English translation: (lowering the price) has reduced its negative impact on sales
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19:35 Sep 2, 2011
Spanish to English translations [PRO] Marketing - Advertising / Public Relations / Estudios de mercado
Spanish term or phrase:le ha restado menos ventas
Se trata de las ventas de un producto de belleza, cuyas ventas estaban cayendo por lo que se bajó su precio. En este contexto.
"Su precio le ha restado menos ventas porque es más bajo"
Dado que no me sale bien el "le ha restado", de momento le doy vueltas a estas torpes alternativas:
"Due to its lower price, fewer sales were lost." o también "Its price resulted in fewer lost sales as it was lower."
Explanation: The ST does not say that lowering the price has reduced the decline in sales; in fact it does not actually say that the decline in sales has been reduced. It says that fewer sales have been lost because of the price, owing to the fact that the price is lower. For all we know, more sales may have been lost through other factors, and it is possible, in principle, that the decline in sales may actually have accelerated overall. It's just that the price effect has been mitigated.
In other words, although the ST implies that sales have recovered, it doesn't actually say so. All it is saying is that the negative effect of the previous higher price has been reduced by lowering the price. The difference is a subtle one, but I think we should try to reflect it in the translation.
I personally think Eugenio's question is justified. Many of us post terms which we are not sure we have interpreted correctly or don't know how to properly phrase a sentence (even native English speakers) and I think this is what Proz is for - to seek help from colleagues. Also, Eugenio is not asking us to do his translation for him - he always provides his attempt at it. In the guidelines for asking Proz questions I don´t see anything that says Proz should not be used for this purpose. I also think it's fine in this Spanish-English section.
(Guideline): "Help" KudoZ should be used for requesting terms help only after other resources have been exhausted. Resources available include the KudoZ archives (KudoZ > ProZ.com Term Search from the main menu), dictionaries, search engines, etc. If translations are found elsewhere and the decision to post a KudoZ question is made nevertheless, information found elsewhere should be included, along with an explanation of what further information is sought.
but also with Phil's comment. I really think this a native speaker-level quandary so perhaps should be in Eng-Eng, although I do post brainstorming questions like this myself too when my Spanish colleague (who checks all my stuff) isn't immediately available.
I mean, I claim to be native-level Spanish (and reckon I am, thereabouts - I've spoken it since 4 years old, spent most full summers speaking it in Spain with relies, and I'm married to a Spaniard). But I also get confused at the best of times! That's the real beauty of Kudoz sometimes. It's all about bouncing ideas about, really. I think Eugenio's questions are more than justified and appropriate.
I don't know if other people agree with me, but I don't think this is the kind of question that KudoZ is intended for. You understand what the source text means, but because you're not a native speaker, you don't know how to phrase it in English, and you're just trying out different alternatives. This should really be an English-English question in my opinion.
lowering the price helped to prevent a further erosion of sales*
Explanation: Bueno, el original es bastante torpe. Aquí es una idea y se puede terminar la frase con "margins", "figures", "revenue", etc. si hace falta mencionarlos.
Jenni Lukac Local time: 05:59 Specializes in field Native speaker of: English PRO pts in category: 36
Notes to answerer
Asker: Thank you very much for all your help and support! Eugenio Llorente
(lowering the price) has reduced its negative impact on sales
Explanation: The ST does not say that lowering the price has reduced the decline in sales; in fact it does not actually say that the decline in sales has been reduced. It says that fewer sales have been lost because of the price, owing to the fact that the price is lower. For all we know, more sales may have been lost through other factors, and it is possible, in principle, that the decline in sales may actually have accelerated overall. It's just that the price effect has been mitigated.
In other words, although the ST implies that sales have recovered, it doesn't actually say so. All it is saying is that the negative effect of the previous higher price has been reduced by lowering the price. The difference is a subtle one, but I think we should try to reflect it in the translation.
Charles Davis Local time: 05:59 Works in field Native speaker of: English PRO pts in category: 12
The translation workplace 
