# Prowizoryczne uszczelnienie miejsca...zbiornika



## Baltic Sea

Witam ponownie!

Czy zdanie "Prowizoryczne uszczelnienie miejsca przecieku przed dalszym zalewaniem zbiornika" można przetłumaczyć na angielski jako "The place of the leakage was temporarily sealed (in order) to prevent the tank being flooded any more"? czy raczej "The place of the leakage was temporarily sealed (in order) to prevent the tank being flooded any further"? or "The place of the leakage was temporarily sealed (in order) to prevent any further flooding of the tank"?

Źródło: Poprosił mnie o przetłumaczenie powyższego zdania na angielski kolega. Dziękuję.


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## LilianaB

I would say: _Temporary sealing of the tank (of the leakage) to prevent further flooding (of the tank)_. Your sentence is understandable, but it does not correspond grammatically to the original sentence. It means something slightly different because it is in the past tense indicating that the action has been completed, whereas the original clause is not. The Polish original is not even a sentence because it lacks an active verb.


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## Ben Jamin

Baltic Sea said:


> Witam ponownie!
> 
> Czy zdanie "Prowizoryczne uszczelnienie miejsca przecieku przed dalszym zalewaniem zbiornika" można przetłumaczyć na angielski jako "The place of the leakage was temporarily sealed (in order) to prevent the tank being flooded any more"? czy raczej "The place of the leakage was temporarily sealed (in order) to prevent the tank being flooded any further"? or "The place of the leakage was temporarily sealed (in order) to prevent any further flooding of the tank"?
> 
> Źródło: Poprosił mnie o przetłumaczenie powyższego zdania na angielski kolega. Dziękuję.



Trudno powiedzieć co jest poprawne, bo oryginalny polski tekst jest mętny. Poza tym nie jest to zdanie, lecz zbiór rzeczowników. Pytanie: czy można tak dowolnie zmieniać sens tekstu w tłumaczeniu. W zasadzie to nie „zbiornik został uszczelniony”, lecz „uszczelnienie zbiornika”.


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## Roy776

LilianaB said:


> I would say: _Temporary sealing of the tank (of the leakage) to prevent further flooding (of the tank)_. Your sentence is understandable, but it does not correspond grammatically to the original sentence. It means something slightly different because it is in the past tense indicating that the action has been completed, whereas the original clause is not. The Polish original is not even a sentence because it lacks an active verb.



The simple past tense in Baltic Sea's translation indicates that it happened sometime in the past and is no longer relevant, or that the tank is no longer sealed. We can't translate it directly into English without putting any verb in there, so I think we should choose the present perfect, indicating that the leak has been sealed and is still sealed. So, I would translate it like this:

"The leak has been provisionally sealed in order to prevent further flooding of the tank".


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## LilianaB

No, I am afraid, Roy, it does not have to mean that in Polish. It looks most of all like one of a few activities on a list to be performed, or possibly that have already been performed, but it is really not clear from the Polish expression if the action already took place. It looks like something you would put on a plan for things that have to be performed as maintenance of a ship.


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## Roy776

LilianaB said:


> No, I am afraid, Roy, it does not have to mean that in Polish. It looks most of all like one of a few activities on a list to be performed, or possibly that have already been performed, but it is really not clear from the Polish expression if the action already took place. It looks like something you would put on a plan for things that have to be performed as maintenance of a ship.



I'm aware of that, but without further context we can't do anything but offer suggestions, and this is mine. In the case you describe, I agree that your translation would be just fine. I just wanted to point out that the past tense, as used by Baltic Sea, doesn't really work here, or rather, that the present perfect should be used instead if we want to keep the relevance to the present.


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## Baltic Sea

Yes, Roy776 is right. The activity was performed. That's why we cam say ""The place of the leakage was temporarily sealed (in order) to prevent the tank being flooded any more" instead of _Temporary sealing of the tank (of the leakage) to prevent further flooding (of the tank)_. Both versions work for me.


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## Baltic Sea

Error: can instead of cam.


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## Roy776

Baltic Sea said:


> Yes, Roy776 is right. The activity was performed. That's why we cam say ""The place of the leakage was temporarily sealed (in order) to prevent the tank being flooded any more" instead of _Temporary sealing of the tank (of the leakage) to prevent further flooding (of the tank)_. Both versions work for me.



Ok, but has it been performed or was it performed? Meaning: Is the leak still sealed or is it no longer?


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## Baltic Sea

It's hard to say. I didn't participate in the repair.


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## Roy776

Baltic Sea said:


> It's hard to say. I didn't participate in the repair.



Then tell him the two options. You use the present perfect if it's still sealed and the past tense if the sealing has already been removed.


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## Baltic Sea

I know that. Thank you, Roy.


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