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kleinteilige funktionale Durchmischung
Dec 5, 2010 11:23
13 yrs ago
4 viewers *
German term

Schnittstellenkompetenz

German to English Tech/Engineering Energy / Power Generation Power Station management
In relation to a course of training as a Shift Supervisor in a power station, I've come across: Die kommunikativen und führungsorientierten Qualifikationen der Mitarbeiter werden in der Ausbildung zum Kraftwerksmeister trainiert und technische Kenntnisse vertieft. Als technische Führungskraft bilden die zukünftigen Kraftwerksmeister damit eine **Schnittstellenkompetenz**.
Proposed translations (English)
4 +2 [see my suggestion for the whole thing]
4 interdisciplinary competence

Discussion

phillee Dec 5, 2010:
I think the ability of the reader to comprehend the text is paramount. If 'interface' fits then that is fine. I tend to disagree with using-buzz words unless the target audience are also familiar with them, which might be the case here, but I don't know.
opolt Dec 5, 2010:
You might not like it ... ... and neither do I, but I think some fidelity to the original text is called for. "Schnittstelle" is very unequivocal, and "interface" is sometimes used for humans, especially in military contexts (and management is influenced quite a bit by military jargon).

http://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-204338.0.html
meirs Dec 5, 2010:
Not far from 'mediation' capabilities or diplomacy
phillee Dec 5, 2010:
Please don't use 'interface' :) I do think they are referring to a function here, despite the management gobbbledegook trying to confuse the reader.
I rather like "provides a point of contact".
Edwin Miles (asker) Dec 5, 2010:
@opolt Yes, this is the issue... describing a person as an "interface" is certainly odd, so as you suggest "interfacing (capabilites?)" might be a better option, or "verbing" the term (!!). I've also considered things like liaison, go-between, intermediary...
opolt Dec 5, 2010:
I'm not a native E speaker, but ... .. somehow my feeling is that one should translate this as "interfacing (capabilites?)" (not "interface"), because basically they're referring to management capabilities ("communication/cooperation/team skills"), not interfaces in the narrower technical sense. Or maybe they're referring to the KW-Meister being a person who is an "interface" for others in the team, which sounds weird but is sometimes used in that sense in German.
meirs Dec 5, 2010:
Technical interfaces or Human interfaces The competence is in the interfaces among the various technical disciplines or between the trainee and the the persons that represent them

Proposed translations

+2
14 hrs
Selected

[see my suggestion for the whole thing]

I don't think you can really translate this word. The two sentences are enormously long-winded, and any attempt at staying close to the German would sound very odd. I think you're justified in boiling them down to their essentials, as follows:

Participants in the shift supervisor course will learn a combination of technical, managerial and communication skills.

Peer comment(s):
agree casper (X) : Kudos for the good solution.
1 hr
agree iBema (X) : good rendering
16 hrs
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4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "Selected automatically based on peer agreement."
14 hrs

interdisciplinary competence

Alternatively, "interdisciplinary qualification".

"Schnittstellenkompetenz" relates to "skills" (another option btw) somebody has in various professional disciplines, kept well apart in former times. In this case, technical, communicational and team-leading capabilities.

The original text is quite ambiguous in the sense that "jemand bildet eine Schnittstellenkompetenz" sounds weird. It should either read "bildet eine Schnittstellenkompetenz aus" (meaning acquiring that kind of competence) or "bildet eine Schnittstelle"/"hat eine Schnittstellenfunktion" (referring to the person's position).
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