bewegt sich frei

08:49 Sep 28, 2011 

and I often wonder whether he actually deliberately sets out to reinforce the stereotypes about the Irish, or whether he just can't help it ;-)

00:03 Sep 28, 2011 

Hi,
an irish song says:"....and only our rivers run free."
I agree with " mainly follows its natural course."

18:46 Sep 26, 2011 

Predominantly/mainly follows its natural course is perfect ...

15:01 Sep 26, 2011 

Have to go and make my pizza now, so won't be able to participate in the discussion any more, but hope you find a solution you are happy with ;-)

14:59 Sep 26, 2011 

but other people provided the same information before I did. I actually think for long stretches sounds fine, it is what I would have put, although here I might favour free-flowing (and since the German also changes I think that makes it easier to deviate in the English too):
is free-flowing over long stretches.

14:37 Sep 26, 2011 

how about: predominantly follows its natural course, flows freely for the greater part or to variate: flows naturally for many kilometers.

14:04 Sep 26, 2011 

"ist in weiten Abschnitten ein frei fließender Fluss"?

I'm thinking along the lines of

"follows its natural course for long stretches"

but can't really find any quotes that use that phraseology.

13:49 Sep 26, 2011 

although I'd be happy to award you at least some of the points for providing confirmation & reassurance, if you would like them Nicola.

12:24 Sep 26, 2011 

Nee, I'll leave it at that. David's translation is good, as usual - follows its natural course would be most accurate and he's got that already.

12:21 Sep 26, 2011 

Hi Ramey. I am not going to put this in as an answer, as my comment was really intended to agree with David's own draft, which had it pretty well right from the start. If I had posted an answer it would have ben free-flowing, so I won't b e offended if you go ahead and post follows its natural course;-)

12:17 Sep 26, 2011 

Could you post "follows its natural course" as a suggestion? Tht was my first thought, as well, and you've got my agreemen!

11:14 Sep 26, 2011 

For what it's worth, my immediate thought was free-flowing, but I also liek follows its natural course, and I also read it as meaning the first 250km from the source.

10:47 Sep 26, 2011 

"moves freely" but I missed the beginning of your text that it is related to a river; however, here is something in support to my first idea:

1. glide, sail, drift, move gently, bob, coast, slide, be carried, slip along barges floating quietly by the grassy river banks
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/float

The other word that comes to mind is "flow."

10:34 Sep 26, 2011 

the river is moving freely / following its natural course. Definitely

10:29 Sep 26, 2011 

But do you think it means the first part of the river from its source towards the sea, or the first part that is navigable from the sea inland?

Than you P.D., I would never have guessed that! ;-)

10:23 Sep 26, 2011 

but I am not sure if it sounds good enough in this context:
"to move freely."

10:07 Sep 26, 2011 

Sounds like you have it all figured out to me :)

I think "follows its natural course" sounds good, but of course at the end of the day it doesn't matter if the way you say it is slightly imprecise, because it is explained right afterwards (the German is not exactly using technical terminology!).

09:34 Sep 26, 2011 

Auf den folgenden 400 km sind flussbauliche Maßnahmen getroffen worden welche die Befahrbarkeit des Flusses ermöglichen.

Draft translation:
For instance, the first 250 km (out of its total length of 650 km) is free/free-flowing/follows its natural course, i.e. not artificially contained in any way. The subsequent 400 km have been subjected to hydraulic engineering measures in order to make the river navigable.