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Watts or Vatios?
Thread poster: Judy Rojas
Judy Rojas
Judy Rojas  Identity Verified
Chile
Local time: 07:13
Spanish to English
+ ...
Jun 9, 2006

Hi everyone:

A client of mine has presented me with the following problem:

A technical translation for South American and Spanish audiences that was done sometime ago (not by me) was sent to a reviewer. The reviewer changed all the translations of watts, amperes, etc from Spanish back in to English under the argument that these were terms accepted in English worldwide.

It seems to me that this is wrong. The fact that a term may or may not be generally accep
... See more
Hi everyone:

A client of mine has presented me with the following problem:

A technical translation for South American and Spanish audiences that was done sometime ago (not by me) was sent to a reviewer. The reviewer changed all the translations of watts, amperes, etc from Spanish back in to English under the argument that these were terms accepted in English worldwide.

It seems to me that this is wrong. The fact that a term may or may not be generally accepted in its original language does not necessarily mean that it shouldn't be translated.

I'm interested in hearing some opinions on the subject.

Thanks,

Ricardo
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Rosa Maria Duenas Rios (X)
Rosa Maria Duenas Rios (X)  Identity Verified
Local time: 06:13
watts or vatios (but not watios) Jun 9, 2006

Hola Ricardo:
La pregunta apareció hace poco en los kudoz (http://www.proz.com/kudoz/1318367). Transcribo lo que respondí:

watts o vatios...
es lo que recomienda el diccionario Vox de uso del español en América y España. (Símbolo: W)

Watios es desaconsejable por no ser ni inglés correcto ni una buena adaptación al español.

¡Espero te sirva!<
... See more
Hola Ricardo:
La pregunta apareció hace poco en los kudoz (http://www.proz.com/kudoz/1318367). Transcribo lo que respondí:

watts o vatios...
es lo que recomienda el diccionario Vox de uso del español en América y España. (Símbolo: W)

Watios es desaconsejable por no ser ni inglés correcto ni una buena adaptación al español.

¡Espero te sirva!

Pleas excuse me, I just realized I should have posted in English.

I think the same applies to "amperes". In short, when there is an accepted Spanish equivalent for all these units, I do not see why they should remain in English.

Further down, Gaby says "se trata de un nombre". I think this is where the mistake stems from. It is not a name anymore. It is a unit measure BASED on a name, and it is written without capital letter (unless the abbreviation is used). To me, this is what makes the difference.

However, at the end, I would do as my client requests. But I would let him/her know that a Spanish text will look a bit "unpolished" if words like "watts" "ampers" and "horse power", for example, are left untranslated.


Ricardo Martinez de la Torre wrote:

Hi everyone:

A client of mine has presented me with the following problem:

A technical translation for South American and Spanish audiences that was done sometime ago (not by me) was sent to a reviewer. The reviewer changed all the translations of watts, amperes, etc from Spanish back in to English under the argument that these were terms accepted in English worldwide.

It seems to me that this is wrong. The fact that a term may or may not be generally accepted in its original language does not necessarily mean that it shouldn't be translated.

I'm interested in hearing some opinions on the subject.

Thanks,

Ricardo


[Edited at 2006-06-09 16:00]
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Juan Jacob
Juan Jacob  Identity Verified
Mexico
Local time: 04:13
French to Spanish
+ ...
Watt Jun 9, 2006

La "castellanización" en estos casos me parece exagerada, por una parte, e incorrecta, por otra.
La unidad de medida Watt viene del señor J. Watt como todos sabemos... según yo, es un nombre propio, es más, un apellido... ¿traducirlo por vatio? ¿Y Joule por julio, como lo estoy viendo en el DRAE?
Por otra parte, y según entiendo también, son unidades de medida internacionales,
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La "castellanización" en estos casos me parece exagerada, por una parte, e incorrecta, por otra.
La unidad de medida Watt viene del señor J. Watt como todos sabemos... según yo, es un nombre propio, es más, un apellido... ¿traducirlo por vatio? ¿Y Joule por julio, como lo estoy viendo en el DRAE?
Por otra parte, y según entiendo también, son unidades de medida internacionales, con una sola ortografía.

Ver: http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sistema_internacional_de_unidades

Donde dice, cito: "no vale la pena destrozar el SI por regionalismos irrelevantes."

Saludos.

[Editado a las 2006-06-09 15:26]

Y, por otro lado, también veo esto:

http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watt

Con vatios y julios... ¿?

[Editado a las 2006-06-09 15:34]
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claudia bagnardi
claudia bagnardi  Identity Verified
Local time: 07:13
English to Spanish
+ ...
Hola Ricardo! Jun 9, 2006

Estoy en el mismísimo "brete".
Primero puse Watt y después lo cambié por vatio, pero el punto de Juan es razonable: se trata de un nombre.

Estoy traduciendo un texto institucional para una empresa líder a nivel mundial en la construcción de centrales hidroeléctricas .

Entonces busqué en Google megavatio-nombre de la empresa, y mega Watts- nombre de la empresa.

Y hay muchas más entradas de megavatios que de megawatts (o megaWatts o mega Watts
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Estoy en el mismísimo "brete".
Primero puse Watt y después lo cambié por vatio, pero el punto de Juan es razonable: se trata de un nombre.

Estoy traduciendo un texto institucional para una empresa líder a nivel mundial en la construcción de centrales hidroeléctricas .

Entonces busqué en Google megavatio-nombre de la empresa, y mega Watts- nombre de la empresa.

Y hay muchas más entradas de megavatios que de megawatts (o megaWatts o mega Watts).

Con lo cual, sin gran convencimiento, dejo megavatios, por cuestiones de uso.

Espero te sirva de algo.
Cariños
Claudia
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claudia bagnardi
claudia bagnardi  Identity Verified
Local time: 07:13
English to Spanish
+ ...
Same mistake here. Jun 9, 2006

I posted my opinion in Spanish. I'm sorry.

The fact is that after a search using the name of an international company - engaged in power plant constructions worldwide for which I am translating a text - together with the terms megavatios or megawatts (or mega Watts or megaWatts), I found more hits for megavatios, even though Juan has a point when he says that this term has been coined after a (quite intelligent, by the way) person, Mr. Watt.
My two cents
Claudia


 
Juan Jacob
Juan Jacob  Identity Verified
Mexico
Local time: 04:13
French to Spanish
+ ...
Watt. Jun 9, 2006

Well, IS says watt -not Watt-, and some spanish people say: "excepto en España, donde es vatio."

This makes no sense for me.

Digo, hay que estar al corriente, chiste fácil de viernes a mediodía en el que Costa Rica acaba de empatarle a Alemania: 1-1


 
Rafael Carrasco
Rafael Carrasco
Spain
Local time: 11:13
Member (2004)
English to Spanish
+ ...
Can't see the problem Jun 9, 2006

Hi,

Honestly, I don't see the problem using Spanish equivalents. As a matter of fact, I think not using them is incorrect.

Vatio, voltio, amperio, julio, etc., have been widely used terms for "ages" in [European] Spanish and leaving them in English does not make sense.

The nature of agreed international unit symbols solves the problem: W means vatios for the Spanish audience, watts for English-speaking people and so on for other languages. And the decision
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Hi,

Honestly, I don't see the problem using Spanish equivalents. As a matter of fact, I think not using them is incorrect.

Vatio, voltio, amperio, julio, etc., have been widely used terms for "ages" in [European] Spanish and leaving them in English does not make sense.

The nature of agreed international unit symbols solves the problem: W means vatios for the Spanish audience, watts for English-speaking people and so on for other languages. And the decision to use "W" as the international symbol for "Watt" obviously comes from the scientist's name.

Using different symbols according to the different localisation of units names - THAT would be a mistake.

But using the correct translation for the units names is, in my opinion, necessary and most appropriate.

Saludos/Regards,

Rafael Carrasco

[Edited at 2006-06-09 16:17]

[Edited at 2006-06-09 16:25]
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Judy Rojas
Judy Rojas  Identity Verified
Chile
Local time: 07:13
Spanish to English
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Thank you everyone Jun 9, 2006

Thanks to all that contributed. I have a fairly clear idea now.
Regards,
Ricardo


 
Clarisa Moraña
Clarisa Moraña  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 05:13
Member (2002)
English to Spanish
+ ...
newton, pascal, joule, watt, coulomb, volt Jun 9, 2006

The SISTEMA INTERNACIONAL DE UNIDADES establishes the following (take note that no capitals are used). Sorry for this post in Spanish, but I had to take it from a Spanish speaking website.



Unidad de fuerza Un newton (N) es la fuerza que, aplicada a un cuerpo que tiene una masa de 1 kilogramo, le comunica una aceleración de 1 metro por segundo cuadrado.


Unidad de presión Un pascal (Pa) es la presión uniforme que, actuando sobre una superficie plana de 1 metro cuadrado, ejerce perpendicularmente a esta superficie una fuerza total de 1 newton.


Unidad de energía, trabajo, cantidad de calor Un joule (J) es el trabajo producido por una fuerza de 1 newton, cuyo punto de aplicación se desplaza 1 metro en la dirección de la fuerza.


Unidad de potencia, flujo radiante Un watt (W) es la potencia que da lugar a una producción de energía igual a 1 joule por segundo.


Unidad de cantidad de electricidad, carga eléctrica Un coulomb (C) es la cantidad de electricidad transportada en 1 segundo por una corriente de intensidad 1 ampere.


Unidad de potencial eléctrico, fuerza electromotriz Un volt (V) es la diferencia de potencial eléctrico que existe entre dos puntos de un hilo conductor que transporta una corriente de intensidad constante de 1 ampere cuando la potencia disipada entre estos puntos es igual a 1 watt.


Source: http://www.sc.ehu.es/sbweb/fisica/unidades/unidades/unidades.htm#Unidades%20SI%20básicas.


 
Juan Jacob
Juan Jacob  Identity Verified
Mexico
Local time: 04:13
French to Spanish
+ ...
With Clarisa. Jun 9, 2006

newton, pascal, joule, volt, watt, coulomb.

No translation.


 
Jaroslaw Michalak
Jaroslaw Michalak  Identity Verified
Poland
Local time: 11:13
Member (2004)
English to Polish
SITE LOCALIZER
Worldwide? Not in Poland... Jun 9, 2006

Ricardo Martinez de la Torre wrote:

The reviewer changed all the translations of watts, amperes, etc from Spanish back in to English under the argument that these were terms accepted in English worldwide.



While I cannot say anything about Spanish, I can tell you that the reviewer's argument is not valid. These terms are NOT accepted in English here in Poland. In fact, leaving them in English would be a serious mistake! Each SI unit has its own "Polonized" name:

http://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Układ_SI

http://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jednostka_pochodna_układu_SI

These are the names used in all publications, manuals etc. If you have doubts about the Spanish usage, you should consult a physics textbook or ask engineers - after all, they should know better, not linguists...


 
Cristóbal del Río Faura
Cristóbal del Río Faura  Identity Verified
Spain
Local time: 11:13
English to Spanish
+ ...
Watts or Vatios? Jun 9, 2006

This is what I do:

In technical and scientific stuff (may include tables, graphs, equations etc.) I use the English-international names as listed by Clarisa. In informative, journalistic texts and even consumer manuals I use the Spanish versions as recommended by RAE. Symbols are the same in any language.

Regards,
Cristóbal


 
Stuart Allsop
Stuart Allsop  Identity Verified
Chile
Local time: 07:13
Spanish to English
+ ...
SI rules, period. Jun 12, 2006

Juan Jacob wrote:

newton, pascal, joule, volt, watt, coulomb.

No translation.


Exactly. Also ohm, henry, farad, bel, curie, kelvin, etc.

These are international standards, set by a system that is (interestingly enough) of French origin. As Juan points out, these are proper names, and many of them aren't even English anyway! Joule, Pascal, Coulomb, Ampere, Ohm, Curie and Voltaire are all very UN-English surnames. They are units named in homor of the people who discovered them. The guys' names were NOT "julio", and "vatio", but rather "Joule" and "Watt".

Besides, if we want to start translating names, then surely Newton should become "Nuevopueblo" in Spanish, and Bell should be "Campana", thus we should start measuring sound pressure levels in terms of "decicampanitas" and force in units of "nuevopueblotios"....




[Edited at 2006-06-12 20:00]

[Edited at 2006-06-13 14:07]


 
Maria Karra
Maria Karra  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 06:13
Member (2000)
Greek to English
+ ...
units Jun 15, 2006

If a unit appears in a text that's not very technical, I wouldn't mind seeing "una tensión de cuatro voltios", but in a technical text I would stick to the original names. I always use "volt" or "V", "ampere" or "A", "coulomb" or "C" in English or Greek (note that in Greek we use the original names, in latin characters; we don't transliterate, unless we have a non-technical text).

Stuart Allsop wrote:
Joule, Pascal, Coulomb, Ampere, Ohm, Curie and Voltaire are all very UN-English surnames. They are units named in homor of the people who discovered them.


Stuart, I don't think Voltaire had anything to do with electricity The physicist was called Alessandro Volta.

Maria


 
juvera
juvera  Identity Verified
Local time: 10:13
English to Hungarian
+ ...
Oh sure, Jun 15, 2006

Stuart Allsop wrote:

The guys' names were NOT "julio", and "vatio", but rather "Joule" and "Watt".




...and Mr "Volt"?
Nope, Mr Volta!

roentgen? No, Mr Röntgen.

You have to use whatever is the standard in the appropriate country you are translating for. The whole point of the translation is to express the contents of the document in another language. That includes the measurements and their names.


 
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