OT: little help with translation needed

[Kirov]

I hope it's fine to write such off-topic here. Today a friend of mine, a fellow translator, raised an interesting issue about the word "mileage". He says it's not just a generic word for "odometer reading", but is specific to the imperial system, i.e. miles. In other words, you can only use "mileage" for readings given in miles. Is that really true, English native speakers? Would it sound weird to your ears to give mileage in kilometers, as God clearly intended? If so, how does the word "kilometrage" sound to you? I can't find it in any serious dictionaries, I'm afraid, but some translators propose just that. Barring both solutions, what would you recommend to use for 'distance traveled in kilometers', knowing that you can't always say "odometer reading"? Some forms require just distance traveled within a certain period of time, not the actual reading from the odometer.

Please help and I hope it's OK to put such a topic here, sometimes I could use a hand from native speakers and would rather ask you guys than register to some translation forums.

[gwillybj]

The word 'mileage' is so common and its meaning so simple, go ahead and use it as a generic even when dealing with kilometers. The word 'distance' is safer if you need to satisfy nit-pickers.

[Buster's Uncle]

The context matters, of course; I'd say the far most common use of "mileage" means "usage-wear on a vehicle".  As gwilly says, "distance" covers most of the rest.

It would be easier to advise on specific sentences/phrases...

[Valka]

Canada's been metric since the early '70s, but I've never heard anyone use the word "kilometrage". It sounds strange.

Most of us are "bilingual" to some extent between metric and imperial measurements, and tend to use whatever system is most convenient (or required for work purposes).

[Unorthodox]

Just to throw a wrench into the discussion, "Mileage" can also be used to describe relative value, and not distance at all, as in the terms "your mileage may vary" (your experience may be different), or "getting a lot of mileage" (gaining more than expected). 

[Buster's Uncle]

Or fuel efficiency, for that matter.

[Valka]

Around here it tends to mean "how many miles to the gallon do you get?" Of course all our gas is measured in litres, but it's understood.

[Rusty Edge]

The context matters, of course; I'd say the far most common use of "mileage" means "usage-wear on a vehicle". 

I always think of Indiana Jones in the original movie, describing the condition of his body after highjacking a truck from the Nazis with  a white horse- "It's not the years, it's the mileage"

I don't think the term is even limited to vehicles any more in the usage and wear sense. It's perfectly applicable to shoes, for example, and understandable with regard to carpets. People even say things like "He's gotten a lot of mileage out of that joke," meaning use.

[Kirov]

I wasn't aware I can get so much feedback. Thank you, guys!  I'm going to pick your brains more often in that case; every now and then I run into an issue where dictionaries are useless and the 'feel' of a native speaker would work best.

So I guess 'mileage' stays, even for European vehicles.

[Kirov]

Can someone help me a little bit more? I have a big PL-EN project (along with numerous other minor issues and questions) and I thought I could use you, guys.

For starters:

1) "The above mentioned amounts shall become immediately due, increased by interest [which is sth]". This is not from this project I mentioned, but it bugs me. Do you feel that the syntax here is ok? I say yes but a fellow translator says that something's off around that coma. This is a paraphrasing of the sentence "The above mentioned amounts, increased by interest, shall become immediately due", but I had a reason to keep it the way above. Is it fine to your ears?

2) Imagine that you have an association of people who really, really love the local area they live in and want to share their passion, do some sightseeing together, etc. How would you call such people? Specifically, I'm looking for a synonym to 'enthusiast, aficionado, fan' which would fit the above description. Nothing to do with sports, though. Just, you know, an association of New Yorkers who are really into New York. How would they call themselves and/or their association?

Thanks in advance!

[Buster's Uncle]

[which is sth]?

[Buster's Uncle]

1.) Is dry and the grammar is unnecessarily complex, but it scans as proper business-speak; those people are terrible with their own language written down, and business schooling actually teaches them bad grammatical practice.

2.) Boosters if promoting and luring business to New York is a major part of their activities.  Every town and community has some, or the place is dying.  -Otherwise, 'enthusiast, aficionado, fan' are all good fits.  "New York-lovers" would be good if not so easily miss-taken...  -Boosters might still work even if there's no promoting/business angle...

[Valka]

1.) Is dry and the grammar is unnecessarily complex, but it scans as proper business-speak; those people are terrible with their own language written down, and business schooling actually teaches them bad grammatical practice.

2.) Boosters if promoting and luring business to New York is a major part of their activities.  Every town and community has some, or the place is dying.  -Otherwise, 'enthusiast, aficionado, fan' are all good fits.  "New York-lovers" would be good if not so easily miss-taken...  -Boosters might still work even if there's no promoting/business angle...

1. "The above mentioned amounts shall become immediately due, increased by interest [which is sth]".

I assume "sth" is the percentage? Or is it the amount of the interest charged?

If so, this is how I would change it:

"The above-mentioned amounts, to which interest (sth) will be added, shall become immediately due."

I assume you've mentioned a date in the previous sentence, or will mention a date in the following sentence.


2. If you use "New York-lovers," make sure you do NOT forget the hyphen! Otherwise it becomes something with sexual connotations.

"New York aficionados" works fine. So does "New York fans" although that could be mistaken as being fans of a New York sports team.

Be aware that "boost" has a slang meaning, which is "to steal."

[Kirov]

Yep, dry as dust it's supposed to be, otherwise you get complaints from the suits. Business-speak and legalese are atrocities in themselves, ranging from WTF to just bad grammar. In legalese, you can (nay, you must) write 'such agreement' instead of 'such an agreement' for reasons I have never really figured out. History, I guess? This entire jargon harks back to the 16 c.

[which is sth] - I just wanted to indicate that 'interest' is followed by something that doesn't really matter for this case.

Thanks with the boosters, too! 

I may have more in the near future, this project is a big deal for me and I really want to make it sound smooth. Pretty much opposite of legalese, which I usually deal with.

[Buster's Uncle]

Gotcha.  This is sort of my idea of a good time, free-associating but not having to make the actual decision, and we're a community of people who help each other, so no need to be shy at all...