Plattenplatz

12:07 Mar 24, 2010 

I think (and hope) it is just the go-betweens. I'm sure the client wouldn't want to embarrass themselves. After all, they are paying for a professional translation and want to do business internationally and I'm sure nobody at the company is uneducated, even if they are unaware of the intricacies of translation.

Thanks!

10:19 Mar 24, 2010 

Sounds like the client has some self-esteem issues if he takes professional questions personally ;)

Anyway, it's not a matter of right or wrong (maybe this eludes the client) but rather of ambiguity/lack of greater context which is very characteristic for this field. It's the same in my field, so I can very much relate to this.

I suppose you don't have access the programm/interface in question? If not and the client is that uneducated as to how translation works, then it's full GIGO-speed ahead, I guess.

Good luck with this one!

10:06 Mar 24, 2010 

it is generally inadvisable to apply the GIGO principle in you want to deliver a high quality translation, especially in the field of technical translations. However, when questions are unwelcome and discouraged and viewed as personal criticism of the source texts and/or the author (after all "the customer is always right") there is usually little choice, apart from trying to solve the riddles by seeking qualified options such as those provided here on ProZ. Officially, I am meant to answer my questions myself. However, being a scientist by training, I am not into guessing. That was not what I became a technical translator for, after all.

08:19 Mar 24, 2010 

... after all, you don't have to make an entry. We should focus on establishing the inteded meaning of David's text.

Of course, Plattenplatz *normally* means disk space, however, I would advise against applying GIGO (or "ours not to reason why"), since source texts should never be regarded as infallible. The text might well have been written (or maybe even previously translated) in a shoddy way. Unless David can assure us that this is not the case, I would consider all possiblities. If I am not absolutely clear about a source text I work on, I check with the client.

@ David, the part "Begrenzung des Plattenplatzes
Wenn Sie die Regelausführung in Abhängigkeit vom Plattenplatz definieren möchten:" IMO does not rule out Tom's suggestion.

While Richard's idea is thinkable, I reckon it would be very impractical to be required provide the location of files in sectors...

15:50 Mar 23, 2010 

Plattenplatz definitely means disk space, and I think this is what should go in the glossary. You could stretch it and put "file size" in your translation. I agree that specifying a minimum size sounds odd, but this is a case of "ours not to reason why". We might not understand it, but the client will.

14:18 Mar 23, 2010 

Thanks Richard!

14:00 Mar 23, 2010 

Perhaps they are refering to a location on the disk where the data is stored. This would be a range from - to.

13:49 Mar 23, 2010 

that this isn't referring to the file size of individual images, as it also says:

"Begrenzung des Plattenplatzes
Wenn Sie die Regelausführung in Abhängigkeit vom Plattenplatz definieren möchten:"
...
"Diese [sic.] Regel wird nur innerhalb der angegebenen Plattenplatzgrenzen ausgeführt."

Guess it has to be disk space.