rechtspolitisches Neuland

[candel]

Concerning a recent off-the-cuff remark by Merkel...Neuland...referring to the undiscovered country of the internet...Seibert tried to explain:

"Worum es der Kanzlerin geht - Das Internet ist rechtspolitisches Neuland, das spüren wir im polit.

As far as the Chancellor is concerned- The internet is an untamed legal-political wild West..

Is this the sense of it? Danke.

 

[Liam Lew's]

I think you grabbed it correctly. But what do you mean by "wild West". Do you mean "unknown territory/new ground"? Then your translation is correct. And "rechtspolitisches" is also translated correctly.

 

[lingpil]

"Neuland" can also be translated as "virgin soil" or "uncharted waters". I really like the last expression. Both of them fit in this case better then "wild West", since wild West is rather associated with a lack of rights, than with a lack of experience in a certain area.

 

[candel]

Yes Liam...it means "unknown, untamed territory" and refers to the settlers in America "taming" the "new" lands of the native inhabitants. As for lingpil's suggestions they are excellent...I do not know if they are better than my choice seeing as Neuland is rather vague and hence the internet furore over her choice of word...we are seeing that the internet is a bit of a lawless environment as states wrestle for control over it.

 

[Frank78]

As far as the Chancellor is concerned- The internet is an untamed legal-political wild West..

German does not distinguish between "politics" and "policy" in everday language but, I think, we need "policy" here because it is about content and not about processes.

 

[lingpil]

@Candel: The more I think about it, the more I realise, that the state feels a little bit helpless indeed, when it comes to introduce some rules on the Net. So "wild West" is in fact not a bad image.

Apologies for being so nassforsch in my first response.

 

[candel]

Very kind and generous of you lingpil..I actually liked yours too...funny thing a German friend of mine on here translated (in a private message)Neuland as wild west too...so it is a valid image among others...