Re: Correct English terms (was: Re: [ox-en] Fwd: Oekonux comments on Copyfarleft.)
- From: graham <graham theseamans.net>
- Date: Tue, 15 Jan 2008 21:48:10 +0000
Christoph Reuss wrote:
graham wrote:
Anyhow, a comment on language rather than contents:
Arbeit/arbeitskraft are normally translated as labour/labour-power.
The phrase 'work force' or 'labour force' means "all the individuals
employed by a particular enterprise", it never means arbeitskraft.
If you really prefer not to use 'labour power' because it is too
technical (ie. only used by marxists) then 'ability to work'
(arbeitsvermogen) would be a possibility.
How about "manpower" for "Arbeitskraft"?
(that's from http://dict.leo.org )
Then I think it is wrong. 'Manpower' is the name of an agency which
provides temporary staff for employers ;-)
Googling shows the majority use of the word is again to mean 'employees'
- but to my surprise, wikipedia agrees with you.
More seriously, the English translation of the first volume of Capital
was approved by Marx personally. It is available on marxists.org; you
can check the terms he agreed with there. This isn't just an appeal to
authority - in my experience the only english-speaking people who use
the concept of 'arbeitskraft' are marxists, which is why there is no
generally-used non-technical term for the concept.
Cheers
Graham
Chris
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_________________________________
Web-Site: http://www.oekonux.org/
Organization: http://www.oekonux.de/projekt/
Contact: projekt oekonux.de