Talk:roter Faden

Apparently the meaning of the German expression "roter Faden" is very similar to the meaning of "rode draad" in Dutch. The literal English translation would be "red thread", not just thread. The meaning is something like a coincidental recurring theme. "Red threads" typically are not planned, they are discovered in hindsight from a series of events etc. I hope someone comes up with a proper English translation. Rbakels 07:41, 13 April 2011 (UTC)

I don't know about a good translation, but I can tell you how we germans use the expression. Although germans don't make any difference, the expression has slightly different meanings in different contexts:
 * In instructional texts and presentations:
 * "roter Faden" describes the existence of a central logical structure, which helps the reader/audience follow along. This structure must be present throughout (almost) the entire text/presentation to be considered a "roter Faden".


 * In literature:
 * Here, the expression is used in a wider sense. It can also mean the existence of an important recurring theme, as long as it helps give the text a certain ordering.


 * In real life:
 * not used often, and mostly in the literary sense.

As you can see, the "roter faden" is most often carefully planned and almost never coincidential. Discovering them in hindsight in real events is kind of what science and the police try to do. Sometimes people say they see a "roter Faden" in their own lifes, which means they feel that their life is strongly influenced by fate.89.204.130.6 17:56, 25 October 2012 (UTC)

Just browsed in on this. The translations I know are: "common thread", "thread", or "common theme". It's a reference to Ariadne's thread (as in mythology; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ariadne%27s_thread_(logic) has different connotations these days). The expression is used in several European languages, e.g. "fil rouge" in French, see also: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faden#Roter_Faden.