Friday 26 February 2010

Kontaktperson

This is a word you come across a lot in German. While its direct translation, "contact person", is occasionally used in BrE, it is not very common.

858 Google hits for "contact person" site:uk>
(Of the first ten hits, two are German companies, three are companies from other countries, and one is an "out of contact person", leaving three remaining good hits on that page.)
863 Google hits for "contact person" (in English) site:de >
More hits in Germany than in the UK does not suggest this is always the best translation.

So what do you say in the UK? Let's take some examples in German and find the equivalent.

Rektoratsbeauftragte und Kontaktpersonen zu ausseruniversitären Institutionen und universitätsnahen Einrichtungen >

This is above a table of names and phone numbers of people to contact about institutions linked to a distance university (foundations, societies).

A similar page at the Open University is labelled:

Contact Us
You can contact us at: >

Another page uses a noun:
UK contacts
Worldwide contacts >

The University of Cambridge also uses "contacts">.

Names are not provided. E-mail addresses are not for individuals; they start with "enquiries" - which is also a useful word in this context.

The University of Essex uses contact addresses, contact details>, contacts> and this line:
To contact staff in the Vice-Chancellor's office>
(Here, names are given.)
Or this line, above a similar table to the German one:
Academic Section Staff Contact List>