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> German commentators warned of a “Fremdenfeindschaft,” “stranger-as-enemy relationship” endemic to the Chinese. That never translated into other tongues. Inste
by rob74 5y ago
> German commentators warned of a “Fremdenfeindschaft,” “stranger-as-enemy relationship” endemic to the Chinese. That never translated into other tongues. Instead, the French xénophobie infiltrated English, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, and more.
"stranger-as-enemy relationship"?! Did someone use Google Translate here? No, "Fremdenfeindschaft" or "Fremdenfeindlichkeit" ("enmity towards strangers") is actually the usual German translation of "Xenophobia" ("fear of strangers") - see https://neueswort.de/xenophobie/ https://neueswort.de/xenophobie/.
- cjpearson 5y agoIt's an awkward literal translation, but I see the author's thinking in how they break it apart. I've seen "Freundschaft" translated as either "amity" or "friendship". Going off of Duden (I'm not a native speaker), it seems "Feindschaft" also has two definitions. The first is a hostile attitude towards another person, and the second is a relationship defined by this attitude. I'd translate the first as "enmity", but unless you consider "enemyship" to be a word there isn't a perfect translation for the second definition. Xenophobia is the best translation based on actual usage, but the words still have noticeably different roots. "stranger-enmity"/"stranger-enemyship" vs "stranger-fear".