Das wirst du wohl deinen Anwalt fragen müssen.

...oft gefragt - schau mal durch! :-)

Oh, Entschuldiung...hast du schon getan!!!! (hätte genauer lesen sollen) :-(

... unter der Annahme, dass dein Impressum Bezeichnung, Anschrift, Kontaktdaten enthält und nicht nur ein "für den Inhalt verantwortlich ist Herr/Frau SOUNDSOP".

It depends on what is on the Impressum page. If there is more legal detail, and you need a single word (in the link bar or whatever) I'd use "Legal". If there is only very little legal information, and mostly the addresses of the company, etc. you could use "Contact" (unless, of course, there is another contact page).

Some people also use "publication data" or "publishing notes", which I guess just about fits, as you publish things on the Internet - but it does sound like a section in a book or magazine to me.

In any case, the German "Impressums" have a legal meaning which doesn't exist in other countries - the concept of an Impressum doesn't exist elsewhere - so there is no single official translation. The point of the link is that people know where to look to find the addresses or legal information, etc. so make it the best description of what is actually on that page.

Lots of companies (also in UK and USA) use "imprint" or "company imprint"

Impressum auf Standardwebseite einer Firma

how about "Glossary" ?

auch schon gesehen...

A company imprint is usually on printed matter: it is the name/address or even just the logo of the printing company, like the traditional meaning in German.

Imprint:
The publisher's and/or printer's note usually found at the foot of the title page giving place, date and publication information http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=X&start=9&oi=d...

and more definitions:
http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&rls=GGLJ...

"Throughout the main text the company's imprint as it stands to date, simply 'Savoy', has been used. Only where historically pertinent have the past imprints—Savoy Books Ltd, Savoy Editions Ltd—been introduced." http://www.savoy.abel.co.uk/HTML/hdprss.html

"were commissioned to produce texts published not under the imprint of the local company but under the UK parent company's imprint. " http://books.google.com/books?id=wIqLJz1x96oC...

Many German companies use "imprint" on their English and American websites, but I can't say I've ever seen it on all-British or all-American ones; I'll be happy to admit I'm wrong if anyone can provide an example, though - it would be very convenient to have a nice short translation :-)

Also da bin ich wieder, weil ich damals nicht weiterübersetzt habe, jetzt kämpfe ich wieder damit und zwar in meinem Impressum ist Folgendes:

Adresse:

Vertretungsberechtigter Geschäftsführer:

Registergericht:
Registernummer:
Umsatzsteuer-Identifikationsnummer gemäß §27 a Umsatzsteuergesetz:

Inhaltlich Verantwortlicher gemäß § 6 MDStV:


Haftungshinweis:


und nu? Welche Übersetzung passt denn jetzt am besten?

The best possible translation for "Impressum" which also includes legal provisions.

what if you called it exactly what it is?

Impressum

just leave it at "Impressum"


I challenge you!

@0sum: "Impressum" ist definitiv falsch. Dann schon eher die britische Variante "Masthead".
Ich bevorzuge aber die bereits von mir gepostete, internationalere Variante "Imprint".

For the nth time, 'imprint' and 'impressum' are both definitely and absolutely wrong for a website in English. (Before anyone asks, so is 'masthead.')

Please, everyone, take the time to read the old discussions in the archive (Suche in allen Foren), follow the recommended links, and heed the comments made by reliable native English speakers.

So "Discaimler" is dropped?

Never seen "Imprint" apart from on translations

Why exactly is Impressum wrong?

is there a governing body which says so?

Please do explain why Impressum is wrong!

Or maybe just "web manager"

Why don't you go to some English language web sites and check out what it says at the very end, often where the copyright is mentioned.

@ hm--us. I'm sorry but I have seen "Imprint" on English and US American websites quite a couple of times. "Imprint" is absolutely correct! In addition to websites, it is also used in books and publications. Please see also Webster's New World College Dictionary, 4th Edition.
This was also confirmed by my husband. He is a native speaker of English, has a Ph.D in English from a US American university and teaches English at a German university.
I didn't explicitly recommend "Masthead" although I have seen this as well, mostly on British websites.

Now, I am totally confused! :(

Schau mal hier nach:
http://www.words-worth.de/robin/2002/10/impre...

Dort findest Du sehr aufschlussreiche Informationen zu "Impressum". Unter der Überschrift "Impressum on websites" steht folgende Liste von Vorschlägen:
- About Us
- About This Site
- About xyz.com
- Company/Contact
- Company and Contact Information
- Company Info
- Contact Info
- Contact/Info
- Contact Us
- Credits
- Website Credits

Das weiß leider kein Mensch außer deiner Omma!

ALSO FRAG SIE!!!

I realize Impressum's a booger to translate, which is why I normally choose "site info" for websites. It sums everything up in a nutshell.

Für etwas Ausführlicheres würde ich das 'About' verwenden...
und für das eigentliche Impressum schlicht 'Publisher'.

"site info" kann alles und nichts sein, ich würde als erstes "Site map" assoziieren, wie man das oft sieht, also eine Übersicht über den Internetauftritt und nicht ein Impressum, wo alles steht, was nicht zum eigentlichen Auftritt gehört.

Auch "About (us)" ist ein Teil des Auftritts, eine Selbstdarstellung, oft in Werbesprache, was das Impressum nicht ist. Das "eigentliche" Impressum, Birdy, ist nicht so eng definiert, dass es nur den Betreiber umfasst.

There are sufficiently American examples on the internet. And, if we all use the English word "imprint" for the German word "Impressum", then the problem solves itself automatically.

Hallo zusammen, nemmt bitte ruhig das Wort "Imprint", das wird sich früh oder spät auch im Web durchsetzen. Das ist ein deutsches Problem, und muss von der deutschen Seite her gelöst werden. Selbst wenn sich später ein anderes Wort etabliert, so weiss man, dass es sich um deutsche Seiten handelt :-)

"There are sufficiently American examples on the internet"

And we're supposed to believe someone can tell if they're right or wrong who doesn't even know an adjective from an adverb?

The choices in #21 are fine. Let's not keep looking for something worse.

I find too, that no precise english translation can exist. This is based on the fact, that when a phenomenon exists in the one culture and not in the other culture, then there is often not a good word in the other language. Because in Germany it is proscribed by the law that every internet page must have a "Impressum", even other formulations like "Über uns" or "Kontakt" are not acceptable and the courts will convict a company, which has used not the correct word.

Of course the laws in Germany are specially strict, but this is just like it is and you can not change it. Therefore I would use "Impressum", because this can never be wrong and one is on the safer side with this. It is possible that the court will not care about that it is a english version of the internet page when the word "Impressum" is missing!

PS. I study Jura and it is really true that Germany has the strictest internet laws in the world.

@Sibylle: First off, any law student learning English needs to learn the difference between proscribed and prescribed. Could be important later on. (-;

In previous forum discussions, forum users with extensive background in German law, such as Frank FMH, have said that the law requires the information contained in the section, and requires that the section be clearly identified, but does not require the word 'Impressum' itself, only an 'Anbieterkennzeichnung.'

Siehe auch: Impressum

However, even if the actual word was required by law, any German website can obviously still use that word in its German text (and most do). The point is that it and 'imprint' are both simply wrong in the English version.

Soll Nr. 28 ein Filserbrief sein? Ich will nicht ernsthaft glauben, dass es Studenten gibt, die so schlechtes Englisch schreiben.

OT: Oh, come on, it's not that bad. Two basic comma errors before 'that' and 'which,' and it needs to be 'about whether' instead of 'about that,' but other than that, it's understandable, if not always idiomatic.

@Criticus – You don’t seriously expect every German law student to write perfect English do you? As an equally misguided poster wrote not so long ago:
“Get off your high horse.”

@mount Schreib hin was dir gefällt, denn nicht mal unsere Volksvertreter sind sich einig, so heisst es auf http://www.bundesregierung.de/Webs/Breg/EN/Se... credits
und das Auswärtige Amt http://www.auswaertiges-amt.de/diplo/en/Start... nennt es
publication data
hingegen heisst es auf http://www.eu2007.de/en/Imprint.html
legal notice und die Seite selbst nennen sie imprint.

Wer soll denn da noch durchblicken?

I'm proofreading the english site of a german company at the moment, and I had also questions upon 'impressum'. They had the standard 'Imprint' on their site as well, but that really couldn't be right.

After looking up some major company sites like IBM, I believe that 'Terms of Use' or 'Terms and Conditions' would be your best bet. 'Disclaimer' or 'Legal' aren't bad for one-word references, either.

We all know that Impressum has no direct translation, but these are the best ways around I can think of.

Viel Erfolg!

ist auch ein schönes, kurzes Wort ;)
.. terms and conditions sind für mich übrigens eher die AGB ..

The German Division of the American Translators Association (ATA) has a great article about the trials and tribulations of "Impressum" in its Interaktiv magazine. Please have a look at page 3 of the PDF in the link above. And, you can join the ATA by visiting www.atanet.org.

I think that the use of "legal" is the best solution.
Here is an example of its use:
http://www.virgin.co.uk/Legal/TermsAndConditi...

>> And we're supposed to believe someone can tell
>> if they're right or wrong who doesn't even know an
>> adjective from an adverb?

Please do not change the subject! Not the typing error is our problem.

>> "There are sufficient American examples on the internet"

Yes, this is correct!

Das kann ich bestätigen. Oben in einem Posting hat man sich anscheidend vertippt und sufficiently geschrieben. Ein anderer hat dadurch vom Thema abgelenkt.

Das Problem können wir lösen, indem wir alle einfach "Imprint" nehmen. Spätestens dann werden englischsprachige Kollegen wissen, dass es in der Tat um das Impressum einer deutschen Webseite handelt (selbst wenn manche glauben, dass diese Übersetzung falsch wäre). Das ist eben ein Beispiel der Gründlichkeit der deutschen Sprache (ich hoffe, das klingt nicht zweideutig)..

I let no more "Altavista" translate, I do this better now myself. We hopefully then can deal with the real topic.

Was mich sehr wundert: Die englischsprachigen Kollegen versuchen zu übersetzen, ohne zu wissen, was mit Impressum eigentlich genau gemeint ist.

The English-speaking colleagues try to translate without knowing what is exactly meant with the german word "Impressum".

Impressum : Legally binding publication data of a german website. Certain information provided by the legislator must be contained in it. Therms and Conditions are not a part of an Impressum. These must be listed separately.

Even if some colleagues are making a yell now, the word "Imprint" is very suitable. It is a brief, terse, pithy word and only German users will use it.

Keine der folgenden Wörter allein beschreibt es:
None of the following words describes alone, what exactly meant by "Impressum":

- About Us
- About This Site
- About xyz.com
- Company/Contact
- Company and Contact Information
- Company Info
- Contact Info
- Contact/Info
- Contact Us
- Credits
- Website Credits

Wenn schon, müsste man einiges streichen oder mehrere gleichzeitig verwenden.
Ich bleibe beim "Imprint", viele werden wissen, was damit gemeint ist.

LieGrüEB

I can hardly believe that this man calls himself a translator and presumably takes money from people for his efforts. Please, Erkan, spare us the pain. Learn English and then try translating.

Cited from www.dictionary.com "5. the printer's name and address as indicated on any printed matter" Since a website publisher is not literally only a printer, this definiton is ambiguous and, in my opinion, inappropriate. Perhaps we could invent a new word like "publicant" or "pubdentity".

To Erkan and all others, we all accept that German and English are different languages and therefore we must also accept that what we think is correct in another language may not be so. Deshalb, du hast kein recht bei "Imprint" zu bleiben wegen es ist nicht deine Sprache wie Deutsch ist auch nicht meine, ich muss auf die Muttersprachler hören.
The word imprint implies some kind of printing or "pressing" is made which leaves an impression, a mark, a stamp, a print, a footprint. In this case it's the stamp (or information) of the publisher. Even in Duden it says something similar: "Angabe über Verleger, Drucker usw.". This works fine for the print industry because they print their material. Websites do not print, they simply publish electronically. Therefore a different standard is used.
The reason that Impressum is difficult to translate is because the combination of the legal component with the information about the business are usually separate pieces of information on English language websites. Therfore, a link to a page regarding any legal matter is often entitled "legal" or "privacy policy" and information about the company itself, its address and telphone number etc. is often the "contact details". The two are then separate.

Any translation must first begin with "What do you want to know?" Let us suppose that what you want to know is the location (address), telephone number and name of someone responsible for the information on the website, then the translation is simple, it must be "contact details". Even when I give a business card, this is what I say and use, "here are my contact details". This is also information about me or my business so some people say "about us", this can be misleading because there are often many things you can say about a company, none of which may be the name, telephone number and address of the company.

Ich hatte damit zu tun, daß eine Englische, kleine Firma eine Zweigstelle aufmachen wollte in Deutschland. Und dort eine Website. Auf der hiesigen website ist kein Impressum oder sowas.

Wenn ich @5 richtig verstehe und das gibt es sonstwo wirklich nicht, warum dann übersetzen? Es ist dann halt der Name für was einmalig Deutsches.

Denn, wie soll jemand dahinterkommen zu verstehen, was das ist, wenn es dafür garkeine Erklärung in anderen Ländern gibt? Spätestens, wenn hier dann herauskommt, daß es Deutsches Gesetz ist, dann kommt auch prompt die Antwort: Ist mir egal, habe ich nix mit zu tun und will auch nicht wissen, wie es übersetzt wird. leave it impressum. Denn nur unter diesem Begriff wird jemand recherchieren können, was es wirklich ist. Warum also
woanders hin lenken?
Mein Standpunkt

There's no legal requirement in other countries as in Germany for a page called "Impressum". However, companies in the UK, etc. do have pages where they list the company VAT number and other such legal/administrative information. Non-Germans obviously need to know this information, too. These details are usually under "Legal", "Trading details", "Contact us", etc.

When you're translating a German website, the company usually wants you to translate the main pages, so that you can click between the German and English versions. It does not want you to restructure the website in the English version, creating a new "Contact us" page including the information in the Impressum, so you normally have to leave structure unchanged, and leave the VAT number on the English version of the "Impressum" page.

If someone who does not speak German or know German laws is looking for the VAT number of the company on a translated site, or the disclaimer, or the company's registered address, they will not click on a page marked as "Impressum" or "Imprint", as they will not know what it is. They will click on "about us", etc. and feel frustrated when they can't find the information they need. If eventually they click randomly on "Imprint" and discover the information they want, they will feel annoyed that the company hid the information under that title.

If you want to make the translated Impressum page useful to non-Germans, you need to use words which tell them where they might find the information which is on the Impressum page (e.g. disclaimer, VAT no., etc.).

http://diebrite.blogspot.com/2008/01/impressu...

I simply went to yahoo.com and it seemed pretty much what Impressum stands for in German

For my translation I used copyright/policies since there were more than 1 of them.

www.deutschland.de

Die Bundesregierung höchstpersönlich nennt das Impressum schlicht Corporate.

Ich schreibe daher auch gerne "Corporate & Legal Notice" und packe alles in eine Impressumsseite.

I like CM2DD's comment 44. Stand back and see the practical use in actual life.

To give a dictionary ref, Shorter Oxford states that imprint has hitherto been in the publishing / printing field:
"A publisher's or printer's name, often with an address, date, and other details of publication, printed in a book etc., usu. on the title-page, or at the foot of a single sheet; any of various names used as imprints by a publishing house; loosely a publishing house."

I think where money is changing hands on a website there is a legal requirement to have the company details, even if the law is not exactly the "Impressum".

Another example of actual use in real life that I just came acorss and likd is:

http://www.rcn.com/

Here, they simply link the words "All rights reserved." in the bottom right-hand corner of the page (after "©2008 RCN Corporation.") to the page that the Germans would call the Impressum. The page, however, is entitled "Policies & Disclaimers".

P.S.
They also have a link "Policies & Disclaimers" further to the left in a kind of menu for the key sections of the site.

P.P.S.
Good comment CM2DD, thanks for that!

ist zwar etwas oberflächlich, aber was die Kunden unter den anderen Rubriken nicht finden, werden sie sicherlich hier suchen, oder?

"The Fine Print" ???

@Happy Translator: the fine print heißt "das Kleingedruckte".

In einer Zeitung heißt es imprint.

Auf einer Website würde ich - wie oben bereits vorgeschlagen - corporate & legal notice verwenden.

Englischsprechender! German speakers! Please get over it! It is stupid to attack one another over who has the right translation, especially when this *precise* concept does not exist in English-speaking law! Also, why bother expounding your personal qualifications... no one cares! It's not about you, it's about the language!

IMPRINT is only correct in the context of the publishing industry, and it means das Etikett unter denen eine Publikation gedrückt ist! I laugh at everyone who use this as their translation for 'Impressum'. Seriously. Yes, it's easy, but it's also wrong and sounds very silly and amateur!

DISCLAIMER sounds good and is solid legal terminology, but when the 'Impressum' page contains no 'Ablehnungshinweis' or 'Haftungsausschluss', then it is not appropriate.

MASTHEAD is also only publishing terminology, and is a lovely word, but it DOES NOT CARRY the same legal weight for German websites, and should probably not be used, either.

LEGAL INFO is dry and uninviting, but then again, so is much of law. This will cover all of these legal purposes and probably save one from being fined in Germany!

Following this most interesting thread all the way to the very end and still not finding a satisfying solution to this translation problem, I finally decided to look up in the German Wikipedia and see if there was a corresponding English page. Interestingly, the english page - at en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impressum - translates Impressum with Impressum, stating that it is solely used on German websites, has no English equivalent, and is often "poorly translated" as imprint or masthead. Their suggestion is to use "Impressum - Legal Notice" or "Impressum - Legal Disclosure."

Die Deutsche Bank benutzt das Wort, ich benutze das Wort und eine irischstämmige Mitarbeiterin vom Englischen Seminar verwendet es auch.

Es ist vmtl. ein Neologismus. Die meisten Ammis werden es vmtl. nicht direkt verstehen. Aber letztenendes ist es das einzige, was den genauen Sinn wiedergibt.

"Legal Notice" oder einfach "Legal" wäre meine erste Wahl als Umschreibung, aber wenn es alleinig um die Erfüllung der rechtlichen Bedingungen in Deutschland geht, ist "Imprint" unmisverständlich -- "Masthead" oder dergleichen klingt zwar witzig, aber scheint weder treffend noch leicht zu erraten.

Letztenendes gibt es keine klare Antwort.

"Impressum" als Fremdwort wäre die einfachste Übersetzung, klingt aber weder sehr Englisch, noch sehr zufriedenstellend.

"Imprint" ist da schon schöner, da anglifiziert, aber natürlich auch eher ein Neologismus in dieser Verwendung (etymologisch allerdings gleichbedeutend mit dem deutschen Wort -- soviel zur "Prägestempel"-Theorie).

"Company Notice", "About us", "Disclaimer", "Contact", etc sind alle wenig hilfreich, da es auch auf nicht-kommerziellen Seiten passen sollte und es sich in der Regel NICHT um eine Selbstdarstellung, Haftungseinschränkungen (welche meistens eh nicht rechtskräftig formuliert sind), Kontaktdaten und der gleichen handelt, welche häufig auf separate Seiten verteilt werden.

Imprint is WRONG, see #53 for example (and many other people say it is wronmg too, including English style guides published by major multinational corporations such as Siemens. Just because the Deutsche Bank and you and an Irish acquaintance have decided to use it doesn't make it right. It is bound to remain a Germanism though, since it simply doesn't have a 1:1 equivalent in English due to the fact it isn't a legal requirement in the same way that it is in Germany. If ICANN or some such body decide to introduce an official term (or requirement) for it then the problem will be solved, but until then I'd definitely suggest you stick to using the most appropriate English term.

OK, zum hundertsten Mal: IMPRINT ist FALSCH!

Und dass man das auf Seiten auch großer Deutscher Unternehmen sieht, macht es nicht richtiger, sondern zeugt von der Inkompetenz der Webseiten-Ersteller.

Nur weil 'imprint' für deutsche Leser richtig zu klingen scheint, oder die das Wort so toll kurz finden, ist es noch lange nicht korrekt. Das gehört in Druckerzeugnisse, sonst nirgendwo hin. Und das sagen euch native speakers.

Also warum wird das immer noch mit fadenscheinigen Argumenten behauptet?

Nehmt "Legal Notice" und gut is (das umschreibt nämlich genau was das ist). Irgendwelche Versuche, durch trotziges Verwenden von imprint einen Standard etablieren zu wollen, sind einfach nur peinlich.

Gruß

as a native Englishman living and translating in Germany, I undertand what is required in the German "Impressum". Absolutely no native speaker would ever, ever use the word "imprint". It hurts to see this. The German law requires information on the companies and persons responsible for the site to be published on this page. Thefore either "company information", "site information" or any of the many synonyms will ALWAYS do the job!

Wembley puts it in a nutshell imo.
I’ve just had a quick look through some UK sites. The info found in the German “Impressum” is there but under different headings or not all in one place: On the Homepage without a heading, under contact us, Company Information or whatever. The reason being presumably is that in Germany there is a strong desire for standardisation and norms, and in the Anglo-Saxon world the tendency for everyone to do their own thing is very strong, and because it’s not easy to understand or feel at home in the other mentality long discussions such as this one arise.

And what should I write for an "Impressum" page when it is used outside of Germany which doesn't require all this legal stuff? The site is our family homepage and this "Impressum" page should just list the address and such things. The site will probably also, additionally, have a separate "Contacts" page with a contact form. The site will be multilingual (german, english, spanish). What english translation would you use there?

I thought of "Contact form" (for the form page) and "Contact details" for the "Impressum" page. I would prefer a shorter translation. Also both names are very similar. What do you think?

Native english speakers only, please.

I would suggest "Contacts" for the contact information (names, phone numbers, etc.). If you want to have a form, then you might call that button "Contact Us".

... war hier alles schon beantwortet ...

das ist einfach bescheuert.

Imprint is nonsense. It means something entirely different.

So does Disclaimer.

Impressum is nonsense because it is not an English word.

Contact info is OK, I suppose. I use Legal information, because that is really what Impressum means: the info required to be there by (German) law.

Noch ein Beleg für die Verwendung von "Legal notice".

Just to lend my weight to the argument that 'Imprint', 'Impressum' and 'Masthead' are totally wrong when referring to the 'Impressum' page of a German website. 'Legal notice' generally covers it quite nicely.

(And having looked at Erkan's website (post #26), he's clearly not a translator and not even a native English-speaker, so I'd suggest ignoring his comments to the contrary.)

Aus einer früheren LEO-Diskussion dieses Themas hatte ich mir "editorial information" als Übersetzung für Impressum notiert. Könnte man das auch sagen?