Translating dates

[Seifer Donna]

I suggest 2 May 2006, etc.

Donna Seifer  
Russian Language Services


On 3/29/07 8:54 AM, "Valentino, Russell" <russell-valentino at UIOWA.EDU>
wrote:

> Spelling them out would be the safest, but if space is a concern a smart
> short-form solution I've seen is to use a Roman numeral for the month in
> second position--so: 2 V 06 = May 2, 2006.
> 
> Russell Valentino
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: SEELANGS: Slavic & East European Languages and Literatures list
> [mailto:SEELANGS at BAMA.UA.EDU] On Behalf Of Emily Saunders
> Sent: Thursday, March 29, 2007 10:44 AM
> To: SEELANGS at BAMA.UA.EDU
> Subject: [SEELANGS] Translating dates
> 
> Hello,
> 
> I have a question for more experienced translators.  I've been handed a
> couple of papers to translate from Russian to English about whales.
> They are, I believe, to be delivered at an upcoming conference or
> consortium or some such in Alaska.  They contain tables with dates of
> whale sightings and periods of observations.  These dates are naturally
> in the Russian format such as:  2.05 and  5.06-7.11, which Americans
> could (would?) erroneously read as February 5 and June 5 - July 11 if
> left in their current format.
> 
> A suggestion I've received is to switch the numbers, but put an
> American slash "/" between them instead of the period to make it clear
> that this is American format.  My gut, however, says to spell them out
> (May 2 and June 5 - Nov 7) since simply switching the order would be
> potentially confusing for Russians.  This will take up more column
> width in the tables, which is a little awkward, but essentially doable.
>   Or should I just leave them be because the scientific community out
> there follows the European norm anyway (sort of like kilos and
> celsius)?  If there is any set norm as to how this is dealt with, I'd
> be very grateful to know.
> 
> Regards,
> 
> Emily Saunders
> 
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