[Grammar] The moment you reading this,the ending act must already be played.

[Schwarzzz]

"The moment you reading this, the ending act must already be played."
I think the first part should be "The moment you are reading this", but my friends think it's OK.
Any suggestion? Thanks in advance.

Schwarzzz

 

[probus]

Welcome to the forum Schwarzzz. Kindly correct the information in your profile. Once that is done I'm sure we'll be able to help you. Also, please tell us the source of the sentence you are asking about.

 

[GoesStation]

"The moment you reading this, the ending act must already be played."
I think the first part should be "The moment you are reading this", but my friends think it's OK.
Any suggestion?

It's ungrammatical. I can't guess what it's supposed to mean.

 

[Schwarzzz]

Welcome to the forum Schwarzzz. Kindly correct the information in your profile. Once that is done I'm sure we'll be able to help you. Also, please tell us the source of the sentence you are asking about.

Thank you Probus:-D
I've already updated my profile.
The sentence is quoted from a video game where an oral message ("The moment you reading this, the ending act must already be played.") is recorded and played from a cassette.

 

[Schwarzzz]

It's ungrammatical. I can't guess what it's supposed to mean.

Thanks GoesStation,
This sentence is quoted from a video game. It is an oral message recorded in a cassette.
I think it could be understood as "At the moment you are reading this, the final act must have already played out."
Do you think the original sentence could cause significant confusion?

 

[Schwarzzz]

Welcome to the forum Schwarzzz. Kindly correct the information in your profile. Once that is done I'm sure we'll be able to help you. Also, please tell us the source of the sentence you are asking about.

Thanks Probus, I've already updated my profile.
This sentence is quoted from a video game. It is an oral message recorded in a cassette.

 

[GoesStation]

Do you think the original sentence could cause significant confusion?

Considering that I couldn't guess what it was supposed to mean, yes, I do. :-?

 

[Schwarzzz]

Considering that I couldn't guess what it was supposed to mean, yes, I do. :-?

OK... Maybe the producer of this game should be informed:shock:
Thanks again!

 

[jutfrank]

It's poor and incorrect English. I guess the writer meant to say something like this:

If you are listening to this message, the final act must already be over.

 

[Schwarzzz]

It's poor and incorrect English. I guess the writer meant to say something like this:

If you are listening to this message, the final act must already be over.

Thanks for your reply Jutfrank!

The expression does sound a little bit awkward.

 

[jutfrank]

The expression does sound a little bit awkward.

To say the least!

In fact, it's a prime example of atrocious translation of a video game script. I imagine it was translated from an Asian language (Chinese or Japanese) by a non-native speaker. Asian game developers are notorious for their poor English script translations. I have no idea how developers are unable to afford the couple of hundred dollars that it usually takes to hire a professional proofreader.

 

[Schwarzzz]

Ah, apparently you have seen many cases like this one :shock:. This is truely a common problem.

 

[Rover_KE]

Schwarzzz, I see you posted the same thread in WordReference.

We recommend posting a question on one forum only initially. If you do not get a satisfactory answer from that forum and you feel that you have exhausted its possibilities, then of course trying a different forum might help. It is only courteous however, to tell the second forum that you have already asked the question on another forum and then give a precis of the answers you received there, or provide a link to it, along with an explanation of why you are now looking elsewhere.

(emsr2d2)