# Aftasten



## puhpuh

Ik zoek de Engelse vertaling van *aftasten*, in de betekenis van voorzichtig een indruk trachten te krijgen:

"In het begin was het aftasten, vooral onszelf niet blootgeven."


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## Joannes

*To feel out*, denk ik..


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## Suehil

'To sound out' is probably better, I have never heard anyone use 'to feel out'. 

'To begin with we were sounding each other out...'


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## puhpuh

'To sound out' ... just what I was looking for ... this is perfect! Thank you Suehil!


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## killerbees

I think it might be a BE/AE difference. I've never used 'to sound out', but 'to feel out' is pretty common.


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## puhpuh

Hey you are confusing me ... 

Anyone some more thoughts on this?


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## sound shift

"We sized each other up."


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## Suehil

It must be AE/BE difference - I have never, ever heard 'to feel out', it sounds to me like 'to feel up', which has a very different meaning.

If 'to size each other up' exists in American English, then it would be a good solution, though the meaning is not quite as close.


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## killerbees

Puhpuh, I agree with Suehil in that 'to size each other up' works, but 'to feel/sound out' is closer in meaning. 'To size up', at least for me, has a connotation of assessing value or ability and has a more "competitive" feeling to it. You should probably stick with 'to sound out' if your audience is British and 'to feel out' if they're American. I don't know which is more common for other English-speaking regions (Canadian, Australian, etc.), but if you use 'to sound out' in front of an American it generally refers to 'pronouncing something slowly in order to spell it' (though, this is less offensive than confusing 'feel out' and 'feel up' ).


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## Kayla321

LOL Feel out / feel up. This sort of mistakes can be SO funny or embarrassing. Or both.


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## sound shift

Nog een idee: "measuring each other up".


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