# La macchina è caratterizzata da



## Fra11

Hello,
I'm trying to translate a short technical text describing a machine, and I'll post some question. 



La macchina è caratterizzata da:
- (segue un elenco in cui si descrivono componenti, funzionamento, caratteristiche)

The machine is _characterized by_:

or

The machine _features_:



Which one is more suitable?
Other translations?


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## ALEX1981X

_Characterized by_ is fine to me

Also _is composed of_ or _make up of_...se hai bisogno di fare una lista di ciò che compone la macchina


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## Fra11

Thanks 

("lengthen your message to at least 10 character")


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## elfa

ALEX1981X said:


> _Characterized by_ is fine to me
> 
> Also _is composed of_ or _make up of_...



"characterized" isn't fine to me and I wouldn't use it 

I would say _The machine is made up of..._ or _The machine has... _depending on what follows


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## Paulfromitaly

elfa said:


> I would say _The machine is made up of..._ or _The machine has... _depending on what follows



La macchina è caratterizzata da una grande affidabilità....

Simply _The machine has..?_


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## elfa

Paulfromitaly said:


> La macchina è caratterizzata da una grande affidabilità....
> 
> Simply _The machine has..?_



Definitely in this case.


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## Paulfromitaly

elfa said:


> Definitely in this case.



Cheers N.


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## johngiovanni

Just a question about "caratterizzata da" based on the first sense of "caratterizzare given in the dictionary ("contradistinguere").  Could this mean "The machine stands out for..."?


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## Paulfromitaly

johngiovanni said:


> Just a question about "caratterizzata da" based on the first sense of "caratterizzare given in the dictionary ("contra*d*distinguere").  Could this mean "The machine stands out for..."?



Yes and no.

It basically means "The machine features are...", then, depending on what features are listed, it could mean "stand out for" or simply "has".


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## johngiovanni

Thanks for the explanation, Paul.


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## elfa

johngiovanni said:


> Just a question about "caratterizzata da" based on the first sense of "caratterizzare given in the dictionary ("contradistinguere").  Could this mean "The machine stands out for..."?



Sorry, but I don't see how "stands out for" fits in this context...


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## johngiovanni

Quote: "Sorry, but I don't see how "stands out for" fits in this context..."
I don't think we have enough context to know.  If the list which follows is a combination of features which could be considered sufficiently comprehensive and impressive to make this machine "stand out", then I was thinking the "controddistinguere" sense of "caratterizzare" might be the "sfumatura" the writer wanted to convey.


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## elfa

johngiovanni said:


> I don't think we have enough context to know.  If the list which follows is a combination of features which could be considered sufficiently comprehensive and impressive to make this machine "stand out", then I was thinking the "controddistinguere" sense of "caratterizzare" might be the "sfumatura" the writer wanted to convey.



Perhaps I wasn't clear. To me, "stands out for" isn't a recognised phrase. Can you give me an example of how it would be used?


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## johngiovanni

Here is an example, but don't ask me what it means! "This *machine stands out for* its special cantable longitudinal sealing units enabling high speed film sealing also when gas resistant seals are required."


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## elfa

johngiovanni said:


> Here is an example, but don't ask me what it means! "This *machine stands out for* its special cantable longitudinal sealing units enabling high speed film sealing also when gas resistant seals are required."



OK, thank you.


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## giginho

Hi guys!

Sorry to disagree with you but in my technical field *characterized in that* is very common 

The machine is characterized in that  ......


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## Odysseus54

giginho said:


> Hi guys!
> 
> Sorry to disagree with you but in my technical field *characterized in that* is very common
> 
> The machine is characterized in that  ......




What would that mean ?  Can you post a complete sentence ?


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## giginho

There are tons of possible sentence that I can find in technical field.

I was answering Elfa's post number 4 that says:



> "characterized" isn't fine to me and I wouldn't use it
> 
> I would say The machine is made up of... or The machine has... depending on what follows



In my opinion, in a technical field, characterized in that is very common


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## Paulfromitaly

giginho said:


> In my opinion, in a technical field, characterized in that is very common



Yes, especially when the text is not written by a native English speaker...
It's very common because it's a calque from "è caratterizzato da".


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## giginho

Paulfromitaly said:


> Yes, especially when the text is not written by a native English speaker...
> It's very common because it's a calque from "è caratterizzato da".



Can you prove that?


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## london calling

giginho said:


> In my opinion, in a technical field, characterized in that is very common


Mai sentito, Giginho (e lavoro anch'io nel settore tecnico, come sai). Ci puoi dare qualche esempio di come viene utilizzato?


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## Teerex51

Forgive me for stating the obvious, but _we don't even know what kind of machine this is_. A household sewing machine or a twin-spindle CNC milling machine that manufactures railroad train wheels?

Surely, that itty bitty detail is going to affect the translation... (before the posting frenzy of wild guesses continues ad infinitum)


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## giginho

Ciao LC!

Nelle rivendicazioni di tutti i brevetti europei  si distingue la parte pre-caratterizzante (arte nota) da quella caratterizzante (novità) con la frase *characterised in that*. Lo si trova in *tutti* i brevetti europei, compresi brevetti scritti da madrelingua inglesi (checché ne dica Paul).

Ora: non so se è una consuetudine solo brevettuale, ma in questo campo è un must al punto tale che si rifiuta la convenzione americana e viene richiesta la modifica dei brevetti USA (non sempre ma molto spesso) affinché venga inserita questa frasetta


EDIT: Da un brevetto di Nokia (codice: EP 1246071), *scritto *da uno Studio di *Nottingham *(UK) (non riporto il nome per non fare pubblicità):



> A method of configuring first and second electronic devices (17,27), the first device being a master and the second device a slave, and *characterised in that* said second slave device is able to perform a plurality of selectable predefined different functions each selectable predefined function being associated with an appropriate device driver which relates to a particular device class, the method comprising:


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## Odysseus54

giginho said:


> Ciao LC!
> 
> Nelle rivendicazioni di tutti i brevetti europei  si distingue la parte pre-caratterizzante (arte nota) da quella caratterizzante (novità) con la frase *characterised in that*. Lo si trova in *tutti* i brevetti europei, compresi brevetti scritti da madrelingua inglesi (checché ne dica Paul).
> 
> Ora: non so se è una consuetudine solo brevettuale, ma in questo campo è un must al punto tale che si rifiuta la convenzione americana e viene richiesta la modifica dei brevetti USA (non sempre ma molto spesso) affinché venga inserita questa frasetta
> 
> 
> EDIT: Da un brevetto di Nokia (codice: EP 1246071), *scritto *da uno Studio di *Nottingham *(UK) (non riporto il nome per non fare pubblicità):




Dando una scorsa su Google e' effettivamente linguaggio brevettuale europeo.


Ci vuole piu' contesto.


Fra11, di che cosa stiamo parlando, esattamente ?  Una brochure illustrativa ?  Un brevetto ?  Di che macchina ?


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## elfa

Hi gigi 

You may well be right, but isn't "characterised" used somewhat differently in the text you quote? I understand it as _...and the second device a slave and characterised so that the said second slave device.._ That would make more sense - even though to my mind it isn't very good English - but it couldn't be used to translate the original poster's sentence, could it? I suppose you could say _The machine is characterised in that it has x, y and z components..._ but I have never read or heard of this usage.

Edit: just seen over 80,000 entries for just that phrase on Google, so it looks as though giginho is right. They can't all be translations, can they?


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## london calling

elfa said:


> Hi gigi
> 
> You may well be right, but isn't "characterised" used somewhat differently in the text you quote? I understand it as _...and the second device a slave and characterised so that the said second slave device.._ That would make more sense - even though to my mind it isn't very good English - but it couldn't be used to translate the original poster's sentence, could it?


My thoughts exactly. 

We definitely need more context and a full sentence in order to come up with a decent translation.

Edit. Hello Elfa, I'm willing to agree that _characterised in that_ is used and that Gigi is right , I just think it means something different from  'caratterizzato da'.


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## AlabamaBoy

Fra11 said:


> *La macchina è caratterizzata da:*
> - (segue un elenco in cui si descrivono componenti, funzionamento, caratteristiche)
> 
> The machine is _characterized by_:
> 
> or
> 
> The machine _features_:



I would not hesitate to translate is as "*This machine features:*" To me this is the best way to translate it. You could also use "boasts" but it seems too informal to me. I usually translate "caratterizzato da" as "features" or "boasts."


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## amatriciana

Or you could modify "This machine features" into "The features of the machine are:" or just "Features of the machine:" followed by the list of components etc.   

I don't think I'd misunderstand "This machine features:" in a manual, I think it'd be fine, but to me in this context "features" as a noun sounds slightly more natural than "features" as a verb.


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## elfa

amatriciana said:


> I don't think I'd misunderstand "This machine features:" in a manual, I think it'd be fine, but to me in this context "features" as a noun sounds slightly more natural than "features" as a verb.



Agreed


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## london calling

Elfa, Ama, there's obviously an AE/BE split here. It may sound odd to us, but if it sounds right to a native speaker of American English who is also an engineer, then 'features' as a verb is perfectly acceptable.


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## Paulfromitaly

london calling said:


> Edit. Hello Elfa, I'm willing to agree that _characterised in that_ is used and that Gigi is right , I just think it means something different from  'caratterizzato da'.



Exactly and that's not what everybody else (but one) was talking about...

The OP mentioned "è caratterizzato *DA*" which is very common in Italian and wanted to translate it as "is characterized *BY*".
That's the typical literal translation and doesn't sound right when one is describing the features of a machine.


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