What's a German abbreviation corresponding to n/a or n.a.?

Question

Just to make it crystal-clear: I am not asking for a translation of the meaning underlying n/a, I am asking for a corresponding German abbreviation which can be understood without a glossary by a native speaker of German.

In English the abbreviation n/a or occasionally n.a. stands for not available. The corresponding German translation would be "nicht verfügbar".

Is there a German abbreviation delivering the exact same meaning as "nicht verfügbar" which would be commonly understood without explicit explanation?

n/a very often also stands for "not applicable", thus "nicht zutreffend" — tofro, Oct 31 '16 at 09:34
You may use the English abbreviation, but I wouldn't expect it is commonly understood. I would use a bar. — knut, Oct 31 '16 at 09:35
@PerlDuck: how is asking for the abbreviation of the (already) given German term a duplicate of asking for the German term? What am I missing here? — 0xC0000022L, Oct 31 '16 at 13:15
@0xC0000022L The post I refer to literally asks “Also, how would you abbreviate the equivalent of n/a in German?”. — PerlDuck, Oct 31 '16 at 16:31
@PerlDuck: ... and no satisfying answers were given. But, fair enough. Got my answer here. — 0xC0000022L, Oct 31 '16 at 20:51

tofro · Accepted Answer · 2016-10-31T13:23:25.940

German doesn't have any such standard abbreviation. See the Wikipedia article on N/A

You do, from time to time, see things like "k.A." (for "keine Angabe") or even "n.a." (for "nicht angegeben") - That is, however not even close to a common practice like "N/A" is in English - This might even irritate readers in German.

One standard and much more common way to deal with "not applicable" fields in tables, for example, would be to lock the respective table cell with a dash or cross it out (German typography would call that a "Sperrstrich"). Because the English meaning can vary from "not applicable" to "not available", this isn't any more misleading than "N/A", in my opinion.

Nothing prevents you from filling such items with "nicht zutreffend" or "nicht verfügbar", though.

Titus · Answer 2 · 2016-10-31T13:21:02.253

0

literally, not available is nicht verfügbar, abbreviated n.v. (also: nicht vorhanden = non-existent.

k.A. (no info) is more commonly used; but there´s a difference between those two.

According to the german Wikipedia article on N/A, n. a. also exists in German; standing for nicht angegeben or nicht auswertbar. But I have never seen that.

edited Oct 31 '16 at 13:21

answered Oct 31 '16 at 12:28

Titus

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What's a German abbreviation corresponding to n/a or n.a.?

2 Answers2