at the turn of

One thing that has plagued me for nearly a decade and a half, for which I’ve never heard a satisfactory answer, is the Polish>English construction wherein two dates or times are given, in order to describe one date or time. I mean this:

1a) On the night of the 25^th and 26^th of September 2010, the traffic organisation was changed on the reconstructed ul. Grodzka.
2a) At the turn of the 16^th and 17^th centuries, Europe was hovering on the brink of war.

In English, it reads schizophrenically, as though the author couldn’t decide or didn’t know which time to put. At the same time, whilst the meaning is understandable the presentation causes an instant migraine, and the reader is pulled out of the flow of the text. This is the most concrete sign of a problem with any text, whether it’s a translation or a natively-written piece, it doesn’t matter. Anything that causes a reader to stop reading and start thinking about the technical construction of what they’ve just read, is not good.

Let’s go to the dictionary:

OED definition

turn, (noun) usage 2.2- a time when one period of time ends and another begins: the turn of the century

Read it a couple of times, and turn it over in your mind. At first glance it could be seen as a little ambiguous, but the key here is ‘when one period of time ends...’. That period equates to the actual date or time we want to specify. Therefore:

1b) ) On the night of the 25^th of September 2010, the traffic organisation was changed on the reconstructed ul. Grodzka.

2b) At the turn of the 16^th century, Europe was hovering on the brink of war.

As you can see, in the revised English versions, it’s the first date/time that is the actual date/time we want to specify.  ‘...and another begins’ is the second, redundant date/time.

Now, some of you might say, ‘Well, we don’t know if it was 11 pm on the 25^th or 1 am on the 26^th, so putting both covers all possibilities. To that I say, we don’t need to, because in English it is implied that we are talking about ‘some time just before or just after’, or in other words, ‘at the turn of’.

Note that the phrase ‘turn of the century’ has a specific set of rules, which are summarised nicely here on Wiki. Paragraph one of the article, on non-specificity, also describes what I’ve just said in the paragraph above. (p.s. - name the episode of Star Trek pictured above, and win a random book from my shelf!)

already - existing - extant

Welcome back to the present! I would apologise for posting this one so late today, but of course we can all just hop back to lunchtime and enjoy it again then, and look forward to reading it for the first time now. Or something. Err...

Faulty Usage 
1) …with additions to already existing requirements added daily. 
2) The already existing rooms were renovated in Q1 2009.

Good Usage
1) …with additions to existing requirements added daily.
2) The pre-existing rooms were renovated in Q1 2009.

Alternative Usage
3) When the new developers arrived, they tore out the existing fittings and replaced them with their own. 3) When the new developers arrived, they tore out the extant fittings and replaced them with their own.

OED Definition
existing (adj) in existence or operation at the current time.
already  (adv) 1- before the time in question (I knew that already).
2- as early or as soon as this (is back already). [from *all, *ready]
extant  (adj) still existing. [Latin ex(s)to exist]

What’s The Problem?
existing is sometimes erroneously preceded by already to indicate that something has been around for a while, when pre- is the correct modifier (2). Sometimes no prefix is necessary (1), as existing has the built-in connotation of already or pre anyway. A good rule of thumb for these situations is that if we're talking about a currently ongoing situation, i.e. a new work order or contract, we can probably do without any modifier (1).

If we’re talking about old things in a new situation, for example (3), which is from a description of a hotel renovation that occurred six months before the text was written – then extant is a really top-quality word to use.

Bottom line: already existing is a bad, bad man with whom innocent translators should not mix. You have been warned! ;)

since - from

88 mph? That’s nothing! Here at the Article it’s Time Travel Week. All our translating issues this week will be about time-related vocabulary and phrasing. You can get some idea about what's coming with the hastily-created 'time map' above, so without further ado let’s begin the fun by setting our watches to twelve o’clock... yesterday! (Click here for a bigger version of the picture, it’ll help with deciphering my handwriting ;)

Faulty Usage
1a We have served over 6,000 customers from 1997!         
2a We have been established on the market from 1984, and…       
3a Since 1999, a burglar alarm system has been functioning.
4a EXPO-PAK, the International Packaging Technology and Logistics Exhibition established since 1973, has recently…

Good Usage
1b We have served over 6,000 customers since 1997!
2b We have been established on the market since 1984, and…
3b A burglar alarm system has been functioning since 1999.
4b EXPO-PAK, the International Packaging Technology and Logistics Exhibition established in 1973, has recently…

OED Definition
Since (preposition, conjunction, adverb) in the intervening period between (the time mentioned) and the time under consideration (e.g. I bought a Skoda five years ago, and it’s worked perfectly ever since; Since I had my haircut last week, I’ve felt like a new man)

From (preposition) indicating the point in time at which a process, event or activity starts (e.g. The film runs from 10 to 11:30pm; Tickets go on sale from May the 5th)

What’s The Problem?
These two are sometimes mixed-up, causing different problems. The first is simply mixing up from with since and using the wrong one (1 and 2). This is a particular problem in company biographies on websites (‘About Us’ pages) or biographies of ‘important’ people, and is often followed by a year or a date.

Also, make sure since is going in the right place to begin with (3). The reason example 3 is faulty is that it is a fragment (that error most beloved of Word) – starting a sentence with Since X, yadda yadda..., one expects to read a whole, full sentence and not be brutally cut short less than ten words later. Fragments just don’t read well in English (we’ll be looking at Fragments and too-short sentences soon, as this is a very big problem). So make sure you either drop your since on at the end, or if you’re going to front-load it, make sure there’s enough coming afterwards to properly support it.

The other problem is using since with a start time/date and no specific end (4). This is not a terrible crime against humanity the way 1 – 3 are, but it’s still a fairly hideous, gibbering mutant that you’d want to not run into a decent, clean-living text. Your best bet here is to use a synonym, and the ideal candidate for the job is established in, and occasionally established since (to begin a sentence, same usage rules as just Since...).