Glossary entry (derived from question below)
Dutch term or phrase:
Meten is weten!
English translation:
The numbers tell the tale
Added to glossary by
Ken Cox
Mar 20, 2005 12:03
19 yrs ago
21 viewers *
Dutch term
Meten is weten!
Dutch to English
Other
Linguistics
This is about a software package for measuring traffic on a website. Of course it is easy to translate **meten is weten**, but I can't think of a similar catchy way to phrase it English as it is in the original Dutch.
Any good suggestions?
Any good suggestions?
Proposed translations
(English)
3 +4 | The numbers tell the tale | Ken Cox |
4 +2 | Seeing is believing | Arsen Nazarian |
4 +1 | to measure is to know | Michael Beijer |
2 +2 | Knowledge is power? | jarry (X) |
3 +1 | measure to manage | René Knoop |
4 | measure for experience | D.K. Tannwitz |
Proposed translations
+4
8 hrs
Selected
The numbers tell the tale
The following is all IMHO.
In advertising and promotional texts the whole point is to sell the product, and in translations of such texts, exact translation of the original text is (generally speaking) less important than the sales impact. After all, the original text was chosen with this objective, and its literal or objective meaning is of secondary importance (unlike technical or legal texts, for example).
'Exact' (and in particular literal) translations of sayings and maxims used as headings or eyecatchers in promotional texts often fail to have the same impact in the target language, and in many cases they come across as forced or strange -- the last thing you want in a promotional text.
The best you can hope to do is to think of something that has a similar relationship to the general content or subject of the text and catches the reader's attention. And if you do manage this, you might ponder why you're working for translater's rates when you could be asking copywriter rates...
In advertising and promotional texts the whole point is to sell the product, and in translations of such texts, exact translation of the original text is (generally speaking) less important than the sales impact. After all, the original text was chosen with this objective, and its literal or objective meaning is of secondary importance (unlike technical or legal texts, for example).
'Exact' (and in particular literal) translations of sayings and maxims used as headings or eyecatchers in promotional texts often fail to have the same impact in the target language, and in many cases they come across as forced or strange -- the last thing you want in a promotional text.
The best you can hope to do is to think of something that has a similar relationship to the general content or subject of the text and catches the reader's attention. And if you do manage this, you might ponder why you're working for translater's rates when you could be asking copywriter rates...
Peer comment(s):
agree |
writeaway
: super solution
41 mins
|
agree |
Deborah do Carmo
: (post grading) that's it - well done!
18 hrs
|
agree |
Michael Beijer
3699 days
|
agree |
Lauren Allum
5280 days
|
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer.
Comment: "This was what I was looking for. Very well put, thank you very much."
+2
16 mins
Knowledge is power?
??
Peer comment(s):
agree |
Iris70
: could work
5 hrs
|
Thank you
|
|
agree |
D.K. Tannwitz
: :-))
7 hrs
|
Thank you
|
+1
20 mins
+2
4 hrs
Seeing is believing
This the closest I could think of in the form of a commonly used phrase.
7 hrs
measure for experience
or: dimension for extention
+1
2457 days
to measure is to know
'To measure is to know.'
'If you can not measure it, you can not improve it.'
'Lord Kelvin
'If you can not measure it, you can not improve it.'
'Lord Kelvin
Peer comment(s):
neutral |
writeaway
: only if a 100% literal translation is being sought. and if it fits the context, which it doesn't here.
1234 days
|
beep beep!
|
|
agree |
Lauren Allum
2823 days
|
Discussion