marco_on_the_grassland
Member
- Joined
- Mar 29, 2024
- Member Type
- Other
- Native Language
- Japanese
- Home Country
- Japan
- Current Location
- Japan
Let me share a frustrating memory from 25 years ago when I was working as a scientific and technical translator. I was given a trial sentence by a translation coordination company when I was subcontracting the translation work of another company. The sentence was: "Fifteen male and female members have been dispatched there." I translated this sentence to mean "A total of 15 members, both male and female, have been dispatched." However, the translation company pointed out that this was incorrect and that the correct translation should be "15 males and 15 females." I thought this was ridiculous, so I checked with my English informant (translation collaborator) at the time, who confirmed that "it is impossible for it to mean 15 of each gender in any context." I would like to confirm this again here.