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21:25 Jul 1, 2008
English to English translations [PRO] Tech/Engineering - Transport / Transportation / Shipping / Data sheet/ industrial explosive
English term or phrase:25 kg resp. 24 kg
From a data sheet of an industrial explosive.
Under the heading "Packaging" it says:
XYZ explosives are packaged in wax paper and PE sacks. They are delivered in form of bricks of weight 250g, 500g, 1000g [etc].
Contained in one shipment package are 25 kg, resp. 24 kg of explosive.
What does resp. stand for here, and what does "25 kg, resp. 24 kg" mean?
Explanation: explosives are packaged in wax paper come in lots of 25 kg, and if wrapped in PE sack then in lots of 24 kg
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 14 hrs (2008-07-02 12:21:19 GMT) --------------------------------------------------
Note also that the text says: "Contained in one shipment package are 25 kg, resp. 24 kg of explosive" - from which it is clear that the weights refer to the *contents*, not the packing. The 24/25 kg are nett weights.
Thanks all! I have made a note to the client saying that I *believe* it means 25kg and 24 kg respectively, but that the translator interpreted it differently, as the English isn't clear enough.
If I hear anything from them (I doubt it), I'll let you know.
(evident) use of the word "bzw." in the German text. Or whatever it was which was translated into "bzw.", as that was clearly misleading. So I cannot agree with either of your postings.
To me, it looks like a German speaker (NOT an ENS) text; it is an extremely common German error to translate "bzw." as "resp" and misplace it as well.
I think it should read "...package IS 25 kg, OF WHICH 24 kg IS explosive." So I don't think much of the
Well, at least the ethical problem is not as serious as I thought it might be, but the Arabic translation won't be helped by the errors in the English source.
Ken has solved the mystery I think. Our English author appears to have copied the text, errors and all, from a Czech report on the product.
It may well be that the Czech language has a word used in a similar way to the German "bzw".
In similar shipping documents, I have seen the packaging accounted for in the shipping weights, and would take it to mean that the total weight of the package referred to is 25kg, whereas the weight of the contents (explosives) is 24kg.
Exactly. I used to have endless arguments with German authors who insisted that's what they were taught at school as the correct English translation of bzw. :(
But as it happens, the name of the person who prepared the datasheet is there on the 1st page, and it's a guy with a Britsh name, located in an English town.
Writeaway says (and I agree) "looks like a non-native translation into English. English is riddled with errors" - i.e. the whole text is non-native and contains errors; but the use of 'resp.' is an indicator of 'non-nativeness', not an 'error' per se.
Actually, I'm proofreading the Arabic translation, and the translator understood it to mean "24 of the 25kg are explosives", but I just can't see how that can be. So I thought I should ask here.
Hi Egil and mediamatrix! You both suggest that it stands for "respectively" but that it means different things:
Egil: You suggest it means "24 of the 25 kg is explosives". But would the word "respectively" make sense here?
mediamatrix: You say it's 25 and 24 kg respectively. Do you think, then, as writeaway says, that it's an error?
Thanks!
Automatic update in 00:
Answers
58 mins confidence: peer agreement (net): +1
comment
Explanation: The following sounds suspiciously like your text, and it comes from a Czech website. If it is and your text is supposed to have been translated from Arabic, IMO there's a fair chance that the Arabic text was translated from some other language (perhaps Czech or English) and the translator simply copied equivalent text from the document cited below (the chances of duplicating the wording after one or two intermediate translations are vanishingly small), or the translator originally generated the English version of the text and simply reused the translation or portions of it.
Unfortunately, I'm still noit sure of the intended meaning of the phrase, but these circumstances do suggest that the original translation may have been done by a native German speaker or some more at home in German than in English.
Semtex 1A explosives are packaged in wax paper and polyethylene (PE) sacks. They are delivered in form of bricks of weight 250 g; 500 g; 1000 g; 2500 g; 3000 g or following customer’s instructions. Contained in one shipment package are 25 kg, resp. 24 kg of explosive. www.explosia.cz/en/trhaviny/download/trhaviny.pdf
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 59 mins (2008-07-01 22:24:57 GMT) --------------------------------------------------
oops -- read 'or someone more at home...'
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 1 hr (2008-07-01 22:38:13 GMT) --------------------------------------------------
On reflection, I'd say that the intended meaning is the explosive is available in packages containing either 24 kg or 25 kg of explosive (this corresponds to common use of 'bzw.' in German). This may simply reflect the fact that you can't have a 25-kg package with 3-kg bricks if the bricks are all the same size.
Ken Cox Local time: 03:27 Native speaker of: English PRO pts in category: 2
Notes to answerer
Asker: Hi Ken. The text I am proofreading is actually the Arabic translation of the English document I'm citing. (And the translator translated it to mean "24 of the 25 kg are explosives).
The passage you cite is indeed identical to the one I'm working on (product and all). It appears the English author of the report copied and pasted from the Czech report without correcting the errors!
Explanation: explosives are packaged in wax paper come in lots of 25 kg, and if wrapped in PE sack then in lots of 24 kg
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 14 hrs (2008-07-02 12:21:19 GMT) --------------------------------------------------
Note also that the text says: "Contained in one shipment package are 25 kg, resp. 24 kg of explosive" - from which it is clear that the weights refer to the *contents*, not the packing. The 24/25 kg are nett weights.
xxxmediamatrix Local time: 21:27 Native speaker of: English PRO pts in category: 4
Grading comment
Thanks mediamatrix, Ken and all for your help. I think you're both right.
The translation workplace 
peer agreement (net): +5
