Glossary entry (derived from question below)
Portuguese term or phrase:
alcance (in this context)
English translation:
Wingspan Area
Added to glossary by
lexical
Feb 24, 2010 20:36
14 yrs ago
Portuguese term
alcance (in this context)
Portuguese to English
Tech/Engineering
Aerospace / Aviation / Space
wing area
I'm actually talking about pterosaurs, but I assume the aeronautical principles are the same as aircraft. The sentence is:
"Aquelas enormes asas dão-lhe um **alcance** de vinte metros quadrados para navegar o vento."
As we have already had "...tem uma **envergadura** de doze metros", which I'm translating as "wingspan", I don't want to repeat that. In any case, "wingspan" is a linear measure and **alcance** is obviously a measure of area.
I'd like the term to be aeronautically accurate - is "wing surface" any good?
"Aquelas enormes asas dão-lhe um **alcance** de vinte metros quadrados para navegar o vento."
As we have already had "...tem uma **envergadura** de doze metros", which I'm translating as "wingspan", I don't want to repeat that. In any case, "wingspan" is a linear measure and **alcance** is obviously a measure of area.
I'd like the term to be aeronautically accurate - is "wing surface" any good?
Proposed translations
(English)
| 5 +1 | Wingspan Area |
Spiridon
|
| 4 +2 | breadth/width |
Dr Lofthouse
|
Proposed translations
+1
1 day 32 mins
Selected
Wingspan Area
Since there is a surface of twenty square meters quoted
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer.
Comment: "Thank you. You are at least talking about a square measure. However, I'm still not sure that the original translator used the best word."
+2
13 mins
Dr Lofthouse
France
France
Native in English
France
When Accuracy Counts -
Native in: English 
, Italian
Works in: Italian to English, German to English, French to English, and 10 more.
breadth/width
As the text refers to 'square metres', you should refer to the 'wing surface area' - 'alance' here implies area/width/breadth
[PS the aerodynamics involved in bird and insect flight are not 100% direct correlates of those of aircraft: see
http://www.zoo.cam.ac.uk/zoostaff/ellington/aerodynamics.htm... ]
[PS the aerodynamics involved in bird and insect flight are not 100% direct correlates of those of aircraft: see
http://www.zoo.cam.ac.uk/zoostaff/ellington/aerodynamics.htm... ]
Discussion
I'm doing a PT-EN back translation of an EN-PT text and I don't know why the PT translator chose this word, nor do I know what the original EN term was. I probably need to alert the client that the term may be suspect.
Actually, the term "alcance" in the original text is not very accurate.