# Mutustelu



## tilman

Hi all kaikki!

I need the Finnish word "mutustelu" (context: asioiden mutustelu) to be translated into English! I have checked many dictionaries but can't find a good translation. Can anybody help? (Oh and yeah, I am a Finn, so I know what it means, but English is not my mother tongue )

Thanks!

Tilman


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## Sleeping Wolf

According to my suomi-englanti sanakirja (dictionary?) we have...

asoida meaning "transact or do business"
mutustella meaning "munch (on)"

So... I think it may mean business-lunch or business-meal. Assuming you haven't left off accents (such as ä). But I'm only new to Suomi-speak, so I could be wrong.


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## Hakro

Tilman, I think you should first make clear what 'mutustelu' means in this context. It may mean either sifting matters seriously or just discussing superficially. Often it means a useless debate without any final resolution.

Originally 'mutustelu' means chewing without teeth, but in this case ('asioiden mutustelu') it's used in a figurative way.

Is it absolutely necessary to find an exact translation for this word? Often it's better to forget the original 'untranslatable' word and explain the idea using other words and maybe a totally different sentence construction. As a translator I have to do this every day.


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## Sleeping Wolf

Thanks for clearing that up Hakro, I thought my post was probably going to be inaccurate.


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