Lingopro Jul 24, 2009:

Hear! hear! Mary Jane.

Mary Jane Shubow Jul 24, 2009:

You are right Lingopro Sometimes synonyms won't work in certain contexts, so it's good to pick the best one if you can. From my years of living on a kibbutz and hearing people talk about the soil for the crops, and from the small sample we have here of the context, my sense is that either drying out or dehydration would work and that desiccation might be overkill. But we have no idea of the intended audience. The idea here seems simple to me, the drying out or dehydration of the agricultural crop damages the harvest. I think I'll submit this as an answer.

Lingopro Jul 24, 2009:

Although they may all be synonyms, your context should determine your final decision. There is much to be said about synonyms that just don't work in certain contexts. So good luck in choosing the one that does.

Mary Jane Shubow Jul 24, 2009:

Hityabshut - synonyms In my opinion, dehydration or drying out are both suitable and appropriate for this context. Desiccation seems a bit extreme, but it is just a question of personal choice and the overall language register of the document. Translation is not like mathmatics, and there's often more than one right answer. It's your call. They would all work.

elli_fischer Jul 24, 2009:

hityabshut of course they're all synonyms. The question is not what the term means, but which translation would be used in this context.

Mary Jane Shubow Jul 24, 2009:

desiccation, dehydration, drying out These are all synonyms. From looking in the dictionary, desiccation seems more extreme. See the definitions for desiccation at http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&rlz=1T4DKUS_enUS294US294&...