This site uses cookies. Some of these cookies are essential to the operation of the site, while others help to improve your experience by providing insights into how the site is being used. For more information, please see the ProZ.com privacy policy.
Cookie settings
Schlüsselstange
Drucklinie

Glossary entry

German term or phrase:

Schönwettermacher

English translation:

fair weather maker

Added to glossary by barbarameyer
May 5, 2017 10:02
7 yrs ago
1 viewer *
German term

Schönwettermacher

German to English Art/Literary Social Science, Sociology, Ethics, etc. ungewöhnlicher Beruf
Found this term in a list of "ungewöhnliche Berufe" in a German language textbook for school-going children.
Other terms in the list are
Mondgucker, Sonnenanbeter, Tierstreichler, Schönwettermacher, Fragensteller, Antwortgeber, Gesundpfleger.

Schönwetter machen
to smooth things over
http://www.dict.cc/deutsch-englisch/Schönwetter.html

Okay, so does the term Schönwettermacher mean conciliator, mediator, reconciler, or the like, perhaps? Yes? No?

Mind you, we're talking about an "ungewöhnlicher Beruf" here.

Many thanks for your insights into this unusual term !
Proposed translations (English)
3 +2 fair weather maker
Votes to reclassify question as PRO/non-PRO:

Non-PRO (1): Edith Kelly

When entering new questions, KudoZ askers are given an opportunity* to classify the difficulty of their questions as 'easy' or 'pro'. If you feel a question marked 'easy' should actually be marked 'pro', and if you have earned more than 20 KudoZ points, you can click the "Vote PRO" button to recommend that change.

How to tell the difference between "easy" and "pro" questions:

An easy question is one that any bilingual person would be able to answer correctly. (Or in the case of monolingual questions, an easy question is one that any native speaker of the language would be able to answer correctly.)

A pro question is anything else... in other words, any question that requires knowledge or skills that are specialized (even slightly).

Another way to think of the difficulty levels is this: an easy question is one that deals with everyday conversation. A pro question is anything else.

When deciding between easy and pro, err on the side of pro. Most questions will be pro.

* Note: non-member askers are not given the option of entering 'pro' questions; the only way for their questions to be classified as 'pro' is for a ProZ.com member or members to re-classify it.

Discussion

Mair A-W (PhD) May 6, 2017:
Isn't the main point - for your textbook's purposes - genitive case - that they are all (approximately) X of Y - provider of answers, asker of questions, maker of fine weather, petter of animals, gazer of/at the moon?

Possibly you would do better to think of Beruf as "occupation" rather than "career" or "profession". Or at least, "vocation"...
Julia Burgess May 5, 2017:
@barbara In that case, I think "dream jobs" is a better way of describing them - some turn out to be real jobs, some not so much!
barbarameyer (asker) May 5, 2017:
"These are made up professions, not real ones." 'Pferdeflüsterer', 'Hundefrisör' and 'Schokoladenprobierer' are also there in the list, so I'm not sure whether "these (= the terms that I have asked) are made up professions, not real ones".
Thomas Pfann May 5, 2017:
@barbarameyer And that is exactly the sort of context that we need in order to give helpful answers.<br>;-)
barbarameyer (asker) May 5, 2017:
@ philgoddard I'm not translating a German language textbook into English. I must explain these terms to my students, and to do be able to do that, I need to understand them myself first -- in English (preferably, that being my mother tongue) or in German.
philgoddard May 5, 2017:
I find all these questions a bit odd. We don't have any context, the meaning seems obvious, and why would anyone want to translate a German-language textbook into English? Surely you would leave word lists in German.
Susan Welsh May 5, 2017:
agree with Thomas
Thomas Pfann May 5, 2017:
Fantasieberufe These are made up professions, not real ones. So I don't think mediator or similar is the right direction. I think you need to be quite literal here.
Julia Burgess May 5, 2017:
Not actual jobs, surely? These are comedy/dream jobs, aren't they? As an animal lover, I'd choose Tierstreichler :) - maybe animal cuddler for this one? I think they should have equally silly (literal) translations, rather than using genuine job titles (like mediator, etc.). I'm looking forward to seeing what suggestions fellow KudoZ-ers come up with!

Proposed translations

+2
1 hr
Selected

fair weather maker

They use this expression in weather forecasts to refer to weather systems responsible for prolonged periods of good weather. Could be fun to apply it to a person as well..
Peer comment(s):
agree Eleanore Strauss : could also be interpreted as good mood maker... auf schön wetter machen is used this way sometimes... ha ha I just walked across CP to the MET and back
1 hr
That's right. And considering the weather it might not be fair to expect my fair weather friends to show up today..
agree philgoddard
1 day 3 hrs
Something went wrong...
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "Much thanks, Michael :-)"
Close search
Term search
  • All of ProZ.com
  • Term search
  • Jobs
  • Forums
  • Multiple search