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a menos

English translation: fewer than / less than

14:30 Oct 4, 2015
Portuguese to English translations [PRO]
Bus/Financial - Government / Politics / política
Portuguese term or phrase: a menos
Nestes municípios, são realizados em média 740 atendimentos a menos que nos municípios alinhados.
Lilian Magalhães
Brazil
Local time: 00:34
English translation:fewer than / less than
Explanation:
On average, there are 740 FEWER treatments in these cities THAN in the...

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Note added at 1 hr (2015-10-04 16:02:19 GMT)
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I would just like to clarify that I only included less than as an answer only to make it clear that there are two possible options for translating "a menos". In this particular case, the noun in question is countable and, therefore, fewer than should be used; which is why I did so in the explanation. Please don't take this to mean that I believe less than could also be used in this particular case. I will try to be clearer in the future.

Also, I foolishly jumped to the conclusion that they were discussing atendimentos médicos and translated atendimento incorrectly. Thank you Douglas Bissel for pointing that out.
Selected response from:

Stefano Marini
Switzerland
Local time: 05:34
Grading comment
Selected automatically based on peer agreement.
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
5 +3fewer than / less than
Stefano Marini
4fewer than
Holly Holmes


Discussion entries: 1





  

Answers


16 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
fewer than


Explanation:
Fewer than é para uma comparação contável, que é seu caso. Num contexto informal, algumas pessoas optam por usar less than.

Example sentence(s):
  • Fewer than one in ten people have sought help from their GP to deal with anxiety.

    Reference: http://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/help-information/mental-healt...
Holly Holmes
Canada
Local time: 23:34
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
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13 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 5/5 peer agreement (net): +3
fewer than / less than


Explanation:
On average, there are 740 FEWER treatments in these cities THAN in the...

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 1 hr (2015-10-04 16:02:19 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

I would just like to clarify that I only included less than as an answer only to make it clear that there are two possible options for translating "a menos". In this particular case, the noun in question is countable and, therefore, fewer than should be used; which is why I did so in the explanation. Please don't take this to mean that I believe less than could also be used in this particular case. I will try to be clearer in the future.

Also, I foolishly jumped to the conclusion that they were discussing atendimentos médicos and translated atendimento incorrectly. Thank you Douglas Bissel for pointing that out.

Stefano Marini
Switzerland
Local time: 05:34
Works in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish, Native in PortuguesePortuguese
PRO pts in category: 4
Grading comment
Selected automatically based on peer agreement.

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Luciano Eduardo de Oliveira
0 min
agree  Douglas Bissell: Informally, less than is quite common, but not in a translation unless it is direct speech. 'Treatments'?, I couldnt see the medical connection?
34 mins
  -> I must respectively disagree with your take on the use of less than as informal. The use of either fewer or less has no bearing on formality but rather on the countability of the noun in question. Example: We had less than $1000 in the bank (not fewer).
agree  Ana Vozone
41 mins
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