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demjenigen

English translation: to the one

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)
German term or phrase:demjenigen
English translation:to the one
Entered by: Kim Metzger

23:26 Jul 16, 2004
German to English translations [PRO]
Art/Literary - Linguistics
German term or phrase: demjenigen
Context: Milde behandlung demjenigen, der seine Verbrechen gesteht.
Jianming Sun
Local time: 10:37
to the person
Explanation:
This is the dative case of derjenige - the one.
The person who confesses his crimes will receive lenient treatment.
Selected response from:

Kim Metzger
Mexico
Local time: 20:37
Grading comment
Thank you all for contribution!
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
4 +5to the person
Kim Metzger
4 +2of those
Elvira Stoianov
4 +1(should be granted) to the person who (or to whoever) confesses...
Maria Ferstl
2 +2anyone who admits to wrongdoing will dealt with leniently
writeaway
3he who
cjperera


Discussion entries: 4





  

Answers


2 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +5
to the person


Explanation:
This is the dative case of derjenige - the one.
The person who confesses his crimes will receive lenient treatment.

Kim Metzger
Mexico
Local time: 20:37
Works in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 123
Grading comment
Thank you all for contribution!

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Kevin Pfeiffer (X): but doesn't the dativ suggest an 'of' relationship?
9 mins
  -> Literally: Lenient treatment to the one who confesses his crimes. ADDED: How would you translate "gib es ihm"?
agree  Robert Schlarb: Congratulations, compared with the other answers, you apparently belong to the minority of English speakers *to whom* the cases in English still make a difference
47 mins
  -> Yes, whom is still required in "edited" English when it's the object of a preposition.
neutral  cjperera: Dr. Schlarb, what are you on about? (see my answer below). Anyway, a quick check on Google for 'for he who confesses' brings up 3 times as many results as 'for him who confesses', with most of these being biblical type passages. I cannot agree.
53 mins
agree  Dr. Fred Thomson: Absolutely. It is disgusting to hear people on television and elsewhere murdering the English language. In America one is considered to be elitist if one differentiates between "he" and "him."
1 hr
agree  Trudy Peters: But since Kim didn't say anything about who or whom, where does this discussion come from? This should be directed at Cillín. Another option would be "to the one who"
1 hr
agree  Edith Kelly
6 hrs
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3 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +2
of those


Explanation:
of the person

Elvira Stoianov
Luxembourg
Local time: 04:37
Native speaker of: Native in RomanianRomanian, Native in HungarianHungarian
PRO pts in category: 8

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Trudy Peters: I think that would work, too.
1 hr
agree  sarastro: simple and effective :o)
6 hrs
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14 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +1
(should be granted) to the person who (or to whoever) confesses...


Explanation:
From the context you should be able to decide if it's meant in general (to whoever) or not.

Maria Ferstl
Malta
Local time: 04:37
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in GermanGerman

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
neutral  Robert Schlarb: don't you mean "to whomever"?
32 mins
  -> Sorry, yes. But I'm not a translator into English. Just answered because I hadn't seen the previous answers.
neutral  Trudy Peters: agree with Robert
1 hr
agree  Cilian O'Tuama: IMO "to whoever" is standard spoken English and it sounds more natural to my ear, e.g. give it to whoever you want
18 hrs
  -> Thanks for encouraging!
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2 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 2/5Answerer confidence 2/5 peer agreement (net): +2
anyone who admits to wrongdoing will dealt with leniently


Explanation:
As Trudy says, the lack of context is causing too many problems. Since this is such a sweeping statement (UNLESS there is a specific context), I find the absoluteness of commiting a crime, confessing it and then gettting lenient treatment a bit far fetched as a general statememt. So I have downgraded crime to wrongdoing. Context is always the map one uses on the road to translation and without it, getting lost is a sure thing.

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Note added at 2 hrs 30 mins (2004-07-17 01:56:43 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

please read: will BE dealt with....

writeaway
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 12

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Dr. Fred Thomson: This is a neat way to get around the problem of him or he, or who or whom, but a Verbrechen is not only a crime, it's a felony.
10 mins
agree  Johanna Timm, PhD: elegant solution
2 hrs
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3 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
he who


Explanation:
(der jenige)

Mild treatment for he who confesses his crimes.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 2 hrs 52 mins (2004-07-17 02:18:37 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Lenient treatment for she/her who confesses her crimes.

cjperera
Local time: 04:37
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 4

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  swisstell
12 mins
neutral  Robert Schlarb: don't you mean "for him"?
44 mins
  -> No. You mean 'for him who' right? No. That sounds rather grammatically incorrect to me...
disagree  Dr. Fred Thomson: You're right. Incorrect usage IS part of the language, as is extreme profanity, but translators should avoid incorrect usage unless the source language is commensurately incorrect.
1 hr
  -> ok. i'll stick to the view, however, that a language is fluid and is defined by it's usage - and in a case where we see overwhelming common usage, (google "him who" 634,000; "he who"1,550,000) we must except that it IS part of the language! :)
disagree  Trudy Peters: Sorry, for *him* who. Never mind biblical passages. - Sure, but common usage in biblical passages has nothing to do with business English. - Of course, we don't really know what the context is...
1 hr
  -> Biblical was because I searched for "x who confesses". Not a common business term. However, www-1.ibm.com/mediumbusiness/resources/ whitepapers/whitepaper.jsp?contentId=2961 for example, is a business usage... Anyway, point taken (on both sides I hope)!
agree  Gareth McMillan: IMHO- there will be mild treatment for he/she who misses the point here. "He who misses the point" is taken as a single entity in English and, as such, cannot be cased as it is a composite word. "For him" in this context sounds plain ridiculous.
12 hrs
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