung schriftlich unter Einhaltung einer Kündigungsfrist von drei Monaten zum Ende des Monats gekündigt werden.
Engl.:
Unless otherwise agreed, orders for regularly recurring printing work can be cancelled by giving three months' written notice as of the end of a given month.

I’ll put the “possessive apostrophe “ debate to rest by saying that both Strunk and White’s “Elements of Style” and the “Chicago Manual of Style” mandate an apostrophe for e.g. *a month’s time* (or * three months’ *).

This is no different than the hard and fast rule calling for a hyphen when writing “a three-month period”, and no one (in the US or the UK) kicks about that. Rules for proper English grammar are just that -- rules, serving a good purpose even if we don’t like (or choose to ignore) them. But otherwise -----
I thank you all again for so generously sharing your time and expertise.
BJ

2 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer

Summary of answers provided

5 +1

on three months prior written notice effective as of month's end.

Maureen Holm, J.D., LL.M.

with three months' notice to the end of a month

Margaret Marks

Orders for regularly-repeating printing work may, subject

David Moore (X)

to OR prior to OR ending at OR before

Margaret Marks

while adhering to

Kim Metzger

4 -1

my take

gangels (X)

Answers

12 mins confidence:

while adhering to

Explanation:
a period of notice of three months prior to the end of the month.
I think that's how it's done. I've always had trouble with "unter" in this connection.

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Note added at 2003-04-01 18:05:13 (GMT)
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Beth, take a look at this KudoZ question asked earlier. I think you\'ll find it helpful.

http://www.proz.com/?sp=h&id=372469&keyword=zum Ende

Kim Metzger
Mexico
Local time: 06:21
Specializes in field
Native speaker of:

English
PRO pts in category: 1256

37 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +1

on three months prior written notice effective as of month's end.

Explanation:
Unless otherwise agreed, recurring print orders are cancellable *on three months prior written notice effective as of month's end.*

All that 'unter Einhaltung' stuff ('in compliance with' or 'by observing') is extraneous to AE renderings. The "as of month's end" wrinkle is a little different, and frankly will probably just cause trouble. As translator, you can't tell but what their practice is a weekly order or something, so that the end of the month stuff becomes potentially contentious, so we render it and forget it.
Incidentally, there is a practice (bad, bad) of adding an apostrophe on three months' notice. It's not grammatical; it's like saying three cups' full.

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Note added at 2003-04-05 08:05:11 (GMT) Post-grading
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To Mr. Zirbelholz:
With all due respect, your \"to the end of the month\" formulation is still meaningless to me as legal English.
With regard to the \"zum Ende\", it is quite clear that whenever the cancellation is attempted, it will only be effective *as of* the end of the month. In a business which, like this one, runs on a monthly schedule, that\'s imperative. However, that doesn\'t confine the party canceling. (Note the absence of the second \'l\'. Er, um, modern practice now that\'s being imposed by weird peer pressure on unwilling editors.)

To the Asker regarding hyphens:
There are, sadly, plenty who are \"kicking\" about the hyphen, even on \"60-day\" and other perceived inviolable formulations (e.g. raven haired girl), to my frequent editorial consternation, with the result that sentences become obscure. I\'m not sure whether the Modern Language Association is to blame, though I suspect many of these adoptions occur just out of boredom; others to save ink, such as the elimination of the period after M. in The Economist. At the same time, the hyphen is popping up everywhere where it doesn\'t belong or is doing service where an mdash is required. What would Emily Dickinson be without those long Gedankenstrichen?

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Note added at 2003-04-05 08:08:11 (GMT) Post-grading
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--striche.

Maureen Holm, J.D., LL.M.
United States
Local time: 08:21
Native speaker of:

English
PRO pts in category: 68

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)

agree

AMuller: or at 3 months notice to expire at the end of the month'. Don't translate 'unter Einhaltung', its obvious that the period is there to be complied with.

9 mins

-> "At 3 months" doesn't work for me.

agree

conny

37 mins

-> thanks for troubling

neutral

Margaret Marks: Three months' notice means notice OF three months, just as three years' imprisonment means imprisonment OF three years. This is the only correct way, but dropping off the apostrophe is OK in casual writing nowadays.

3 hrs

-> Sorry, but I'm going to differ. It's precisely that it is not a possessive. We don't say "three miles' drive" either and this is what it's degenerated to. You'll "it's" as a possessive in the NY Times too, but it's still wrong.

neutral

Ellen Zittinger: cancellable?

6 hrs

-> Understand your query, but here they're orders.

disagree

Kim Metzger: New York Times Manual of Style and Usage: The apostrophe is used in expressions like 60 days' notice .. but 60-day notice.

2 days 20 hrs

-> Not a basis for disagreeing, Kim, over an apostrophe.

3 hrs confidence:

with three months' notice to the end of a month

Margaret Marks
United Kingdom
Local time: 13:21
Native speaker of:

English
PRO pts in category: 156

Grading comment

19 hrs confidence:

peer agreement (net): -1

my take

Explanation:
in observance of a three-month period of notice as of month's end

or as of the end of the month

In other words, if delivery is set for August, you must cancel no later than the end of April to satisfy the terms (May, June, July = 3 months)

gangels (X)
Local time: 06:21
Specializes in field
Native speaker of:

English,

German
PRO pts in category: 337

22 hrs confidence:

Orders for regularly-repeating printing work may, subject

Explanation:
to any agreement to the contrary, be cancelled by giving three clear months' notice in writing to the end of the month (in which the agreement is required to terminate).

The German "der" is misleading, as it actually means ANY month, and the brackets above include what the German text omits, but actually means.

The English wording here means that if notice is given say on April 30th, the agreement may be terminated after July 31st. You could of course also give notice on April 1st if you wished, or perhaps better April 2nd, and the agreement would still legally have to run until July 31st.

David Moore (X)
Local time: 14:21
Works in field
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 385

2 days 21 hrs confidence:

to OR prior to OR ending at OR before

Explanation:
Thanks for the points, but I would give a thumbs down to 'as of'. Firstly, it sounds like 'from' rather than 'ending at', and secondly, it's one of those stuffy legal expressions that are criticized for being woolly. My (additional) two eurocents.

Margaret Marks
United Kingdom
Local time: 13:21
Native speaker of:

English
PRO pts in category: 156

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unter Einhaltung einer Kündigungsfrist von drei Monaten zum Ende des Monats

English translation: cancelled {in this case, for an order; otherwise "terminated"} by giving three months' written notice as of the end of a given m

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unter Einhaltung einer Kündigungsfrist von drei Monaten zum Ende des Monats

English translation: cancelled {in this case, for an order; otherwise "terminated"} by giving three months' written notice as of the end of a given m

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