Tell me more ×
German Language & Usage Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for speakers of German wanting to discuss the finer points of the language and translation. It's 100% free, no registration required.
up vote 6 down vote favorite

How would you translate the German word "Tanzverbot" and more interesting, Why can't I find any ("official") translation online, nor a wikipedia article about the issue, even though (probably) Germany is not the only country that had and has this issue?

Wikipedia article: "Tanzverbot"

I guess that asking for resources on the topic might not be consider as on-topic according to the faq-rules, if you feel it is inappropriate, please ignore this part of the question.

share|improve this question
1  
@Gigili: OP seems to be looking for a translation (probably into English). There does not appear to be an English Wikipedia article. – bitmask Feb 5 '12 at 20:08
1  
@bitmask I think, you don't find an article on WP, because there isn't any word in English that expresses such a thing. .... At grundwald2.0: But this could be a good question on ELU ;p – Em1 Feb 5 '12 at 20:20
1  
@userunknown I agree. I am waiting for a statement to clarify the question's intention. – Em1 Feb 6 '12 at 7:32
5  
Translation requests from German to English are on topic here (we do have other similar questions that were not closed). This even more so when a requested word does not exist in English and thus can not be easily looked up in a dictionary. Why should people from ELU know better what a German Tanzverbot is? – Takkat♦ Feb 6 '12 at 9:14
1  
@Takkat: grunwald2.0 knows what a Tanzverbot is. He doesn't know what the english word for it is, which might require an expert for the English language. You can learn better and better German but will not learn the English term that way. It's not about nuances of the German language. – user unknown Feb 6 '12 at 9:53
show 9 more comments

1 Answer

up vote 6 down vote accepted

If I guess right, you're looking for an English word.

I think there are two words that fit in this context.

  1. ban:

    Ban is an official or legal prohibition Oxford Dictionaries

    Several people were arrested Saturday afternoon at the Jefferson Memorial, protesting the recent court decision that upheld a ban on dancing at the memorial. Source

    Dance clubs hope for £150 million windfall as Home Office moves to change 1790 Act that bans dancing on the Sabbath Guardian

  2. prohibition:

    Prohibition is the action of forbidding something, especially by law Oxford Dictionaries

    You can also use prohibition in religious contexts.

    In extreme evangelical colleges, like Baylor University in Texas, Wheaton College in Illinois and Cornerstone University in Michigan, it was even prohibited for students to dance in public Guardian

I suggest: ban on dance or prohibition on dance

share|improve this answer
2  
I always thought prohibition was strongly related to alcohol ban. Isn't it? – bitmask Feb 5 '12 at 20:10
@bitmask If you follow the link to Oxford, there is this statement: the prevention by law of the manufacture and sale of alcohol, especially in the US between 1920 and 1933. So, you are right, but it is not only a prohibition on alcohol, if you take notice of the fact, that it is listed separately. And the Guardian link gives a good example for prohibition for religion reasons in context of dancing. I think, we can trust a source like that ;p – Em1 Feb 5 '12 at 20:15
Thanks Em1 for this, but how would I include the dancing part? "dancing ban"? And awesome sourcing, I need to learn how to highlight and cite like you just did. :) – grunwald2.0 Feb 6 '12 at 13:52
@grunwald2.0 Regarding sourcing: Click on edit and you will see it ;p (But then cancel ;p ) Regarding including: Don't know. Depends on context, phrasing, ... – Em1 Feb 6 '12 at 14:01
The word Prohibition (capitalized) by itself refers to the alcohol ban, yes. But you can talk of prohibitions of other things. The word sounds somewhat formal, but it fits in the context of governmental regulations or religious rules. – Arthaey Angosii Feb 8 '12 at 0:01

Your Answer

 
discard

By posting your answer, you agree to the privacy policy and terms of service.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.