Experts' help needed: translation (please)

[keetaec]

Hello Expert!

Would you be able to help me out with translating this sentence:

医疗中心要为南至南非、北临北冰洋、西达英国、东至阿富汗如此广大范围内的30万美军提供治疗救助。

It's an extract from an article about US Medical Center in Germany. I can't seem to connect the name places with 'real' words.

Any help would be appreciated.

confused,

keetaec

[skylee]

Consider ->

"The medical centre has to provide medical support to 300,000 American soldiers in a vast area reaching South Africa in the south, the Arctic Ocean in the North, the UK in the West and Afganistan in the East."

I am no professional in translation, though.

[keetaec]

Can you help me out with this one as well...

I don't understand what "科尔"号军舰遇袭 means in the following sentence.

Again, it's about the same medical center helping out the US troops.

美军从营救伊朗人质、海湾战争、到“科尔”号军舰遇袭、海湾战争、伊拉克战争，每次军事行动中都少不了医疗中心的参与.

thank you in advance.

keetaec

p.s. other suggestions are always welcome

[trevelyan]

“科尔”号军舰

科尔 is a phentic transcripts of foreign name (Coal). The quote marks signal this, but the giveaway is the 号, which indicates a number or one in a series. So this means "Battleship Coal".

不了少 looks like a typo. It should be: 少不了 ("to be unable to reduce" or "to need")

My attempt at the whole sentence:

"In every case, from the Iranian hostage crisis, to the Persian Gulf War, the bombing of the USS Coal, the Persian Gulf War, and the Iraqi War, the US Army has needed the involvement of the medical center."

Strange that they repeat 海湾战争 (Gulf War) twice and also mention the 伊拉克战争 (Iraq War). Not sure if these are supposed to be three different conflicts or if the translation is just sketchy.

[keetaec]

Great Help! Thank you very much.

I'm still struggling with the article - would you be able to suggest a translation for this:

这家医院究竟有什么独特之处呢。位置得天独厚、声誉传遍欧洲.

Is the first sentence a question, since it has 'ne' at the end? (And the reputation refers to the location, correct?)

While in this second one it is a question (with 'ne'):

那么医疗中心到底有什么特别之处，使其有能力救治几乎遍及1/3地球上的美军呢？

However, does 1/3 refer to the American military spread over one-third of the world or 1/3 of the American military spread over the world. )

I'm really stuck...

very grateful,

keetaec

[skylee]

这家医院究竟有什么独特之处呢。 What exactly is so unique about this hospital?

位置得天独厚、声誉传遍欧洲. Its location is privileged, its reputation known throughout Europe.

那么医疗中心到底有什么特别之处，使其有能力救治几乎遍及1/3地球上的美军呢？

so what is so special about the medical centre that enables it to treat the American troops which cover almost 1/3 of the globe?

Looks like the original text was not so well written - quite repetitive and not well organised.

[marcopolo79]

科爾號=USS Cole, the ship that was attaked off the coast of Yemen by Al-Qaida in 2000.

[keetaec]

Thank you everyone for help, especially Skylee, Trevelyan and others.

I've got two more challenging sentencea, do you think you could make sense out of them?

1. (ta shuo), 可通过该基地实现全球到达.

Note. 该基地(gaijidi) refers to an air force base in Germany; I can't connect the words: through this base realize the whole world arrive? or the whole world can realize that through this base arrive?

2. 在巴格达负伤的美军最多经过两次转机，可在10—12个小时内送达这里.

My version: Injured US troops in Baghdad the most go through/ go to 转机(zhuanti)=for the better? can arrive here within 10-12 hours?

In fact, the whole article is very confusing, I used to be able to manage translating articles with a dictionary, but this one requires more than that... I guess I will have to learn how to use my head one way or another, untill then, i'm relying on you guys, the ones who already use their heads. thanks again.

P.S. Everyone is welcome to join the discussion.

[skylee]

可通过该基地实现全球到达.

This is not a complete sentence IMHO. 全球到达 (reaching the whole world) is not proper.

"Through the base, reaching the whole world can be realised."

在巴格达负伤的美军最多经过两次转机，可在10—12个小时内送达这里.

"American soldiers injured in Baghdad can be delivered here in 10 to 12 hours with no more than two plane connections".

[trevelyan]

Skylee is right as always. I'd also translate it loosely, something like "the base has global reach".

Also worth noting that "基地" is the standard Chinese translation for Al Qaida. If you're translating documents about international affairs you might run into it used in that context as well.

[keetaec]

thank you skylee!

I never thought 转机 stood for plane connections, amazing. But the 'machine' character should've pointed me to the correct direction.

If you say that the previous sentence is incomplete, then I have a very good case to present to my teacher.

I'm virtually done with the article, however there's one more multi-clause sentence:

德国的一条主要铁路干线与贯穿全德高速公路也从医疗中心附近经过，通过这两条陆上线路，可便捷地到达许多欧洲城市。

Here's my lousy version: Germany's main railroad line runs through the entire German highway and passes through the medical center, through these two road lines(?), 捷地 reaching many European cities. (?)

That's the best i can do...

i promise, after this sentence, i will start working hard on figuring out translations myself...

[keetaec]

thanks trevelyan for the info - great insight!

in fact, it's very useful to know these things... sometimes i spend hours translating a phrase and it turns out it's someone's name or an abbreviated name for an organization.

P.S. is Mandarin widely used in Hong Kong these days? Couple of years ago people said noone spoke it there, what's the situation now?

[skylee]

Consider ->

"One of the trunk lines in Germany as well as a highway which runs through Germany also pass by the medical centre. Many european cities can be reached conveniently and quickly via these two (land) routes."

德国的一条主要铁路干线 = one of the trunk lines in Germany

贯穿全德高速公路 = (a) highway that runs through Germany

便捷地 = conveniently and quickly

[skylee]

Strange that they repeat 海湾战争 (Gulf War) twice

Now I remember. This is probably because there were two Gulf Wars. The first one took place in 1990, the second in 2003.

[keetaec]

Thank you good people!

All finished and polished - the translation looks alright, as messy as the article itself, but hey! it was group effort!