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09:23 Aug 15, 2021 

Whether it's finance or statistics, do you think the translation will be something other than "absolute variance" ???

it doesn't matter that "it could be about practically anything" as you say (already very dubious to say in this given context).

That does not change anything just as red is always red whether it refers to a coat or a house or a building?


We know that this term is used in both fields, albeit with a difference of meaning.

You don't really think that the translator is going to look at all the figures and then calculate what the absolute variance is according to him or her and then see if it agrees with the absolute variance in the statement.

You gave out yet another one of your willy-nilly disagrees and now you are trying to defend the undefendable.

06:50 Aug 15, 2021 

the point is in not rushing.

Asker said the term is used in an "income statement". Look at how many different numbers you'll find there:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Income_statement

How do you know without seeing the ST which figure is the one that had a "Var. abs." of xyz %? That this "Var. abs. (%)" is not about some indicator that could have a negative value in some cases?

Not to mention that "Var. abs. (%)" could be part of some explanatory footnote, and then "Var. abs. (%)" could be about practically anything related to the business of this company.

Yeah sure, being sure to understand the exact context in which the term is actually used is just a waste of time ...

00:28 Aug 15, 2021 

okay we know there's a very high chance that "var. abs." stands for "variance absolu" as used in finance.

Do you think the translator should ask the client for a confirmation just in case???

Then we should also ask if "SI" = "système informatique" when an article is about computers or if "JO" = Jeux Olympique" when translating an article about sport.

The question is where do you reasonably draw the line?

Now you say that "there is a small but not negligible chance" that the translation is wrong but you gave it an outright disagree !!! Any one else with a couple of well-known exceptions would have given an agree with a reservation or at the most a neutral. Answers that are probably right should not get "disagrees" eh?

23:56 Aug 14, 2021 

believe it or not.

All I'm saying is that there is a small but not negligible risk that the "obvious" translation might be proven to be wrong once you know more about the specific ST. If you think that that could never happen, you are free to keep believing it.

11:06 Aug 14, 2021 

The context is ACCOUNTING/INCOME STATEMENT

If you can't read the heading in the question nor the info in the body text, that's your problem, not mine.

Furthermore, an income statement is VERY unlikely to explain "how the term is used in that text"

Does your bank statement explain every time what a balance or transfer is??? I thought not!!!

10:40 Aug 14, 2021 

what is relevant for a specific text is how the term is used in that text.

"Var. abs. (%)" could refer to all sort of things. Without knowing anything else about the ST, only the "obvious translation" springs to mind, one that is possibly the right one, but there is no way to be sure that it really is.

If you think that "translating by statistical probabilities" is good enough, don't complain about MT breathing down your neck ...

20:28 Aug 13, 2021 

one of the first definitions that come up for finance is

Var (abs). Variance = Plan Costs Column minus Actual Costs Column

If you then look at statistics, they do say that an absolute variance cannot be negative and explain why (and François does point this out)

So I think, based on the definition, he is right. In finance, it seems it can be negative if actual costs are higher than plan costs.

16:32 Aug 13, 2021 

Var. abs. (%) = Variation absolue exprimée en %

but without knowing what kind of figures are being compared and in which way, any "obvious" translation could turn out to be misleading or even plain wrong once you know the whole story.

13:51 Aug 13, 2021 

Mari, please post the terms above and below your term, and indeed anything else you can, in terms of context.