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21:16 Jul 7, 2011
Russian to English translations [PRO] Tech/Engineering - Government / Politics / Emergency management
Russian term or phrase:источник чрезвычайной ситуации
Emergency management document; "source of emergency" really feels awful to me; the definition is from ГОСТ Р 22.0.02-94:
Опасное природное явление, авария или опасное техногенное происшествие, широко распространенная инфекционная болезнь людей, сельскохозяйственных животных и растений, а также применение современных средств поражения, в результате чего произошла или может возникнуть чрезвычайная ситуация (ГОСТ Р 22.0.02-94).
With "the" added, this doesn't sount too bad to me. You can certainly talk about "the source of the fire", so "the source of the emergency" is possible. If the document distinguishes between причина and источник, you're probably stuck with it.
The problem is that, in English, "emergency" is regarded as an abstract concept, and can have a cause, but not a specific location. So a specific event like a fire or a flood can have a source, but we feel uncomfortable with the abstraction having a specific source.
To give examples, I would probably not say "there's an emergency downstairs", but I might say "there's a flood/fire downstairs". If I were to say "we've got an emergency here" it would probably mean "we've got a rush job on" or "the computers have gone down", not that there's a life-threatening situation.
You'd be amazed at how many ways there can be to say something. Just because you prefer one way of saying it doesn't mean that it is the one and only correct way. And it definitely isn't a grammatical issue by any stretch of imagination. If you think источник and причина are the same thing, then I'm not surprised that grammar and style are the same thing to you too. Cheers.
To Kiwiland: I don't quite understand your question, but I will try to answer it as best as I can. Syntax plays a huge part in meaning here, so "emergency origin" does not really make any sense to me. But what I meant was that in the context of war you can use the word "origin" to mean "source." In the case of a natural disaster, such as the "cause of an emergency," origin doesn't ring right. The word "origin" comes from a Latin root that means "to be born, to arise," so maybe the native-English speaking mentality just doesn't correlate the word "origin" with "emergency." Anyway, thanks for your comments!
To Roman: Just because something comes up in a Google search does not make it grammatically correct. It just isn't the proper way to state it. You can say, "home improvement," but it doesn't sound proper to say "home flood." Anyway, I am not a linguist, just a native speaker, so I can't explain it in any other way.
To Roman Bardachev: Cause=источник in this context, and причина=reason. But cause in some contexts could also mean reason. You just can't say "home flood," it's "house flood," and "source of emergency" just doesn't sound right. I would say, "the cause of the flooding/house flood was a leaky roof, due to heavy rains." I am not making this up, this is just how English works, this is just how we talk.
To Kiwiland Bear: I can't see the quote you are referring to, but the title itself alludes to a different context, which is war. In the context of a natural disaster, origin just sounds weird and unnatural, and I have never heard the words "emergency origin." It is just not grammatically correct.
Well, perhaps it may not be such a bad idea to differentiate between причина and источник. The reason for a home flood could be uncharacteristically rainy weather, with the source of emergency being the leaky roof.
Also, I want to add that in this kind of context "Cause" does equate with "Источник," because "Cause" can also mean source. "Reason" would be a better word to equate with "Причина."
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Answers
5 mins confidence: peer agreement (net): +4
cause of emergency
Explanation: Might not be an official term (is there one?) but gets the point across. Then again, so does "source," but I share your reservations.
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 24 mins (2011-07-07 21:40:32 GMT) --------------------------------------------------
Honestly, I think the two are interchangeable. In my mind it feels natural to say "fire was the cause."
A quick Google search tends to confirm this: "Identifying the cause of the emergency may help you respond with the appropriate first aid."
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 29 mins (2011-07-07 21:45:22 GMT) --------------------------------------------------
Then, IMO, you have no choice but to use "cause" and "source," respectively.
Mark Berelekhis United States Local time: 07:59 Works in field Native speaker of: Russian, English PRO pts in category: 82
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Notes to answerer
Asker: I feel like "cause" applies more to *why* something happened (smoking in bed, for example), rather than the "source" (a fire in the bedroom of the second-floor apartment)
Asker: The document uses both причина and источник, and draws a distinction between the two...
The translation workplace 
peer agreement (net): +4