Translating "national" and "international"

There is from time to time this quandary or pitfall where someone has just not translated the words "national" and "international" because, well, they are indeed words in English.

The deal is that I think often, the German words "national" and "international" actually mean domestic and foreign.

Take for example a site that deals with bets on sports events, say, football (soccer) matches.

What are "nationale Spiele" and what are "internationale Spiele"?

National games could be between nations, right? Whereas, if you are in Blighty, a match between Barcelona and Athletico Madrid would not necessarily be an international match (like say England vs. Scotland err Germany), but a foreign match.

Does anyone else think this? Are many translators just not thinking when they see the words "national" and "international" in German?

National and international is fine by me to me - foreign is such an ugly word anyway and the word domestic always implies something to do with inside the home – like domestic worker for example.
One thing I find funny in the UK is when you phone there and they always with telephone numbers say “O� when they really mean zero.

So is the German Nationalmannschaft the Domestic Team, or the Foreign Team? They play at home or abroad, representing their home country but in an international context.
Sometimes "national" can mean "international" if I follow your logic.
I tend to mix the terms anyway, opposing domestic law (USA, Germany, whatever) to international law (laws applying across borders), but avoiding "foreign".

But sometimes you have to use "foreign" because it's not synonymous with "international" - international law applies across borders, as you say, whereas foreign law would be the (national) law of one or more countries from the point of view of another country.

No, I would differentiate between German domestic law and USA domestic (or even state, but let's not go down that road) law. "Foreign law" makes my toenails quiver with nausea.

So what would you call something like the Foreign Law Guide? "Guide to domestic law of all other countries"?

Every law is foreign almost anywhere. I would never use that term when comparing legal systems. And "Guide to Laws of Foreign Countries" has its own appeal.

the german National team, play international matches against other national teams.

the question on national and international football matches is easily answered. A German national team has members from the various federal states ie bavaria, saxony, etc etc etc.
i would say that 'domestic'/local for me is bavarian and not german.

Or the domestic team plays foreign or domestic matches against other domestic teams. I love language! Of course this is getting silly, it just goes to show that you can never eliminate the human brain from translation. A machine does not always pick up the nuances.