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miljöanpassade

English translation: litterally: environmentally adapted; figuratively: less harmful to the environment adapted

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)
Swedish term or phrase:miljöanpassade
English translation:litterally: environmentally adapted; figuratively: less harmful to the environment adapted
Entered by: Charlesp

08:26 Jun 19, 2006
Swedish to English translations [PRO]
Tech/Engineering - Environment & Ecology
Swedish term or phrase: miljöanpassade
in the sence of "miljöanpassade petroleumprodukter"
Charlesp
Sweden
Local time: 21:43
environmentally adapted
Explanation:
I suspect that miljöanpassat was introduced into Swedish through a translation of environmentally adapted.

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Note added at 12 mins (2006-06-19 08:39:12 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Alternatively environment-adapted (with or without hyphen)

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 2 hrs (2006-06-19 10:57:44 GMT)
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Clare's and Larry's points are valid to some extent. However that does not make "environmentally adapted" a mistranslation. The Swedes have introduced a new paradigmatic word. Obviously no translation exists beforehand. So should you introduce a new word in English that as closely as possible renders the intended meaning? Or should you reject such an attempt on the grounds that it would be a swedism and instead look for some existing English word that is more or less close?

"Environmentally sound" does not reflect the intrinsic meaning of miljöanpassat. "Anpassat" implies that the product has been modified with the intent to make it friendlier to the environment. Canola oil is environmentally sound, but it is not "anpassat".

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 2 hrs (2006-06-19 11:18:06 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Here is a good example:
Before Danish archeologists published groundbreaking work on "køkkenmøddinger", the word "kitchen midden" did not exist in English. The closest term would be "dunghill". So what should a translator do when he came across the word "køkkenmødding"? Well in Clare's and Larry's logic "kitchen midden" would be a mistranslation, so it would have had to be "dunghill". Nonetheless, today "kitchen midden" is found in most English dictionaries.
Selected response from:

F Schultze (X)
United States
Local time: 15:43
Grading comment
Thanks everyone for the discussion, and all the imput and information. It was quite useful, and will be so for anyone reading this page in the future

I think that "less harmful to the environment" is probably the best translation term for this, and what it implies. (That the points were given to the answer "environmentally adapted" is simply because that is the closest litteral translation; actually if I could I would give points to everyone, as every answer was correct.)

I would say that it all depends upon context, and the overall direction of the individual document.
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
4 +3environmentally sound
Larry Abramson
5 +1less harmful to the environment
E2efour (X)
4environmentally friendly products
Lars Jelking
3 +1environmentally compatible
gperdin
4environment compatible
George Hopkins
3 +1petroleum products compatible with the environment
Catherine Brix
3 -1environmentally adapted
F Schultze (X)


  

Answers


19 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +3
environmentally sound


Explanation:
Environmentally adapted is practically only found on Swedish sites, which leads me to believe that it's Swenglish. Enviornmentally sound would seem to be what they're talking about.

Larry Abramson
United States
Local time: 15:43
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 10

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  gperdin
16 mins
agree  Clare Barnes: Internationally accepted and used in Agenda 21: http://www.unep.org/Documents.multilingual/Default.asp?Docum...
1 hr
agree  E2efour (X)
1 hr
disagree  F Schultze (X): "Environmentally sound" does not reflect the intrinsic meaning of miljöanpassat. And there is no "anpassning" in what they talk about in Clare's reference.
2 hrs
agree  Christopher Schröder
1477 days
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24 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
environmentally friendly products


Explanation:
Again the EU phrase.

Lars Jelking
Israel
Local time: 22:43
Native speaker of: Swedish
PRO pts in category: 3

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
disagree  gperdin: This use has been rejected by my customers producing chemical products since these can never be considered “friendly” only relatively “friendlier.”
10 mins
neutral  E2efour (X): I would restrict this to miljövänlig
2 hrs
agree  Christopher Schröder: In general I think this is an appropriate translation, though it doesn't work very well in the asker's context
1477 days
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25 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5 peer agreement (net): +1
environmentally compatible


Explanation:
Just another option to mull over.

gperdin
Local time: 21:43

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
neutral  F Schultze (X): Doesn't really reflect that a directed effort has been made to bring about the compatibility. And Wouldn't your customers also reject "sound", and say that their products can never be "sound", just relatively "sounder"?
7 hrs
agree  Christopher Schröder
1477 days
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49 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
environment compatible


Explanation:
An option.

George Hopkins
Local time: 21:43
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 5
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8 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5 peer agreement (net): -1
environmentally adapted


Explanation:
I suspect that miljöanpassat was introduced into Swedish through a translation of environmentally adapted.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 12 mins (2006-06-19 08:39:12 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Alternatively environment-adapted (with or without hyphen)

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 2 hrs (2006-06-19 10:57:44 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Clare's and Larry's points are valid to some extent. However that does not make "environmentally adapted" a mistranslation. The Swedes have introduced a new paradigmatic word. Obviously no translation exists beforehand. So should you introduce a new word in English that as closely as possible renders the intended meaning? Or should you reject such an attempt on the grounds that it would be a swedism and instead look for some existing English word that is more or less close?

"Environmentally sound" does not reflect the intrinsic meaning of miljöanpassat. "Anpassat" implies that the product has been modified with the intent to make it friendlier to the environment. Canola oil is environmentally sound, but it is not "anpassat".

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 2 hrs (2006-06-19 11:18:06 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Here is a good example:
Before Danish archeologists published groundbreaking work on "køkkenmøddinger", the word "kitchen midden" did not exist in English. The closest term would be "dunghill". So what should a translator do when he came across the word "køkkenmødding"? Well in Clare's and Larry's logic "kitchen midden" would be a mistranslation, so it would have had to be "dunghill". Nonetheless, today "kitchen midden" is found in most English dictionaries.

F Schultze (X)
United States
Local time: 15:43
Native speaker of: Native in DanishDanish
PRO pts in category: 4
Grading comment
Thanks everyone for the discussion, and all the imput and information. It was quite useful, and will be so for anyone reading this page in the future

I think that "less harmful to the environment" is probably the best translation term for this, and what it implies. (That the points were given to the answer "environmentally adapted" is simply because that is the closest litteral translation; actually if I could I would give points to everyone, as every answer was correct.)

I would say that it all depends upon context, and the overall direction of the individual document.

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Matthias Quaschning-Kirsch
11 mins
  -> Thanks
agree  gperdin
27 mins
  -> Thanks
disagree  Clare Barnes: I agree with Larry's comment that the overwhelming majority of instances where this is used are mistranslations. Further comment - cars could be considered "adapted", but "sound" is used: http://www.sunfleet.com/77.aspx
1 hr
  -> Thank you for your comment. However, please see the additional comments in my answer. // And that was translated from "miljöfordon" - no "anpassat" in the source. http://www.sunfleet.com/16.aspx
disagree  E2efour (X): Only organisms are "adapted to the environment" (natural selection)
2 hrs
  -> Thank you for your comment. However, I don't think that "adapted to the environment" is a concept reserved for the Darwinists. Please see the additional comments in my answer.
agree  Roald Toskedal: I'd say that 'anpassad' would involve some kind of engineering to the material, so as to lessen its environmental impact. In that context, 'adapted' should fit very well, in my view.
2 hrs
  -> Eg takker så mye
disagree  Catherine Brix: Only on Swedish sites - sound the alarm!
5 hrs
  -> Thank you for your comment, Mary. However, if the Swedes invent a new paradigmatic term, don't you think they are entitled to some influence on how it is translated? Did you read ALL of my arguments for translating it "environmentally adapted" ?
disagree  Christopher Schröder: Just for the record I disagree too - this is not a uniquely Swedish concept, just a Swedish way of saying what we would call eco-friendly etc (no matter how inappropriately!)
1477 days
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6 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5 peer agreement (net): +1
petroleum products compatible with the environment


Explanation:
Maybe there is no good equivalent. Petroleum companies seem to prefer to talk about increasing the compatability of their products with the environment. I think a better alternative is to
turn it around and write something like 'petroleum products modified to increase compatibility with the environment'.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 9 hrs (2006-06-19 18:02:52 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Canadian and US verbose gobbledygook links:
http://www.cppi.ca/Guiding_Principles.html
http://epw.senate.gov/107th/API_1114.htm




Catherine Brix
Local time: 21:43
Works in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
neutral  E2efour (X): No need to seek an alternative to the perfectly acceptable "environmentally sound petroleum products". See http://www.freedomfromdebtcoalition.org/main/general.php
55 mins
  -> ...other than to proffer an alternative...but your reference was interesting.
agree  F Schultze (X): Fine if you are paid by translated word count ;-) "modified to increase compatibility with" is fairly synonymous with "adapted to" I'd say. How long have you lived in Sweden? Swedes are pretty good at generating verbose goobledygook (I still love them ;-)
2 hrs
  -> Excuse me? I would say there is a difference - means "we're not quite there but we're working on it." I don't have access to the full text so I can't say exactly what Charles is looking for. BTW, I get paid per source word, not target.
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1 day 2 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 5/5 peer agreement (net): +1
less harmful to the environment


Explanation:
This is what it really means, although I reluctantly accept environmentally sound, since it is at least used.
Environmentally adapted is, needless to say, unacceptable in the sense of less harmful products. You can't just take the dictionary translation of anpassad and stick it onto miljö. It's as absurd as arguing that "environnmentally sound" should be translated as miljösund.



    Reference: http://www.consumerdirect.gov.uk/general/labelling/fs_l01.sh...
E2efour (X)
United Kingdom
Local time: 20:43
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 4

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Christopher Schröder: The best option in the context
1476 days
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