Glossary entry (derived from question below)
German term or phrase:
über die Linie
English translation:
all / about the direction
Added to glossary by
Alexander Schleber (X)
Jun 27, 2012 12:14
11 yrs ago
2 viewers *
German term
United Kingdom
Explore new worlds with translation
Native in: English (Variant: British) 
Works in: German to English, French to English, English
über die Linie
German to English
Bus/Financial
Business/Commerce (general)
I am stuck on the sentence below. I am not sure whether 'über die Linie' is part of 'der Mitarbeitenden' or 'beantworten zu können'. It is a Q&A list about a company changing its legal structure.
Das vorliegende Q&A dient dem Kader des Unternehmens, allfällige Fragen der Mitarbeitenden über die Linie beantworten zu können.
Das vorliegende Q&A dient dem Kader des Unternehmens, allfällige Fragen der Mitarbeitenden über die Linie beantworten zu können.
Proposed translations
(English)
| 3 +3 | all / about the direction |
Alexander Schleber (X)
|
| 3 | leave it out |
Susan Welsh
|
| 3 | through the business unit |
Joseph Given (X)
|
| 4 -1 | On the line (for telephone conversation) |
Salih YILDIRIM
|
| 3 | see sentence |
Ramey Rieger (X)
|
| 3 | covering all questions |
Monique Dressel
|
References
| über die Linie |
oa_xxx (X)
|
Change log
Jul 7, 2012 16:18: Alexander Schleber (X) Created KOG entry
Proposed translations
+3
25 mins
Alexander Schleber (X)
Belgium
Native in German
&
English
Specializes in field
Related KudoZ points
:
256
Selected
all / about the direction
to answer all questions
or
to answer questions about the direction
über die Linie => in their entirety / about the direction.
Either answer could fit - your choice.
or
to answer questions about the direction
über die Linie => in their entirety / about the direction.
Either answer could fit - your choice.
Peer comment(s):
| neutral |
Joseph Given (X)
: Whether management would promise to answer all questions completely? :) What I mean there is, that management don't generally promise to answer all questions.
7 mins
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It doesn't promise to answer all questiosn, it (maybe) says that the Q&A serves to answer all questions.
|
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| agree |
BrigitteHilgner
: So verstehe ich das auch.
1 hr
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Thanks
|
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| agree |
Horst Huber (X)
: Quite. The sentence suffers from the common but annoying overuse of the tag "zu können".
1 hr
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Thanks
|
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| agree |
Usch Pilz
: or about all principal issues
1 hr
|
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer.
7 mins
Susan Welsh
United States
United States
Native in English
Works in field
United States
Psychology, economics, politics
Native in: English
Works in: Russian to English, German to English, English
Related KudoZ points
:
24
leave it out
I can't see that it adds anything, and would leave it out. As far as I can see, it just means that the FAQ is intended to answer employees' questions.
Peer comment(s):
| neutral |
KarnEvil (X)
: that's the easy way out. The answers come from line management
8 mins
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Thanks
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|
| neutral |
Joseph Given (X)
: No, it's too important to leave out
9 mins
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Thanks
|
16 mins
through the business unit
I can imagine it has something to do with Linienmanagement - "line-management", where line refers to the different lines of business.
that is "business unit" in some companies, though every company has another way of expressing it.
So in this context, the questions are taken in centrally and the answers distributed through the "lines" of the business units.
that is "business unit" in some companies, though every company has another way of expressing it.
So in this context, the questions are taken in centrally and the answers distributed through the "lines" of the business units.
-1
6 hrs
Salih YILDIRIM
United States
United States
United States
Meticulous, scrupulous, curious work!
Native in: Turkish (Variant: Standard-İstanbul ) 
Works in: Turkish to English, English to Turkish, French to Turkish, and 1 more.
On the line (for telephone conversation)
Imho
17 hrs
see sentence
My interpretation of Orla's reference - it seems important to specify that the entire staff is informed of decisions/answers to their questions
Example sentence:
...to inform the entire staff/all co-workers/staff members of answers to each/every co-worker/staff member question
4 days
Monique Dressel
Native in German
Specializes in field
Reliable and professional
Native in: German
Works in: English to German, Dutch to German
covering all questions
The way I understand the sentence the Q&A is supposed to answer all possible questions, not questions regarding a specific topic.
Reference comments
4 hrs
Reference:
über die Linie
Assuming this text is from Switzerland or Austria (as indicated by allfällige), these 2 references might be of interest - before I saw them was about to agree with Alexander Schleber and have certainly never come across the expression in texts from (north) Germany
"Am PR-Symposium in Bern, wo Hasler als Referent
auftrat, machte er aber auch deutlich, dass bei Change-Prozessen die Führungskommunikation (über die Linie) entscheidender ist als das Informieren via Hauszeitung oder Intranet."
Lubow: “In einem modernen Unternehmen gehört es zum Muss, innerhalb kurzer Frist flächendeckend alle Mitarbeitenden erreichen zu können. Je nach Bedarf kommunizieren wir kaskadenartig, das heisst über die Linie, oder setzen Instrumente wie Intranet, Mitarbeiterzeitung oder E-Mail an alle ein.”
P.1 in the section WIE INFORMIERT MAN 52 000 MITARBEITENDE? and from the interview on p. 4 of "STIEFKIND INTERNE KOMMUNIKATION"
(see also p. 3 of the same article - "mit gezielter Top-down-
Kommunikation über die Linie")
2nd Link:
This one is actually German I've just realised - but they seem to be based in Bavaria so still think its a term from the south - I may well be wrong tho!
"Das kann entweder eine kleine, eigens für diesen Zweck zusammengestellte und geschulte Truppe von "Wanderpredigern" sein, oder man geht den Weg über die Linie, also über die Führungshierarchie. Ersteren Weg wird man eher dann wählen, wenn es darum geht, das ganze Unternehmen bzw. den gesamten Konzern mit einer neuen Methode oder einem Programm vertraut zu machen, das flächendeckend "ausgerollt" werden soll. Der letztere Weg bietet sich eher für die fortlaufende Information über Projektinhalte und -ergebnisse an."
S. also "Warum die Kommunikation über die "Linie" häufig nicht funktioniert"
I do not think this has anything to do with line management, it would be a possibility depending on the structure of the company - but from these texts it does seem that Joseph Given_'s answer above is closer to what they mean - literally passing information "down the line" - management hierarchy, top-down etc.
--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 4 hrs (2012-06-27 16:39:23 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------
(1st excerpts are from the 1st link in case that wasn't clear!)
"Am PR-Symposium in Bern, wo Hasler als Referent
auftrat, machte er aber auch deutlich, dass bei Change-Prozessen die Führungskommunikation (über die Linie) entscheidender ist als das Informieren via Hauszeitung oder Intranet."
Lubow: “In einem modernen Unternehmen gehört es zum Muss, innerhalb kurzer Frist flächendeckend alle Mitarbeitenden erreichen zu können. Je nach Bedarf kommunizieren wir kaskadenartig, das heisst über die Linie, oder setzen Instrumente wie Intranet, Mitarbeiterzeitung oder E-Mail an alle ein.”
P.1 in the section WIE INFORMIERT MAN 52 000 MITARBEITENDE? and from the interview on p. 4 of "STIEFKIND INTERNE KOMMUNIKATION"
(see also p. 3 of the same article - "mit gezielter Top-down-
Kommunikation über die Linie")
2nd Link:
This one is actually German I've just realised - but they seem to be based in Bavaria so still think its a term from the south - I may well be wrong tho!
"Das kann entweder eine kleine, eigens für diesen Zweck zusammengestellte und geschulte Truppe von "Wanderpredigern" sein, oder man geht den Weg über die Linie, also über die Führungshierarchie. Ersteren Weg wird man eher dann wählen, wenn es darum geht, das ganze Unternehmen bzw. den gesamten Konzern mit einer neuen Methode oder einem Programm vertraut zu machen, das flächendeckend "ausgerollt" werden soll. Der letztere Weg bietet sich eher für die fortlaufende Information über Projektinhalte und -ergebnisse an."
S. also "Warum die Kommunikation über die "Linie" häufig nicht funktioniert"
I do not think this has anything to do with line management, it would be a possibility depending on the structure of the company - but from these texts it does seem that Joseph Given_'s answer above is closer to what they mean - literally passing information "down the line" - management hierarchy, top-down etc.
--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 4 hrs (2012-06-27 16:39:23 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------
(1st excerpts are from the 1st link in case that wasn't clear!)
Reference:
http://www.br-sprg.ch/files/Artikel_Claude_Weill652.pdf
http://www.umsetzungsberatung.de/methoden/promotion-package.php?layout=druck
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