Tricky Words in this week‘s OVI

This week's extracts just happen to contain several examples of common Slovak expressions which are very often translated literally (word-for-word) into English, producing "Slovakisms" which can be disturbing for English speakers, whether native or speakers of other languages who are proficient in English. The following are my recommended translations with explanations (brief, because I'm revisiting some familiar teritory here).

First there's efektívnosť: in the context of systems, processes and organizations, the translation is efficiency, which indicates how well the system works in itself; but in the context of actions, measures (opatrenia) and changes, the translation is effectiveness, which indicates how much effect the action has.

Andy’s Wordshop

Continuing with my quick translation course, the next issue is dcérska spoločnosť, which is a subsidiary company, literally meaning podriadená, which doesn't sound so acceptable in Slovak. Materska spoločnosť is parent company. Now we come to jubilejný, for which there is no adjectival form in English. The noun jubilee /džúbilíí/ is normally reserved for a 50th anniversary, a Golden Jubilee, but there are also 25th (Silver) and 60th or 75th (both Diamond) Jubilees, especially referring to the reign of Queen Elizabeth II. The last issue is how to translate "na podujatí nechýbali ani..." The main thing here is to avoid double negatives in English, and to translate this expression with positive emphasis, for example: Naturally/of course/understandably/as expected/typically/characteristically the event was attended by...