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  3. Cinema, Film, TV, Drama

wesentliche Dinge

English translation: fundamental/deep issues

20:58 Jan 17, 2005
German to English translations [PRO]
Art/Literary - Cinema, Film, TV, Drama
German term or phrase: wesentliche Dinge
I've got a few points I want to polish up on a film pitch - a Lesbian love story starring a genetically manipulated cow(skeptics, be damned!)
"XX ist in erster Linie eine Liebesgeschichte, aber es geht auch um wesentliche Dinge, wie das gestörte Verhältnis von Mensch und Natur und den Verlust von spirituellen Werten"
So far, I have the following:
"XX is first and foremost a love story, but it also addresses ##wesentliche issues such as spitirual decline and our disturbed relationship to nature."
Can't find the right word for "wesentlich" ("general"?) - and I'm not happy with the last bit either, to be honest.
Francis Lee (X)
Local time: 22:34
English translation:fundamental/deep issues
Explanation:
Dictionary translations but would fit here.

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Note added at 17 mins (2005-01-17 21:15:50 GMT)
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How about \"dislocation between man (sexist, I know...) and nature\"?

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Note added at 36 mins (2005-01-17 21:34:17 GMT)
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Hmmm... Given it\'s a lesbian love story, \"man and nature\" wouldn\'t do - \"humanity and nature\", perhaps (still huMANity)...

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 45 mins (2005-01-17 21:43:27 GMT)
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\"... it also addresses fundamental issues such as the decline in spiritual value and the dislocation between humanity and nature\" would be my attempt at translation.

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Note added at 46 mins (2005-01-17 21:44:58 GMT)
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Typo: \"values\" not \"value\"
Selected response from:

mstkwasa
Local time: 21:34
Grading comment
Thanks for that! Shame I can't share the points to include Christine and Johanna (both of whose answers I also incorporated)
3 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
4 +3significant / critical aspects / topics
Christine Lam
3 +4fundamental/deep issues
mstkwasa
4 +3is probing deeper
Johanna Timm, PhD
4 +1larger/big questions
Kurt Beals
4substantive issues
Erik Macki
4weighty topics
Daniel Bird
4essentially human things
desiderata (X)
4more important issues
vanessak
4important/vital/key issues
CMJ_Trans (X)


Discussion entries: 5





  

Answers


14 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +3
significant / critical aspects / topics


Explanation:
two of many options out there
...addresses other significant aspects such as our troubled relationship to nature and the decline in spiritual values

Christine Lam
Local time: 16:34
Native speaker of: Native in GermanGerman

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  HelenY: yes, and troubled relationship *with* nature is good, too
20 mins
agree  Laurel Porter (X): I like "significant", but prefer "issues" to "topics." Also vote for _with_ nature.
11 hrs
agree  Terri Doerrzapf
12 hrs
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26 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
substantive issues


Explanation:
Everyone else's ideas are good, too. But "substantive" gets at the connotations of weightiness, essentialness, etc. The opposite of superficial.

Erik Macki
Local time: 13:34
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
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29 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
weighty topics


Explanation:
...maybe?

Daniel Bird
United Kingdom
Local time: 21:34
Works in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
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34 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
essentially human things


Explanation:
to give wesentlich its due without missing the point in context

desiderata (X)
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
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36 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +1
larger/big questions


Explanation:
"Wesentlich" here seems to be used the same way someone might use "larger questions" or "big questions" when trying to say that a film has artistic value, not just entertainment value. (see references below). For the end, I'd say something like "it also confronts big questions, like the loss of spiritual values and the relationship between man (human beings) and nature." (I know these aren't technically questions, but I've definitely heard it used to just mean unresolved or troubling issues - e.g. the first refererence, which lists the following big questions: love, death, and life itself).


    Reference: http://xtramsn.co.nz/entertainment/0,,7126-1536443,00.html
    Reference: http://www.wigglefish.com/movies/
Kurt Beals
United States
Local time: 13:34
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 4

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Laurel Porter (X): Also good.
10 hrs
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13 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5 peer agreement (net): +4
fundamental/deep issues


Explanation:
Dictionary translations but would fit here.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 17 mins (2005-01-17 21:15:50 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

How about \"dislocation between man (sexist, I know...) and nature\"?

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 36 mins (2005-01-17 21:34:17 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Hmmm... Given it\'s a lesbian love story, \"man and nature\" wouldn\'t do - \"humanity and nature\", perhaps (still huMANity)...

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 45 mins (2005-01-17 21:43:27 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

\"... it also addresses fundamental issues such as the decline in spiritual value and the dislocation between humanity and nature\" would be my attempt at translation.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 46 mins (2005-01-17 21:44:58 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Typo: \"values\" not \"value\"

mstkwasa
Local time: 21:34
Native speaker of: Native in JapaneseJapanese
PRO pts in category: 3
Grading comment
Thanks for that! Shame I can't share the points to include Christine and Johanna (both of whose answers I also incorporated)

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Meturgan: For over a decade successive Governments have failed to address even the fundamental issues such as a legal definition of 'hazardous waste', which meanshttp://www.pce.govt.nz/reports/allreports/0_908804_79_2.shtm...
29 mins
  -> Thanks!
agree  Johanna Timm, PhD
47 mins
agree  Joseph Hovan: "issues" is the buzzword of the last few years, I would just say "basic issues".
1 hr
agree  Laurel Porter (X): See my suggestion of melding your answer with Christine's... I agree with so many here!
11 hrs
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51 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +3
is probing deeper


Explanation:
at the same time, the movie is probing much deeper, addressing such fundamental issues as our complex/difficult relationship with nature and the loss of spiritual values

Johanna Timm, PhD
Canada
Local time: 13:34
Works in field
Native speaker of: Native in GermanGerman
PRO pts in category: 20

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Anglo-German (X): Genau. Der Wortsinn von wesentlich ist hier nicht so wesentlich.
6 hrs
agree  Ingrid Blank: I like that
9 hrs
agree  Hilary Davies Shelby: but i would use "probes much deeper" rather than the present continuous here
13 hrs
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1 hr   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
more important issues


Explanation:
but also concerns more important issues, as the disturbed behaviour of man and nature and the loss of spiritual values.

vanessak
Greece
Local time: 23:34
Works in field
Native speaker of: Native in GreekGreek, Native in EnglishEnglish
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10 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
important/vital/key issues


Explanation:
I don't know what's wrong with the obvious.

The difficult/uncomfortable relationship between man and nature

Probably too late but...

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Note added at 2005-01-18 08:48:41 (GMT)
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UNEASY relationship

CMJ_Trans (X)
Local time: 22:34
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 8
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