Dienen ohne bedient zu sein

Englisch translation: Giving support without needing support

Glossareintrag (aus Frage unten abgeleitet)
Deutsch Begriff oder Satz:Dienen ohne bedient zu sein
Englisch Übersetzung:Giving support without needing support
Eingetragen von: Sarah Bessioud

12:54 Aug 2, 2011
Übersetzungen Deutsch > Englisch [PRO]
Marketing - Marketing/Marktforschung / Personal development course
Deutsch Begriff oder Satz: Dienen ohne bedient zu sein
This is the title of a workshop aimed at secretarial support staff. I can't get the English to sound anywhere near as good as the German. At the moment I am thinking along the lines of "providing a service, without being subservient", but that doesn't roll off the tongue at all well. Does anyone have any better suggestions please?

"Dienen ohne bedient zu sein - warum souveräne Assistenz so wichtig ist"

Many thanks in advance.
Sarah Bessioud
Deutschland
Local time: 19:14
Giving support without needing support
Erklärung:
just another suggestion...
Ausgewählte Antwort von:

Roger Matthews
Vereinigtes Königreich
Local time: 18:14
Grading comment
Thank you to everyone for such great suggestions and lively discussions. There were some great ideas and I feel all fitted in one way or another. However, a decision has to be made and I thought that this answer was the most appropriate for my particular text. Thanks to all!
4 KudoZ-Punkte wurden für diese Antwort vergeben



Zusammenfassung aller eingereichten Antworten
5 +1How to assist without burn-out
susan rose (X)
4 +1Provide Support with a Smile
Wortschmied
3 +1Serving without getting fed up
Stefanie Reinhold
4secretarial services with a smile
casper (X)
3serving not servile
polyglot45
3Giving support without needing support
Roger Matthews
3Be of service without having your hand held
Horst Huber (X)
3How to make the Customer feel like a Queen / King without you feeling like a serf ?
Ravindranath Kasinathuni
3serene service
Ramey Rieger (X)
2Supply support without suffering
Sarah Swift


Diskussionseinträge: 6





  

Antworten


7 Min.   Antwortsicherheit: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
serving not servile


Erklärung:
service without servility

to get things going......

polyglot45
Muttersprache: Englisch, Französisch
Hinweise an den Beantworter der Frage
Fragesteller: Thanks polyglot


Kommentare zu dieser Antwort (und Antworten vom Beantworter der Frage)
Neutraler Kommentar  Ramey Rieger (X): Hi polyglot! This was my first thought as well, but the servility cuts to close to what often truly happens. A cans of worms, so to speak. Still, I think it's quite clever!
2 Tage 3 Stunden
Login to enter a peer comment (or grade)

7 Min.   Antwortsicherheit: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5 Zustimmung (Netto): +1
Serving without getting fed up


Erklärung:
"Bedient sein" in the sense of "being fed up". I like the word play in the German source text.

While my suggestion does not roll off the tongue as smoothly as the German version, I think it may just capture the meaning and word play.



Stefanie Reinhold
Vereinigte Staaten
Local time: 12:14
Arbeitsgebiet
Muttersprache: Deutsch
PRO-Punkte in Kategorie: 4
Hinweise an den Beantworter der Frage
Fragesteller: Thank you Stefani


Kommentare zu dieser Antwort (und Antworten vom Beantworter der Frage)
Zustimmung  Amanda A
1 Tag 22 Stunden
Login to enter a peer comment (or grade)

1 Stunde   Antwortsicherheit: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
Giving support without needing support


Erklärung:
just another suggestion...

Roger Matthews
Vereinigtes Königreich
Local time: 18:14
Muttersprache: Englisch
PRO-Punkte in Kategorie: 4
Grading comment
Thank you to everyone for such great suggestions and lively discussions. There were some great ideas and I feel all fitted in one way or another. However, a decision has to be made and I thought that this answer was the most appropriate for my particular text. Thanks to all!
Login to enter a peer comment (or grade)

2 Stunden   Antwortsicherheit: Answerer confidence 5/5 Zustimmung (Netto): +1
How to assist without burn-out


Erklärung:
This is an interesting translation problem! I would go with a more literal translation. My guess is that the intension of the 'bedient zu sein' is avoiding burnout, which is like 'getting fed up'. Serving without getting fed up, however, really plays towards restaurant service so I'd avoid that since it's secretarial. In fact, 'serving' for secretarial support is, to my mind, a bit old-fashioned. I think my suggestion comes closest to what the intended audience should get out of it

susan rose (X)
Vereinigte Staaten
Local time: 10:14
Spezialgebiet
Muttersprache: Englisch

Kommentare zu dieser Antwort (und Antworten vom Beantworter der Frage)
Zustimmung  Stefanie Reinhold: I like this, too
19 Min.
Login to enter a peer comment (or grade)

3 Stunden   Antwortsicherheit: Answerer confidence 2/5Answerer confidence 2/5
Supply support without suffering


Erklärung:
not as snappy as the German, just my 2 cents...

My first idea was:
"Supporting the big cheeses without getting cheesed off."

I think service(s) or support should be provided rather than given - Susan already pointed out that it's not about charity.

I don't read "bedient sein" as servility - I think it either relates to somebody being either fed up with a situation or simply swamped with work / not really on top of things. Suffering might work for that.

Alternatives:
drowning in detail, being driven to distraction... Maybe somebody can come up with an image that works for both parts of the sentence. I played around unsuccessfully with swimming and sinking.

Sarah Swift
Local time: 19:14
Muttersprache: Englisch
PRO-Punkte in Kategorie: 8
Login to enter a peer comment (or grade)

3 Stunden   Antwortsicherheit: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
secretarial services with a smile


Erklärung:
"secretarial services with a smile"
http://tinyurl.com/3npxxld



bedient sein (umgangssprachlich ) = überdrüssig sein

jds/einer Sache (gen ) überdrüssig sein to be weary of sb/sth
jds/einer Sache (gen ) überdrüssig werden to (grow) weary of sb/sth
http://dictionary.reverso.net/german-english/überdrüssig


It would be a good idea to express 'ohne bedient zu sein' as something positive: with a smile

casper (X)
Muttersprache: Englisch
PRO-Punkte in Kategorie: 11
Login to enter a peer comment (or grade)

3 Stunden   Antwortsicherheit: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 Zustimmung (Netto): +1
Provide Support with a Smile


Erklärung:
aid = support = help. Happiness sounds more positive than "without getting fed-up". Or "Provide Support with a Smile".

Wortschmied
Vereinigte Staaten
Local time: 13:14
Spezialgebiet
Muttersprache: Deutsch, Englisch

Kommentare zu dieser Antwort (und Antworten vom Beantworter der Frage)
Zustimmung  Trudy Peters
37 Min.
Login to enter a peer comment (or grade)

4 Stunden   Antwortsicherheit: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
Be of service without having your hand held


Erklärung:
Neds work, this just to make sense of the German. "Bedient sein" in the meaning of "being fed up" is so crude it could not remotely be intended. My idea for "sovereign" would be "selbstsicher", which is exactly what I would hope for as the"client".

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 11 hrs (2011-08-03 00:22:06 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Honi soit qui mal thus puns (Lionel Trilling).

Horst Huber (X)
Vereinigte Staaten
Local time: 13:14
Muttersprache: Deutsch
Login to enter a peer comment (or grade)

22 Stunden   Antwortsicherheit: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
How to make the Customer feel like a Queen / King without you feeling like a serf ?


Erklärung:
I know it is rather long. I am using the standard phrase "The Customer is King".

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 22 hrs (2011-08-03 11:47:01 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

The Customer IS King, but you DON'T have to be a serf !
thinking of variations...

Ravindranath Kasinathuni
Indien
Local time: 22:44
Spezialgebiet
Muttersprache: Englisch
Login to enter a peer comment (or grade)

2 Tage 3 Stunden   Antwortsicherheit: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
serene service


Erklärung:
why souvereign assistance is vital/so valuable

Ramey Rieger (X)
Deutschland
Local time: 19:14
Spezialgebiet
Muttersprache: Englisch
PRO-Punkte in Kategorie: 81
Login to enter a peer comment (or grade)



Login or register (free and only takes a few minutes) to participate in this question.

You will also have access to many other tools and opportunities designed for those who have language-related jobs (or are passionate about them). Participation is free and the site has a strict confidentiality policy.

KudoZ™ translation help

Das KudoZ-Netzwerk bietet Nutzern eine Plattform zur gegenseitigen Hilfe bei Terminologie- und Verständnisfragen.


See also:
Term search
  • All of ProZ.com
  • Begriffsuche
  • Jobs
  • Foren
  • Multiple search