From The Proofreader's Desk

Three random things I've seen so far today: 

(1)

Using the wrong type of person in the wrong place (possibly at the wrong time too, but that would make it a Bruce Willis film). Here are the correct associations (with some bonus info):

theatres and cinemas attract audiences. They stage plays and screen or show films (respectively), each of which are based on scripts,

sporting events, (everything from football matches to the Olympics) have spectators,

events, spectacles* draw crowds,

music festivals, rock/pop etc concerts – crowds,

opera halls, symphonies – also audiences. 

Note the action verbs – theatres stage plays; cinemas show films (at film festivals and certain other competitive or unique events, like Kraków’s awesome Film Music Festivals, they’re called screenings).

* Calling something a spectacle is really quite archaic, I mean like we’re going back to e19 or whenever it was coined and put in the dictionary. For any spectacles you find (!), use events instead. Same thing for actions, although that can vary a bit. We’ll give actions its own space another time.

(2)

(a) The Polish production was competing in the category with such well-known series as Doctor Who, Lost or Human Target.

(b) The Polish production was competing in the category with such well-known series as Doctor Who, Lost and Human Target.

Remember what we said here – no or at the end of a list unless it’s a list of choices!

(3)

As part of a discussion thread on a poll posted at proz.com on the subject of the intriguing-sounding “Muphry's Law”, proz member Mustafa ER said:

“Muphry's law is an adage that states that "if you write anything criticizing editing or proofreading, there will be a fault of some kind in what you have written". The name is a deliberate misspelling of ‘Murphy's law’.”

This is certainly something I’ve fallen prey to myself many times (I blame my gigantic sausage-like fingers), and reminds me of something  funny that happened yesterday during a stress-relieving  game of Battlefield online: Driving a tank, I chased an enemy soldier around a beach for a good few minutes while he desperately tried to blow me up with grenades before I squashed him like one of teściowa’s gołąbki. Finally, with my tank’s armour at almost zero, I crushed him under my tracks like a piece of MultiKino popcorn.

Moments later, the individual in question broadcast across the open chat channel: ‘You can kill me in a tank! Ha!’ To which I replied, ‘Yes, I’m rather good at that aren’t I?’ :D

Mała Trylogia

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.