help for...

[maiabulela]

Dear all,

A prisoner had a fight with a screw. A friend old him
"That didn't help matters for another month"

Does that mean that it caused hi, being prison for one more month or what?

or does it mean that he had to spend a monthe and then out and there was no need for that fight???

Thanks.

[BobK]

The idea is more like the first, but not exactly. Prisoners can have part of their sentence shortened as a reward for good behaviour. After that, they can be released 'on parole' - with special conditions and restrictions. Prisoners have their terms reconsidered regularly. At this prison, presumably, the Parole Board meets one a month. (In fact, maybe all Parole Boards have to meet that often; I really don't know - but that's obviously the sort of review behind this quote.)

b

[maiabulela]

The idea is more like the first, but not exactly. Prisoners can have part of their sentence shortened as a reward for good behaviour. After that, they can be released 'on parole' - with special conditions and restrictions. Prisoners have their terms reconsidered regularly. At this prison, presumably, the Parole Board meets one a month. (In fact, maybe all Parole Boards have to meet that often; I really don't know - but that's obviously the sort of review behind this quote.)

b

Ok. What does she mean, then? Does she mean "that will elongate the period of imprisonment more month? The picture is not clear for me.

Thanks.

[maiabulela]

Also she speaks in the past tense. "That didn't help..."

[BobK]

Also she speaks in the past tense. "That didn't help..."

The fight is in the past, and his behaviour then didn't help matters. His bad behaviour doesn't bring with it a penalty (in terms of time); but it does mean that at the next meeting of the Parole Board he won't have his sentence shortened - which comes to the same thing.

b

[maiabulela]

The fight is in the past, and his behaviour then didn't help matters. His bad behaviour doesn't bring with it a penalty (in terms of time); but it does mean that at the next meeting of the Parole Board he won't have his sentence shortened - which comes to the same thing.

b

Can we phrase it as "why you fight and the appeal is less than a month a way"??? because there were is no mention of parole Board although it's implied

I cant mention Parole Board in ma translation, that's the problem.
I don't know how can express the meaning as short as possible as she said it.

Or can it be translated as "This will make your situation even worse" and forget this "month" thing in the translation???

Thanks.

[BobK]

Maybe "This will make your prospects even worse". I agree that it's not a good idea to mention parole. Perhaps you could say 'That won't help you get off any sooner'

('Getting off' is a nice idiom in place of the too-formal 'remission'.)

b