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Glossary entry

German term or phrase:

Dreiecksschluss

English translation:

closing/completing the triangle; triangular conclusion

Added to glossary by Susan Welsh
Oct 22, 2015 18:14
8 yrs ago
German term

Dreiecksschluss

German to English Social Sciences Psychology Business-focussed Invento
This is a metaphor for some sort of paradox, but how to translate??

Wer sich darüber hinaus als emotional stabil und selbstbewusst beschreibt, geht auch vermehrt aktiv auf andere zu ...Hieraus ergibt sich, **sozusagen im Dreiecksschluss**: Wer auf der Karriereleiter hoch hinaus will (und zu entsprechenden Anstrengungen bereit ist, s. o.), bemüht sich auch in sozialen Situationen aktiv aufzutreten, um Kontakte zu knüpfen und auf andere einzuwirken (rEN,SO = .33), und ist laut eigenen Aussagen eher bereit, seine persönlichen Zielvorstellungen ggf. auch gegen Widerstände durchzusetzen (rEN,DO = .30).
Proposed translations (English)
3 +1 closing/completing the triangle
3 waging a war on three fronts
4 -1 in a roundabout way
2 +1 triadic closure
3 three-pronged conclusion

Discussion

Daniel Arnold (X) Oct 23, 2015:
@Oliver Toogood.... seems the verdict hasn't come in your way.......
Johanna Timm, PhD Oct 23, 2015:
Dreicksschluss might well be a play on Umkehrschluss, Fehlschluss, in the sense of "rule, theorem"; but not an actual rule("sozusagen"), but one made up, here, for illustrative purposes
Susan Welsh (asker) Oct 23, 2015:
triangles Many thanks ladies, for your diligent efforts! While "triadic closure" seems to fit the meaning, I'm inclining back toward Armorel's original suggestion. Given the "sozusagen," the term seems to be used in a metaphorical sense, a "coined" word in this context, whereas "triadic closure" sounds like an actual technical term, which it seems it is not in my case. Here's what I've got for the segment: "This results in what one might call a 'closed triangle': Those who want to go high on the career ladder (and are willing to exert themselves to do so) are also keen to make contact in social situations and interact with others (rCOM, SO = .33), and, judging from their own statements, they are more eager to promote their personal goals, if necessary against opposition(rCOM, DO = .30)."
EN = Engagement (German) = Commitment (English); SO = Social Competence; DO = Dominance
Armorel, if you'd like, post your original answer. I'll wait and see if others speak up before closing the question.
Ramey Rieger (X) Oct 23, 2015:
Pyramid? Okay, I've checked five different architecture dicts, none of which have a translation for this particular term But THEN, it occured to me, that the image could be referring to a PYRAMID. "This brings one, so to speak, to the top of the pyramid..."
Ramey Rieger (X) Oct 23, 2015:
Thanks Armorel So the architectural metaphor could also be accurate, when the term in the ST has been misspelled. Here, the Dreickschluss is called a delta circuit element. The idea is that the three points (although it looks like four on the google images) gather to form a pointed roof (number 5 under CLAIMS). So this would be a good metaphor for someone striving to reach the pinnacle.
http://www.google.com/patents/DE3607790A1?cl=en
(3) by means of a delta circuit element. (5)
Armorel Young Oct 23, 2015:
And for that matter ... DO is Dominanz (but I don't think that is part of the triangle)
Armorel Young Oct 23, 2015:
Off the top of my head ... ... I believe that EN is Engagement (the German term), SO is Sozialkompetenz and ST is Stabilität. The text is about how these three dimensions of a personality test are correlated.
Ramey Rieger (X) Oct 23, 2015:
im not einem The Go-getter is him/her self IN the triadic closure (?), having connected to all three (?) predominant aspects of attaining success. Can someone enlighten me on the abbreviatiosn?
BrigitteHilgner Oct 23, 2015:
@Susan Welsh Take a close look: there is "Dreieckschluss" (just one "s" after the triangle) and that term relates to architecture - something completely different. "Dreiecksschluss" (two "s" after the triangle) is rather rare and in some cases a misspelling.
Susan Welsh (asker) Oct 23, 2015:
@Brigitte Actually, there are quite a few G-hits on the German Google:
https://www.google.de/search?hl=de&q=dreieckschluss -dict.cc...
Ramey Rieger (X) Oct 23, 2015:
Okay Armorel Let's give it a whirl.
Armorel Young Oct 23, 2015:
Seems to me ... that "triadic closure" is likely to be right here. I think Ramey should post it as an answer.
Ramey Rieger (X) Oct 23, 2015:
Thanks Armorel I cannot find any reference to Dreiecksschluss in the German text, yet the concept could be what is described here - only transferred onto one individual. There's an insane trend towards transferring terminology to fit one's own definition these days...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georg_Simmel#Social_geometry
Armorel Young Oct 23, 2015:
Nice one, Ramey I hadn't heard the term, but that Wikipedia definition says "Triadic closure is the property among three nodes A, B, and C, such that if a strong tie exists between A-B and A-C, there is a weak or strong tie between B-C." which is indeed precisely what I am describing .

It s particulary interesting that Wikipedia says the term was coined by a German, Georg Simmel, in a book called "Soziologie" - so it was presumably originally a German term. Did he call it "Dreieckschluss", I wonder?
Ramey Rieger (X) Oct 23, 2015:
If you google the English as Armorel states it, you come up with "triadic closure", a term from social media, which refers to relationships between three people. Perhaps this is an analogy for the same?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triadic_closure
Armorel Young Oct 23, 2015:
As others have said ... r is the usual symbol for the correlation coefficient (probably the Pearson product moment coefficient) - it can take values between 0 and 1 (or -1 if there is a negative correlation). So the text is simply saying, for example, that there is a correlation of r = .32 between the two dimensions EN and ST - that's a modest but nevertheless clear correlation. All very standard statistical stuff.

For me the image of the 3 linked points of a triangle is clear here - perhaps "completing the triangle" would work if "closing the triangle" doesn't.
BrigitteHilgner Oct 23, 2015:
There are virtually no google hits ... for "Dreiecksschluss" with the exception of the text which you mention (Petra Galléri, Carolin Winter) - so it's probably an invented term.
My father used to say that one would have to "um drei Ecken denken" whenever a solution to a problem could not be found by direct approach. A common translation of "um die Ecke denken" seems to be "to think laterally". Might this lead somewhere in this context?
Susan Welsh (asker) Oct 22, 2015:
r Ooof, I don't know. My husband found "correlation coefficient" in a list of English statistics symbols. However, I don't need to translate this, assuming the abbreviation is the same in English and German. I was only trying to understand the sentence!
Johanna Timm, PhD Oct 22, 2015:
Susan Found on p. 206 here:
https://goo.gl/7Z4p60
Anmerkungen k= Anzahl der Effektstärken; N= Anzahl der Teilnehmer; r= Populationskorrelation; p= attenuationskorrigierte Populationskorrelation.

Susan Welsh (asker) Oct 22, 2015:
appearance was misleading It turns out that the Word file given to me by the client did not capture the actual formatting of the PDF it came from: The format should be r[subscript EN,ST] etc. I still don't know what the "r" stands for, but the formatting might (?) have given me a clue to look at the factor abbreviations.
Johanna Timm, PhD Oct 22, 2015:
if „Schluss“ - rule, theorem, and sticking with the image of the triangle as Armorel described it, one could maybe say
" ... in line, as it were, with the rule of the equilateral triangle..."
Susan Welsh (asker) Oct 22, 2015:
Oh! Thanks, Armorel. I didn't think of those ENs and STs and SOs as being abbreviations of the factors discussed in the BIP inventory, but assumed that they (with the "r" in front) were some sort of statistical mumbo-jumbo hitherto unknown to me! I don't think "closing the triangle" will work as a translation, but you've given me the concept. Do you know what the "r" means?
Armorel Young Oct 22, 2015:
"closing the triangle" I think this is the meaning of "Dreieckschluss", although whether it works as a translation is less certain.

I happen to have the full version of this text, which says

"Wer robust mit beruflichen Belastungen umgeht, ist eher bereit, sich in besonderem Maße zu engagieren (rEN,ST = .32). Wer sich darüber hinaus als emotional stabil und selbstbewusst beschreibt, geht auch vermehrt aktiv auf andere zu (rSO,ST = .31). Hieraus ergibt sich, sozusagen im Dreiecksschluss: Wer auf der Karriereleiter hoch hinaus will (und zu entsprechenden Anstrengungen bereit ist, s. o.), bemüht sich auch in sozialen Situationen aktiv aufzutreten, um Kontakte zu knüpfen und auf andere einzuwirken (rEN,SO = .33) ..."

If we imagine EN, SO and ST as the 3 points of a triangle, the text first says that EN and ST are linked - so that's a line between the two points. Then we find that SO and ST are linked - so both EN and SO are linked to ST, giving us a V shape. Finally, "sozusagen im Dreieckschluss" we find that EN and SO are also correlated - so that is a line between EN and SO, forming the third side of the triangle and closing it up.
Donald Jacobson Oct 22, 2015:
Maybe this will help How to Write a Conclusion - MHS Writing Center
Weebly › mhswritingcenter › how-to-wri...
Mobile-friendly - If you use the reverse-triangle method for writing your introduction, use the triangle method to organize your conclusion.

Proposed translations

+1
21 hrs
Selected

closing/completing the triangle

I wouldn't want to get too carried away with metaphorical or emotive language here - I think is simply about the triangular relationship between 3 variables: EN correlates with ST, SO correlates with ST and then EN correlates with SO.
Peer comment(s):
agree TonyTK : This will also be readily understood by the reader. In view of the "sozusagen", I was thinking of something like "joining the dots", but that wouldn't really work.
31 mins
Something went wrong...
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "Thanks everybody! That was a good cooperative effort."
23 mins

waging a war on three fronts

Whoever describes themselves as emotionally stable and self- aware also comes over as increasing pro-active to others, and from that basis, " wages war on three fronts"; those who want to get to the top of the career ladder ( and are prepared to put in the effort it takes, see above) tries to put him/herself over in a positive light in social situations, in tying up contacts , and have an effect on others , and by his own admission, is more likely to see through his personal goals to their natural conclusion, as well as overcoming any obstacles on the way;
Peer comment(s):
agree Arslon Matkarimov : ok
26 mins
Thanks!
disagree Daniel Arnold (X) : Sorry but this has nothing to do with it at all... it actually is, mate... you are assuming because my last name is German I am not a native speaker.... that's a solid approach I would say.... you dont get the meaning, that's the problem
28 mins
I don't think you get the metaphor because it isn't in your native language;// either way, you don't get the metaphor;
Something went wrong...
-1
50 mins

in a roundabout way

I know this as "über 3 Ecken" in German.... "in a roundabout way" in English. See links and Google.
Reference:

http://www.linguee.de/englisch-deutsch/uebersetzung/in+a+roundabout+way.html

https://www.dict.cc/?s=in+a+roundabout+way

Peer comment(s):
disagree Andrew Bramhall : Given the extreme directness and forthrightness required in ascending the slippery career pole, this is actually one of the least likely / well laugh even more then;(but not while you're walking around a roundabout, you may get knocked down)
26 mins
I can only laugh.
Something went wrong...
+1
14 hrs

triadic closure

This could be the term you're looking for, although I perceive it more as a transferral than a metaphor.
Peer comment(s):
agree Armorel Young : Sounds right to me - seems to fit what is being described.
5 mins
Yes, Armorel. I'm curious as to how other colleagues think about it. Have a lovely weekend, the weather looks promising.
Something went wrong...
30 mins

three-pronged conclusion

This scenario is only mildly paradoxical, if at all. In fact, this author seems to attempt to explain that there are three characteristics or behaviors that are inextricably intertwined.

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Note added at 3 hrs (2015-10-22 21:43:43 GMT)
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Or perhaps even "logical triad, as it were?" I thought that was a philosophical term but people seem to slap that on almost anything..

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Note added at 21 hrs (2015-10-23 15:30:16 GMT)
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I would just go with “triangular conclusion” at this point…

Here’s your triangle:

self-confidence – great social network – willingness to advance own goals

“Individuals who also describe themselves as emotionally stable and self-confident tend to engage more with others. This leaves us with a triangular conclusion, as it were. Those with high career aspirations are also more likely to take an active role socially by making contacts, influencing others and, by their own admission, are more willing to see through their own ideas against resistance.”
Note from asker:
I understand it as paradoxical in the sense that the person wants to claw his way to the top of the ladder, while also being a sociable individual. What does it mean literally? I find it describing church architecture, among other things! http://www.pfarrei-menzberg.ch/index.php?id=35
That's a good idea. And you were certainly right that it is not paradoxical. I've come a long way in 24 hours (or whatever it is), from looking at church architecture!
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