18:31 Jan 19 

indeed.
asker seems to have worked on the premise that the first sentence must describe the same actions as the second sentence, and therefore that "drop off" must describe some aspect of operating the PC; but if the text quoted is actually a question and answer from a FAQ, that assumption goes out of the window.

17:24 Jan 19 

@ Colin
That interpretation is what makes the most sense to me given the context, although I am aware I am taking liberties with the source text. But Martin has a good point here; the sentence does sound like a FAQ.

14:48 Jan 19 

Here's a plausible scenario:
* a company is migrating its systems
* users have to take their PC (perhaps they all have laptops) to the network management team for software to be installed which will perform the necessary updates/data migration. This installation takes 10 minutes.
* users then must take their PC back to their desk, connect to the LAN and run the newly-installed software. This will take a few hours.

Let's assume the extract given comes from a FAQ document. It's perfectly reasonable for the user to ask "When I bring my PC to you, can I leave it with you to complete the process, and collect it later?". However the answer is, "No, we just do a quick installation. You have to take your PC away with you and complete the process yourself".

In this scenario, the source text would make perfect sense as it stands. If this scenario has any similarities with the facts described in your document, then there is no need whatsoever to invent "adaptations" based on what you think the author should have written. But it all depends on the wider context, which you have not shared with us.

14:25 Jan 19 

Why the insistence that the phrase may have been incorrectly used? The rest of the text is also perfectly good (native-sounding) English and the phrase in question makes perfectly good sense in the (limited) context given.

14:22 Jan 19 

@ Colin Rowe
Again, the meaning of "drop off" is not questioned here, but the writer (maybe a non-native) may have used this term wrongly.

14:02 Jan 19 

There is clearly a conflict here between the imperatives of the target text and the glossary-based approach of KudoZ.

Cindy, you have provided a very short fragment, so it is impossible for us to do other than respond to the term itself – and there is a very clear consensus among the native English-speakers. You of course have a wider knowledge of the whole source text, and the client/reader's requirements for the target text, so you can make your own judgements about your translation – but for goodness' sake don't use the adapted translation as a glossary entry!

14:00 Jan 19 

No, it is not faulty English. The English is perfectly clear and instantly understandable. The phrase is widely used.

13:44 Jan 19 

Everybody agrees with you about the meaning of "drop off".
It might just be faulty English, it's not that uncommon, is it ?

12:55 Jan 19 

Colin, j'ai adapté la traduction à mon texte, car ici il s'agit bien du fait de laisser le PC pendant qu'une mise à jour s'effectue, il est évident que la traduction propre de 'drop off' n'a aucun rapport avec l'exécution d'une tâche. La traduction c'est aussi ADAPTER son texte pour le rendre compréhensible...

12:50 Jan 19 

means to take something somewhere and go away and leave it there. Whether or not it is running a process while it is being left is irrelevant to the translation of "drop off".

12:42 Jan 19 

In my opinion, "drop my PC off" just means "leave my PC unattended" until the process is completed, which seems to be corroborated by the next sentence: "you can *leave* the process to run as this will take up to 3 hours".

12:17 Jan 19 

as you present it, without wider context, the meaning of the source phrase is very clear, and conjures up the image of taking something to a repairer to be mended (e.g. shoes to a cobbler, car to the garage, etc.).

it is just possible, I suppose, that "drop off" could have a subsidiary meaning, since this is an IT context, of "drop off [= disconnect from] the network" – but in combination with "come back later", any English speaker will have the first image, i.e. of taking an item to be repaired, strongly in their mind.

11:56 Jan 19 

Je dirais "laisser mon ordinateur exécuter la tâche".
Merci à tous pour vos suggestions !