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because... being as important

English translation: [Because] as important as management information systems and tools are, they're still instruments...

11:53 Oct 4, 2005
English language (monolingual) [PRO]
Transport / Transportation / Shipping
English term or phrase: because... being as important
I have the feeling the beginning of this sentence is wrong but I don't want to interpret it in a way that I will leave information out. Could native speaker paraphrase the first part in English according to what you understand? Thanks in advance!

Because, management information systems and tools being as important as they are, still are instruments (allowing public transport managers to keep their organisation on track towards attracting more passengers, achieving modal shift and, finally, contributing to sustainable mobility.)
Carmen Cuervo-Arango
Spain
Local time: 05:04
Selected answer:[Because] as important as management information systems and tools are, they're still instruments...
Explanation:
... Meaning perhaps that both MIS and tools are just "things" (as opposed to human resources). That's what I understand.

Good luck, Carmen

Elena
Selected response from:

Elena Sgarbo (X)
Grading comment
Thank you very much to all of you for your help. Elena's explanation sounds very logical to me and that's how I have expressed my translation.

¡Gracias, Elena!
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



SUMMARY OF ALL EXPLANATIONS PROVIDED
4 +7[Because] as important as management information systems and tools are, they're still instruments...
Elena Sgarbo (X)
4 +3How right you are...
David Moore (X)
4reason for importance
Greg Olsen


Discussion entries: 2





  

Answers


5 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +7
[Because] as important as management information systems and tools are, they're still instruments...


Explanation:
... Meaning perhaps that both MIS and tools are just "things" (as opposed to human resources). That's what I understand.

Good luck, Carmen

Elena

Elena Sgarbo (X)
Native speaker of: Native in SpanishSpanish
PRO pts in category: 4
Grading comment
Thank you very much to all of you for your help. Elena's explanation sounds very logical to me and that's how I have expressed my translation.

¡Gracias, Elena!

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Vicky Papaprodromou
1 min
  -> Thanks, Vicky
agree  Emilie: Yeh, I agree. That is probably what is meant here.
3 mins
  -> Thanks, Emilie
agree  Nick Lingris: MIS and tools, important as they are, are nothing more than instruments (that's what it says, but probably not what it means...).
8 mins
  -> Thanks, Nick
agree  Kevin Kelly
38 mins
  -> Thanks, Kevin
agree  Dave Calderhead: Sounds reasonale to me - the MIS and tools are nothing more than tools for doing the job when all is said and done
5 hrs
  -> Thanks, Dave
agree  Saleh Chowdhury, Ph.D.
1 day 1 hr
  -> Thanks, Saleh
agree  Alfa Trans (X)
2 days 5 hrs
  -> Thanks, Marju
Login to enter a peer comment (or grade)

11 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +3
How right you are...


Explanation:
The reason is that management information systems are still instruments, and as such, they are important tools in helping public transport managers to keep their organisation on track towards attracting more passengers, achieving modal shift and, finally, contributing to sustainable mobility.

.
That's my shot; I think the writer was trying to be too clever and condense the sentence, whereas all he succeeded in doing was get himself in a horrible mess... The main problem IMO was use of "because" to open the sentence; this is always to be avoided if possible - it's poor style in any case.

David Moore (X)
Local time: 05:04
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 20

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Nick Lingris: And this is very probably what it means - though not what it says. It would help to have the text that comes before this.
8 mins
agree  Ken Cox: it could also be a poor (overliteral) translation (e.g. from Dutch, where such style is not uncommon). IMO it's not clear whether the intended meaning was as you interpret it or 'as importrant as... may be in their own right, they are ultimately...'.
52 mins
agree  Freimanis
1 hr
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21 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
reason for importance


Explanation:
You are very right: there is a major problem here. "Because, management information systems and tools being as important as they are, still are instruments" is ungrammatical. The conjunction "Because" is not connected to a clause, and the second "are" has no subject.

I would suggest that the writer wanted to demonstrate why the "management information systems and tools" are important.

Therefore, I would suggest changing it to read "Management information systems and tools are so important because they are instruments which allow...." In this case, the second clause ("because they....") is the reason for the first ("Management... important"). The third clause is then adjectival, describing the instruments.

Greg Olsen
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