unter Zwang stehen

English translation: to act under constraint

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)

German term or phrase:	unter Zwang stehen
English translation:	to act under constraint
Entered by:	Jutta Scherer

15:08 Nov 16, 2009

German to English translations [PRO]
Bus/Financial - Economics / from a business book

German term or phrase: unter Zwang stehen

These "meines" Autors:
Im Regelfall arbeiten Menschen (und wirtschaften Unternehmen) nicht, weil sie wollen, sondern weil sie müssen. *Sie stehen unter Zwang.* (Grund: Weil sie Verpflichtungen/ökonomische Schuldverhältnisse eingegangen sind)

Wie sage ich das am besten?
They are under pressure? They act under constraint? They are under duress???? They are forced to?
Ich brauche dasselbe Wort noch einmal für die Überschrift: Wirtschaften resultiert aus Zwang.

Der Stil des Buches ist zwar seriös, aber nicht steif. Es ist eben kein wissenschaftiches Werk, sondern ein Sachbuch für Manager.

Jutta Scherer KudoZ activity Questions: 29 (2 open) (1 closed without grading) Answers: 297 Germany
Local time: 22:28

to be constrained

Explanation:
o.a. they act/are under constraint

Das scheint mir - wenn auch als Nicht-Muttersprachler - die genaueste Entsprechung für einen unpersönlichen Zwang - ökon. Zwangslage - zu sein (sicher besser als force und pressure) und würde sich auch gut für den Titel machen - ich glaube besser als 'compulsion' wegen dessen Psycho-Konnotation.
Aber Dianas "are compelled to" ist sicher auch eine gute Lösung für den Satz.

Vgl. to be constrained by circumstances = Sachzwängen unterliegen (Dict.)

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Note added at 8 days (2009-11-24 22:55:38 GMT) Post-grading
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Vielen Dank Jutta!

Selected response from:

Peter Sass
Germany
Local time: 22:28

Grading comment

Apparently it is impossible to let the system "decide". I am giving the points to Peter because I ended up using his wording and because I found his explanation very enlightening.
Everyone else, please forgive. I regret not being able to grade several answers at once... Thanks again for an interesting discussion and many helpful comments.
3 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer

Summary of answers provided

4 +2

(...because they) have no choice

wfarkas (X)

3 +3

are compelled to

British Diana

4 +1

are forced

Ted Wozniak

4 +1

to be constrained

Peter Sass

have no alternative

Joanna Scudamore-Trezek

Out of necessity

DFTS (X)

are under pressure

Thayenga

under duress

Annett Kottek (X)

Discussion entries: 7

Jutta Scherer

Germany

ASKER

Thanks, everybody!

10:26 Nov 19, 2009

I'll leave it to the system to award the points this time, as each of you has provided valuable inputs and I just can't make up my mind on which answer to choose.
As for my text, I'll probably go back using either "necessity" or "constraint", both of them options I had been considering before I posted.
Thanks again, this has been very insightful!

Peter Sass

Germany

02:50 Nov 19, 2009

@Necessity
scheint mir nicht so gut zu passen, da uneindeutiger als 'Zwang' und etwa '...results from necessity' nicht den gleichen Bedeutungsgehalt hat (bei 'Zwang' geht es um einen kausalen Mechanismus - à la 'unsichtbare Hand'-, während 'necessity' eine finale Zweckbestimmung beschreibt).

Joanna Scudamore-Trezek

Austria

08:27 Nov 18, 2009

Hi Jutta, yes I think "necessity" would be excellent here.

Jutta Scherer

Germany

ASKER

One more thought

07:54 Nov 18, 2009

Actually, what Joanna and wfarkas wrote is exactly how I read that sentence: They work (do business) because they have no choice/alternative.
So that is the meaning: "Sie stehen unter Zwang" = sie haben keine Wahl, sie sind durch die Umstände gezwungen.
Which English translation of "Zwang" would best convey that meaning?
Actually, I had also thought of "necessity" (which would also work nicely for the chapter title). Would that be off the mark?

British Diana

Germany

@Jutta on the nuances

19:22 Nov 16, 2009

http://www.lexipedia.com/english/compel
for an attempt to untangle this

Not sure if being a native speaker really helps here, but my personal feeling is that "force" has more to do with brute strength applied directly (fors - strength) and "compel" with necessitating something using force (pellere - drive). The other difference that presents itself to me is that "compel" is used a lot in the passive, which is why I prefer "the workers are compelled to...". But in fact there is really very little in it!

Ted Wozniak

United States

to force versus to compel

17:42 Nov 16, 2009

Compel means to constrain (which is yet another alternative). to (bring about by) force. Force also means to constrain (against one's will). Either word would work, just decide which fits your context and register best.

Jutta Scherer

Germany

ASKER

16:13 Nov 16, 2009

Could any of the native speakers explain to me what the difference is between force and compel? Where is the nuance? And would one rather be compelled or forced by circumstance?

Answers

7 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +1

are forced

Explanation:
would be my choice. They don't work because they want to but because they are forced.

Ted Wozniak
United States
Local time: 15:28
Meets criteria
Works in field
Native speaker of:

English
PRO pts in category: 8

17 mins confidence:

have no alternative

Explanation:
They are forced to do so because they have no alternative - but no one is brandishing a stick!

Maybe lack of alternative is easier to work into your title too.

Joanna Scudamore-Trezek
Austria
Local time: 22:28
Meets criteria
Works in field
Native speaker of:

English

24 mins confidence:

are under pressure

Explanation:
e. g. to meet committments.

Example sentence(s):

They work best when being under time pressure

Thayenga
Germany
Local time: 22:28
Does not meet criteria
Native speaker of:

German

1 hr confidence:

peer agreement (net): +2

(...because they) have no choice

Explanation:
Postal strike: Angry workers say they have no choice

Royal Mail staff say they are being forced to strike Thursday, October 22, 2009

Reference: http://www.metro.co.uk/news/article.html?Postal_strike:_Angr...

wfarkas (X)
Canada
Local time: 16:28
Meets criteria
Works in field
Native speaker of:

English,

French

32 mins confidence:

under duress

Explanation:
‘Outside of the hotel industry, about two-thirds of the Filipino work force, including the undocumented, live and work under duress.’
http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/24/017.html

‘The prohibition of all forms of forced labor: includes security from prison labor and slavery, and prevents workers from being forced to work under duress’
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labor_rights

‘I was forced to work under duress in a hostile working environment where I had not right to voice a concern anymore about the Manager.’
http://community.lawyers.com/forums/t/85647.aspx

‘Human services professionals are pivotal members of our society. They often work under duress and as a result, stress related health and mental health problems commonly lead to job burnout in this population (Maslach 2003).’
http://www.britannica.com/bps/additionalcontent/18/32767203/...

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Note added at 39 Min. (2009-11-16 15:47:39 GMT)
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Siehe auch:
'The colonial economy under duress'
http://books.google.com/books?id=6qRc-Q3fO7oC&pg=PA199&lpg=P...

'But Time Warner Cable had resisted the demands, saying that with the national economy under duress, it was no time to be seeking higher fees from consumers.'
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/02/business/media/02viacom.ht...

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Note added at 59 Min. (2009-11-16 16:07:18 GMT)
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Z.B. 'Management founded on duress' od. 'Management the consequence of duress'

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Note added at 1 Stunde (2009-11-16 16:40:45 GMT)
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Sorry Jutta, I now see what you mean. One more suggestion, even though I'm not a native speaker (please forgive):

necessity, e.g. 'They work out of necessity' and 'Management a consequence of necessity'.

Example sentence(s):

They work under duress.

Annett Kottek (X)
United Kingdom
Does not meet criteria
Native speaker of:

German

Notes to answerer

Asker: Danke, Annett, aber in all Deinen Beispielsätzen scheint mir "duress" eher eine Zwangslage im Sinne von "missliche Lage" zu sein.

19 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +3

are compelled to

Explanation:
The advantage here is that you also have compulsion, they are under compulsion, for use elsewhere in the text.

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Note added at 4 hrs (2009-11-16 19:28:13 GMT)
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to force and to compel are almost but not quite synonyms (see the discussion) for zwingen.
The other reason why I prefer "compel" here is the association with "compulsive" = "zwanghaft" . I think there is a tiny bit of "Zwanghaftigkeit" involved in "unter Zwang stehen"

British Diana
Germany
Local time: 22:28
Meets criteria
Works in field
Native speaker of:

English

8 hrs confidence:

Out of necessity

Explanation:
I like it even more for "resultiert aus Zwang" to be "out of necessity". I am not totally sure about how exactly to word necessity into the initial sentence, but necessity sounds like the right word to capture the meaning here to me in any case.

DFTS (X)
Sweden
Local time: 22:28
Meets criteria
Works in field
Native speaker of: English

2 days 10 hrs confidence:

peer agreement (net): +1

to be constrained

Peter Sass
Germany
Local time: 22:28
Does not meet criteria
Native speaker of:

German
PRO pts in category: 3

Grading comment

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English translation: to act under constraint

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