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12:35 Dec 15, 2009
English to English translations [PRO] Art, Arts & Crafts, Painting / design, architecture, art, history, general
English term or phrase:metric system
Should I be translating measurements in the metric system into the Imperial system for a French to American English translation project?
Explanation: If you're talking size of works of art, I would definitely leave the metric measurement - with an inches size in brackets. That way the relative accuracy (and level of error) of the metric measurement is maintained, and it is clear the inch measurements are more approximate.
For other measurements - kilometres, etc, the NY Times also gives the metric, with a miles in brackets or parentheses.
I completely agree with R Colin that for a US catalogue, both cm & inches should be used (when the original measurements are in cm). But remember that the US doesn't use Imperial units of measurement - probably not a factor here if you're not dealing with volume or liquids.
your translation will be read by some people used to Imperial measures. How ill at ease will they be with measures unknown to them.
The way I do in my own translations it is to put side by side both measures. In this case, because of the "mixed audience" I would put the metric measures first and between brackets the Imperial. For a general audience I would round up the Imperial measures with an "about" in front, whether it is rounded up to the nearest or half units.
For a technical paper, only the exact conversions should be used.
And when I do the conversions myself, once I have done and written them, before sending the paper, I do then again a second time for the ticklish one. On Interner there are a lot of conversion tools to help with that.
Thank you so much - that solves it. I'll keep it in meters, with the technical entries in the back of the catalogue to be updated with both units of measurement (inches in brackets). THANK YOU!
If you simply translate to inches, you will be falsifying the level of accuracy. If for example you have 20cm, how do you translate it? At best the original implies a level of accuracy at plus or minus a half centimeter. If you translate as 7.9 inches, you are implying an accuracy of one twentieth of an inch. If you translate as 8 inches, your accuracy is a half inch. Which is best? Neither. The only solution is to keep the cm and perhaps add inches in brackets. Remember also that for a US catalogue, much of the audience will be foreign. Inches will mean nothing.
It's for an exhibition catalogue - French version is complete with all measurements for objects/spaces/areas included, but I am not sure if standard practice for such things is to translate all measurements as well - it's not just for an American audience, it's for a European, Asian, etc. audience but it will be in American English.
It depends both on the subject matter and the intended audience. A more technical audience and/or subject matter might expect the use of the metric system. Can you give us some more context?
Explanation: If you're talking size of works of art, I would definitely leave the metric measurement - with an inches size in brackets. That way the relative accuracy (and level of error) of the metric measurement is maintained, and it is clear the inch measurements are more approximate.
For other measurements - kilometres, etc, the NY Times also gives the metric, with a miles in brackets or parentheses.
David Vaughn Local time: 21:48 Specializes in field Native speaker of: English PRO pts in category: 4
The translation workplace 
peer agreement (net): +11
