Glossary entry (derived from question below)
German term or phrase:
verschlimmbessern
English translation:
to improve for the worse
Added to glossary by
Martin Hesse
Nov 23, 2004 08:29
19 yrs ago
9 viewers *
German term
verschlimmbessern
German to English
Other
Linguistics
Document Life Cycle
Die Implementierung der Korrekturen hat das Dokument *verschlimmbessert*.
Gibt es im Englischen ein ähnlich treffendes Wort?
Gibt es im Englischen ein ähnlich treffendes Wort?
Proposed translations
(English)
| 4 +3 | improved for the worse |
Cilian O'Tuama
|
| 3 +2 | the so-called corrections (only) made things worse |
Francis Lee (X)
|
| 4 | to make worse |
Terence Ajbro
|
| 4 | to make even worse |
IanW (X)
|
| 4 | changing the document for the better only served to make things worse |
CMJ_Trans (X)
|
| 3 | improved and made worse at the same time |
Aniello Scognamiglio (X)
|
| 3 | made things go from bad to worse |
writeaway
|
Proposed translations
+3
10 mins
Cilian O'Tuama
Germany
Germany
Native in English
Germany
Quality Translations since 1986
Native in: English
Works in: German to English, English, German, and 6 more.
Related KudoZ points
:
36
Selected
improved for the worse
another
Peer comment(s):
| agree |
Beate Lutzebaeck
: Creative and gets the semantic clash across.
11 mins
|
| agree |
silvia glatzhofer
: I like this one best
13 mins
|
| agree |
writeaway
: bingo (now that you have found it, does remind me of a translation agency I used to work for in Antwerp-this was their speciality :-) )
13 mins
|
|
it's actually something I used to hear occasionally from a sports coach when I was young(er); "sure 'tis worse you're improving"
|
|
| neutral |
IanW (X)
: Include me out!
42 mins
|
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer.
Comment: "Kern des Pudels. Qui scribit, bis legit. Danke an alle!"
1 min
Terence Ajbro
Sweden
Sweden
Native in English
Sweden
A multilingual Englishman
Native in: English 
Works in: English to German, English to Danish, Danish to English, and 7 more.
Related KudoZ points
:
20
to make worse
not really an exact English word for this, but the above captures the meaning of the German verb.
5 mins
improved and made worse at the same time
m.E. gibt es keine 1:1-Entsprechung im Englischen, aber irgendwie sollte man es schon wiedergeben, daher die Idee mit "at the same time". Was sagen die Native Speaker?
7 mins
made things go from bad to worse
out of the frying pan into the fire
Peer comment(s):
| neutral |
Aniello Scognamiglio (X)
: that would imply that things were bad (absolutely not).
3 mins
|
1 min
to make even worse
"... made the document even worse" or "made matters even worse"
--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 7 mins (2004-11-23 08:37:08 GMT)
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Martin, ich glaube nicht, dass es so was gibt. In diesem Fall würde ich einfach \"improvements\" (in ironischen Gänsefüßchen, wohl gemerkt!) statt \"corrections\" sagen.
--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 8 mins (2004-11-23 08:38:41 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------
My final offering: The \"improvements\" only served to make matters worse.
--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 7 mins (2004-11-23 08:37:08 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------
Martin, ich glaube nicht, dass es so was gibt. In diesem Fall würde ich einfach \"improvements\" (in ironischen Gänsefüßchen, wohl gemerkt!) statt \"corrections\" sagen.
--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 8 mins (2004-11-23 08:38:41 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------
My final offering: The \"improvements\" only served to make matters worse.
15 mins
changing the document for the better only served to make things worse
my threeha'ppence worth
+2
4 mins
the so-called corrections (only) made things worse
--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 7 mins (2004-11-23 08:37:33 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------
or:
did not have the desired effect
did not necessarily improve things/matters
--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 10 mins (2004-11-23 08:40:10 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------
the so-called improvements were anything but.
the so-called improvements were of ambiguous effect.
the so-called improvements had ambiguous results.
--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 17 mins (2004-11-23 08:47:17 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------
The so-called corrections had mixed results.
(yawn)
Peer comment(s):
| agree |
Aniello Scognamiglio (X)
: imo that's pretty close to the original.
1 min
|
| agree |
Tamara Ferencak
: I like the "...anything but" suggestion best; any of these works imo
15 mins
|
Discussion