Google translate says that it means "5 teenagers in exit", which makes no sense. What does "5 Jugendliche im Ausgang" really mean?
Context: It's the title of a Swiss-German documentary video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jLs0s85xvIA
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Sign up to join this communityGoogle translate says that it means "5 teenagers in exit", which makes no sense. What does "5 Jugendliche im Ausgang" really mean?
Context: It's the title of a Swiss-German documentary video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jLs0s85xvIA
The expression «5 Jugendliche im Ausgang» means ‘5 youth going out socially’.
The expression «in den Ausgang gehen» is Swiss Standard German for ‘going out socially’. It is a clear helvetism, which means that outside of Switzerland, many people will not understand it readily.
The expression clearly is standard German, not Swiss German dialect (a Swiss German dialect equivalent could be «i Usgang gah»). It is not a colloquialism or jargon, but regular standard German, as can be shown by its use in the Neue Zürcher Zeitung, one of the moste prestigious German-language newspapers of record:
The expression might originate from the military, where «Ausgang» means the leave to go out in the evening.
"5 Jugendliche im Ausgang" sounds strange on the first view to me as a German listener from the Northern part.
However, there does exist the totally normal expression "Ausgang haben" (see the first definition here on dwds) which means to have permission to (temporarily) leave and / or go out. In standard German this is usually used e.g. for soldiers who have in the weekend permission to leave barracks or similar situations.
It is sometimes used in a context like "Heute Abend habe ich Ausgang" when you somewhat jokingly want to express that you got permission from your siginificant other to go out and meet with your mates. In my northern German I'd hardly ever use the noun but use the verb "ausgehen" to phrase the same: "5 Jugendliche gehen aus" or "Heute Abend gehen wir aus".
Taking this meaning of "Ausgang" the original expression (and as proven by the many examples from the NZZ by mach in their answer) will translate to something like "5 youths going out (socializing)" or similar.
I assume you are referring to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jLs0s85xvIA or https://www.srf.ch/play/tv/archivperlen/video/jugendliche-im-ausgang-1994?urn=urn:srf:video:9218b98d-7cfd-42d6-a1c6-6c725b369896. According to the context, it could be translated with "Five teenagers show us how they go out" (in the evening, after school, etc.). But it is as difficult to understand it in German (as a native speaker) as it is in English.