Translation Guide

DESY English --> American English

Advice on correct English usage

Words and pharases to avoid, at all cost

• so-called (Rebecca's pet peeve)

Misused and misplaced words

• "how" instead of "what"
  • ex. "How is that called?" --> "What is that called?"

• "take" often implies something more forceful than is meant, and can imply something closer to "grab" or "steal"
  • ex. "I will take a salad" --> "I will have a salad"
  • ex. "I will take money from the ATM" --> "I will get money from the ATM" or "I will take out money from the ATM"

• "already" is almost always misplaced and often superfluous
  • ex. "Already since two days I have my new laptop" --> "I have already had my laptop for two days" or more simply "I have had my laptop for two days" or "I got my laptop two days ago,"

• "borrow" instead of "loan" or "lend"
  • ex. "Can you borrow me some money?" --> "Can you lend me some money?"

• "fully", which isn't really wrong but not used so often
  • ex. "I fully agree" --> "I totally agree"

• "talk" is sometime used when "speak" should be used instead. A language is always "spoken" while in a conversation you may both "talk" and speak"
  • ex. "I talk English" --> "I speak English"
  • ex. "We spoke about physics during dinner" and "We talked about physics during dinner" are both correct, but "spoke" is a bit more formal

• "At a certain moment" implies a very precise time and is often misused
  • ex. "At a certain moment we should check the MC" --> "At some point we should check the MC"

• "In former times" is maybe correct but is a very strange construction
  • ex. "In former times there were 4 people on shift at a time" --> "There used to be 4 people on shift at a time"

• "Somewhen" is maybe British English? In American English "sometime" is always used

• "You and I", in English you should always put yourself last in a list of people

• "nominator" is a person that suggests a person for election, you probably mean "numerator"

Extra endings

• "fitted", there is some debate here, but I think "fit" is most often appropriate unless discussing tailored clothes
• "kinematical", also subject to debate, but "kinematic" is often the correct word
• "theoretician", possibly correct (spell check doesn't complain) but "theorist" is simpler
• "substract" is just plain wrong, it's "subtract", without the extra "s"
• "splitted" is wrong, it's simply "split"

Those tricky prepositions

• "look at"
  • ex. "I will look to the MC" --> "I will look at the MC" or "I will look in the MC"
• "explain to"
  • ex. "Can you explain me..." --> "Can you explain to me..."
• "search for"
  • ex. "We will go to 1b and then search the room" (unless you plan to search for something within the room)--> "We will go to 1b and then search for the room"

General comments

• In English we tend to make complete sentences, so something like "You come?" sounds overly simplified and childish. "Are you coming?" is a much better choice
  • ex. "You come?" --> "Are you coming?"
  • ex. "I go." --> "I am going"

Physics slang

• in principle: Just use no

External Links

• German English Dictionary at leo.org
• Urban Dictionary for everything else
• The Elements of Style, a.k.a. Strunk and White by Strunk, and later revised by White, is a little book that should adorn every author's desk