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Glossary entry

German term or phrase:

Abgrenzungsvermögen

English translation:

(emotional) detachment

Added to glossary by Christine Andrews (X)
Nov 7, 2009 16:45
14 yrs ago
German term

Abgrenzungsvermögen

German to English Bus/Financial Human Resources
List of skills required for a job:
-soziale Kompetenz
-emotionale Unabhängigkeit und Abgrenzungsvermögen

Objectivity??
Proposed translations (English)
5 (emotional) detachment
3 +5 ability to maintain personal boundaries
4 +1 emotional independence and emotional distinction capability
3 +1 ability/capacity to differentiate
4 professional detachment
3 the ability to stay focused
References
a discussion point for Kim and Michél

Discussion

Michél Dallaserra Nov 7, 2009:
Letter from a Native Speaker Dear all! In the meantime one more valid answer has been posted by sappho and I would like to use this as a starting point for a last attempt to shed some light on the issue at stake. If you have, within the context of a job offer, a German sentence reading "emotionale Unabhängigkeit und Abgrenzungsvermögen" the native speaker immediately understands that this is concerned with what is commonly referred to as emotional intelligence. Grammatically speaking, the adjectival form "emotionale" does not define "Abgrenzungsvermögen". Nevertheless, this connection is implied. Apparently, the offered job requires the suitable candidate to be able to emotionally detach or dissociate himself in or from certain situations or decisions. Although I agree that in some respects this kind of thinking is rather appaling, I am prepared to acknowledge that in certain professions emotional detachment might be indispensable. For example, paramedics, in certain extreme situations, need to be emotionally detached so as to be able to function and give aid to seriously injured people. This kind of detachment is meant here as a requirement for the offered job.
Michél Dallaserra Nov 7, 2009:
Thanks for quoting this, Christine. However, there seems to be a difference between the two. As I have tried to explain before: Nowadays, it is considered to be beneficial to be able to detach oneself emotionally from decisions to be made in the job. Clearly, this requirement is based on the (artificial and superficial) differentiation between emotion and reason as well as on the alleged superiority of the former over the latter. Employees are supposed to act and decide "reasonably" as opposed to "emotionally". I hate this kind of thinking but that's the way it is. The second sentence refers to a different kind of ability, I think, namely to the ability to say no if confronted with tasks and problems that are not part of one's responsibility.
Christine Andrews (X) (asker) Nov 7, 2009:
I have got a bit further down the text now and there is the following character trait that is required which I think must refer to the same thing:
"Er hat die Möglichkeit sich gegenüber Anforderungen ,die nicht mit der Rolle vereinbart sind, abzugrenzen

Proposed translations

8 mins
Selected

(emotional) detachment

in the positive sense of maintaining one's boundaries and psychic integrity when faced with the emotional demands of another person or group of persons.

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Note added at 1 Stunde (2009-11-07 17:53:52 GMT)
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"Emotionale Unabhängigkeit" und "(emotionales) Abgrenzungsvermögen" are both categories belonging to what is referred to as "soft skills." Within the present context, the second skill pertains to the ability to emotionally detach oneself from the decisions to be made in the job as well as from the emotions of one's fellows. Another possible term for this social skill is "assertiveness".
Reference:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emotional_detachment

Peer comment(s):
neutral Kim Metzger : I'd be more inclined to agree with a more modest proposal./We're dealing with bullet points, very little context. How can you be 100% sure this is meant?/emotionale Unabhängigkeit und Abgrenzungsvermögen
2 mins
Is it really immodest to be certain of a given answer? And is a scale on the internet a good basis for a judgment on a person's modesty? This is a very common requirement in job offers and what else could be meant by "emotionales Abgrenzunsvermögen"?
neutral sylvie malich (X) : goodness, even if this were 100% correct this could hardly be taken as a positive character attribute, unless the opening was for executioner or kitten-culler/ heh! it is "Bus/Financial" -- loan officer p'raps?
1 hr
Excellent point, Sylvie. Yet, I am afraid it is considered to be a positive character trait within the context of certain professions. Sorry, not my fault! Yeah, probably something like that :-)
neutral Lirka : I would tend to agree that emotional only refers to the 1st word, though I am not a German native :) And how do you incorporate "Vermoegen" then?
1 hr
Grammatically speaking, it is incorrect. However, this is common practice in German writing.
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4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "Thank you for everyone for all this input. I have used detachment - however I do think that depending on the context some of the other suggestions would also work, especially "ability to maintain personal boundaries""
+1
21 mins

ability/capacity to differentiate

I think that it's about the capacity to diferential between things and principles. Good and bad, right and wrong, etc.

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Note added at 41 mins (2009-11-07 17:27:10 GMT)
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sorry, differentiate

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Note added at 1 hr (2009-11-07 18:20:27 GMT)
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Perhaps a word about how I arrived at my interpretation. In medicine, we often use Abgrenzung to differentiate between tissues and structures. For instance, a tumor mass shows good "Abgrenzung" to the rest of the tissue, in radiological images.
Peer comment(s):
agree Ingeborg Gowans (X) : yes, I would understnad this to mean that, and include the emotional detachment (first part of the question)i
27 mins
Thanks, Ingeborg :)
agree Kim Metzger : Emotional refers to Unabhängigkeit.
35 mins
Thanks, Kim!
disagree Michél Dallaserra : What you mean is referred to in German as "Unterscheidungsvermögen" - the ability to differentiate.
4 hrs
I am sure that there exists more than just one expression for 'differentiate" in German
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+1
3 hrs

emotional independence and emotional distinction capability

my option;
Peer comment(s):
agree Harald Moelzer (medical-translator)
20 hrs
Thank you, Harald!
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3 hrs

professional detachment

I'd say
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+5
6 hrs

ability to maintain personal boundaries

emotional objectivity and ability to maintain personal boundaries
Peer comment(s):
agree Nicole Backhaus : Focus on relationships - from others. The opposite would be "self-abandonment" Here another job description using this term: http://www.careerbuilder.com/JobSeeker/Jobs/JobDetails.aspx?...
32 mins
Thanks, Nicole
agree Johanna Timm, PhD : yup: emotionally stable and able to set boundaries
1 hr
Thanks, Johanna - I tossed up between setting or maintaining boundaries
agree Ingrid Velleine : "Abgrenzungsvermögen" definitely is the ability to maintain personal boundaries
11 hrs
Thank you, Ingrid
agree Jutta Scherer
13 hrs
Thanks, Jutta
agree seehand : with Johanna "set"
1 day 15 hrs
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15 hrs

the ability to stay focused

Focus is the bizspeak (and sports) buzzword you definitely want to include in your translation. I interpret this as the capacity to tune out or rise above distractions, keep your eye on the prize, persistently take a goal-oriented approach.
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Reference comments

1 hr
Reference:

a discussion point for Kim and Michél

@ Michél: I am not a Native German speaker, but I cannot agree with you that "emotionale" defines both "Abhängigkeit" and "Abgrenzungsvermögen". It is "emotionale Abhängigkeit " because Abhängigkeit is a feminine word. For dasAbgrenzungsvermögen, the writer must repeat the word with the ending "s" "emotionales Abgrenzungsvermögen" if he wants it to define Abggrenzungsvermögen as well.
As we have so little text, it is crucial to analyse its grammar carefully.
Note from asker:
Thank you Diana. See also my comment in the discussion entries about where abgrenzen appears again in the text (without emotional)
Peer comments on this reference comment:
neutral Michél Dallaserra : Thanks for your comment. Grammar is crucial, yes. However, in the present context the word "Abgrenzungsvermögen" does not make much sense without being defined by the adjective "emotional". Both words combine to a common German phrase.
3 mins
This discussion has indeed shed a light on the way one can allow emotions to interfere with one's professional judgement. Thanks for that!
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