The Translation Inquirer John Decker [email protected] A Friend at Midnight is a page- “You’re a language major, Rebbie. I turner of a novel by Caroline B. want you to get a graduate degree or Cooney. One of the major characters is go into diplomacy, or at least import Abbreviations Rebecca, the oldest sibling of a not-so- Italian shoes.” The Translation used with this column well-blended family. She completes Inquirer is alarmed to think that under- one year as a language (Italian?) major graduates in language programs could Cr-Croatian F-French at a university in Rochester, New possibly go all the way through their D-Dutch G-German York. Only a short way into her soph- curriculum without giving any serious E-English I-Italian omore year, she returns home to thought to becoming interpreters or [E]-English Po-Polish announce that she is dropping out of translators. I am biased, but I think acceptable as an Pt-Portuguese school and getting married. Her horri- those professions beat the shoe import answer, the R-Russian fied mother objects on page 128: trade (or even diplomacy) by a mile! original query did Ro-Romanian not involve Sp-Spanish English Sw-Swedish New Queries (E-Po 2-12.4) It is clear that when (Cr-G [E] 2-12.1) The difficult paints are applied in reduced density Croatian word here, sekundarizam, and multiple layers, a term called might mean “metastases,” but could be “mist pass” is appropriate. But (Pt-E 2.12.8) Okay, here is a Portuguese a colloquial form of the word. English how would you render this into legal query that deals specifically with is acceptable as an answer for this proper Polish? intellectual property. The query involves query. Here is more context: Difuzno u this context sentence and the last two oba jetrena režnja, diferenciraju se (E-Sp 2-12.5) An entire industry is words (highlighted in bold) are the brojne manje i veće fokalne hipodenzne devoted to the production of these problem: A sentença já proferida nestes lezije, dijelom neoštrog ruba, najbolje gadgets, so “dimmer” is a proper query autos – e que não mereceu ainda, demarkirane u portalnoj fazi postkon- in this column at long last. A translator quanto aos seus fundamentos, qualquer trastno. Promjene odgovaraju sekun- offered atenuador while admitting that juízo sindicatário. darizmima. I urge the relatively small “dimmer” and “dimming” are often cohort among you who can contribute used as-is in Spanish. Does anyone (Sp-E 2-12.9) Cars and trucks are the to this to provide your expertise. have a better suggestion? subject of the following list that trou- bled a translator going into English: (D-G [E] 2-12.2) In this first Dutch- (G-Pt [E] 2-12.6) Untermesser - Ángulo del acelerador; Régimen del to-German query on my watch, absaugung is an industrial engineering motor; régimen primario del conjunto the translator offered a tentative term that caused consertnation for one polea biplato 1; regimen secundario Widerstandsgedächtniskreuz for ver- colleague. The text makes it clear del conjunto polea biplato 2. Is zetsherdenkingskruis. The entire sen- that this is an environment where anyone willing to help with these tence reads: Mijn oma was draagster Schlitz düsen and Schlitzöffnung are items? van het verzetsherdenkingskruis. used, as well as Ansauggeschwin digkeit and Bahngeschwindigkeit. No con- (Sp-F [E] 2-12.10) English will be (E-G 2-12.3) Is it correct to accept the nected, coherent sentences are available. accepted in this Spanish-to-French translator’s initial reaction to “acting in a What processing is taking place? query about “personal” (tomar dinero purely nondiscretionary capacity” as a préstamo de personal). Here is more agiert ohne jede Ermessensbefugnis? (I-E 2-12.7) In the world of electrical context: llevar la firma y actuar en Here is a bit more of the original: “The engineering, how would you render nombre de la sociedad en toda clase Sponsor is acting in a purely nondiscre- porta collare – cuscinetto con alloggia- de operaciones bancarias, firmar fac- tionary capacity and shall not be mento into proper English? The phrase turas, pólizas, conocimientios, solici- deemed to have established an obligation is taken from a sales invoice. Sorry, tudes y declaraciones juradas, or duty to ensure compliance….” Is the there is no more context. solicitar y tomar dinero a préstamo de translator on the right track with this? personal y particulares.... In partic- 34 The ATA Chronicle n February 2012 Address your queries and responses to The Translation Inquirer, 112 Ardmoor Avenue, Danville, Pennsylvania 17821. E-mail address: [email protected]. Please make your submissions by the first of each month to be included in the next issue. Generous assistance from Per Dohler, proofreader, is gratefully acknowledged. ular, what about “personal” in this the eastern nannygai, also known as the (Sp-E 8-11.10) (N.I.): Maria Gabriela quote? red snapper (Centroberyx affinis); and Ortiz believes this could stand for the bluefish (Pomatomus satatrix), of Notario Interviniente (“intervening no - Replies to Old Queries which the smallest are often known as tary”) in the context of a birth certificate. (E-Po 9-11.1) (rotary air blast): This, snappers. Lutjanidae is the word related says Piotr Graff, is wiertarka udarowo to луциан, and Pagrus auratus to (Sp-E 10-11.8) (traspaleros): This, pneumatyczna. The English term can пагрус. The word окунь is just one of says Christelle Maginot, refers to a job be looked up online, says Piotr. three cited in two prominent diction- title. The Diccionario de la lengua aries, but they translate it as “perch,” española de la Real Academia (E-R 9-11.2) (reference range of which belong to the Percidae family. Española defines the verb traspalar as ostensibly healthy persons): Darya mover, pasar o mudar algo de un Chernina likes находящейся в (F-Ro [E] 10-11.6) (cache-bagages): lugar a otro. In the context of airports, диапазоне нормальных значений An alternate term for this in French, it means “baggage handlers,” “fleet для явно здоровых лиц. says Christelle Maginot, is plage service agents,” or “ramp agents.” arrière. In English, this is “cargo (E-R 10-11.4) (snapper): Alex cover,” “parcel shelf,” or “rear parcel (Sw-E 10-11.9) (avskriva på förhand): Schwartz states that it is difficult to shelf.” A possible Romanian transla- Thor Kottelin says this makes no sense provide a response to this query tion could be panou acoperitor semantically or grammatically. He because “snapper” is the common bagaje. suspects that the phrase originated in a English name for many species of fish text that was then translated into that are not necessarily all grouped (R-E 9-11.9) (1 гр): In Darya Chernina’s Swedish, and therefore the only pos- under one name in Russian as they are opinion, this abbreviation can mean not sible approach is to find out where it in English. This taxonomy problem merely grams, but also группа (group), came from. arises in nearly every language. and therefore the reference may be to Wikipedia states that snappers may “group 1” next to the names of each of Thanks to the contributors, thanks to refer to Lutjanidae, a family of fish three tuberculosis treatments. the editor, thanks to the proofreader, known as snappers, or to many other and to those who posed the queries in fishes from other families, including the the first place. Australasian snapper (Pagrus auratus); ATA Webinars www.atanet.org/webinars March 22, 2012 12 Noon Eastern Daylight Time Live and On-Demand Training for Searching Primary Sources for Patent Terminology Professional Translators and Interpreters Speaker: Bruce D. Popp This webinar will provide information on various techniques for searching primary sources for subject matter terminology when translating patent applications. Related patents originally drafted in the target language are particularly valuable primary sources, and the speaker will discuss some bibliographic techniques for finding them. Techniques for dealing with chemical compound names and the names of mechanical parts will also be addressed. The ATA Chronicle n February 2012 35.