Glossary entry (derived from question below)
German term or phrase:
Milchmädchenrechnung
English translation:
living in cloud cuckoo land; born yesterday; a fool's paradise; pie in the sky; babes in the wood; thinking like milkmaids
German term
United States
Psychology, economics, politics
Native in: English 
Works in: Russian to English, German to English, English
Milchmädchenrechnung
Oct 2, 2009 17:46: Susan Welsh changed "Edited KOG entry" from "<a href="/profile/625898">Susan Welsh's</a> old entry - "Milchmädchenrechnung"" to ""living in cloud cuckoo land; born yesterday; pie in the sky; babes in the wood; thinking like milkmaids""
Proposed translations
(they are) living in cloud cuckoo land
Cloud cuckoo land - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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("You're living in Cloud-cuckoo-land.") It hints that the person referred to is naïve, unaware of reality or deranged in holding such an optimistic belief. ...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloud_cuckoo_land - Im Cache - Ähnlich
Japan
Scientia est potentia
Native in: Japanese
Works in: English to Japanese, German to Japanese, Italian to Japanese, and 3 more.
Don't count your chickens before they are hatched.
There is also an option of "First catch your hare then cook him."
United Kingdom
Expert translator (>EN) and proofreader
Native in: English
Works in: Swedish to English, German to English, Italian to English, and 1 more.
naive miscalculation
| agree |
Catherine Winzer
: Yes, I think this or "naive assumption" would work fine.
22 mins
|
| agree |
Michael Sieger
: Routlege English-German dictionary of idioms uses it
1 day 1 hr
|
Bulgaria
25 years in translation subtitling
Native in: German
Works in: English to German, German to English
simple-minded assumption
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Note added at 41 mins (2009-10-01 15:55:55 GMT)
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How about: The problem is that Simple Simon could have said that, for Germany...
| Thanks, Stephanie, but the idea is to find a colorful idiom. There's nothing wrong with "naive," or with what you wrote, but they have nothing of the flavor of the original. |
United Kingdom
Arts/Academic translator - Art historian
Native in: English
Works in: German to English, French to English
thoughts/views of a simpleton
http://homesteadhilton.blogspot.com/2009/09/not-so-political...
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Note added at 2 hrs (2009-10-01 17:40:55 GMT)
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Or how about, 'but they are living in a fool's paradise' or something along those lines?
Carpe diem!
Native in: German 
, English
Works in: English, German to English, English to German, and 3 more.
That attitude/point of view is based all on sixes and sevens.
a simplistic fallacy
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Note added at 3 hrs (2009-10-01 18:47:56 GMT)
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'...that's just pie in the sky' might also be a possibility.
| agree |
David Williams
: Sounds good to me, but it depends a bit on the context, of course.
1 hr
|
|
Thanks, David
|
United Kingdom
Experienced & reliable
Native in: English (Variant: UK)
Works in: German to English, French to English
they must have been born yesterday
Austria
We Make Words Work for You
Native in: German (Variant: Austrian)
Works in: English to German, Spanish to German, German to English
This is a mere illusion for one simple reason: Germany tops the list of world exporters.
Germany
1-stop shop for voiceover & translation
Native in: German (Variants: Bavarian, Germany)
Works in: English to German, German to English, German, and 1 more.
wrong assumption / faulty calculation
It's some wrong of the Germans / Europeans to think that they will make it through despite the dollar collapsing, as we have a stable euro and are not affected by the development of the dollar.
But, as your text says, German export is booming. So where would they then export to if the dollar is crashing?!
Therefore, I would use something like "wrong assumption" or "faulty calculation" for Milchmädchenrechnung as there calculation is faulty or, better said, based on the wrong parameters and assumptions.
Discussion
babe in the woods
greenhorn
just off the boat [this doesn't fit the context, since it refers to immigrants]
Nun gibt es gerade auch hier in Deutschland Ideologen, die so links sind, oder auch rechts, die das aus ideologischen Gründen gar nicht so schlecht fänden, die so tief anti-amerikanisch sind und sagen: „Laßt die USA doch ruhig kollabieren. Wir in Europa und in Deutschland werden das alles schon meistern...."
Das Problem ist nur, das ist eine Milchmädchenrechnung, denn Deutschland ist Exportweltmeister bzw. es ist gerade von China abgelöst worden.