RE: Tampere Go Club Evening at Pub Konttori

You are viewing a single comment's thread from:

Tampere Go Club Evening at Pub Konttori

in finland •  7 years ago  (edited)

What the hell is "asiallinen" in English? Jäykkä could be translated as "rigid", perhaps. Swedish has the exact same word as "asiallinen", namely "saklig".

The word asiallinen a description of an attitude that is serious and focused on the issues at hand. The word serious is often used in similar contexts meaning the same as vakavasti otettava (=someone/something to be taken seriously). Matter-of-factly is probably the single word closest in meaning to asiallinen.

So, the best translation to that I can think of is "Rigid but matter-of-factly service". Konttori is an old office space converted into a pub. Konttori means office.

Authors get paid when people like you upvote their post.
If you enjoyed what you read here, create your account today and start earning FREE STEEM!
Sort Order:  

Suitable or appropriate?

If you look at below dictionary definition of matter-of-factly, you might conclude that it is very close to the meaning of asiallinen in the following sentences, for example:

  1. Sukupuolielämän kysymyksiin tulee suhtautua asiallisesti ja kiihkottomasti.
  2. Lääkärin tulee suhtautua potilaan nololta tuntuviinkin huolenaiheisiin asiallisesti.
  3. Poliisin on suhtauduttava asiakkaisiinsa ammattimaisuutensa säilyttäen ja asiallisesti, vaikka he käyttäytyisivät kuinka provosoivasti.
1. adhering strictly to fact; not imaginative; prosaic; dry; commonplace: a matter-of-fact account of the political rally. 2. direct or unemotional; straightforward; down-to-earth.

Source

Ok. Matter-of-factly. I'll remember.

"Correct" or "proper" would actually sound better than "matter-of-factly" ;).

Maybe. "Matter-of-factly"is a rarely used word. Anyway, the crux of the matter is that there is no word whose meaning and connotations precisely match those of "asiallinen" in the English language. Words are not the strings or letters or the sounds that are used to signify them. They are abstractions whose meaning is not just in their relations with other words but the contexts in which they are used.

"Correct" and "proper" have Finnish translations that better match their meaning than "asiallinen", namely "korrekti, oikea" and "kunnollinen". In both, there is an element of moral judgement involved. When you are being "asiallinen", you deal strictly in fact and the task at hand
and nothing else, casting any moral judgement aside.

  ·  7 years ago (edited)

Both capture the meaning of "asiallinen" partly.

Maybe, but "pertinently" is only translated into "asiallisesti":

Spectacle.Z28260.png

Pertinent could maybe be better translated as "asiaankuuluva". The Finnish word "asiallinen" is most often used to describe a neutral and dispassionate attitude as in "asiallinen suhtautumistapa" or an action following such an attitude "asiallinen kysymys". Its opposite, "asiaton" not only carries same meaning as "irrelevant" but "improper" and/or "offensive" as well.

I think the bottom line is that you cannot always translate everything with high precision.

I checked one of my English books and matter-of-factly was translated as asiallisesti

20180227_010932_20180227011207774.jpg

Yes, you're right. It goes like this.

Noun: matter of fact
Adjective: matter-of-fact
Adverb: matter-of-factly

Decent. Maybe?