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**als** in this context

English translation: see text below


19:34 Nov 3, 2009Login or register (free) for more options.
German to English translations [PRO]
Tech/Engineering - SAP
German term or phrase: **als** in this context
KONTEXT: ,,Man mag anführen, dass die Kosten für Festplattenspeicher ständig sinken, während deren Leistung steigt. So könnte man einfach mehr Speicher anschaffen, um dieses Problem zu lösen und das gewohnte Service-Maß im Data Warehouse für die Anwender aufrechtzuerhalten. Aber Datenvolumina wachsen sogar noch schneller, **als** sich das Preis- Leistungs-Verhältnis der Speichertechnologie verbessert.''

Can anyone please confirm if the ,,als'' here means 'than' or 'as' in this context. Either one in English could potentially be used and mean different things so I have to be careful. Danke im Voraus.
macrettoc
Ireland
Local time: 11:15
English translation:see text below
Explanation:
als is than in this context.
Possible translation:
Data volume is increasing more rapidly than the improvement of price-performance ratio.

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Note added at 11 Stunden (2009-11-04 07:12:11 GMT)
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As answer to Bernhard's suggestion and addendum:
The comma is wrong - I forgot to say that in the first place since comparisons in German are written without a comma.

For the "as" with comma: that's IMHO very Denglish. In order to imply that this happens at the same time, it should read something like
"... noch schneller, obwohl/wobei sich das Preis-Leistungs-Verhältnis..."

Does this make it clearer?
Selected response from:

Christina Heger
Germany
Local time: 12:15
Grading comment
Selected automatically based on peer agreement.
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
4 +9see text below
Christina Heger
3 -3as
Bernhard Sulzer


Discussion entries: 5





  

Answers


5 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +9
see text below


Explanation:
als is than in this context.
Possible translation:
Data volume is increasing more rapidly than the improvement of price-performance ratio.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 11 Stunden (2009-11-04 07:12:11 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

As answer to Bernhard's suggestion and addendum:
The comma is wrong - I forgot to say that in the first place since comparisons in German are written without a comma.

For the "as" with comma: that's IMHO very Denglish. In order to imply that this happens at the same time, it should read something like
"... noch schneller, obwohl/wobei sich das Preis-Leistungs-Verhältnis..."

Does this make it clearer?

Christina Heger
Germany
Local time: 12:15
Native speaker of: Native in GermanGerman
PRO pts in category: 4
Grading comment
Selected automatically based on peer agreement.

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  philgoddard: Data volumes are rising more quickly than storage costs are falling.
6 mins
  -> I totally agree with you on the apples and pears ;-) But I've never said it's a *good* text. Thanks Phil.

agree  Nicole Backhaus: Like the philgoddard version a bit better
36 mins
  -> Me too, actually ;-)

agree  Ingrid Moore
1 hr
  -> Thanks Ingrid

agree  franglish
11 hrs
  -> thanks

agree  sivara
14 hrs
  -> thanks

agree  Ingrid Velleine: "als" is clearly introducing a comparison, as it is preceeded by a comparative: "noch schneller als" > "even faster than"
14 hrs
  -> Thanks for the explanation, Ingrid

agree  Goldcoaster
15 hrs
  -> Thanks

agree  Lena Nusselt
16 hrs
  -> thanks Lena

agree  Jutta Scherer: than the PPR is improving
19 hrs
  -> Thanks Jutta
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5 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5 peer agreement (net): -3
as


Explanation:
there is a comma before "als" which means that it introduces a different thought. At least that's how I read it.
If you want to read it as than, then the comma is wrong.
Reading it as "as" would also solve the apples and pears problem.

Data volumes are rising even more quickly as (, at the same time) the relation between price and performance with regard to storage technology is improving.

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Note added at 5 hrs (2009-11-04 00:42:16 GMT)
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one available copy of the text does use the comma:
http://www.e3cms.de/index.php?id=1091



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Note added at 5 hrs (2009-11-04 00:43:04 GMT)
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corr: ...as (, at the same time,)...

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Note added at 18 hrs (2009-11-04 13:37:05 GMT)
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two words that gave me the sense that it is not necessarily meant as a direct comparison:
noch : noch schneller
sich: als sich ... verbessert

It just doesn't sound right as a direct comparison
But I am not going to say that
"data volumes grow even faster than the relation between price and performance improves (is improving)" isn't what is 'written' here.
But it's really pretty bad.
I take the "noch schneller" to relate back to what is said before rather than what follows.
Just my thoughts.
Would be nice to know what the writer really wanted to say.


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Note added at 18 hrs (2009-11-04 13:41:55 GMT)
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corr: meant to say:
But I am not going to say that
"data volumes grow even faster than the relation between price and performance improves (is improving)" COULDN't be what is 'written' here.

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Note added at 1 day8 hrs (2009-11-05 03:48:34 GMT)
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Example with als as "as":

http://wortschatz.uni-leipzig.de/cgi-bin/wort_www.exe?site=2...
Der 65-Jährige erntet das Lachen aller, als er begründet, warum er nicht bei der Zertifikats-Prüfung mitmachen wird.


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Note added at 1 day8 hrs (2009-11-05 04:10:18 GMT)
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The "German" language of SAP is rather "Denglish" than "Deutsch".
It is at least possible that a SAP person would think "as" when he/she uses "als". At the same time it's very understandable that German readers and all the commenters here would at first see this as "than". But I am convinced this is not such a clear-cut a case.
As they say, nothing is what it seems to be.
Hopefully, my thoughts are worth something.:)

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Note added at 1 day8 hrs (2009-11-05 04:11:29 GMT)
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typo corr: ...not such a clear-cut case

Bernhard Sulzer
United States
Local time: 06:15
Native speaker of: Native in GermanGerman
PRO pts in category: 8

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
disagree  British Diana: I cannot see how this "als" is being used as "da", it is a comparison
6 hrs
  -> I don't take it as direct comparison; more like "while". Thx for your comment.

disagree  Ingrid Velleine: You have to follow the syntactic structure of the sentence; a comma is always a secondary information, and sometimes misleading, because people often do not apply it properly
9 hrs
  -> Without the comma, the sentence is badly worded. As the asker indicated, one can understand it slightly differently - see my reply above. As you know, "als" does not always mean "than". I do provide an explanation and link showing the entire text. Thx

disagree  Jutta Scherer: Siehe Kommentar oben
14 hrs
  -> "als" ist alles andere als eindeutig: http://wortschatz.uni-leipzig.de/cgi-bin/wort_www.exe?site=2...
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