Balance
One of the fascinating aspects of living with two languages is the discovery of words that cover very different aspects in either language. One of these words, which has been popping up frequently in recent conversations, is “balance”. Interestingly, we also use the word “Balance” in German, but we use the French pronunciation (insert sound link). Interestingly, the German Balance doesn’t cover as many aspects as the English balance.
It is mostly used in a figurative sense, as in maintaining the balance between give and take or die “Balance zwischen Arbeit und Leben” – work and life. This is an interesting concept in itself that work is not considered part of life, but I will look at that another time.
The origin of the word balance comes from Latin (libra) bilanx "(scale) having two pans," possibly from Latin bis "twice". When we talk literally about balance in German, we prefer the word “Gleichgewicht”. This is an exact translation of the Latin words: gleich=equal, Gewicht= weight. We also describe our own sense of balance as “Geichgewichtsinn” = sense of equal balance.
I used to have an excellent Gleichgewichtsinn when I was a child, for ever balancing on garden walls or showing off my skills on the balance beam – which by the way is called a floating beam = Schwebebalken in German. These days, I often struggle in my Yoga classes when it comes to
balancing postures. Part of this can be explained that part of my retina is missing, but I also wonder at times, if this is an invitation to have a closer look at the balance in my life.
Those discussions I mentioned earlier, have all focused on the balance we are creating in our lives. Most weeks/days are divided into 1 third work, 1 third sleep, 1 third “other”. But what happens if work causes stress and this impacts on our ability to have a restful sleep? How does this impact on our health and the “other”? The other often includes our significant other, and there is another huge question of balance for many of my female friends: the balance of give and take.
The recent Australian census showed that it is still an overwhelming majority of women who spend their time doing chores at home, and looking after the welfare of their partners and families.
In English balance is also part of the financial vocabulary. Interestingly, it can describe very diverse financial concepts. To translate them to German we would use completely separate expressions. If we understand balance as the result at the end of a financial statement, the “bottom line”, then the German translation is “Bilanz”. This can be either in credit or debit. Similarly, if we talk about our own bank balance in English, it can be either a healthy one or a not such a healthy one. When we translate bank balance to German, however, there is a more optimistic outlook: it translates to “Guthaben”: gut=good, haben=have.
Balance, as a term encompassing finance, equilibrium and work/life distribution shows that there is a close connection between these aspects. The question remains: what is the ideal balance? Maybe the best way to figure it out is to practice more yoga balancing postures, starting with “the tree” and finally graduating to the “dancer’s pose”.
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