Oct 7, 2013 20:49
10 yrs ago
1 viewer *
English term
harm causing injuries
English
Medical
Medical: Instruments
"Hazard which leads to harm that can cause injuries or death."
Does harm cause injuries or does harm involve injuries? Is the above phrase logically correct?
I was asked to proofread an instructions manual and the translator decided to translate the above phrase simply with "Hazard that can cause bodily harm or death" (my back-translation). I understand his/her decision, though I know that the source phrase could have been translated in Romanian precisely as it is phrased in English. I think that the translator felt that there is a logical error in saying that "harm causes injury", which I can agree with to some extent. However, because I feel that the translator should have preserved the source text phrasing/wording -- that's what I would have done in the first place -- I decided to ask for additional opinions on this just to make sure.
Is it logically correct to say that "harm causes injury". Why didn't the English writer simply say: "Hazard which leads to injuries or death"?
Does harm cause injuries or does harm involve injuries? Is the above phrase logically correct?
I was asked to proofread an instructions manual and the translator decided to translate the above phrase simply with "Hazard that can cause bodily harm or death" (my back-translation). I understand his/her decision, though I know that the source phrase could have been translated in Romanian precisely as it is phrased in English. I think that the translator felt that there is a logical error in saying that "harm causes injury", which I can agree with to some extent. However, because I feel that the translator should have preserved the source text phrasing/wording -- that's what I would have done in the first place -- I decided to ask for additional opinions on this just to make sure.
Is it logically correct to say that "harm causes injury". Why didn't the English writer simply say: "Hazard which leads to injuries or death"?
Change log
Oct 7, 2013 20:50: Daniel Grigoras changed "Field" from "Law/Patents" to "Medical" , "Field (specific)" from "Nuclear Eng/Sci" to "Medical: Instruments" , "Field (write-in)" from "Law on Nuclear Activities" to "(none)"
Discussion
As regards the word "harm", I always thought that it refers to a negative effect on an organism, as opposed to damage that would mainly refer to a negative effect on an object.
Re the Asker's question "Does harm cause injuries or does harm involve injuries?", injuries and death are both harm. Lightning may strike a tree that falls on and kills a person. Both the tree and the person suffered harm.
Firstly, what you are asking us to help on is NOT proofreading at all but post editing or even more.
That said, I feel that the translator has done a good job as he has avoided a sentence in English that would make no sense at all.