Berit Kostka, PhD May 11, 2015:

Thanks S Ben Price I posted my suggestion, glad I could help :o)

S Ben Price (asker) May 11, 2015:

Berit Kostka you are right! When the scanned pdf was converted to a Word document the p-1, was swallowed somehow. Client confirms that you are correct. I'd love to give you some kudos if you're into that sort of thing, just submit your answer officially.

Berit Kostka, PhD May 11, 2015:

I guess this depends on the situation. Personally, if there is enough time, I would always get in touch with the client straight away when I see a mistake in the source and explain why this is wrong and what the correct term would be. I then ask how he wants me to deal with it, leave as is or translate into a correct term (delivered with a note in the translation as well as the source). Whenever this has happened so far they were always glad things like that got pointed out :o) So yes, if at all possible always contact the client about it.

Nils Andersson May 11, 2015:

This raises a question that pops up every now and then. What do you do when you KNOW the source is wrong. Personally, I usually translate as it stands, but give a comment (in the text or separately) to the client, explaining the situation, and maybe a translation of what I think the source should have been.

Cilian O'Tuama May 11, 2015:

I now see Berit's objection and agree with her... maybe it should read 1,1,3,3 tetra... ?
I don't dislike giving red disagrees :-)

Berit Kostka, PhD May 10, 2015:

@Nils Thanks for the compliment, but I hate to say that the answer you posted is wrong. I don't like giving red disagrees so here is my explanation why:

1. The "Tetra" indicates that this chemical has 4 methyl groups. Their positions are shown by the numbers in front. Asker has only listed 3 numbers, so clearly there is something wrong with the initial information given to us. With only 3 numbers, it should be a "tri"methyl. Never mind that I was not able to find the trimethyl version of this chemical, so I guess it doesn't exist, but I might be wrong.

2. As there should be 4 methyl groups, there should be 4 numbers out front.

3. The separate parts of the word (methyl, butyl, phenyl etc) are not "connected" by putting an "o" in between.

4. Number of Google hits for your chemical = 0.

Anyhow, what I also found was this: polyethylene glycol p-(1,1,3,3-tetramethylbutyl)-phenyl ether, also called Triton X-100, used in detergents (wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triton_X-100). Unless asker explains how many methyl groups there should be, we can't be sure what exactly he wants to translate.

Nils Andersson May 9, 2015:

Good catch
really good catch, Dr Kostka. My chemistry is not nearly that good. But, we translators often find stuff that makes little or no sense, in various ways. Sometimes I notify the client, but far from always.

polyglot45 May 9, 2015:

you need to make the "f" into "ph" +split word Tetramethylbutyl phenol polyethylene glycol ether

I also think there may just be a 'p' missing in the original

polyglot45 May 9, 2015:

it is tetramethyl... for starters the hyphen is superfluous to requirements

Berit Kostka, PhD May 9, 2015:

Like this I don't think the chemical makes sense. It should either be 1,3,3 - TRImethyletc or there is one more methyl group missing and the hyphen between Te and tra should not be there. This is what I found, which would include 4 methyl groups:

p-1, 1,3,3-Tetramethylbutylfenylpolyethylenglycolether

I found it in this patent on google: http://www.google.com/patents/DE102010041290A1?cl=en

S Ben Price (asker) May 9, 2015:

Yeah, not an application Yeah, it's a registered patent. We're only working on a part of it (so nice for the client to take it out of context) and I was mistaken... But whoever (or whatever) translated the Google version conveniently left the hardest chemicals untranslated :-/.

Merry Foxworth May 9, 2015:

Did you find the patent application? I would think that you would not find it there until it had been approved and was a bona fide patent.

S Ben Price (asker) May 9, 2015:

You will find the patent on the internet I guess it's not that confidential after all! But this term isn't translated there either...