It seems to me that "quasi" can be translated as "gleichsam, gewissermaßen" in the following example:

http://www.stuweb.co.uk/pure/detpage.asp?asin...
Sarojini especially, feeling after her arrival in England that there is no nationality she can truly identify with and fearing that she will always be an outsider, discovers that it is much more important for her to simply be able to say "I am," without having to add anything else; to assert herself in her own right, quasi as a nation of her own.

Maybe native speakers of English can comment on whether the use of "quasi" in the above sentence is idiomatic. It seems fine to me as a non-native speaker of the language (although the sentence as a whole seems to phrased inelegantly).

I read Norbert's sentence as idiomatic and perfectly comprehensible but possibly grammatically wrong. MW gives quasi as an adjective or prefix and Cambridge Advanced Learner's as a prefix. I think quasi is Italian for "as if" and if you insert that into Norbert's sentence, it only makes sense to me if you take as understood "she were" so that the whole phrase would read ..."as if she were a nation of her own". This is how I understand the original. This is all a bit of a stretch so perhaps Marc is right that quasi can never be used without being attached to an adejctive but a bit of me wants to say perhaps it can. Interested in other opinions

Quasistationär bedeutet hier, dass der Zustandsvektor (p,T,u) auf der Ein- und Austrittsfläche der Drosselstelle sich innerhalb eines Zeitschrittes dt der Berechnung nicht ändert.

In der angegebenen Source taucht quasi mehrfach in verschiedenen Kombinationen so verwendet auf, wie Marc D es versteht.
In vielen Fachsprachen wird es so verwendet, aber auch Beispiele wie Norbert Juffa eines zitiert, findet man oft.

Wie ist es mit folgendem Beispiel, gerade in deutschen Nachrichten ueber einstuerzende Hallendaecher gehoert:

quasi/gleichsam/gewissermassen/sozusagen sofort = quasi/so to speak instantly?

aber as it where instantly?

Unterstütze Marcs ursprünglichen Vorschlag; zusätzlich sollten alle weiteren 'quasi'-Einträge (quasi - quasi, quasi - gewissermaßen, quasi - sozusagen) gelöscht werden (außer, jemand kann ein glaubwürdiges Wörterbuch auftreiben, das das englische 'quasi' als adverb ausweist). Für die adjektivische Verwendung von 'quasi' fällt mir keine deutsche Übersetzung ein.

Re English 'quasi' as adverb: I assume the following references are sufficient.

http://unabridged.merriam-webster.com
Main Entry: 1qua·si
Function: adverb
Etymology: Latin, from quam than, how, as + si if -- more at QUANTITY, SO
1 : as if : as it were : in a manner : in some sense or degree : SEEMINGLY, ALMOST

The Macquarie Dictionary:
quasi [...]
--adverb 2. seemingly, but not actually.

http://www.chambersharrap.co.uk/chambers/chre...
quasi adverb as it were; so to speak.
ETYMOLOGY: 15c: Latin, literally 'as if'.

5 entries found for quasi.
quasi-
pref.
To some degree; in some manner: quasi-stellar object.


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[Latin quasi, as if. See quasi.]

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Source: The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

qua·si ( P ) Pronunciation Key (kwz, -s, kwäz, -s)
adj.
Having a likeness to something; resembling: a quasi success.


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[Middle English, as if, from Old French, from Latin quasi : quam, as; see kwo- in Indo-European Roots + s, if; see swo- in Indo-European Roots.]

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Source: The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.


Main Entry: qua·si
Pronunciation: 'kwA-"zI, -"sI; 'kwä-zE, -sE
Function: adjective
Etymology: Latin, as if, as it were, from quam as + si if
: having such a resemblance to another thing as to fall within its general category <a quasi corporation>


Source: Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of Law, © 1996 Merriam-Webster, Inc.


Main Entry: quasi
Function: adverb
: in some significant sense or degree —often used in combination <quasi-fiscal> —see also QUASI-JUDICIAL, QUASI-LEGISLATIVE


Source: Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of Law, © 1996 Merriam-Webster, Inc.


quasi

adj : having some resemblance; "a quasi success"; "a quasi contract" [syn: quasi(a)]


Source: WordNet ® 2.0, © 2003 Princeton University

I agree with Roger that quasi isn't used as an adverb in English, out there all by its lonesome self, but only in combined form, and I could find no such example in several dictionaries i looked at. Of course in a term like 'quasi-judicial', quasi is adverbial, but it's in combined form that functions as an adjective. 'Quasi-instantly', assuming such a construct is grammatically proper,is an adverb, but it too is a combined form.

Garner, Dict. of Modern Amer. Usage, p. 547:
quasi ... means "as if; seeming or seemingly; in the nature of; nearly." In legal writing, 'quasi' may stand alone as a word, but as a prefix it's generally hyphenated. The term has been prefixed to any number of adjectives and nouns, e.g., 'quasi-compulsory,' 'quasi-domicile,' 'quasi-judicial,' and 'quasi-monopoly.'

Chicago Manual of Style, 15th ed., p. 306:
7.90
quasi: a quasi corporation, a quasi-public corporation. (Open before a noun, hyphenated before an adjective.)

__________


Several online style guides agree with Chicago that it should be hyphenated before an adjective but not before a noun: <http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=quasi+hy...>. This may explain the dictionary listings for it as a separate word, in which all the unhyphenated examples do indeed seem to be before nouns.

Like all the other native speakers so far, I don't think it should be used as an adverb standing alone, that is, not immediately followed by a noun or adjective. I would revise Marc's example sentence as follows:

· thus a quasi-infinite sequence of ...

And in Norbert's and Pachulke's examples I would substitute 'almost' or 'practically':

· almost as a nation of her own
· practically instantly / almost immediately

According to the dictionaries I quoted in my earlier posting, and according to the dictionaries quoted below, 'quasi' does seem to exist as an adverb. The OED2 marks this usage "rare", and LEO might want to adopt this tag.

Webster's New World College Dictionary, 4th ed.:
quasi adv. [L, as if, as it were, just as <quamsi < quam, as, how + si, if, whether: see QUANTITY & SO] as if; in a sense or manner; seemingly; in part

OED2:
quasi, adv. and pref. [L. quasi as if, as it were, almost.]
I. In limiting sense
1. Used parenthetically = 'as it were', 'almost', 'virtually'. rare
1818 CRUISE Digest (ed. 2) V. 184 This devolution ... is quasi a descent 'per formam doni'.

hm--us would substitute 'almost' or 'practically'.

If done in scientific or technical texts in most cases the German translator would then translate 'fast' or 'praktisch', which would not meet any more the intention, the original writer wished to convey.

Unter diesem sahe ich das Ding zu erst einmal / hernach öffter gleichsam mit ihm / biß ich endlich durch diese Betrachtung überaus müde ward / und drüber einschlieff / damit ich nur etwan ein Traum-Gesichte davon in mir erwecken möchte / wodurch ich das hochverlangte Dinge das ich so gern erfahren hätte / erkennen könte: Wie denn geschrieben stehet ....
Aufgang der Arzneykunst, Joh. Bapt. van Helmont, 1648.

"Quasi" is just wrong in many contexts for 'gleichsam.' Idiomatic translation is 'as it were' or 'so to speak.' Translation of 'quasi' into German is, I'm betting, in most cases, 'quasi.'

This definition should be amended!

Cf. Collins Pons ....

Quasi English vs. Quasi German

In English I understand "Quasi" to be always negative. A "false attempt" = "quasi attempt" for instance. "Quasi Doctor" = "Quack Doctor". I would translate it as "fake," because to me that is the connotation it has.

In German I've heard it to be positive, roughly translated at "actually" or "truly"