Translation issues

Submitted by WalterW (Netherlands), Mar 25, 2014 at 10:45

As a Dutch native speaker, I think I can clarify two issues:

1. The Dutch word 'geldschieter' merely denotes someone who provides money to someone else who lacks capital to achieve some political or business goal. That money can be either donated or lent out, i.e. 'geldschieter' can refer to BOTH situations; the word itself doesn't lean either way. Hence it's at least partly incorrect to translate it as 'money-lender'. (Although one could of course argue that there's no such thing as a free lunch, and all donations are essentially disguised lendings.)

2. To my knowledge there is no Jewish connotation whatsoever in Dutch to 'geldschieter'. The word doesn't even have a negative connotation in general, it can be applied in a positive sense as well - again, it's essentially a neutral word. The only thing 'geldschieter' does in fact denote is that the situation in which the money is provided is usually somewhat unusual - a bank providing a mortgage would not normally be referred to as 'geldschieter'. Basically a geldschieter steps in when there's no regular, institutional channel through which the money needed can be obtained.

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