English translation: percent of total consumer spending
Login or register (free and only takes a few minutes) to participate in this question.
You will also have access to many other tools and opportunities designed for those who have language-related jobs (or are passionate about them). Participation is free and the site has a strict confidentiality policy.
German to English translations [PRO] Marketing - Mathematics & Statistics / Market share
German term or phrase:Prozent der gesamten Konsumausgaben
Context:
"***land ist mit rund *** Millionen Verbrauchern einer der wichtigsten Absatzmärkte für Konsumgüter weltweit, insbesondere für Nahrungsmittel und Getränke. Rund 30 Prozent der gesamten Konsumausgaben wenden die russischen Verbraucher dafür auf, bis 2015 sollen die Ausgaben für Nahrungsmittel um weitere 62 Prozent steigen."
To me, this sounds like food and beverages currently account for about 30% of consumer spending spending on consumer goods in this country, with spending on food predicted to rise by a further 62% by 2015, i.e. to over 92% of consumer spending!
Now OK, I wasn't top of the class in maths, and haven't studied economics, but something tells me this is somewhat unlikely, as it would spell doom for almost all other consumer goods, however expensive food gets between now and then...
* Sentence or paragraph where the term occurs: See above
* Document type: Press release
* Target audience: Trade fair exhibitors
* Country and dialect: Germany (corporate, no dialect)
Explanation: You're misunderstanding the arithmetic - total spending is rising by 62%, not 62 percentage points on top of 30%.
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 1 hr (2011-02-03 17:50:33 GMT) --------------------------------------------------
The two percentages relate to different things, like apples and pears. The first is the proportion of total consumer spending. If total spending is 100, then 30 is spent on food. If total food spending increases by 62%, it goes up to 162% of 30, which is 48.6.
Do you follow now? It's actually an arithmetic rather than a language question!
it MIGHT only mean more %, not more money, as it is probably safe to say that most consumers will have bought their fill of other consumer goods such as household electronics by 2015, and will only need to buy food ;-)
Everything that can be bought, will have been bought, just as Charles H. Duell said that "everything that can be invented has been invented" - back in 1899!
but your text doe4s not actually say so! That's the whole problem. And philgoddard has already said, it is "Äpfel" and "Birnen" which are being mentioned in one breath, as it were.
that the additional 62% means that food will account for a larger proportion of spending in 2015 than now, i.e. an increase on 30%: Not only more money, but more %.
With approximately X million consumers, QWERT is one of the most important foreign markets for consumer goods in the world, in particular for food and beverages, which currently account for about 30% of consumer spending in QWERT, with spending on food predicted to rise by a further 62% by 2015.
Or should it rather be:
"... with spending on food predicted to rise by 62% by 2015."?
My mathematical prowess is low, but I am hazarding a thought all the same.
Could it mean that at present these people spend 30% of their household budget (= xxx euros or whatever) on food.
By 2015 they may be spending yyy euros on this, which is 62% more than xxx in money terms. Nothing is said about whether the 30% will change or not.
???
Automatic update in 00:
Answers
4 mins confidence: peer agreement (net): +2
"Prozent der gesamten Konsumausgaben"
percent of total consumer spending
Explanation: You're misunderstanding the arithmetic - total spending is rising by 62%, not 62 percentage points on top of 30%.
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 1 hr (2011-02-03 17:50:33 GMT) --------------------------------------------------
The two percentages relate to different things, like apples and pears. The first is the proportion of total consumer spending. If total spending is 100, then 30 is spent on food. If total food spending increases by 62%, it goes up to 162% of 30, which is 48.6.
Do you follow now? It's actually an arithmetic rather than a language question!
philgoddard Local time: 17:58 Native speaker of: English PRO pts in category: 7
Grading comment
Many thanks!
Notes to answerer
Asker: OK, but surely "um weitere" means that it is on top of the 30%, and "Prozent" means "percent", not "percentage points", does it not?
Asker: Ah! Many thanks Phil, that makes perfect sense now :-)
Reference comments
2 hrs
Reference: Prozentrechnung
Reference information: This is something lots of people get wrong, so why not the writer of the OT ?
The translation workplace 
peer agreement (net): +2
