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transport of dangerous goods and risk management - Kirilo Savić

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TRANSPORT OF DANGEROUS GOODS AND RISK MANAGEMENT 256Any <strong>of</strong> the presented differences <strong>of</strong> lexical nature may be a source <strong>of</strong> ambiguity <strong>and</strong>, consequently, <strong>of</strong> trouble theinterpreter/translator finds themselves in. Any author who writes in English as a foreign language will findthemselves in the same sort <strong>of</strong> trouble.The same goes for the differences <strong>of</strong> sociological <strong>and</strong> cultural nature that exist between the USA <strong>and</strong> UK, as wellas between these two countries <strong>and</strong> other countries, <strong>and</strong> express in the language. The number <strong>of</strong> such differences isalso large <strong>and</strong> some <strong>of</strong> them may be the source <strong>of</strong> serious problems affecting the process <strong>of</strong> interpreting/translating,e.g.:Contrary to the Serbian <strong>and</strong> some other languages, when decimals are in question, in English (both BrE <strong>and</strong>AmE) there exists the decimal point instead <strong>of</strong> the decimal coma. Coma is used just for separating groups<strong>of</strong> digits in big numbers consisting <strong>of</strong> a large number <strong>of</strong> digits, the same way the point is used in Serbian,e.g.:1.500 in BrE <strong>and</strong> AmE is not one thous<strong>and</strong> <strong>and</strong> five hundred, as it is in Serbian, but one <strong>and</strong> five hundredth– 1,500 in Serbian; in the same way, in BrE <strong>and</strong> AmE 7,428 is seven thous<strong>and</strong> four hundred <strong>and</strong> twentyeight, <strong>and</strong> not seven <strong>and</strong> four hundred <strong>and</strong> twenty eight thous<strong>and</strong>th, as it is in Serbian.However, the number billion in BrE has the value <strong>of</strong> 10 12 as it has in the Serbian language, but in AmE,billion is 10 9 which corresponds to the number milijarda (10 9 ) in the Serbian language.British unit for measuring liquid - quart equals ¼ <strong>of</strong> the unit gallon or double unit pint which isapproximately 1.136 liter. This is 6/5 <strong>of</strong> American unit quart which equals double American unit pintwhich equals 0.946 liter, or 5/6 <strong>of</strong> British unit quart.The British begin their week on Sunday, so that the last day <strong>of</strong> their week is Saturday. The Americans, aswell as the Serbs, begin their week on Monday, <strong>and</strong> end it on Saturday. The British, as well as the Serbs, express a date in numbers following the pattern (DD/MM/YY) -day/month/year. The Americans do that according to the pattern (MM/DD/YY) – month/day/year, e.g.:9/11/2003 in BrE is; 9 th . November, 2003, but in AmE, it is 11th. September, 2003.The British drive on the left h<strong>and</strong> side <strong>of</strong> the road. The Americans, as well as the Serbs, use the right h<strong>and</strong>side. As a consequence, the meaning <strong>of</strong> the expression: outside lane - in BrE is - the lane closest to thevehicles moving in the opposite direction, i.e. the one reserved for overtaking. In AmE, the sameexpression has the meaning – the lane closest to the side <strong>of</strong> the road.The British, as well as the Serbs, call the floor <strong>of</strong> a building that is on the same level with the street theground floor; zero level), 1 st floor is above it, 2 nd floor is above the first one, etc. The Americans do nothave the ground floor, at least in their language. Instead, they call it 1 st floor. The floor that is the first tothe British <strong>and</strong> Serbs is the second to the Americans, <strong>and</strong> so on.PRIOR TO CONCLUSIONIt should not be too difficult to picture a situation in which a mains is needed to plug in a device or an instrument ortool critical for performing an operation in a series <strong>of</strong> operations that are necessary to perform in order todeactivate, dismantle <strong>and</strong> repair a defective device that causes air, water or soil pollution. Unless the interpreter isfamiliar with both AmE <strong>and</strong> BrE, precious time may be lost in trying to clarify the meaning <strong>of</strong> the word which, inturn, may result in an ecological catastrophe (e.g.: crude oil spillage due to a defective valve…).

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