# Na styku



## majlo

Hi,
Do you have any idea how to nicely convey the idea in Polish? Thank you in advance. 

_Tak stary, jak idea państwa jest pomysł utworzenia urzędu, którego istotnym zadaniem miało być obserwowanie, w jaki sposób funkcjonuje administracja państwa *na styku* z obywatelem. _


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## wolfbm1

Może: *w stosunku* do obywatela.?


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## Annika

albo: względem obywatela,  wobec obywatela ....


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## majlo

That was utterly sloppy of me.... I meant to ask: "Do you have any idea how to nicely convey the  idea in English?"


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## NotNow

majlo said:


> That was utterly sloppy of me.... I meant to ask: "Do you have any idea how to nicely convey the idea in English?"


 
The whole sentence or just _na styku_?


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## kknd

prawdopodobnie próbowałbym coś w stylu _administration-citizen interface_ (bądź _a-to-c interface_) lub podobną konstrukcję; być może zamiast _interface_ wystarczyłoby _connect[ion]_ lub _communication_.


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## NotNow

Here goes nothing:

The thought of creating an office whose essential task is the observation of how the administration of the state works *jointly* with the citizen is as old as the idea of the state [itself]. 

Did I just make a fool of myself?


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## Szkot

Może '... how (the machinery of) government interacts with the citizen ...'.   A vis-a-vis to też dobre angielskie słowo .


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## majlo

I'm sorry that I'm so imprecise in my explanation.

Basically it's just the _na styku _thing because I already translated the rest. "Jointly" sounds nice. For the time being I settled for _"_ _The idea of an institution whose main purpose was to observe how state functions *when it gets into contact with *citizens is as old as the idea of state itself." _


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## NotNow

I have a small suggestion.  You may want to consider *when it comes into contact with*.  It sounds better.


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## majlo

OK, thank you, I'll change it.


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