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in situ surface

English translation: area of installed flooring

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)
English term or phrase:in situ surface
Selected answer:area of installed flooring
Entered by: Minoru Kuwahara

10:13 Oct 3, 2013
English language (monolingual) [PRO]
Tech/Engineering - Construction / Civil Engineering
English term or phrase: in situ surface
(Source)

New surfaces for all common area pedestrian routes must achieve and maintain a slip resistance test rating for the in situ surface that correlates to a Pendulum Test Value (PTV) for wet testing of 40 or above.

(Question)
I wonder how to interpret this "in situ surface" in this sentence. I guess it may be close to ”bare, naked or unprocessed surface” or something like this, while one linguist advises me that "in situ" should be more related to the test itself as a technical term and placed as "in situ test" (technical/scientific term) in relation to the surface (various types of building floors). I'm not yet quite convinced.

Hope to have any advice.
Minoru Kuwahara
Japan
Local time: 13:33
area of installed flooring
Explanation:
It simply means that the installed flooring must achieve and maintain the required slip-resistance test. So, if after a few months' normal use it no longer meets that test, the contractor could not claim compliance by virtue of a factory test of non-installed flooring.

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Note added at 1 hr (2013-10-03 11:16:41 GMT)
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Re Asker's note
I'm afraid I don't understand what you mean by " to translate "in-situ" clearly into the context". Do you mean that the translator does or does not want to use the term "in situ"? It is fine to retain that term so long as your readership is sufficiently literate in English to understand the odd Latin expression. "In situ" means "in place", i.e. installed. It does not mean "original position" or "bare" or anything else like that. How, in any case, can flooring have an "original position"? Does it move? You do need to distinguish between "floor" and "flooring". The former is structural and the latter is the floor covering. I have realised that it is actually impossible to tell from what you have posted whether this floor has a floor covering or not: i.e. whether it is correct to call it "floor" or "flooring".

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Note added at 1 hr (2013-10-03 11:32:38 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Re the first three sentences of my note above, I have realised that your target language is Japanese, so of course the translator had to translate "in situ" into Japanese. There is still the problem of the context being unclear from the snippet you posted. It's much more likely that it is referring to a floor covering (flooring), but it still might be a self-finish or a painted finish.
Selected response from:

B D Finch
France
Local time: 06:33
Grading comment
Thank you, BD, and everyone. I really appreciate your help and clarification!
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



SUMMARY OF ALL EXPLANATIONS PROVIDED
4 +3installed surface
Martin Riordan
4 +3area of installed flooring
B D Finch
4superfície in-situ
Francisco Alves


Discussion entries: 2





  

Answers


1 hr   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +3
installed surface


Explanation:
I think "in situ" here effectively means the surface actually installed and in place, as opposed to the same surface in some other location. So the slip resistence test would be carried out on the installed surface (which means the surface in its actual location, or "in situ").

Martin Riordan
Brazil
Local time: 01:33
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 8
Notes to answerer
Asker: You post really helps me clarified, thank you!


Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Francisco Alves: I also agree with Martin.
14 mins
  -> Thanks, Francisco!
agree  Chris Ellison: Yes, I understand this to be the surface in it's final position, not how it performs in lab tests etc.
31 mins
  -> Thanks, Chris!
agree  David Moore (X): It's in its final position, yes
1 hr
  -> Thanks, David!
neutral  B D Finch: How exactly does this differ from the answer I had posted earlier?//FR "surface" includes EN ideas of "surface" and "area". Including "area" ensures understanding that the whole area of the installed floor finish is referred to.
2 hrs
  -> I think through the emphasis given to "surface". The surface finish of the area is the key issue here, not the area itself.
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11 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
superfície in-situ


Explanation:
A test can be carried out in-situ, but in this case it was carried out on the surface, which is in-situ, thus, 'superfície in-situ.

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Note added at 1 hr (2013-10-03 11:20:39 GMT)
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I apologize for not noticing this was an En>En issue.

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Note added at 1 hr (2013-10-03 11:31:18 GMT)
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I don´t see a problem here. Unless you can't use the term "in-situ", my opinion is that you should use it and I think everyone else has the same opinion.

Francisco Alves
Portugal
Local time: 05:33
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish, Native in PortuguesePortuguese
Notes to answerer
Asker: Thank you, francisco, for answer, so another wonder of mine is whether or not "in-situ" refers to the "original position" of the floor. Hot do you think?


Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
neutral  B D Finch: "Superfície in-situ" is not English. Also, no hyphen as (I believe) the Romans didn't use them.
59 mins
  -> No, it's not. I apologise. That was my mistake for not reading the source/target information.
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18 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +3
area of installed flooring


Explanation:
It simply means that the installed flooring must achieve and maintain the required slip-resistance test. So, if after a few months' normal use it no longer meets that test, the contractor could not claim compliance by virtue of a factory test of non-installed flooring.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 1 hr (2013-10-03 11:16:41 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Re Asker's note
I'm afraid I don't understand what you mean by " to translate "in-situ" clearly into the context". Do you mean that the translator does or does not want to use the term "in situ"? It is fine to retain that term so long as your readership is sufficiently literate in English to understand the odd Latin expression. "In situ" means "in place", i.e. installed. It does not mean "original position" or "bare" or anything else like that. How, in any case, can flooring have an "original position"? Does it move? You do need to distinguish between "floor" and "flooring". The former is structural and the latter is the floor covering. I have realised that it is actually impossible to tell from what you have posted whether this floor has a floor covering or not: i.e. whether it is correct to call it "floor" or "flooring".

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 1 hr (2013-10-03 11:32:38 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Re the first three sentences of my note above, I have realised that your target language is Japanese, so of course the translator had to translate "in situ" into Japanese. There is still the problem of the context being unclear from the snippet you posted. It's much more likely that it is referring to a floor covering (flooring), but it still might be a self-finish or a painted finish.


B D Finch
France
Local time: 06:33
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 40
Grading comment
Thank you, BD, and everyone. I really appreciate your help and clarification!
Notes to answerer
Asker: Thank you, BD, for answer. I udnerstand it's as you described, while I'm a proofreading at this time, and the original translator seems to want to translate "in-situ" clearly into the context. Another wonder of mine is whether or not "in-situ" refers to the "original position" of the floor. How do you think?

Asker: Thank you for your clarification and sorry for ambiguity of the source I copied. It actually is one of the rurles the workers need to conform to on the construction site. Here is the reference of a PDF file which includes this particular source sentence: https://www.google.co.jp/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CC0QFjAA&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.atlanticmcc.com%2FArticleDocuments%2F3329%2FAsset%2520Physical%2520GMR%25202.2%2520%2520Pedestrain%2520Access%2520Routes%25207-1-12.pdf.aspx&ei=2VZNUtvaKoKzlQXFkYDoBQ&usg=AFQjCNFjV0IR_KSePzEXp5sIVW9PzptweA&sig2=vLY0v9ykBqQv6lvGkz8JRg Now I guess it would make sense that "in situ surface" is simply "installed surface".


Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Victoria Britten: It seems quite clear that we are talking about testing the flooring once installed in its final destination
37 mins
  -> Thanks Victoria. See my response to the Asker's note.
agree  Francisco Alves: Yessss.
48 mins
  -> Thanks francisco
agree  Yvonne Gallagher: yes, floor(ing) surface is already installed and test to be carried out on it in that (installed) position.
10 hrs
  -> Thanks gallagy
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