Michael Martin, MA Jan 18, 2015:

@TonyTK Thanks, TonyTK. Being a risk taker, I'll stick to my guns but you made you point well!

TonyTK Jan 17, 2015:

@ Michael, ... my point is that "festlegen" almost certainly means they don't organise, stage or create anything but select/identify the projects they see as being worthy of support. There's an important difference IMO. In your palazzo example, I suppose "define" would fit the bill. While I agree our translations should reflect common usage, surely our first job is to translate meaning. I'm not arguing for word-for-word translation. I'm arguing that "set up" doesn't make sense given the (added) context. I was also making the (unrelated) point that I can't think of any sentence where "festlegen" would mean "set up". "Lay down", yes, "determine", yes, "stipulate", yes, "define", yes, etc., always depending on the context.

Michael Martin, MA Jan 17, 2015:

@TonyK You’re quite right that “set up” in isolation doesn’t seem to be a very precise match for “festlegen.” But I would argue that the context actually makes this match possible here. In my opinion, it’s more important in this case to determine what English speakers would say in the same SITUATION than render the precise meaning of the verb alone which could probably substituted by others without significant loss/change of meaning. How about this context?
“1. Die Integritätsstrategie festlegen (Set-up Phase)”
http://www.palazzo-palazzo.com/dld/Artikel_Korruptionspraeve...

TonyTK Jan 17, 2015:

There's also a translation ... ... of "länderbezogen festlegen" at the website in question. But the whole thing is poorly translated.

Ramey Rieger (X) Jan 17, 2015:

SELECT, SCHEDULE, DETERMINE one of theses would probably be more appropriate.

TonyTK Jan 17, 2015:

Looking at ... ... http://www.planetpure.com/d/unsere-werte/

"festlegen" is probably more about choosing or identifying. If you look at the context, I don't think they set up their own projects. (Even without the added context, I don't think "festlegen" ever really conveys the meaning of "set up" or "organise".)

Ramey Rieger (X) Jan 16, 2015:

Yes, Andrew I drew my conclusion from the rest of the sentence, i.e. international

Lancashireman Jan 16, 2015:

Länder Unfortunate that German uses this word for 'foreign countries' and 'federal states'.