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يزوك
النكف

Glossary entry

Arabic term or phrase:

بكل المقاييس

English translation:

in every sense

Added to glossary by Noha Kamal, PhD.
Mar 12, 2010 13:35
14 yrs ago
Arabic term

بكل المقاييس

Arabic to English Other Linguistics
كانت مفاجأة بكل المقاييس أن يغادر شيخ الازهر محمد سيد طنطاوي حياتنا الدنيا
http://www.masreat.com/إشارة-لمقتضى-الحال-في-وفاة-شيخ-الازهر...


كانت مفاجأة بكل المقاييس
It was an absolute surprise......

thanks in advance
Proposed translations (English)
5 a surprise, in every sense of the word,
5 +2 a real surprise
5 by all standards, by any standard
5 By far
4 a total surprise
Change log

Mar 14, 2010 12:46: Noha Kamal, PhD. changed "Edited KOG entry" from "<a href="/profile/736912">lhcm's</a> old entry - "بكل المقاييس"" to ""in every sense ""

Discussion

Ahmed Alami Mar 12, 2010:
Real / unexpected surprise X is a real surprise means that X includes every elements required to to identify the concept of surprise. However, I'm not saying that absolute is wrong, but as a professional translator I'm keen to provide the target audience with language that they are commonly used to, add to this that the feed included in that text deals with death which is by definition an unexpected sudden event and the term بكل ماتعني الكلمة is brought to add focus "التوكيد" based on these you have the liberty to use whatever translation strategy to render that effect on the target audience.

Good luck
lhcm (asker) Mar 12, 2010:
To Br. Ahmed: about your logic behind the search the number of hits for those words, does not neccessarily draw a comparison between two terms " absolute surprise" and " real surprise", while these two terms have different meanings in terms of their focus. "absolute" means, no matter from which angel you consider the situation, no matter what type of measurement you use to measure the situation, ( that is why "migyas/ magayees" is used here) all come to one conclusion and result, that was a "surprise". which means "absolutely"---- it was a surprise.
"real surprise" focus on "real" or "not real", can that be determined by using different types or all types of measurement ?
lhcm (asker) Mar 12, 2010:
or it was absolutely a surprise....

Proposed translations

3 mins
Selected

a surprise, in every sense of the word,



--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 26 mins (2010-03-12 14:01:44 GMT)
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Oh, I think it is quite fine. In fact, it was the first thing that came to my mind. But since you suggested it, I thought I should give you another option to consider.
Note from asker:
thanks for your prompt response,your suggestion sounds good to me.
what do you think of my suggestion "absolute/absolutely"?
Something went wrong...
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "thanks to all who participated"
+2
3 mins

a real surprise

-

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 5 mins (2010-03-12 13:41:06 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

an unexpected surprise

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 11 mins (2010-03-12 13:46:38 GMT)
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You are welcome :)

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 27 mins (2010-03-12 14:02:58 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

"Absolute surprise" generates 59 100 google hits
" a real surprise" generates"1 470 000 google hits
"a surprise, in every sense of the word" generates 254 000 google hits
Which means that it is not commonly used in English compared with the two other suggestions.
Good luck
Note from asker:
thanks for your quick response!
what do you think of my suggestion "absolute/absolutely"?
Peer comment(s):
agree Zoubida Hamdaoui : I also thought in "an unexpected surprise":)
4 mins
Merci Zoubida
agree Liliane Hatem
3 hrs
Thank you very much Liliane
Something went wrong...
4 hrs

by all standards, by any standard

This is very poor Arabic writing, with compounded problems:

- First, the writer is thinking of the English phrase "by all standards," which actually does not quite fit the situation. There are at least two issues here: the expression does not quite work here (describing a surprise), and, mor importantly, an Arabic writer should not be thinking in terms of assimilated English phrases, especially phrases he does not know how to use.

- The writer used a literal translation of the expression, which, honestly, is not as bad as other literalisms I have seen.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 4 hrs (2010-03-12 17:44:46 GMT)
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By translating this phrase exactly the way the writer thought of it, you will do the readers a great service: you will expose the stylistic impoverishment of this piece.
Note from asker:
Thanks! Fuad Yahya.
Something went wrong...
10 hrs

a total surprise

..
Note from asker:
thanks! sister Nadia.
Something went wrong...
2 days 17 hrs

By far

Certainly, definitely.
أمر مـؤكـد لايحتمل المناقشـة. بــدون أي شـك.
Example sentence:

The ruling of the Egyptian Constitutional Court to appoint women judges is by far one of the most important events of the year.

Something went wrong...
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