Ich kenne die "cable-car" aus San Francisco und da sind es Strassenbahnwagen, die von einem Seil gezogen werden

Muttersprache deutsch

... oder vielmehr: Muttersprache Deutsch ;-)

In meinem Skigebiet hier, Sugarloaf, Maine, USA heissen die dummerweise alle nur Lifts ...

"Gondola: A type of lift which transports passenbers in multiple detachable enclosed cabins. Gondola cabins have ranged in size from as small as two persons to upwards of twenty. Modern gondolas use what's called "monocable" design, meaning that the haul rope both moves and supports the weight of the cabin and its passengers, much like chairlifts. Some older gondolas used a two-rope system, including a track rope (which supported the weight) and a haul rope (which moved the car)."

This seems to be the technical description. The website also gives you some nice pictures.

In answer to your other question, yes, I think in everyday speech "cable car" can be used to refer to the whole "Seilbahn", ie, the cableway including cars.

Das habe ich schon gelesen aber ohne Gewähr.

Funicular is definitely wrong -- a funicular is a kind of railway, ie the cars run on tracks, even if they are pulled by a cable. Nichts für ungut, Marlenchen ;-) (See: http://www.google.com.au/search?hl=en&q=defin...)

I'd say you can use "gondola" either in reference to the lift in general or the cabins themselves if the context is clear enough.

If however you want to be more precise you could distinguish between the "gondola cabins" (as I already suggested) and the "gondola lift".

my 2 cts. - auf Deutsch heißen die "funiculars" Standseilbahn.

Der Unterschied zur "Normalseilbahn" ist die Fahrbahn - die Standseilbahn STEHT auf (erdfesten) Schienen, während die Seilbahn auf einem (aufgeständerten) Seil fährt oder an einem hängt.

Gezogen werden beide von einem Drahtseil, wobei bei der Seilbahn entweder das Fahrbahnseil selbst läuft (Sessellifte) oder ein besonderes Zugseil parallel zum Fahrbahnseil vorgesehen ist.

In Südafrika ist es ein Cableway mit Cable cars

If it is true that "gondola" is both a cableway and a cabin, it cannot be used to refer to the cabin, because this would be ambiguous.

Wolly: gondola = Gondelbahn, gondola cabin = Seilbahngondel

I'm confused. If you hear "gondola" or "cable car", do you think of a lift or of a cabin?

If I hear 'gondola,' I think of Venice. If I hear 'cable car,' I think of San Francisco.

However, in the context of a cable car ride, either 'gondola' or 'cable car' should be okay.

If I hear 'cabin,' I think of Abraham Lincoln or a ship. And in this context, 'cabin' somehow doesn't sound quite right to me; I would have thought it would be, if anything, the interior of the vehicle, not the vehicle itself. So you could say, for example, 'Please keep arms and legs inside the cabin,' but not (I think) 'We spotted the brightly colored cabins of the cable car ride across the valley.' But it might be BE or other usage, or maybe it's just that I'm not familiar with it.

It would help to have a complete sentence.

Your wish is my command:

Für den zweiten Tag des Firmenausflugs ist eine kleine Bergwanderung vorgesehen. Mit einer schön geschmückten Gondel der Südketten-Seilbahn geht es auf fast 2.500 Meter Seehöhe ...


So cableway would help eliminating any confusion with earth-bound cable cars like in San Francisco, wouldn't it?

Hmm, sorry to be so difficult, but 'cableway' isn't actually that familiar to me either, though it would be understandable if you had already established the context with 'cable car.' Again, maybe it's just not AE, or just me.

Anyway, thanks for the sentence. It seems to me that you may not even need to mention the gondola and the cable car ride as two separate items. What about just something like

For the second day of our company holiday, we've planned a small hike/walk in the mountains. In an attractively decorated cable car we'll ascend to almost 2,500 meters above sea level in the Südkette mountain region ...


Not sure about the decorated part -- it sounded like flowers or balloons on the outside or something, but that doesn't seem very practical for a cable car. Brightly painted? I must be misunderstanding something, sorry.

hm-us: It IS flowers and ribbons on the outside!

Really! Good heavens. Must not be very windy. (-:

Okay, a few more ideas for you to mix and match:

The second day of our corporate getaway/excursion/outing will feature a light hike/walk in the mountains. We'll board a gaily/festively decorated cable car for a scenic ride up to almost 2,500 meters above sea level in the Südkette region ...


Hope that's at least enough to work with. Sounds like a fun trip.

hm-us: Starting from the assumption that "cable car" means "funicular railway" like in San Francisco, wouldn't it be preferable to say "board a ... gondola" to avoid misunderstandings and make the phrase unambiguous?

Well, I'm not sure that's a valid assumption; it also means that, but it doesn't only mean that. My point about Venice and S.F. was actually that 'gondola' is just as ambiguous as 'cable car' -- if you say 'board a gondola' with no other context in the mountains, people may be left scratching their heads and picturing canals.

But another thought has just come to me: What about 'skyride'? Now *that* should be unambiguous: 'board a cable car for a scenic skyride ...'

Better? (If not, I give up ...)

... as long as skyride (not yet included in LEO) doesn't imply that you take off, the clients will get the right idea -:))

I think you're safe on that score. (-:

I swore I wasn't going to think about this again but I lied. It has belatedly occurred to me that the formal name for Seilbahn that I'm familiar with is 'aerial tramway.' Maybe this is the AE equivalent of BE or Aus/NZE 'cableway,' which still doesn't sound right to me.

Another option unfamiliar to me appears to be 'gondola lift.' However, that seems to be used more to describe a certain kind of ski lift -- that is, not just a scenic ride at a non-skiing location such as an amusement park -- and the web examples seem to lean toward non-English-speaking countries.

If 'cable car ride' seems too ambiguous, 'aerial cable car ride' or perhaps 'cable car lift' should be clearer and still sufficiently idiomatic.

So my summary of the combinations that sound best to me:

gondola / cable car
+
aerial tramway / skyride / (aerial) cable car ride / cable car lift


BTW, 'cable car = Seilbahn' is surely wrong, isn't it? Though correcting it to 'cable cars' might be sufficient ...

hm-us: Can you take a look at this related thread:
  related discussion:skyride