Mitarbeiter des Bundesamtes für Migration und Flüchtlinge

00:21 Sep 9, 2014 

The states that existed before 1952 (but not before 1945) were "reactivated" in 1990. You also said "absorb": The name or structure of the BRD didn't change in 1990.

But: The purpose of "Federal" was not to make it a contrasting name to East Germany, which was actually called the German Democratic Republic (GDR). "Democratic" is not the opposite of "Federal".

That said, I do favor your way of looking at the issue. I don't disagree with you and I would have liked them to take a closer look at the translation first.

Just because I know German stubborness (especially in bureaucratic circles) and because the agency even has the preposition "for" in its logo, I see little chance they'll change something here - unless you can assure me you have a crowd of native speakers running in their doors at the moment.

Overall, the purpose of the explanations given is to help the asker decide whether they are good enough to warrant the use of "for" and "Federal" here. If the asker thinks they aren't: Fine with me, take Phil's suggestion.

Have a good night!

00:06 Sep 9, 2014 

Last one: What purpose has been served by ‘Federal’ since West Germany absorbed East Germany in 1990? The prefix that means most to English-speaking readers is ‘German…’.

I agree that Federal is mostly associated with the United States. I don't quite see how that invalidates the use of Federal regarding Germany.

A) The official name is still Bundesrepublik Deutschland. It's still a system with a federal government and state governments (much like the US) - in contrast to, e.g., France and the UK (may be debatable).

B) I quote:
"Eine weitgehende Vorgabe der Siegermächte war die Auflösung Preußens, womit zwar eine extreme Asymmetrie beseitigt wurde, zugleich aber überwiegend "künstliche" neue Länder geschaffen wurden, die zudem an der Aufteilung in Besatzungszonen orientiert waren. Von den neugeschaffenen westdeutschen Bundesländern konnten sich nur Bay. und die beiden Hansestädte HH und HB auf gewachsene Staatstraditionen stützen[...]"
http://www.bpb.de/nachschlagen/lexika/handwoerterbuch-politi...

Now, East Germany didn't have "federal states" from 1952 on:
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bezirk_(DDR)

23:46 Sep 8, 2014 

Now, aside from the Department for Education you mentioned, the UK government has the following offices:

Department for Work and Pensions
Department of Health
Ministry of Defence

I don't know how you can boil it down to for=promotion of, or are you not actively promoting the health, as well as the defensive capabilities of the country? And how are you promoting pensions?

Please don't misunderstand me: I'm not advocating changes in prepositions; I am merely asking whether there is another way to differentiate between both uses.

I think Germans naturally assume it must be "for" not just because of the German "für" as a word but also due to the fact that "für" is short for "zuständig für" - which is responsible for (and not of) in English. That is the only explanation I can come up with to explain "Migration" here. If the German "für" was a simple "for", then I don't see the difference to English usage as in your example and it would simply sound awkward, even in German.

23:37 Sep 8, 2014 

On to your second comment: ‘For’ implies ‘promotion of’. If Fed Rep is actively encouraging immigration, the title is apt.

One of the first things you'll see on their pages is:
"If you gained your professional qualifications outside Germany and would like to use it in the German labour market then the Federal Office will be happy to advise you."
http://www.bamf.de/EN/Startseite/startseite-node.html

In fact, that sounds as if they encourage immigration. I'm less happy about the "migration" then (because which country encourages emigration?).

The of/for issue is a bit more complex than it may seem, e.g.,
http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/181093/use-of-or-...

I quote: "For instance, Canada currently has a Minister of Foreign Affairs, but it used to have a Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs doing the same job."

And: "The UK has a Department for Transport; the US has a Department of Transportation."

23:24 Sep 8, 2014 

Saw this quite late (no notification). To your first question:

The sentence sounds as if taken from a journalistic text. This makes it an SEO issue.

Do you remember "Jugendwohlfahrt"? I opted for a term that is in use by BrE or AmE speakers because

1) I could show that "youth" was totally inappropriate (you and the asker agreed as well).

2) the Austrian government had no official translation.

3) I recommended including the Austrian word in parentheses the first time it is mentioned in the text.

This situation is different - at least, concerning 2+3. There is an official term and the text is most likely no scientific study.

Coming back to SEO, I'd like to give you an example:

Let's say that a small country has an agency you would translate as Office for the Preservation of Wildlife. But they call it "Ministry of Porcupines". You may think it sounds really ridiculous - but it gets you a lot of Google hits, whereas your solution is the only one of its kind. Now, that means

a) nobody searching for the ministry will see your article.
b) nobody trying to find the ministry based on your translation will ever get there.

As sad as it may be, that's how it works.

07:54 Sep 5, 2014 

what'll it be?

00:57 Sep 5, 2014 

this is a tricky one for the asker as either option would be acceptable

00:39 Sep 5, 2014 

Yes, I have frequently heard others make the same complaint.

00:30 Sep 5, 2014 

at the end of the day it's up to asker to decide

23:24 Sep 4, 2014 

We can remedy that :-)

22:41 Sep 4, 2014 

Wenn sich das BAMF selbst so nennt, dann sollte man das mMn auch so stehen lassen. Ich glaube nicht, dass das "for" einen politischen Hintergrund hat. Wahrscheinlich ist es einfach eine nicht besonders gute Übersetzung.

22:27 Sep 4, 2014 

a) Who gets to decide on the ‘official’ translation into English for the names of German organisations? German native-speakers working for the same?
b) ‘For’ implies ‘promotion of’. If Fed Rep is actively encouraging immigration, the title is apt.
c) What purpose has been served by ‘Federal’ since West Germany absorbed East Germany in 1990? The prefix that means most to English-speaking readers is ‘German…’. The reason being that most English speakers automatically associate 'Federal' with the United States (Federal Bureau of xyz)