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Glossary entry

German term or phrase:

charakterfrei

English translation:

lacking a moral compass / a stranger to morality

Added to glossary by Helen Shiner
Nov 1, 2012 11:35
11 yrs ago
German term

charakterfrei

German to English Art/Literary Poetry & Literature Political thriller
This is from a description of a character in a novel. From the other terms in the list, I get the basic idea but can't put my finger on how to express it. Something like "lacking in moral character", but snappier... Or is it more "characterless" - ie rather dull?

Thanks for any thoughts.

"Luce Brencis, intelligent, gebildet, ehrgeizig, skrupellos, **charakterfrei**, stimmte die Tatsache
zuversichtlich, dass er vom ehemaligen Inhaber und Aufsichtsratsvorsitzenden der Headline & Footage-
Gruppe – Eigentümerin der Texas Times – höchstpersönlich zu diesem Termin gebeten worden war."
Proposed translations (English)
4 +6 lacking a moral compass / a stranger to morality
4 insipid, wishy-washy
3 +1 every man's friend
4 spineless
3 bland
3 without a trace of character
3 utterly lacking moral fiber [or "fibre," depending which way you lean :-)]
3 with no trace of character
References
keinen Charakter haben
NS find it ambiguous to have "no character"
the character in question
Change log

Nov 1, 2012 11:45: Catharine Cellier-Smart changed "Language pair" from "French to English" to "German to English"

Nov 4, 2012 16:12: Helen Shiner Created KOG entry

Discussion

YorickJenkins Nov 2, 2012:
a fine weather friend I think this is a word, so far as I understand it, which is pretty well untranslatable. It has meanings which lead in several directions, so that nobody so far with their suggestions is necessarily right or wrong. I think you have to interpret what you think the writer wants to say to arrive at the most accurate rendering. For what it's worth, I think "fine weather friend" or "everyman's friend" is more likely to reflect the writer's intentions because "gnadenlos" would be the obvious choice had the writer meant "ruthless" and "charakterlos" for spineless or wishy-washy.
Wolf Draeger Nov 1, 2012:
Ruthless might work, though it is rather similar to unscrupulous. And it's hard to say whether the GER means unprincipled or boring.
Helen Shiner Nov 1, 2012:
@Jim Another good one.
Jim Tucker (X) Nov 1, 2012:
post, schmost "utterly devoid of scruples or morality"
Helen Shiner Nov 1, 2012:
@Jim Amoral is good, too. I guess we should both post our answers...
Jim Tucker (X) Nov 1, 2012:
w/ Helen +1 "Amoral" would fit the source text list better.
Helen Shiner Nov 1, 2012:
@ Rachel 'lacking a moral compass', or, more ironically, 'a stranger to morality'? I don't think it means he has no personality.
Cyril B. Nov 1, 2012:
It sounds like 1940 French? :)
Rachel Ward (asker) Nov 1, 2012:
Oops, sorry - so it is! Can a moderator change it, please?
polyglot45 Nov 1, 2012:
is this the right language pair? looks like German to me!!!!!

Proposed translations

+6
3 hrs
Selected

lacking a moral compass / a stranger to morality

See my discussion post.
Peer comment(s):
agree Jim Tucker (X) : dat is jut
2 hrs
Thanks, Jim - as are your suggestions
agree British Diana : exactly this - but is there another word for it (amoral?)//True, let's keep thinking..
4 hrs
Thanks, BD, Jim has proposed just that, though for me there are subtle differences between all the options proposed by me and him. Certainly lacking a moral compass is not reducible to amorality.
agree Cyril B.
10 hrs
Thanks, Cyril
agree Thayenga : Well done, Helen. :)
17 hrs
Thanks, Thayenga
agree Nicole Schnell : Yes.
17 hrs
Thanks, Nicole
agree Melanie Meyer
1 day 1 hr
Thanks, Melanie
Something went wrong...
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "Thanks Helen. On consulting the client, this seems to fit the meaning best. Will try to reduce the word count, though. ;-)"
29 mins

insipid, wishy-washy

and many more: wavery, sapless, namby-pamby, watery, immature, vague, no backbone
Peer comment(s):
neutral Jim Tucker (X) : can he be wishy-washy if he's unscrupulous?
2 hrs
good question...
neutral British Diana : These possibilities tend in a different direction. He is not insipid, he is lacking in moral fibre
7 hrs
OK, perhaps...
Something went wrong...
1 hr

bland

It seems that there are many possibilities, but given the string of adjectives preceding charakterfrei, bland could describe this ambitious yet unremarkable person.
Something went wrong...
+1
1 hr

every man's friend

my go...
Peer comment(s):
agree YorickJenkins : or "fine weather friend" -please also see my comments
21 hrs
Something went wrong...
2 hrs

without a trace of character

If you want to keep with the German.

From MW: character:
2 a : one of the attributes or features that make up and distinguish an individual

Something went wrong...
3 hrs

spineless

snap it

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 3 hrs (2012-11-01 14:54:09 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

ALSO

amoral
ruthless
unscrupulous
Machiavellian
Something went wrong...
3 hrs

utterly lacking moral fiber [or "fibre," depending which way you lean :-)]

To me the sense here has to be the opposite of "a person of character," so along the lines of Jim's or Helen's. I like the crispness of "utterly lacking" or "utterly devoid of"... "utterly devoid of/lacking (in) integrity" might be options...
Something went wrong...
1 day 5 hrs

with no trace of character

Example sentence from link:

"As a liar with no trace of character, he certainly possessed the most essential ingredient for being a successful womanizer."
Reference:

http://www.dcdave.com/article3/000409.html

Something went wrong...

Reference comments

1 hr
Reference:

keinen Charakter haben

Bedeutungen und Beispiele

individuelles Gepräge eines Menschen durch ererbte und erworbene Eigenschaften, wie es in seinem Wollen und Handeln zum Ausdruck kommt
Beispiele
einen guten, schwierigen Charakter haben
etwas prägt, formt den Charakter
[keinen] Charakter haben, zeigen, beweisen (sich [nicht] als zuverlässig o. Ä. erweisen)
sie ist eine Frau von Charakter (besitzt überwiegend positive Charaktereigenschaften)
Reference:

http://www.duden.de/rechtschreibung/Charakter

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8 hrs
Reference:

NS find it ambiguous to have "no character"

Reference:

http://hanswers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20081222211434AAiUrMF

Something went wrong...
1 day 12 hrs
Reference:

the character in question

is referenced in the comments [by Markusvilliger] about an article in Die Welt (first link below). From the use there of "amoralisch" and reading the blurb for the book named there on Amazon (second link), I'm sure we should be heading for 'amoral' and not 'insipid'.
Reference:

http://apps.stagenetbiscuits.dynetic.de/36370/welthtml5/comments.do?id=politik/ausland/article106129819/Der-Iran-die-Bombe-und-das-religioes

http://www.amazon.de/EXCESS-Verschw%C3%B6rung-zur-Weltregierung-ebook/dp/B00742N3LU/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1351899812&sr=1-1

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