Usage of Kiez

English translation: community hub

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)

German term or phrase:	Kiez
English translation:	community hub
Entered by:	Sebastian Witte

17:24 Oct 6, 2021

German to English translations [PRO]
Social Sciences - Social Science, Sociology, Ethics, etc. / Berlin and beyond

German term or phrase: Usage of Kiez

DE:
„Durch unseren Austausch mit Expertinnen und Experten, unseren Besuchen vor Ort und die Workshops konnten wir viele gute Praxismodelle kennenlernen.
Eines kommt von der Organisation leben lernen in Berlin.
Sie hat ein Wohnhaus in Berlin-Weißensee, ***mitten im Kiez***, errichtet.
In einigen Wohnungen leben Frauen und Männer ohne Behinderung, in anderen leben Wohngruppen mit Menschen mit hohem Unterstützungsbedarf.
Durch die zentrale Lage ist es auch ohne großen Aufwand möglich, mal eben gemeinsam zum Bäcker oder ins Kino zu gehen.
Außerdem habe ich im Rahmen von teilnehmenden Beobachtungen festgestellt:
Die Bewohnerinnen und Bewohner werden nach ihrer Meinung gefragt.
Beispielsweise bestimmen sie mit, wo, wann und was sie frühstücken oder wie sie ihre Freizeit gestalten möchten.
Leider ist das bislang alles andere als selbstverständlich.

EN:
It has built a tenement in the Weissensee District of Berlin, ***in a real Kiez***.

Or dwellinghouse.

So my question is about the proper usage of the English loan word Kiez, which originates from German. The problem is that I have never been to Weißensee and do not know it in any other way either so ...

Sebastian Witte KudoZ activity Questions: 1501 (none open) (73 closed without grading) Answers: 1077 Germany
Local time: 18:39

vibrant neighborhood (or community/neighborhood hub in other contexts)

Explanation:
Kiez is tricky. I'm currently translating a leasing pitch for a new shopping mall in Berlin that uses "Kiez" all the time and I find the translation very much depends on the specific context/usage. But something like "community/neighborhood hub" sometimes works. This is a great German word that unfortunately has no English equivalent.

In this case:

"Sie hat ein Wohnhaus in Berlin-Weißensee, ***mitten im Kiez***, errichtet."

"It [i.e. the leben lernen organization] has built a residential building in a vibrant neighborhood right in the middle/midst of Berlin-Weissensee"

BTW they're not saying the Weissenberg itself is "a real Kiez" but that the building is located in the Weissenberg Kiez, i.e. in the most interesting/fun section of Weissenberg or however you want to think of that.

I'd suggest avoiding "tenament" as that can have rather negative connotations ("A rundown, low-rental apartment building whose facilities and maintenance barely meet minimum standards."). A "Wohnhaus" is simply a "residential (apartment) building" (US English).

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 36 mins (2021-10-06 18:00:56 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

sorry, "they're not saying *that* Weissenberg..."

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 39 mins (2021-10-06 18:03:25 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Perhaps more clear than "in the middle of Berlin-Weissenberg" would be "in the middle of Berlin's Weissenberg district".

Selected response from:

Susan Starling
Local time: 18:39

Grading comment

Thanks very much.
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer

Summary of answers provided

3 +3

vibrant neighborhood (or community/neighborhood hub in other contexts)

Susan Starling

3 +2

Kiez (district)

Gordon Matthews

in the heart of the village> in the middle of the action /in that neck of the woods/

Adrian MM.

here: in the midst of the homonymous neighbo(ur)hood/neighbo(u)hood of the same name

uyuni

Discussion entries: 4

uyuni

Ein "Kiez"

14:34 Oct 7, 2021

ist schon ein enger begrenztes Wohngebiet, meist unterhalb der Gliederungsebene eines Bezirks. Er muss auch nicht zwangsläufig heruntergekommen oder vice versa "vibrant" sein. Der Begriff impliziert für mich räumliche Nähe, vom Sehen bekannte Nachbarn, vertraute Geschäfte u.a.m. Beispiel: der "Schillerkiez"in der näheren Umgebung des Herrfurthplatzes und der Schillerpromenade in Berlin, Bezirk (!) Neukölln oder mein alter Eimsbüttler Kiez in HH: Stadtteilkiez im erheblich größeren und auch andere Stadteile umfassenden hamburgischen Verwaltungsbezirk (!) Eimsbüttel.

In Lateinamerika wäre hier "barrio" passend:
"Die südamerikanischen Barrios sind weit mehr als nur Stadtteile, sondern bezeichnen ein ganz besonderes Lebensgefühl, soziales Gefüge, Musik, Kultur, die sich von Barrio zu Barrio erheblich unterscheiden".
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barrio

"Barrio is a Spanish word that means "quarter" or "neighborhood". In the modern Spanish language, it is generally defined as each area of a city, usually differentiated by functional social, architectural or morphological features."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barrio

All that being said tendiere ich hier deutlich zu "neighbo(ur)hood

Ramey Rieger (X)

Germany

Wohnhaus

07:21 Oct 7, 2021

= apartment house. Tenement is a poorly maintained building in a slum.

Gordon Matthews

Germany

Kiez: neighbourhood/district/commune

19:27 Oct 6, 2021

I've been pondering about what the equivalent to a "Kiez" might be in London. Brixton would fit the bill rather well, I think. How would Londoners refer to Brixton, I wonder? It is too big to be a "neighbourhood". But it is only part of the London borough of Lambeth, so "borough" won't do as a translation of "Kiez". I might post "district" as an answer, although it doesn't carry the connotation of "Kiez" as a part of the capital, to which those who live there and especially those who were born there have a fierce loyalty.

Sebastian Witte

Germany

ASKER

17:53 Oct 6, 2021

=> in an actual Kiez?

Answers

35 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +3

Kiez

vibrant neighborhood (or community/neighborhood hub in other contexts)

Susan Starling
Local time: 18:39
Meets criteria
Native speaker of:

English
PRO pts in category: 4

Grading comment

Thanks very much.

Notes to answerer

Asker: Although you have suggested "vibrant neighborhood", I have actually put your alternative option "community hub". Weißensee - Berlin.de https://www.berlin.de › ... › Stadtteile Weißensee ist ein bisschen unscheinbar, liebenswert und kleinstädtisch. Hier ist es ruhiger als in den Szenebezirken aber dennoch urban.

2 hrs confidence:

peer agreement (net): +2

Kiez (district)

Explanation:
I think "Kiez" is virtually untranslatable, so I would be inclined not to translate the word, but to provide an approximate translation, such as "district", in parentheses. I prefer "district" to "neighbourhood", because one finds a number of neighbourhoods within a Kiez. The problem with "district" is that it doesn't convey the emotional attachment that the inhabitants have to their Kiez, so it doesn't make clear how important it is that the apartment building is "in the middle of the Kiez (district)".

Gordon Matthews
Germany
Local time: 18:39
Meets criteria
Specializes in field
Native speaker of:

English
PRO pts in category: 4

14 hrs confidence:

Mitten in Kiez in the heart of the village> in the middle of the action /in that neck of the woods/

Explanation:
The weblink into Spanish says barrio - that is literally a district.

Village can also used figuratively for an urban setting, as in the 'villages' of London, whereas in the middle of town could mean 'downtown' Berlin or Berlin City Centre / Center.

As some readers will know, Kiez in Germany is roughly on par in Wienerisch with Grätzl or Grätzel > 'kleiner Teil eines Wohnviertes; Umkreis' and that I am wont to translate as 'neck of the woods'.

Though I write 'action', Berlin-Weißensee - compared to the Austrian version as Weissensee in Carinthia - traditionally in GDR times used to be a backwater, rather than a vibrant neighbo/u/rhood such as Prenzlauer Berg these days, but I stand corrected.

PS query: untranslatable....

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 16 hrs (2021-10-07 09:28:42 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Anm. zu Grätzel:

'Die Identität eines Grätzls wird durch die Unterscheidung von benachbarten Gegenden oder ein eigenes Lebensgefühl bestimmt. Wie beim Veedel in Köln und bei den *Kiezen in Berlin* handelt es sich bei einem Grätzl um eine „‚gefühlte‘ sozialräumliche, alltagsweltliche Kategorie“.[1] Dies rührt oft auch daher, dass das heutige Gebiet Wiens, abgesehen vom Stadtkern, ursprünglich aus vielen verschiedenen *Dörfern* bestand, die erst nach und nach zu einem Ganzen wurden.'

Example sentence(s):

Was bedeutet der Kiez? Bildergebnis für Kiez Das Wort kommt wahrscheinlich von dem slawischen "chyza" und bedeutet Hütte oder Haus. .... So geht man in Hamburg heute noch "auf den Kiez", wenn man die Reeperbahn besucht.
Kiez (Begriffsklärung) · Kiez, abgegrenztes Wohngebiet in Berlin · Kiez, Vergnügungsviertel in Hamburg-St. Pauli, insbesondere die Reeperbahn · Kietz (Siedlung) .

Reference: http://www.wikiwords.org/dictionary/term/339202/676514
Reference: http://www.linguee.com/english-german/translation/in+the+mid...

Adrian MM.
Austria
Meets criteria
Native speaker of:

English
PRO pts in category: 8

22 hrs confidence:

here: in the midst of the homonymous neighbo(ur)hood/neighbo(u)hood of the same name

Explanation:
Please see discussion entry...

uyuni
Local time: 18:39
Does not meet criteria
Native speaker of:

German

Login or register (free and only takes a few minutes) to participate in this question.

You will also have access to many other tools and opportunities designed for those who have language-related jobs (or are passionate about them). Participation is free and the site has a strict confidentiality policy.

Return to KudoZ list

KudoZ™ translation help

The KudoZ network provides a framework for translators and others to assist each other with translations or explanations of terms and short phrases.

See also:

ProZ.com term search

Search millions of term translations

Usage of Kiez

English translation: community hub

Answers

KudoZ™ translation help

Your current localization setting

Select a language

Usage of Kiez

English translation: community hub

Answers

KudoZ™ translation help

You have native languages that can be verified

Your current localization setting

Select a language