Hi all,
a student of mine wrote that ‚the smoking ban isn’t ‚konsequent‘, because if smoking is really that
dangerous, then tobacco should be totally banned.‘
Well, she wrote ‚the smoking ban isn’t consequent‘, which of course is totally wrong in English, but I’ve
tried to look up suitable expressions, and I’ve been wrecking my head, and still I can’t think of a way of
expressing in English what she is trying to say.
It doesn’t mean konsequent in the sense of a logical conclusion, which of course is the literal meaning
of konsequent. Rather it means… yes, what?? I can’t think of any synonymous expression to capture the
meaning of ‚konsequent‘ here.
Obviously I’m not looking for a word, for there ain’t such a word, but just some expression that would
capture the idea.
Any help would be much appreciated!
Thanks much,
Isabel
PS: the breaks in the text are a bug in w-w-w, I can’t do anything about them, sorry!
Hello,
Any help would be much appreciated!
„konsequent“ in the context of being determined about something can be translated as „being consistent“.
ys
MB
Hello,
Any help would be much appreciated!
„konsequent“ in the context of being determined about
something can be translated as „being consistent“.
Well, without context I would agree with you.
But for something to be consistent, it has to be consistent WITH SOMETHING.
‚The smoking ban isn’t consistent with blablabla policy, because…‘
But the German ‚konsequent‘ is used without anything, it’s just NICHT KONSEQUENT, and unfortunately,
consistent doesn’t work here. I would have an easy time if it did!
Thanks anyway for the attempt.
Cheers, Isabel
Hi,
But the German ‚konsequent‘ is used without anything, it’s
just NICHT KONSEQUENT, and unfortunately,
consistent doesn’t work here. I would have an easy time if it
did!
well, in my optinion a certain „goal“ (like protecting people from cigarettes) is always implied when konsequent is used in German. We just don’t name it - at least I can’t think of any examples right now where we do.
However, I think I’ve heard English people use consistent „without anything“, too… but since you probably have more first-hand experience with English than I do, I’ll believe you this time 
ys
MB
Hi,
the missing addition to consistent (consistent with) is a consequence of the mistake of the student - she could not do it otherwise, as she did not know the English word. she used an English word with the same Latin root as the German word that was in her head, and used it with the German grammar. thus, as the German word doesn’t need anything after it, she used the English word without anything after it. Had she known ‚consistent‘, she would probably have added something.
How about ‚if … had been thoroughly thought through‘ or ‚if the smoking ban had been drawn up to cover all logical implications / consequences‘ or something along that line …
Hope I could help,
Franzi
1 „Gefällt mir“
Hi,
the missing addition to consistent (consistent with) is a
consequence of the mistake of the student - she could not do
it otherwise, as she did not know the English word.
Well, yes, I’m aware of that. But as a consequence of that I’m left with the sentence as is…
How about ‚if … had been thoroughly thought through‘ or ‚if
the smoking ban had been drawn up to cover all logical
implications / consequences‘ or something along that line …
Well, none of them quite hit the nail on the head (which is why I’m having such difficulties), but hey, it’s
not a professional translation I need to do, so yes, your suggestions are actually excellent.
Hope I could help,
Indeed!
Many thanks!
All the best, Isabel
a student of mine wrote that ‚the smoking ban isn’t
‚konsequent‘, because if smoking is really that
dangerous, then tobacco should be totally banned.‘
Hallo, Isabel,
wie wäre es mit:
„The ban on smoking is lacking the proper consequences in only bannig the use of but not the production and distribution of tobacco.“
oder „The ban on smoking is not logically consistent as far as it is only bannig the use of but not the production and distribution of tobacco.“
Grüße auf die grüne Insel
Eckard
Hi all,
Hi darlin’,
How about „coherent“ (–> stimmig)?
Love,
Elke