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 #17 (permalink) Thu Aug 21, 2008 15:32 pm Fußgängerquerungshilfe in English? |
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| Torsten wrote: |
This is quite an interesting word: Fußgängerquerungshilfe
It basically describes any facility that helps pedestrians cross the street. For example, it can be a pedestrian bridge over a busy street or pedestrian tunnel. What would be a general term that describes these things in English? What about "pedestrian crossing aids"?
Many thanks,
Torsten |
Hi Torsten,
Your thing could be called a street refuge, and the sign a pedestrian yield sign
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| #18 (permalink) Thu Aug 21, 2008 15:46 pm Fußgängerquerungshilfe in English? |
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Hi everyone,
Many thanks for all your interesting contributions. I must admit that the term "Fußgängerquerungshilfe" was pretty new to me too and I'm glad that there doesn't seem to exist a direct translation. This leaves some room for creativity...
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| #19 (permalink) Fri Aug 22, 2008 19:04 pm Fußgängerquerungshilfe in English? |
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| Jamie (K) wrote: |
| NinaZara wrote: |
| No, Jamie. They are called zebra crossing because the stripes on the road resembles those of a zebra. |
So I am left to assume that a zebra crossing is a place where zebras cross the road, and where drivers are to use caution so as not to hit a zebra.
And what about crosswalks that have two parallel lines instead of diagonal stripes? Would those be called skunk crossings? |
This was too great a coincidence to pass up mentioning. I read this thread earlier this morning, and I'll admit, I'd never heard the term 'zebra crossing' in regards to a crosswalk either. But, I can easily see the reasoning for the term. I like it.
I work with the TOIEC Speaking test, and just a couple of hours after reading this thread, was scoring some responses in the 'Describe a Picture' task. This particular stimulus did indeed happen to be picture of many people crossing a painted pedestrian crossing.
I had to start laughing when the candidate (who spoke extremely well) identified it as a 'zebra crossing'. What are the odds, huh?
For the record, it was not diagonal lines, but parallel lines in the picture. :)
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| #20 (permalink) Fri Aug 22, 2008 19:16 pm Fußgängerquerungshilfe in English? |
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| Ralf wrote: |
Hi Torsten,
Your thing could be called a street refuge, and the sign a pedestrian yield sign |
Hi Ralf,
Many thanks for posting this pedestrian yield sign. As for "street refuge", most dictionaries seem to translate this as "Verkehrsinsel". In my understanding, "Fußgängerquerungshilfe" is a general term that refers to a variety of facilities. Those can be pedestrian yield signs, crosswalks, pedestrian tunnels, etc. The problem is that the term "Fußgängerquerungshilfe" is pretty vauge, it can be anything while "street refuge" or "crosswalk" are much precise terms. In other words, I'm looking for something that is as vauge as "Fußgängerquerungshilfe" but sounds as good :-).
Regards,
Torsten
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| #21 (permalink) Fri Aug 22, 2008 19:55 pm Fußgängerquerungshilfe in English? |
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Hi Torsten
I think the general term in English would simply be "pedestrian crossing". If you want to specify what type of pedestrian crossing it is, then you would use (as you mentioned already) 'pedestrian bridge', 'pedestrian tunnel', 'crosswalk', etc.
If you want to make sure that people don't simply assume that you mean 'crosswalk', then you could say 'types of pedestrian crossings', for example.
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| #23 (permalink) Sun Aug 24, 2008 21:38 pm Fußgängerquerungshilfe in English? |
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Well, you did ask, didn't you? :?
It just seemed to me that you were trying translate a little too directly.
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| #24 (permalink) Sun Aug 24, 2008 21:52 pm Fußgängerquerungshilfe in English? |
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Thats' exactly right. The thing with translating is that you often simply need to know an expression that comes at least close to the original. In my opinion, "Fußgängerquerungshilfe" is a very vague word that smacks a bit of bureaucracy. How do you like the word?
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| #25 (permalink) Sun Aug 24, 2008 21:59 pm Fußgängerquerungshilfe in English? |
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Hi Torsten
Actually, those sorts of words drove me crazy when I first started learning German, but believe it or not, I ended up becoming quite fond of them. :D
.
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| #26 (permalink) Sun Aug 24, 2008 22:20 pm Fußgängerquerungshilfe in English? |
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That's interesting to hear. Can you believe that up until I posted this thread I had never come across an "Fußgängerquerungshilfe" although I'm sure I must have used one many times....
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