How would you translate
The US National Renewable Energy Laboratory
I would say
Das amerikanische Erneuerbareenergielabor
It is correct to write "Erneuerbareenergielabor" as one word? If not, how should it be?
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3Das nationale Labor für erneuerbare Energien der USA. – Carsten S May 6 '14 at 21:17
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2Serious question... I thought questions like these were frowned upon – emaltman May 7 '14 at 1:29
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1@emaltman: why? Translation request are not off topic per se. If we had some research effort, and if there is an issue to be addressed they should be o.k.. To our native ears some issues may not easily be understood but this should not stop people from asking. It's not us who define which issue sombeody has. Note that we are open for beginner's questions too. See meta.german.stackexchange.com/questions/628/… – Takkat May 7 '14 at 6:26
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@CarstenSchultz warum schreibst du das nicht als Antwort, und erklärst warum der angegebene Versuch so holprig ist? – Vogel612 May 7 '14 at 7:49
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2@Vogel612 wie Du schreibst hätte eine Antwort mehr enthalten müssen als mein Kommentar, und dafür war ich an der Frage nicht ausreichend interessiert. – Carsten S May 7 '14 at 9:49
As it is an administrative body that exists solely in the US, it would just keep the name (examples). We don't translate Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) either. Or NSA or CIA or Fed. If there is a need for a translation so as to have the text be understandable for people who know no English at all, then I would keep the name and add a rather free translation.
Das NREL (das nationale Institut für erneuerbare Energien)
The comound you suggested is understandable but hard to read and it sounds quite clunky. Compounding nouns generally works fine. With all other things (adjectives) it doesn't work all that often.
Wikipedia ist bei solchen Übersetzungen oft hilfreich, und in diesem Fall übersetzten sie es auch nicht. https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Renewable_Energy_Laboratory
