Dieser Satz muss kontrolliert werden.

Sentence Discussions German
#1

A bit uncanny choice - ‘überprüft’ would be better according to the context. ‘Kontrolliert is more often used in literal sense’.

1 Like
#2

I agree that überprüft was my first thought. But I think this sentence may actually illustrate something important about this verb.

I find that “kontrollieren” is a bit of a false cognate. The meaning is less close to the verb “control” than most native English speakers think. I see it translated “check” only sometimes; it is also frequently translated “monitor”, “supervise”, “inspect”, and “examine”, and sometimes “police”. My understanding of it is that it usually connotes a more ongoing process and a deeper or more extensive view, such as audit or quality control.

So for example, if someone said “überprüft” here I would interpret is: “We need to check this sentence once to make sure that it doesn’t have an error in it.” whereas saying “kontrolliert” I would interpret as: “We need to check this sentence on an ongoing basis to make sure that there isn’t a problem with it.” (for example, if there were a problem with spam or rude comments on the discussion page on a site like Clozemaster, or if there were some bug that were sporadically cropping up, and we wanted to check whether the bug manifested on that particular sentence. Or perhaps “We need to check that this sentence fits within our guidelines and policies.” I.e. both could be translated “check” but would have very different connotations as well as different alternate translations.

I’m not a native speaker though, so feel free to correct me if you are a native speaker!

5 Likes
#3

You have a good ear (eye?) for nuances. I always hope to see your name in the comments.

1 Like
#4

These observations are pretty good. Yes it is (or can be) a false friend.

Add “verify” to that list.

In my opinion “kontrollieren” can have three meanings:

  1. to control in the sense of continuous monitoring, and/or regulating. Related to this is also the phrase “unter Kontrolle halten” (same as in english). The monitoring is to make sure that something does not go “out of control”. One example would be a weapons law, or laws that control prices so they don’t skyrocket or so that they are the same everywhere (e.g. books or cigarettes).

  2. to control in the sense of steering. This is the example given by wiktionary:
    Er kontrolliert den Spielzeuglaster mit diesem Gerät. - He controls the toy truck with that device.
    The phrase “die Kontrolle haben” is related.
    This is also somewhat similar to the first meaning.

  3. to check or verify. A single action to see whether everything is in order. It can also be done multiple times e.g. at regular intervals (“Der Ölstand des Motors muss regelmäßig kontrolliert werden.”). Another example would be a “Fahrkartenkontrolleur” in a bus checking your bus ticket.
    This meaning is more or less synonymous with “überprüfen”.

Without further context, I would assume meaning 3 here in the clozemaster sentence, because you don’t steer a sentence, nor do you continuously keep it under control.

2 Likes