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German to English translations [PRO] Marketing - Marketing / Market Research / Market research feedback
German term or phrase:Tendenziell
Hi there. Help please. I am wracking my brain for a way to say the following that sounds vaguely English.... Tendenziell ist der Brand Fit beim XXX leicht höher, dies gilt für Belgien und für Deutschland My best "effort" is "Broadly speaking" the brand fit is slightly higher for XXX. This applies for Belgium and Germany. Please see what you reckon.
Getting confused myself now. I explained myself badly Alison. What I mean is that if you have got a single set of findings in a single research then you are not comparing it with anything in the past - so why put "the brand fit tends to be slightly higher for XXX" and not just "the brand fit is slightly higher for XXX" - there is surely no "trend" or "tendency" involved when it is (as far as I can tell) based on one set of findings...
I understood it to mean that "the brand fit tends to be slightly higher for XXX" than for other products. However, you say it is not a comparison, so I am lost. As seem to be quite a few people!
Perhaps I am getting confused by all your XXX, YYY and ZZZs and whether these are products, companies, groups of respondents or a mixture. You say no comparison is being made. Isn't the comparison between XXX and YYY, i.e. in both Belgium and Germany, the brand fit is (or tends to be) slightly higher/better, etc. for/with etc. XXX than YYY?
Thank you all for your feedback. That is pretty much all the relevant context I have. They are discussing launching a German product in Belgium and it is basically a set of findings about "appetite appeal" and the like. They have asked a set of respondents to give their views. In that context I cannot for the life of me see how "The brand fit tends to be slightly higher" would work - if something "tends" to do something then it has to be based on more than just a single set of findings. By definition "tend" and "trend" entail a progression, but here it is just a set of findings - not compared with anything.
oa_xxx (X)
Germany
@asker
14:54 Jun 11, 2013
Could you give us more context? Your comments about what the context implies make little sense to me from the 2 sentences you have provided. What is the problem with it being a "one-off piece of research"? It seems they are looking at feedback from I assume multiple respondents, and from their answers it is possible to determine a trend - nothing weird about that. I also see pretty much the same problems as you mention (temporal comparison, has to be researched more than once (?!)) with the terms "generally" or "broadly speaking" - how can you make a general assumption about something unless it has been researched over time or "more than once" or involves large numbers of people?
Simple present is usually used as established truth, although of course, doing research, the results of your research are also established, so that might not fit here, I concede. But I would definitely keep the 'tendency' in there. The problem in this case, IMO, is that the German needs the adverb there (tendenziell) to express that, whereas English only really needs that verb.
means that a trend can be discerned in terms of this fit brand that is usually higher in Belgium and Germany. The tendency for this to be so (which can change), is implied by 'to tend', but it still brings an element of uncertainty into the meaning of the sentence. Tendeziell is used to bring an element of uncertainty into the claim the author is making with 'ist', only the verb 'to tend' in English would already do that without needing something extra. You could add 'usually' for extra emphasis. Or that is how I read that bit.
My feeling is that as soon as you start talking about trends/tending/inclinations or whatever, then you are bringing in some sort of "temporal comparison" which the context does not imply. Isn't the "tendenziell" just referring to what the prevailing view amongst the respondents is? If that makes sense....
Thanks for your thoughts on this - Miriam, Brigitte and Peter. I should have been more specific when I posted. The customer challenged my "Broadly speaking" and said that it should be "Tendencially" (which I don't feel sounds remotely English), but my issue is really whether the "tendenziell" carries any suggestion of a trend? A trend is by definition "moving" but does the "tendenziell" imply some sort of moving trend - I did not think it did. Here is a bit more context: Sowohl dem YYY als auch dem XXX werden eine gute Markenpassung zu ZZZ attestiert (CH 21), wenn auch auf niedrigerem Niveau als in Deutschland (YYY D: TB: 58%, T2B: 88%). Tendenziell ist der Brand Fit beim XXX leicht höher, dies gilt für Belgien (CH 24) und für Deutschland (XXX D: TB: 65%, T2B: 89%).
peer agreement (net): +3
