Translation assistance: "c/o" as in "in care of"
 

What's the proper usage in German for an address that in the U.S. would include "c/o," as a abbreviation for "in care of?"

,,zu Händen von``

Forgot to mention, one could write
z. H.
or
z. Hd.

When I rented a room in Germany from an elderly couple it was 'Bei' on the letters - I was Bei Schaffer!

Maybe I need to be writing more letters on paper.

Z. Hd. is really an idiomatic translation for ,,attention`` (engl. ,,Attn:``).

For ,,care of``, it could be ,,Wohnhaft bei`` or ,,p.Adr.`` or just ,,Bei``.

Sorry if my lack of recent letter-writing caused any confusion.

And I'm rusty, but I think after Z Hd. goes your name, e.g. to have something for me sent to my friend Klaus Schmidt...

Klaus Schmidt
Z. Hd. The Mad Brewer

whereas we would like write

The Mad Brewer
c/o Klaus Schmidt

But then again I could be wrong :)

You're entirely right.

z. Hd. - "to be placed in the hands of". This would normally be used if you are writing to a company and you want your letter to be given to a specific person. In (British) English this would be "Attn".

If you want to write to Klaus Schmidt who is staying with Hans Meyer you would write

Klaus Schmidt
bei Hans Meyer

(or just "bei Meyer" - using surname only is perfectly acceptable in this context)

"c/o" is generally understood too.

It's important to always include the name of the person someone is staying with (as opposed to just the address) because you could have fifty families living in the same apartment block all sharing an address of "Hauptstr. 2".

Not just British Englisch.

Just to throw it in there... In French:

A/S (Aux soins de). - to the care of

Some-company,
A/S Mr. John Doe,
(address)

HTSC

I would like just add, that the term c/o is IMO commonly used in German.

Translated, I would also prefer the "bei" over the "z. Hd. von".

One really does learn a lot here on FT! ^

I agree:

"z.Hd.von" would translate into "to the attention of" and is used if you adress a person in a corporation. "c/o" translates into "bei". However, "c/o" is pretty normal

Thank you all. I knew I'd find the experts here!