May 13, 2019 18:29
5 yrs ago
2 viewers *
German term
United States
Psychology, economics, politics
Native in: English 
Works in: Russian to English, German to English, English
Stammbau
German to English
Social Sciences
Psychology
story for anxious children; General, Conversation
A therapeutic story for children. The mother of the beaver family has suddenly lost her job, leaving the little Bene Biber distraught:
Die Mutter erzählt beim Abendessen oft vom Bau des neuesten Stammbaus - doch eines Tages ist sie beim Abendessen still und wirkt traurig.
It's certainly not a "family tree" (Stammbaum). The only thing I can imagine is that it refers to the "construction project" of a beaver dam. This is from Switzerland.
Die Mutter erzählt beim Abendessen oft vom Bau des neuesten Stammbaus - doch eines Tages ist sie beim Abendessen still und wirkt traurig.
It's certainly not a "family tree" (Stammbaum). The only thing I can imagine is that it refers to the "construction project" of a beaver dam. This is from Switzerland.
Proposed translations
(English)
| 4 +1 | family den/lair/shelter |
Claudia Letizia
|
| 3 | gathering place/community center or (simply) home |
Ramey Rieger (X)
|
| 2 | family nest |
David Hollywood
|
Proposed translations
+1
14 mins
Claudia Letizia
Germany
Germany
Native in English
Works in field
Germany
Specialist in Food and Academic Writing
Native in: English (Variant: US) , Italian (Variant: Standard-Italy)
Works in: Italian to English, English to Italian, English, and 4 more.
Related KudoZ points
:
4
Selected
family den/lair/shelter
In German, beavers (and foxes also) live in a Bau (z.B. Fuchsbau). It's a place that they build themselves out of twigs and pieces of wood, mostly on the water, but it is not necessarily a dam.
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Note added at 15 mins (2019-05-13 18:45:27 GMT)
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.. in that it does not necessarily stop water from flowing through. So I would avoid the word dam.
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Note added at 15 mins (2019-05-13 18:45:27 GMT)
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.. in that it does not necessarily stop water from flowing through. So I would avoid the word dam.
Peer comment(s):
| agree |
David Hollywood
: agree with "family" but without more context hard to say how to complete the idea
5 hrs
|
| neutral |
Teresa Reinhardt
: Würde "family" weglassen; s. meinen Kommentar
1 day 20 hrs
|
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer.
Comment: "I just put "beaver den," with thanks to Claudia as the first person to vouch for the fact that that is the general idea, not something more arcane. Thanks to everybody."
5 hrs
David Hollywood
Native in English
worked for int. orgs (IMF, OAS, IDB)
Native in: English
Works in: Spanish to English, German to English
Related KudoZ points
:
14
family nest
Die Mutter erzählt beim Abendessen oft vom Bau des neuesten Stammbaus
At dinner, mum often talks about building/constructing the latest family nest
just a stab at it without more context...
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Note added at 5 hrs (2019-05-13 23:56:56 GMT)
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I know beavers build dams (whether they leak or not) but we really need to see th.e surrounding text to be more specific...
At dinner, mum often talks about building/constructing the latest family nest
just a stab at it without more context...
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Note added at 5 hrs (2019-05-13 23:56:56 GMT)
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I know beavers build dams (whether they leak or not) but we really need to see th.e surrounding text to be more specific...
16 hrs
gathering place/community center or (simply) home
Stamm leads me to believe it's more of a community center (also a possibility). We don't know if she's sad because she's an architect/construction worker or she lost her job, so can no longer finance the new home she's building.
Discussion
The father then tells the little beaver that Mama has lost her job.
Not sure what Esther thinks, but "Bau des ...baus" sounds odd anyways.
Yes, German is known for its repetitiveness (from an ENS perspective), but I'd consider this bad style.
Best
es ist vielleicht ein bisschen weit hergeholt, aber zufälligerweise gibt es in der Schweiz ein Unternehmen namens Stamm Bau AG. Vielleicht wurde der Name für das Dammbauprojekt in der Geschichte deshalb an den Unternehmensnamen angelehnt. Am besten wäre es natürlich, wenn du deinen Auftraggeber fragen könntest, ob mehr hinter dem Namen steckt.