Feb 19, 2010 06:24
14 yrs ago
German term
United Kingdom
33 years of experience
Native in: English
Works in: Arabic to English, German to English
uebermotiviert
German to English
Other
Slang
"Wir sind etwas uebermotiviert zur Zeit." This was given as an excuse for misspelling a name in e-mail correspondence. Stressed out? I've never met it before. Your views, as always, very welcome.
Proposed translations
(English)
| 4 +2 | overstretched |
William Murphy
|
| 3 +3 | overzealous |
Norbert Hermann
|
| 3 +1 | our work pace has been exceeding legal speed limits lately |
Nicole Schnell
|
| 3 | hard pressed |
Daniel Frisano
|
| 3 | overly exuberant |
misterherrnau
|
| 2 | hyper-inspired |
Annett Kottek (X)
|
Proposed translations
+2
32 mins
William Murphy
Italy
Italy
Native in English
Italy
The right word at the right time.
Native in: English (Variant: US) 
Works in: Italian to English, English
Related KudoZ points
:
4
Selected
overstretched
an idea
Peer comment(s):
| agree |
Kari Foster
: This makes the most sense in the context; they are saying "things are a bit frantic here at the moment", i.e. the mistake was made because they are so busy.
1 hr
|
| agree |
philgoddard
6 hrs
|
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer.
Comment: "Yes, better than a more literal translation."
2 mins
Daniel Frisano
Italy
Italy
Italy
100% human translation, always
Native in: Italian
Works in: English to Italian, French to Italian, German to Italian, and 14 more.
hard pressed
a suggestion
+3
1 hr
Norbert Hermann
Native in German
&
English
YOUR COMPETITIVE EDGE - over 40 YEARS!
Native in: English 
, German
Works in: English to German, German to English, Portuguese to German, and 3 more.
overzealous
This might work :-)
overzealous - übereilig / übereifrig....
zeal·ous (zls)
adj.
Filled with or motivated by zeal; fervent.
zealous·ly adv.
zealous·ness n.
I still make that mistake from time to time); one cup of all-purpose flour ... I did approximate the measurement and could have been a bit overzealous. ...
hubpages.com/.../Budget_Recipe_Penniless_Vegan_Cornbread - Cached - Similar
19 Apr 2009 ... Kay Luo blamed human error, saying someone at LinkedIn must have been a bit overzealous in enforcing the sanctions. ...
jilliancyork.com/2009/04/19/linkedin-doing-the-right-thing/ - Cached - Similar
overzealous - übereilig / übereifrig....
zeal·ous (zls)
adj.
Filled with or motivated by zeal; fervent.
zealous·ly adv.
zealous·ness n.
I still make that mistake from time to time); one cup of all-purpose flour ... I did approximate the measurement and could have been a bit overzealous. ...
hubpages.com/.../Budget_Recipe_Penniless_Vegan_Cornbread - Cached - Similar
19 Apr 2009 ... Kay Luo blamed human error, saying someone at LinkedIn must have been a bit overzealous in enforcing the sanctions. ...
jilliancyork.com/2009/04/19/linkedin-doing-the-right-thing/ - Cached - Similar
Peer comment(s):
| agree |
Annett Kottek (X)
: Yes, this could be it! Very nice. // @ Kari Foster: 'they got carried away' is another way of saying that they were overzealous in their duty.
3 mins
|
| neutral |
Kari Foster
: Doesn't really explain why they misspelt someone's name -- unless they got "carried away" and added some extra letters!
6 mins
|
| agree |
Lonnie Legg
: In this case, better than "gung-ho", another option.
3 hrs
|
| agree |
Bernhard Sulzer
: They were trying too hard, doing too much, moving too fast (in every aspect). Then it's easy to make mistakes. Maybe.
3 days 7 hrs
|
+1
1 hr
Nicole Schnell
United States
United States
Native in German
Works in field
United States
Award winning Advertising/Marketing
Native in: German
Works in: English to German, German to English
Related KudoZ points
:
8
our work pace has been exceeding legal speed limits lately
Of course they were stressed out, however, why apologize? I would use a similar euphemism like in the original. and try to keep the same sense of humor.
Peer comment(s):
| neutral |
Rosa Paredes
: I agree with you interpretation, but not with proposed translation.
12 hrs
|
|
I like your suggestion "in demand". Why don't you post it as an answer?
|
|
| agree |
Bernhard Sulzer
: we've been working like crazy lately
3 days 7 hrs
|
2 hrs
overly exuberant
Former Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan used "irrational exuberance" to describe stock market excesses back in the bull market days. This put a positive spin on it while still getting across the message that investors were carelessly ignoring the fundamentals.
1 hr
hyper-inspired
Trying to be funny and to make light of an embarrassing situation? So inspired are they by their work, that even clients' names get a creative treatment. Depends, of course, what kind of business it is and on the overall tone of their correspondence. I know that in the art world for example it tends to be very friendly and informal. I've not come across this word either.
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Note added at 1 hr (2010-02-19 07:55:48 GMT)
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Whether it actually is funny is a matter for debate. Would the recipient of this email have appreciated their sense of humour? Or did they misfire?
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Note added at 3 days17 hrs (2010-02-22 23:49:16 GMT)
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Why not translate it literally as either 'hyper-motivated' or, better still, 'über-motivated' [also uber-motivated] which retains the ironic flavour? Both versions get a good number of hits on Google; and the excuse would be the same as that given for overzealousness.
--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 1 hr (2010-02-19 07:55:48 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------
Whether it actually is funny is a matter for debate. Would the recipient of this email have appreciated their sense of humour? Or did they misfire?
--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 3 days17 hrs (2010-02-22 23:49:16 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------
Why not translate it literally as either 'hyper-motivated' or, better still, 'über-motivated' [also uber-motivated] which retains the ironic flavour? Both versions get a good number of hits on Google; and the excuse would be the same as that given for overzealousness.
Discussion