Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[Swim4life]

I�m trying to explain to my client (native English speaker) the source words and the target characters for a translation work. Please let me know if it sounds natural to a native speaker. Thanks a million!

�We charge RMB0.50 per source English word, or RMB0.25 per target Chinese character for the translation from English to Chinese (ETC). Please note that 1000 source words could be translated into 2000 target characters when it comes to ETC.�

[damon@English24/7]

You should treat source word as a unit so the sentence would read "per English source word."

damon

[Mister Micawber]

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We charge RMB 0.50 per source English word or RMB 0.25 per target Chinese character for translation from English to Chinese (ETC). Please note that 1000 source words could be translated into 2000 target characters when it comes to ETC.

The above sounds fine, except that I don't know what ETC means.
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_________________
"I really do not know that anything has ever been more exciting than diagramming sentences." � Gertrude Stein
...............
Canadian-American who teaches English for a living at Mr Micawber's

[Swim4life]

Thanks Domon, and thanks Mister Micawber--ETC means "English to Chinese"...

Anyone have any other ideas? Thanks.

[Mister Micawber]

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In that case, when it comes to ETC is redundant, since you have already stated that English is in 'words' and Chinese is in 'characters', and it's an awkward phrase anyway; I would just delete it:

We charge RMB 0.50 per English source word or RMB 0.25 per target Chinese character for translation from English to Chinese (ETC). Please note that 1000 source words could be translated into 2000 target characters.
.
_________________
"I really do not know that anything has ever been more exciting than diagramming sentences." � Gertrude Stein
...............
Canadian-American who teaches English for a living at Mr Micawber's