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Glossary entry

German term or phrase:

Kiez

English translation:

community hub

Added to glossary by Sebastian Witte
Oct 6, 2021 17:24
2 yrs ago
30 viewers *
German term

Usage of Kiez

German to English Social Sciences Social Science, Sociology, Ethics, etc. Berlin and beyond
DE:
„Durch unseren Austausch mit Expertinnen und Experten, unseren Besuchen vor Ort und die Workshops konnten wir viele gute Praxismodelle kennenlernen.
Eines kommt von der Organisation leben lernen in Berlin.
Sie hat ein Wohnhaus in Berlin-Weißensee, ***mitten im Kiez***, errichtet.
In einigen Wohnungen leben Frauen und Männer ohne Behinderung, in anderen leben Wohngruppen mit Menschen mit hohem Unterstützungsbedarf.
Durch die zentrale Lage ist es auch ohne großen Aufwand möglich, mal eben gemeinsam zum Bäcker oder ins Kino zu gehen.
Außerdem habe ich im Rahmen von teilnehmenden Beobachtungen festgestellt:
Die Bewohnerinnen und Bewohner werden nach ihrer Meinung gefragt.
Beispielsweise bestimmen sie mit, wo, wann und was sie frühstücken oder wie sie ihre Freizeit gestalten möchten.
Leider ist das bislang alles andere als selbstverständlich.

EN:
It has built a tenement in the Weissensee District of Berlin, ***in a real Kiez***.

Or dwellinghouse.

So my question is about the proper usage of the English loan word Kiez, which originates from German. The problem is that I have never been to Weißensee and do not know it in any other way either so ...
Proposed translations (English)
3 +3 vibrant neighborhood (or community/neighborhood hub in other contexts)
3 +2 Kiez (district)
3 in the heart of the village> in the middle of the action /in that neck of the woods/
3 here: in the midst of the homonymous neighbo(ur)hood/neighbo(u)hood of the same name

Discussion

uyuni Oct 7, 2021:
Ein "Kiez" ist schon ein enger begrenztes Wohngebiet, meist unterhalb der Gliederungsebene eines Bezirks. Er muss auch nicht zwangsläufig heruntergekommen oder vice versa "vibrant" sein. Der Begriff impliziert für mich räumliche Nähe, vom Sehen bekannte Nachbarn, vertraute Geschäfte u.a.m. Beispiel: der "Schillerkiez"in der näheren Umgebung des Herrfurthplatzes und der Schillerpromenade in Berlin, Bezirk (!) Neukölln oder mein alter Eimsbüttler Kiez in HH: Stadtteilkiez im erheblich größeren und auch andere Stadteile umfassenden hamburgischen Verwaltungsbezirk (!) Eimsbüttel.

In Lateinamerika wäre hier "barrio" passend:
"Die südamerikanischen Barrios sind weit mehr als nur Stadtteile, sondern bezeichnen ein ganz besonderes Lebensgefühl, soziales Gefüge, Musik, Kultur, die sich von Barrio zu Barrio erheblich unterscheiden".
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barrio

"Barrio is a Spanish word that means "quarter" or "neighborhood". In the modern Spanish language, it is generally defined as each area of a city, usually differentiated by functional social, architectural or morphological features."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barrio

All that being said tendiere ich hier deutlich zu "neighbo(ur)hood
Ramey Rieger (X) Oct 7, 2021:
Wohnhaus = apartment house. Tenement is a poorly maintained building in a slum.
Gordon Matthews Oct 6, 2021:
Kiez: neighbourhood/district/commune I've been pondering about what the equivalent to a "Kiez" might be in London. Brixton would fit the bill rather well, I think. How would Londoners refer to Brixton, I wonder? It is too big to be a "neighbourhood". But it is only part of the London borough of Lambeth, so "borough" won't do as a translation of "Kiez". I might post "district" as an answer, although it doesn't carry the connotation of "Kiez" as a part of the capital, to which those who live there and especially those who were born there have a fierce loyalty.
Sebastian Witte (asker) Oct 6, 2021:
=> in an actual Kiez?

Proposed translations

+3
35 mins
German term (edited): Kiez
Selected

vibrant neighborhood (or community/neighborhood hub in other contexts)

Kiez is tricky. I'm currently translating a leasing pitch for a new shopping mall in Berlin that uses "Kiez" all the time and I find the translation very much depends on the specific context/usage. But something like "community/neighborhood hub" sometimes works. This is a great German word that unfortunately has no English equivalent.

In this case:

"Sie hat ein Wohnhaus in Berlin-Weißensee, ***mitten im Kiez***, errichtet."

"It [i.e. the leben lernen organization] has built a residential building in a vibrant neighborhood right in the middle/midst of Berlin-Weissensee"

BTW they're not saying the Weissenberg itself is "a real Kiez" but that the building is located in the Weissenberg Kiez, i.e. in the most interesting/fun section of Weissenberg or however you want to think of that.

I'd suggest avoiding "tenament" as that can have rather negative connotations ("A rundown, low-rental apartment building whose facilities and maintenance barely meet minimum standards."). A "Wohnhaus" is simply a "residential (apartment) building" (US English).


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Note added at 36 mins (2021-10-06 18:00:56 GMT)
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sorry, "they're not saying *that* Weissenberg..."

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Note added at 39 mins (2021-10-06 18:03:25 GMT)
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Perhaps more clear than "in the middle of Berlin-Weissenberg" would be "in the middle of Berlin's Weissenberg district".
Note from asker:
Although you have suggested "vibrant neighborhood", I have actually put your alternative option "community hub". Weißensee - Berlin.de https://www.berlin.de › ... › Stadtteile Weißensee ist ein bisschen unscheinbar, liebenswert und kleinstädtisch. Hier ist es ruhiger als in den Szenebezirken aber dennoch urban.
Peer comment(s):
agree Gordon Matthews : If one decides to translate "Kiez", "community" would be a good option, so you could say that the apartment building was in "the heart of the community". Note that the Kiez in question is Weissensee, not Weissenberg.
1 hr
Opps, good catch with Weissensee! I've been there multiple times actually, no idea where my brain got Weissenberg from. :)
agree philgoddard : I agree about "tenement" too. It's an apartment building.
2 hrs
agree uyuni : w/ neighbo(u)rhood w/o 'vibrant' or 'hub'. Please see recent discussion entry...Definitely not 'tenement' or 'district'...
21 hrs
Something went wrong...
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "Thanks very much."
+2
2 hrs

Kiez (district)

I think "Kiez" is virtually untranslatable, so I would be inclined not to translate the word, but to provide an approximate translation, such as "district", in parentheses. I prefer "district" to "neighbourhood", because one finds a number of neighbourhoods within a Kiez. The problem with "district" is that it doesn't convey the emotional attachment that the inhabitants have to their Kiez, so it doesn't make clear how important it is that the apartment building is "in the middle of the Kiez (district)".
Peer comment(s):
agree Susan Starling : Completely agree that this is untranslatable. Nothing else we can come up with carries the connotations of Kiez. I do see things like "community hub" and such but still, those phrases pale in comparison, IMO.
7 hrs
agree Ramey Rieger (X) : Kiez District, definitely. There's nothing in the source text to imply a translation is necessary. It's where the buiölding was constructed.
11 hrs
Something went wrong...
14 hrs
German term (edited): Mitten in Kiez

in the heart of the village> in the middle of the action /in that neck of the woods/

The weblink into Spanish says barrio - that is literally a district.

Village can also used figuratively for an urban setting, as in the 'villages' of London, whereas in the middle of town could mean 'downtown' Berlin or Berlin City Centre / Center.

As some readers will know, Kiez in Germany is roughly on par in Wienerisch with Grätzl or Grätzel > 'kleiner Teil eines Wohnviertes; Umkreis' and that I am wont to translate as 'neck of the woods'.

Though I write 'action', Berlin-Weißensee - compared to the Austrian version as Weissensee in Carinthia - traditionally in GDR times used to be a backwater, rather than a vibrant neighbo/u/rhood such as Prenzlauer Berg these days, but I stand corrected.

PS query: untranslatable....

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Note added at 16 hrs (2021-10-07 09:28:42 GMT)
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Anm. zu Grätzel:

'Die Identität eines Grätzls wird durch die Unterscheidung von benachbarten Gegenden oder ein eigenes Lebensgefühl bestimmt. Wie beim Veedel in Köln und bei den *Kiezen in Berlin* handelt es sich bei einem Grätzl um eine „‚gefühlte‘ sozialräumliche, alltagsweltliche Kategorie“.[1] Dies rührt oft auch daher, dass das heutige Gebiet Wiens, abgesehen vom Stadtkern, ursprünglich aus vielen verschiedenen *Dörfern* bestand, die erst nach und nach zu einem Ganzen wurden.'
Example sentence:

Was bedeutet der Kiez? Bildergebnis für Kiez Das Wort kommt wahrscheinlich von dem slawischen "chyza" und bedeutet Hütte oder Haus. .... So geht man in Hamburg heute noch "auf den Kiez", wenn man die Reeperbahn besucht.

Kiez (Begriffsklärung) · Kiez, abgegrenztes Wohngebiet in Berlin · Kiez, Vergnügungsviertel in Hamburg-St. Pauli, insbesondere die Reeperbahn · Kietz (Siedlung) .

Reference:

http://www.wikiwords.org/dictionary/term/339202/676514

http://www.linguee.com/english-german/translation/in+the+middle+of+the+action.html

Something went wrong...
22 hrs

here: in the midst of the homonymous neighbo(ur)hood/neighbo(u)hood of the same name

Please see discussion entry...
Something went wrong...
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