Whilst I'm working on part one of a soon-to-be legendary series on good article usage, chew these small morsels over. As always, these are common mistakes that all kinds of translators make. And, as always, your comments are welcomed in the wee little box down below. :)
conservation - conservatory
conservation is the process of looking after things, whereas a conservatory is a brick and glass extension to a house for capturing sunlight, warming plants and having breakfast in. It's not an adjectival form of conservation!
miliard
In English usage, miliard is an extremely archaic bit of French which has no place in any document written after 1953. The proper equivalent is billion.
and - oraz
One thing I sometimes see is (for example): ‘Several classical music maestros will be giving concerts in the rynek as part of the festival, including Chopin, Beethoven, or Mozart.’
A simple mistake, it’s the whole thing about oraz being more flexible in Polish than its equivalent English usage. Easily done in the heat of the moment, but unfortunately it implies that no one, including yourself, has checked the work before it reaches the client. In short, don't make lists of things and use or as the final conjunction UNLESS you're offering choices – ‘I can offer you tea, coffee, juice or water’ is, of course, perfectly fine.
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