Obama : Germany is a close friend and a critical partner to the United States

Obama comienza la Conferencia de prensa Obama y Merkel en Dresden (según el comunicado de la Casa Blanca, reproducido por el Wall Street Journal y lo que he escuchado yo en la radio), en la así:

Well, thank you very much, everybody. Good morning. It is wonderful to be in the beautiful city of Dresden, which obviously is steeped in history and, as Chancellor Merkel discussed, has overcome great tragedies and is now this beautiful city full of hope. And so I’m very grateful to not only Chancellor Merkel but to the German people for their hospitality.

Germany is a close friend and a critical partner to the United States, and I believe that friendship is going to be essential not only for our two countries but for the world if we are to make progress on some of the critical issues that we face, whether it’s national security issues or economic issues or issues that affect the globe like climate change.

Chancellor Merkel, as she mentioned, and I had a very productive discussion. We continue to work closely together to confront the global economic crisis and to restore growth and prosperity for our people. The downturn knows no borders and it will take some time and sustained action by all of us to move forward.

La frase que pongo en cursiva, ha sido traducida al alemán como entscheidende Partner (no en un comienzo, en un comienzo, la tradujeron como kritische Partner)... Es cierto que critical se puede traducir como entscheidend al alemán; sin embargo, yo creo que en este caso, es más correcto traducir crítico y no decisivo; sin quitar nada al hecho de que Alemania, en los ojos de Obama, sea un país decisivo ;)