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Diskrepant (zu)
Sachk.
Jun 29, 2020 11:36
3 yrs ago
59 viewers *
German term

Schlappenfaktor

German to English Bus/Financial Advertising / Public Relations
Dear colleagues,

I'm currently mid-way through a revision project and I've stumbled across the term "Schlappenfaktor". The word itself gets 0 Google hits, and while there are a few more for "schlappen Faktor", there isn't quite enough for me to work out what's going on here - especially as the term seems to have positive connotations in this instance. It seems to mean something like "multiplier factor", but I'm honestly stumped!

The document itself is a lengthy business brochure singing the praises of a particular German region, and this is the part of the text in question:

"Durch die zentrale Lage kann die Zusammenarbeit mit der betriebswirtschaftlichen Fakultät der Universität bei der Erarbeitung von geeigneten Geschäftsmodellen erleichtert werden. Wissenschaftler sprechen in dem Zusammenhang gerne auch vom
„Schlappenfaktor“. Etwa 240 neue hochqualifizierte Arbeitsplätze bringen der Stadt und der Region direkt und indirekt positive wirtschaftliche Effekte."

Thank you so much for all your help, in advance!
Proposed translations (English)
3 convenience factor
5 +2 knock-on effect
3 multiplier effect
3 the "pop-in" factor

Discussion

Ramey Rieger (X) Jun 30, 2020:
rubs off on comes to mind, but I can't for the life of me find the noun in my cavernous mind. Still drinking my first coffee.
Björn Vrooman Jun 29, 2020:
Example Here's an article about it if you need one for the PM or something:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/rebeccabagley/2012/02/09/the-cl...

Acceptable walking distance was just a placeholder.

Yours is much more to the point.

Best
Jennifer Caisley (asker) Jun 29, 2020:
Thanks, Phil! :) Thank you, Phil - I'm relieved to have confirmation of my "cluster effect"! :)

Yes, I agree with you about the "scientists" - as a "Wissenschaftlerin" by trade who is anything but a scientist, I promise I'm normally hyper-sensitive to the scientist/academic elision in German!
philgoddard Jun 29, 2020:
Cluster effect is perfect. I don't think "walking distance" works - it's not literal, it's about the synergies that come of proximity to the university and other businesses. And Wissenschaftler means academics here, not scientists, but you probably know that :-)
Karin Redclift Jun 29, 2020:
Close proximity From all the comments this makes the most sense to me. It’s so close you can go in your Hauseschuhe/slippers.
Jennifer Caisley (asker) Jun 29, 2020:
Thank you, Björn (and everyone else)! I like "walking distance" - I've also been toying with "cluster effect", in the sense that the facilities etc. are clustering together, and that certainly sounds scientific, to my ear! I like Steffen's 'proximity', too - now I've got a grasp of what the term is trying to say, it's much easier to work out what might fit.

As background, my preference for putting something in its place, rather than leaving it, is that the previous translator simply left the term in German (i.e. "Scientists often talk of the "Schlappeneffekt" "), which I think is anything but satisfactory - so I'd quite like to come up with something that's at least a little better to pre-empt the inevitable queries from the PM (and the original translator) about what's happened to the sentence!

You've all helped me immeasurably - thank you for giving up the time on a Monday afternoon. The translators' grapevine saves the day! (I, for one, have had Marvin Gaye stuck in my head ever since I read Ramey's comment!)
Björn Vrooman Jun 29, 2020:
If you need something... ...for whatever reason (though I'd rather omit it), there's "acceptable walking distance":
"Walking distance is an important concept in the fields of transportation and public health. A distance of 0.25 miles is often used as an acceptable walking distance in U.S. research studies."
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3377942/

"SODC’s ‘Evidence Paper on School Travel Patterns’ (LDF, August 2007) states that 2km is an acceptable walking distance to a primary school."
http://www.southoxon.gov.uk/sites/default/files/Commercial_E...

"The catchment area of an individual shop is defined as being a radius of 400m from the unit; this being the maximum acceptable walking distance. In most cases, up to 300m is considered to be an 'easy walking distance' (PPS6 'Planning for Town Centres') and..."
https://www.brighton-hove.gov.uk/sites/brighton-hove.gov.uk/...

I know, not very colloquial, but it's what scientists use. Ofc, you could also tout it as the "optimal walking distance for white lab coat wearers," but I'm not sure that's going to go down well.

Best wishes
Steffen Walter Jun 29, 2020:
@Björn Yes, indeed. Somehow, I seem to have overlooked what Klaus and Thomas had written earlier, as well your reference to "Schlappenreichweite".
Björn Vrooman Jun 29, 2020:
Hi Steffen "Another take on it would be to..."

Isn't your interpretation (with which I agree) not in line with what Klaus and Thomas suggested ("The idea being that people can just pop over without even changing into proper...") and what I said about Schlappenreichweite?

I also concur with this being an exaggeration. Earlier, I was tempted to write that whoever created this piece of marketing copy must have overheard two or maybe three researchers joking around and now believes this is a "thing."

I doubt we're talking about an established term here. Not geeky enough, for one.

And thanks, Jennifer, I think either Klaus or Thomas should post something to that effect.

Best and all of you: have a great start to the week
Steffen Walter Jun 29, 2020:
A-ha https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Heard_It_Through_the_Grapevi... :-)
Ramey Rieger (X) Jun 29, 2020:
Grapevine factor? Is what the discussion brings to mind, although my somewhat convex thought-process came up with 'pillow talk.' Mind movies are so entertaining :-)
Steffen Walter Jun 29, 2020:
Proximity Another take on it would be to focus on the close proximity of the premises ("da kann ich ja eben mal [in Schlappen] rübergehen"). I consider the statement "Wissenschaftler sprechen ... gerne auch vom 'Schlappenfaktor'" to be mildly exaggerating, given that searching for this term on the web does not yield a single hit.

I'd thus paraphrase that the close proximity of the premises (or the fact that the university premises are situated within easy reach = "kurze Wege") creates a win-win situation for all stakeholders.
Jennifer Caisley (asker) Jun 29, 2020:
Thank you all so much - this is hugely helpful! Thank you all! Yes, Carmen, that's certainly what "Schlappe" means "normally", as it were, but it just doesn't quite fit here - it's quite the opposite of a defeat or a setback!

I'm leaning rather more towards the idea as suggested by Bjorn, Thomas and Klaus - so if one of you would like to post your suggestion as an answer, I'll happily give you the points :)

I agree with Thomas' approach, and I would usually either leave it out or subtly circumnavigate it, but in this instance, I'd certainly prefer to put something in to get the sense across, if nothing else!
Björn Vrooman Jun 29, 2020:
Agree with Klaus and Thomas While I can only point you to this one example, Jennifer, Schlapp(en)reichweite is a term I've heard before:
"Du fandst den Klatschmohn in Schlappen-Reichweite."
https://www.fotocommunity.de/photo/mohn-und-mehr-gudrun-wilh...

They probably call it Faktor because they are scientists. Everything needs to factor in somewhere!

Best wishes
Thomas Pfann Jun 29, 2020:
If in doubt, leave it out? Klaus Beyer could be onto something. Since the term is used to describe the proximity of the faculties leading to closer cooperation it could really refer to 'Schlappen' = house slippers. The idea being that people can just pop over without even changing into proper shoes – ie. cooperation is easy and can happen all the time without the need to arrange formal meetings. (But just to stress: I have never seen the term before so that's really just a wild guess.)

Leaving it out might be the best option here. It doesn't seem add anything to the text, after all.
Carmen Lawrence Jun 29, 2020:
Eine Schlappe is a setback. 'Eine Schlappe erleiden' is to suffer a setback, take a beating, as when a team loses. I haven't really seen it in this particular context but if you translated it more or less literally, I assume it would express what the author means.
beermatt Jun 29, 2020:
Could it be... ...related to "Schlappe" in the meaning of a bright feather used as an extra lure in fly fishing
-- meaning that there is a factor present in the region attracting lots of extra "fish", i.e. businesses?
Klaus Beyer Jun 29, 2020:
Schlappenfaktor "Schlappen" is, of course, a colloquialism for "house slippers". Farfetched though it may be, possibly an allusion to sort of "all in the family" matter, a "cheek to jowl factor", as it were. Naturally going off the deep end with that.
Andreea Sepi, MCIL (X) Jun 29, 2020:
Misspelling? I suspect what they mean is "Schleppfaktor" or "Schleppenfaktor" in the sense of "multiplier effect"... The location generates a "tow"

Proposed translations

1 day 2 hrs
Selected

convenience factor

It's doubtful there'll be an ideal solution to this question, but I think 'knock-on' is the better pick to date.
I'll throw this one in anyway in keeping to a slightly stricter interpretation...
Something went wrong...
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "Thank you so much, Chris (and all the other answerers)! It was almost impossible to choose just one answer - really, any of them would have worked in the context, and I am so hugely, hugely grateful to everyone who contributed. For me, this one struck the neatest balance between having a clear meaning in English (particularly for the potential international readership of the brochure who might not necessarily speak English at native level) and a visible link to (one interpretation of!) the German :)"
2 hrs

multiplier effect

It's 'schlappe Faktor', not 'Schlappenfaktor.'
Compare:

"Da geht es bereits nicht um 0.100, sondern um 0.010. Das ist ja nur der schlappe Faktor 10. :-)"
http://www.hifi-forum.de/viewthread-149-10255-37.html

Compare with this:
"How does the multiplier effect work in economics?
In economics, a multiplier broadly refers to an economic factor that, when increased or changed, causes increases or changes in many other related economic variables. In terms of gross domestic product, the multiplier effect causes gains in total output to be greater than the change in spending that caused it.Feb 6, 2020."



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Note added at 8 hrs (2020-06-29 19:59:04 GMT)
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"The region's central location may boost cooperation with the university's business administration department in the development of suitable business models. Scientists often talk about a multiplier effect in that regard. About 240 new high-skills jobs are expected to have a positive direct and indirect impact on the city's and the region's economy."
Peer comment(s):
disagree Björn Vrooman : Agree with Thomas that this makes zero sense. If I tell you I have "schlappe zehn Mäuse bei mir," I'm saying that I got as little as 10 euros on me. Schlapp has nothing to do with the word multiplier.
53 mins
agree philgoddard : I think your explanation is wrong, but your answer is on the right lines.
6 hrs
Something went wrong...
+2
1 day 57 mins

knock-on effect

The jobs that are being created are a knock on effect of the centralization. They want to emphasize that it will not result in job losses as centralization is usually perceived to result in.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 1 day 1 hr (2020-06-30 12:36:23 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Domino effect can also work. I think the Schlappen here is onomatopoeia - think of firecrackers going off one by one, each one causing the next one to go off. because yeah it doesn't seem to relate to the topic in terms of meaning.
https://www.linguee.com/english-german/search?source=auto&qu...

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 1 day 1 hr (2020-06-30 12:37:15 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

buzz and thud are examples of onomatopoeia - sound of the word suggests its meaning.
Peer comment(s):
agree Klaus Beyer : like that
30 mins
thanks for sharing!
agree Chris Pr
1 hr
thanks
Something went wrong...
3 days 2 hrs

the "pop-in" factor

Of the 40 investments that Perrelli has made as an angel investor in the past several years, for example, 35 were based in the area, he says. “Angels, not unlike many VCs, prefer to invest close to home. I refer to it as the “pop-in” factor,” says Perelli.
https://www.incimages.com/uploaded_files/article/2016Washing...

The Wissenschaftler can "pop across" and call in on each other at any time without changing from slippers to outdoor shoes.
Something went wrong...
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