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Quellmittel
acinoperipher

Glossary entry

German term or phrase:

Falscher Schein der Künstlichkeit

English translation:

The deceptive appearance/aura of artificial light

Added to glossary by Bettina Grieser Johns
Sep 27, 2011 06:59
12 yrs ago
German term

Falscher Schein der Künstlichkeit

German to English Tech/Engineering Other Book about the drawbacks of energy-saving lamps
I'm not even sure whether this should be under tech/engineering or art/literature! This is a chapter heading in a non-fiction book about the drawbacks of energy-saving lamps. The whole heading is "Falscher Schein der Künstlichkeit - die verkehrte Welt des Fluoreszenslichts". It would be nice to keep the metaphor in English, but so far I haven't been able to come up with anything. Would be very grateful for ideas!
Proposed translations (English)
4 +1 The deceptive appearance/aura of artificial light
3 +3 Throwing light on an illusion
3 +1 Shedding the light on artificiality
3 The wrong illusion about eco-friendly artificial lighting
3 Glaring artificiality
3 imitation in a bad light/ the glaring imitation(simulation)
3 the false light of artifice
2 The false allure of artificiality
2 Deceiving gleam of artificiality
2 the false glow of artificiality

Discussion

Bettina Grieser Johns (asker) Sep 28, 2011:
More information has come to light Thanks so much to all of you for all your wonderful ideas! I've asked form more information about the contents of the chapter, and what I got late last night was: "in dem Kapitel geht es um Fluoreszenzlicht, also künstliches Licht (Leuchtstoffröhren usw.), und "falscher Schein" bedeutet, dass es zwar weiß aussieht wie natürliches Licht, aber dass das Spektrum völlig anders ist als bei Sonnenlicht (oder auch Glühlampenlicht), nämlich nicht kontinuierlich." So, with this new information, I think that Helen's contribution gets closest. What do you think?
Nicola Wood Sep 27, 2011:
okay, thanks, Bettina In the light (if you'll pardon the pun) of this extra information, I can see mileage for my second suggestion of duplicitous, but I also like Wendy's suggestion.
Other well-known English saysings keep coming to mind, and I am wondering whether anything can be re-spun to fit eg. Falscher Schein led me immediately to "Appearances can be deceptive"
Bettina Grieser Johns (asker) Sep 27, 2011:
You're absolutely right, but... unfortunately, that's all I have - the table of contents and the title page of the book. The title of the book is "Lügendes Licht - die dunklen Seiten der Energiesparlampe".
Nicola Wood Sep 27, 2011:
more context please I have made a guess below, but without more context it is nothing more than a guess. What is the point being made in the chapter? How this relates to the title is highly significant in producing an appropriate translation for the chapter heading.

Proposed translations

+1
6 hrs
Selected

The deceptive appearance/aura of artificial light

or the deceptive appearance of the artificial
or the deceptive aura of the artificial

artificiality is rather clumsy in my view

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Note added at 3 days4 hrs (2011-09-30 11:51:20 GMT) Post-grading
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Thanks, Bettina - glad it helped.
Peer comment(s):
agree Zareh Darakjian Ph.D. : 100 x with aura... as, to a certain extent, it captures the nature of the difference between c continuous spectrum (sunlight) and a discrete one (fluorescent light)
22 hrs
Thanks, Zareh, yes, I like it, too, for its word play.
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4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "Thanks to all of you for your brilliant ideas! I liked quite a number of them; in the end it was the additional information about the chapter's content that made up my mind. Thanks again!"
14 mins

The false allure of artificiality

I don't know if this fits..
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2 hrs

The wrong illusion about eco-friendly artificial lighting

I hope this helpful.
Something went wrong...
3 hrs

Deceiving gleam of artificiality

just an idea...
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37 mins

the false glow of artificiality

just a possibility, glow seeming appropriate given we are talking about lights

or the misleading/ duplicitous appearance

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Note added at 3 hrs (2011-09-27 10:26:35 GMT)
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I am wondering whether artifice yould be used in place of artificiality, which I really don't like!
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3 hrs

Glaring artificiality

an attempt at keeping the metaphor:

the glaring and blatantly artificial light of fluorescence lamps

(of course the traditional light bulb is artificial too, but is felt to emit a more natural light)
Something went wrong...
4 hrs

imitation in a bad light/ the glaring imitation(simulation)

Very freely put, but there are so many good suggestions already, thought I'd do some twisting and turning (screwing (in) the bulb)!

Also:
the glare of deception

Something went wrong...
+1
1 hr

Shedding the light on artificiality

or

the light and dark of artificiality/light and shade of artificiality

though a bit long

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Note added at 6 hrs (2011-09-27 13:49:31 GMT)
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While driving my husband to the station it occurred to me that maybe:

"shedding light on the artificial"

sounds more English. However, having seen the numerous proposals made meantime, I think you are hard pushed for a decision!
Peer comment(s):
agree gangels (X) : Shedding light on artificiality—the upside down world of fluorescent lighting
4 hrs
Thanks gangels.
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9 hrs

the false light of artifice

Or why not "radiance".
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+3
3 hrs

Throwing light on an illusion

My 2 cents worth. I don't particularly like the word artificiality.

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Note added at 5 hrs (2011-09-27 12:17:20 GMT)
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Casting light on, alternatively

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Note added at 9 hrs (2011-09-27 16:30:42 GMT)
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Thanks to :-) "Illuminating an illusion - the make-believe (world) of fluorescent light".
Peer comment(s):
agree Phoebe Indetzki
1 hr
Thank you, Phoebe :)
agree Zareh Darakjian Ph.D.
1 hr
Thank you, Zareh :)
agree casper (X) : How about 'illuminating the illusion' ? // Great suggestion, franglish. Well done!
5 hrs
Funny you should suggest this, had the same idea as I walked in the door just now! How about "Illuminating an illusion - the make-believe of fluorescent light"?
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