Hi everybody!

What would be the English term for what is written on a
blackboard
during a class or a lecture (especially if it is not a random
collection of terms or sketches but a somewhat more systematic
illustration or even visualization of what is being taught in
that
class).
The German term would be "Tafelbild" (even if there are no real
pictures or even sketches involved) and I'm serching for a
suitable
English equivalent.
Thanks for your help!
Pete

Pete wrote:
Hi everybody!

What would be the English term for what is written on a blackboard
during a class or a lecture (especially if it is not a random
collection of terms or sketches but a somewhat more systematic
illustration or even visualization of what is being taught in that
class).
The German term would be "Tafelbild" (even if there are no real
pictures or even sketches involved) and I'm serching for a suitable
English equivalent.
Thanks for your help!
Pete

P:

There is no direct standard equivalent. I would think about
"blackboard/whiteboard writing/notations/outline/précis/synopsis", from
which I would likely elect "blackboard notations".

Regards,

Edward Hennessey

"Edward Hennessey" <halozzyzxhaloMINUS123@yahoo.com> schrieb im
Newsbeitrag
news:QrGdnRort5KnRIXVnZ2dnUVZ_vKdnZ2d@earthlink.com...
Pete wrote:
Hi everybody!

What would be the English term for what is written on a
blackboard
during a class or a lecture (especially if it is not a random
collection of terms or sketches but a somewhat more systematic
illustration or even visualization of what is being taught in
that
class).
The German term would be "Tafelbild" (even if there are no
real
pictures or even sketches involved) and I'm serching for a
suitable
English equivalent.
Thanks for your help!
Pete

P:

There is no direct standard equivalent. I would think about
"blackboard/whiteboard
writing/notations/outline/précis/synopsis", from
which I would likely elect "blackboard notations".

Regards,

Edward Hennessey


Or "blackboard contents"?

Kind regards,
Ermy

"Edward Hennessey" <halozzyzxhaloMINUS...@yahoo.com> schrieb im Newsbeitragnews:ncydnSrwWJ7S-ofVnZ2dnUVZ_oytnZ2d@earthlink.com...







"Erny" <e...@hotmail.com> wrote in messagenews:1209674926_237@vo.lu...

"Edward Hennessey" <halozzyzxhaloMINUS...@yahoo.com> schrieb im
Newsbeitragnews:QrGdnRort5KnRIXVnZ2dnUVZ_vKdnZ2d@earthlink.com...
Pete wrote:
Hi everybody!

What would be the English term for what is written on a blackboard
during a class or a lecture (especially if it is not a random
collection of terms or sketches but a somewhat more systematic
illustration or even visualization of what is being taught in that
class).
The German term would be "Tafelbild" (even if there are no real
pictures or even sketches involved) and I'm serching for a suitable
English equivalent.
Thanks for your help!
Pete

P:

There is no direct standard equivalent. I would think about
"blackboard/whiteboard writing/notations/outline/précis/synopsis", from
which I would likely elect "blackboard notations".

Regards,

Edward Hennessey

Or "blackboard contents"?

Kind regards,
Ermy

E:

This would be understood but I will think aloud about why it may not be
colloquial in an interesting way.
"Contents" most usually applies to something that is actually "contained
within something", e.g.
contents of a bottle, letter, package, book, ipod,  etcetera. In other
words there is the notion of the "innards"
of something denoted. The first four of the aforementioned inanimate
physical things can be opened and/or
closed to access their contents. What is inside the last object is
accessed through an outside interface.

Could you say, for example, "The principle contents of this theory
are...." ? Yes you could. Would
an English speaker be far more likely to use words like "elements",
"points" or "parts" instead? Yes.
Occasionally, one will hear the someone lauded as having "content",
meaning character, moral bearings,
perhaps intelligence. Now you can't extract these qualities from a human
being. Yet we feel they
abide inside a person.

Blackboards are large, flat surfaces without integral innards that are
valuable in any conceptually meaningful or
changeable way. To differentiate the argument, would "contents" of a
tablet be smooth? Yes, because a tablet has
analogy to a book in a way a blackboard doesn't. Not that I would strike
"blackboard contents" as a translation
of tafelbild. It conveys the idea. But so do the other suggestions with
the added benefit adduced.

Regards,

Edward Hennessey

Thanks for these interesting explanations of "contents", Edward. You
triggered my curiosity, as I asked myself why there exists a "table of
contents" (or a "list of contents"), but of course, it talks about something
contained inside a book (which can be closed).

I then started to look up in a German dictionary whether I could find the
word "Tafelbild", and what I found there had nothing to do with a blackboard
anymore: indeed, the "Wahrig" quotes that a "Tafelbild" is a picture on a
wooden (only) tablet, and does not refer at all to a blackboard. I wonder
now whether "Tafelbild" is the correct word used in German?

Anyway, I would then rather opt for "visual information on the blackboard"
(which may sound a bit clumsy) to represent what is written on it.

"Erny" <erny@hotmail.com> wrote in message news:1209674926_237@vo.lu...

"Edward Hennessey" <halozzyzxhaloMINUS123@yahoo.com> schrieb im
Newsbeitrag news:QrGdnRort5KnRIXVnZ2dnUVZ_vKdnZ2d@earthlink.com...
Pete wrote:
Hi everybody!

What would be the English term for what is written on a blackboard
during a class or a lecture (especially if it is not a random
collection of terms or sketches but a somewhat more systematic
illustration or even visualization of what is being taught in that
class).
The German term would be "Tafelbild" (even if there are no real
pictures or even sketches involved) and I'm serching for a suitable
English equivalent.
Thanks for your help!
Pete

P:

There is no direct standard equivalent. I would think about
"blackboard/whiteboard writing/notations/outline/précis/synopsis", from
which I would likely elect "blackboard notations".

Regards,

Edward Hennessey


Or "blackboard contents"?

Kind regards,
Ermy

E:

This would be understood but I will think aloud about why it may not be
colloquial in an interesting way.
"Contents" most usually applies to something that is actually "contained
within something", e.g.
contents of a bottle, letter, package, book, ipod, etcetera. In other
words there is the notion of the "innards"
of something denoted. The first four of the aforementioned inanimate
physical things can be opened and/or
closed to access their contents. What is inside the last object is
accessed through an outside interface.

Could you say, for example, "The principle contents of this theory
are...." ? Yes you could. Would
an English speaker be far more likely to use words like "elements",
"points" or "parts" instead? Yes.
Occasionally, one will hear the someone lauded as having "content",
meaning character, moral bearings,
perhaps intelligence. Now you can't extract these qualities from a human
being. Yet we feel they
abide inside a person.

Blackboards are large, flat surfaces without integral innards that are
valuable in any conceptually meaningful or
changeable way. To differentiate the argument, would "contents" of a
tablet be smooth? Yes, because a tablet has
analogy to a book in a way a blackboard doesn't. Not that I would strike
"blackboard contents" as a translation
of tafelbild. It conveys the idea. But so do the other suggestions with
the added benefit adduced.

Regards,

Edward Hennessey

I then started to look up in a German dictionary whether I could find the
word "Tafelbild", and what I found there had nothing to do with a
blackboard anymore: indeed, the "Wahrig" quotes that a "Tafelbild" is a
picture on a wooden (only) tablet, and does not refer at all to a
blackboard. I wonder now whether "Tafelbild" is the correct word used in
German?

I then started to look up in a German dictionary whether I could find the
word "Tafelbild", and what I found there had nothing to do with a
blackboard anymore: indeed, the "Wahrig" quotes that a "Tafelbild" is a
picture on a wooden (only) tablet, and does not refer at all to a
blackboard. I wonder now whether "Tafelbild" is the correct word used in
German?

As the OP of this threat and a teacher in Germany, I can confirm that
Tafelbild is the term that German teachers and students use to refer to
what is written on the board (as a whole).

Take care!
Pete