Oliver Simões Oct 17, 2023:

Not so sure I'm not so sure that I agree with some of the comments I read in this forum, for example, that you need to be a native speaker of the target language in order to translate. No, you don't. But having an outstanding command of the TL won't hurt. This whole discussion of "us" (natives) vs "them" (non-natives) is fruitless and outdated. One does not have to be a native speaker to translate into ANY language, but he/she does need to have a superb mastery of the language if he/she cares about quality. If you translate into a language other than your own, it's best to have the translation reviewed by a native speaker of that language. On the other hand, being a native speaker does not necessarily correlate with good translation. Lately, I've seen machine translations that were far better than those produced by humans. Here's an example: a reviewer replaced a Google translation for "Indian" ("indígena") with "indiano" in a context about Native Americans! And this was a native speaker of PT! So what's the point of this discussion if, to a certain extent, we are being surpassed by machines? I would love to hear some interesting insights on this, but I'm not sure this is the right venue.

Andrew Bramhall Oct 15, 2023:

Be my guest Mario... You keep believing that you and your fellow lusophones understand English better than I do, you keep comforting yourselves with that thought. And yes, the more clients who read the discussions the better, with the proviso they're native-level fluent in English, and therefore perfectly able to recognise the shortcomings of the writing of the ST at a glance..

Mario Freitas Oct 14, 2023:

@ Andrew The only spectacular thing about this whole discussion is that all Portuguese speakers understood the phrase in English and intrerpreted it correctly. The onyl one who didn't was the native English speaker. And it's also spectacular that you insist in your error stating that I'm wrong. Be careful because lots of potential clients read the KudoZ discussions, and they are reading your comments.

expressisverbis Oct 14, 2023:

Andrew, desculpe o que vou dizer-lhe, mas acho que não está em posição de falar de falta de modéstia e humildade, quando o português nem sequer faz parte das suas línguas de trabalho. Onde estão a modéstia e a humildade da sua parte?

expressisverbis Oct 14, 2023:

Concordo com a Ana e o Mário A frase refere fluxos comerciais internos e externos/dentro e fora do país que ocorrem predominantemente entre o Norte e o Sul.
Isto significa que as principais rotas de comércio que envolvem a entrada e saída de mercadorias de um país têm uma direção central: orientação norte-sul.
Isto indica que a maioria das mercadorias que entra ou sai do país segue um percurso predominantemente na direção/no sentido norte-sul.

Talvez seja útil:
https://hbs.unctad.org/trade-structure-by-partner/

Andrew Bramhall Oct 14, 2023:

@Anna Vozone Yes indeed, 'de cima para baizo' means ' from top to bottom' and is WRONG here, I freely admit. Mario's comment that in order to translate into Portuguese you need to be a native Portuguese speaker is absolutely correct. By the same token, someone translating OUT OF English needs to have a native level of understanding of English, in order to be able to detect potential flaws in the the source language, something which Mario doesn't have, and has therefore spectacularly failed to grasp. Hence sadly his assertion of the correct translation is based on a flawed understanding, but alas an absence of modesty and humility prevents him from acknowledging this fact .

Ana Vozone Oct 13, 2023:

De cima para baixo em português significaria qualquer coisa como "do céu para a terra", na vertical (ou quase)... em sentido descendente... os fluxos viriam do céu para a terra, do pico da montanha para a planície, e não me parece que seja esse o sentido.

Agora, falando um pouco mais a sério, pesquisei "runs north and south", só alterei o tempo do verbo, e ... encontrei tantas, mas tantas ocorrências...

https://www.google.com/search?q="runs north and south"&sca_e...

Mario Freitas Oct 13, 2023:

Tradução correta. Para traduzir para o português, a pessoa tem que ser nativa de português, não de inglês. Nem todos compreendem isso.
Frase traduzida:
Os fluxos comerciais que entram e saem do país ocorrem principamente em direção ao norte e ao sul.
Ou, conforme a sugestão da Teresa:
Os fluxos comerciais que entram e saem do país dirigem-se principamente para o norte e o sul.
Ou seja, não há erro algum na frase em inglês.

Andrew Bramhall Oct 13, 2023:

My Final Comment on The Question is that I, as the only English native speaker to participate in the question, am the only one to see the shortfall and imprecision in the question as posted. I understand the phrase ony too well, hence Mario's comment below is risible.

Mario Freitas Oct 12, 2023:

@ Andrew I'm sorry, my dear, but if you still didn't understand the phrase, despite the explantion, I can no longer help you.

Andrew Bramhall Oct 12, 2023:

@ Mario Please don't demean yourself by patronising me; when I need you to explain the workings of English to me, I'll ask, but don't hold your breath. The epicentre of the fault is the use of the preposition "AND", as it begs the question -where from or where to?? from the North to the South, from the South to the North, in the North and in the South? around the North and around the South?? I did NOT misread that trade and flows were not both nouns. You haven't thought his through, although I get that it isn't easy; it even went over the head of a native Canadian English speaker, Holly Holmes , in her disagree to my answer. Your interpretation of the meaning of " run" here may or may not be right. The problem lies with the sloppy construction using " and" , which is indeterminate in terms of the direction of the trade flows. By avoiding it and replacing it with something more specific, the whole issue would have been a lot clearer.

Mario Freitas Oct 11, 2023:

@ Andrew Since I'm the one who is not native and who obviously don't see flaws that don't exist, I'll explain the sentence to you.
1. The major trade flows = subject. Flows is a noun here, not a verb. Trade flows = fluxos comeciais.
2. The trade flows into and out of the country = complete subject of the sentece. Os fluxos comeciais que entram e saem do país.
3. Run predominantly north and south. Ocorrem principamente em direção ao norte e ao sul.
No flaws whatsoever in English, if you read correctly that trade and flow are nouns and the only verb in the sentence is "run".
I hope your native eyes can see it now.

Mario Freitas Oct 11, 2023:

"Run" Pay attention to the verb "run" and the dynamics it gives to the sentence. The flows run north and south = towards the north and the south. The best translation for this would be "em direção ao norte e ao sul", but Claudio's suggestion is good enough, IMO.