The Improve Your English Thread v4.

[ominous]

Hello friends...
I've just translated a foreword of a fact-finding report into English. This report is about massacres of people occurred in my hometown and my grandfather and my mother's brothers were also victims of the massacres. Thus, this is also very personal to me.
Can you proofread it for me?

Foreword

The Jeju 4/3 Uprising was a tragic incident whose causalities were the second highest after the Korean War in the modern history of Korea. In a time of great tumult after the liberation from the Japanese colonial ruling, Jeju people suffered a terrible loss of life and property due to the uprising. However, it is very unfortunate that the fact-finding of the uprising hadn’t been conducted properly for over a half century.

At last, thanks to many people’s devotion and an agreement between the ruling and the opposition parties, ‘the Special Law for Fact-finding of the Jeju 4/3 Uprising and Honoring Victims’ was promulgated in January 2000 and this law made it possible for the central government to carry out a fact-finding investigation on the uprising.

So far, the government has engaged in activities for finding the facts of the uprising and honoring the victims by establishing ‘the Special Committee for Fact-finding of the Jeju 4/3 Uprising and Restoring the honor of the Victims’. The government also formed ‘the task force for preparing the fact-finding report’ under the umbrella of the special committee and had it collect and analyzes documents and materials about the uprising from home and abroad.

As a result of these efforts, the special committee conditionally adopted ‘the Fact-finding Report of the Jeju 4/3 Uprising’ on March 29, 2003. The committee made a great effort to retain objectivity and fairness by giving 6 months’ period for reviewing and revising the content of the report in case new materials or testimony arose. After examining newly raised opinions and reflecting some of them in the report, the special committee finally approved the fact-finding report on October 15.

This fact-finding report focused on finding facts of the uprising and honoring the victims and their families coinciding with the purpose of the special law but did not establish the whole nature of the uprising or carried out a historical evaluation of it. I believe that is the responsibility of historians to come.

Finally, I hope this fact-finding report will be a stepping stone for moving toward a bright future by contributing to improving human rights, developing democracy and achieving national unity, which is represented in the Jeju 4/3 special law.

December 2003.
Chairperson of the Special Committee for Fact-finding of the Jeju 4/3 Uprising and Restoring the honor of the Victims
Prime Minister Ko Gun

[iluvseverus]

Here you go..

Foreword

The Jeju 4/3 Uprising was a tragic incident whose causalities were the second highest after those of the Korean War in the modern history of Korea. In a time of great tumult after the liberation from the Japanese colonial ruling, Jeju people suffered a terrible loss of life and property due to the uprising. However, it is very unfortunate that the fact-finding of the uprising hadn’t been conducted properly for over a half century.

At last, thanks to many people’s devotion and an agreement between the ruling and the opposition parties, ‘the Special Law for Fact-finding of the Jeju 4/3 Uprising and Honoring Victims’ was promulgated in January 2000 and this law made it possible for the central government to carry out a fact-finding investigation on the uprising.

So far, the government has tried to find out facts about the uprising and is honoring the victims by establishing ‘the Special Committee for Fact-finding of the Jeju 4/3 Uprising and Restoring the honor of the Victims’. The government also formed ‘the task force for preparing the fact-finding report’ under the umbrella of the special committee and had it collect and analyze documents and materials about the uprising from home and abroad.

As a result of these efforts, the special committee conditionally adopted ‘the Fact-finding Report of the Jeju 4/3 Uprising’ on March 29, 2003. The committee made a great effort to retain objectivity and fairness by giving a period of 6 months for reviewing and revising the content of the report in case new materials or testimony should arise . After examining newly raised opinions and reflecting some of them in the report, the special committee finally approved the fact-finding report on October 15.

This fact-finding report focused on finding facts of the uprising and honoring the victims and their families in keeping with the purpose of the special law but did not establish the whole nature of the uprising or carry out a historical evaluation of it. I believe that is the responsibility of historians to come.

Finally, I hope this fact-finding report will be a stepping stone for moving toward a bright future by contributing to improving human rights, developing democracy and achieving national unity, which is represented in the Jeju 4/3 special law.

December 2003.
Chairperson of the Special Committee for Fact-finding of the Jeju 4/3 Uprising and Restoring the honor of the Victims
Prime Minister Ko Gun

[canismajoris]

Just my own notions, by no means authoritative ones:

Oh, red = delete


Foreword

The Jeju 4/3 Uprising was a tragic incident whose causalities casualties were the second highest after the Korean War in the modern history of Korea. In a the time of great tumult after following the liberation from the Japanese colonial ruling rule, the Jeju people suffered a terrible loss of life and property due to the uprising. However, it is very unfortunate that Unfortunately, the fact-finding investigation of the uprising hadn’t been was not conducted properly for over a half century.

At last, thanks to many people’s devotion and an agreement between the ruling and the opposition parties, ‘the Special Law for Fact-finding of the Jeju 4/3 Uprising and Honoring Victims’ was promulgated in January 2000 and this law made it possible for the central government to carry out a fact-finding investigation on the uprising.

So far, the government has engaged in activities for endeavored finding to find the facts of the uprising and honoring to honor the victims by establishing ‘the Special Committee for Fact-finding of the Jeju 4/3 Uprising and Restoring the honor of the Victims’. The government also formed ‘the task force for preparing the fact-finding report’ under the umbrella of the special committee and had it authorized it to collect and analyzes documents and materials about the uprising from home and abroad.

As a result of these efforts, the special committee conditionally adopted ‘the Fact-finding Report of the Jeju 4/3 Uprising’ on March 29, 2003. The committee made a great effort to retain objectivity and fairness by giving mandating a 6 months’ six-month review and revision period for reviewing and revising the content of the report in case new materials or testimony arose. After examining newly subsequently raised opinions and reflecting some of them in the report, the special committee finally approved the fact-finding report on October 15.

This fact-finding report focused on finding facts of the uprising and honoring the victims and their families coinciding with the purpose of the special law, but but it did not establish examine the whole underlying nature of the uprising or carried carry out a historical evaluation of it. I believe that is the responsibility of historians to come.

Finally, I hope this fact-finding report will be a stepping stone for moving toward a bright future by contributing to improving human rights, developing democracy, and achieving national unity, which is represented in the Jeju 4/3 special law.

December 2003.
Chairperson of the Special Committee for Fact-finding of the Jeju 4/3 Uprising and Restoring the honor of the Victims
Prime Minister Ko Gun

[ominous]

Many thanks, you two guys...

[ominous]

The concept of 'most'.

A large number of Americans -- almost 40 percent -- live in the same place all their lives.

Q. Most Americans live in the same place all their lives. True or False?

Forty-six percent of all Americans say they want to live in a different location.

Q. Forty-six percent of all Americans means
a. most Americans
b. all Americans
c. some Americans

[Mundungus Fletc]

For me most means more than half

[Pox Voldius]

Originally Posted by Mundungus Fletc

For me most means more than half

Same goes for me, on the other side of the Pond.

[ominous]

Which sentences are correct among the following ones?

a. At least she worked the most at the company.

b. At least she worked most at the company.

c. I think he works the most efficiently.

d. I think he works most efficiently.

[iluvseverus]

a. and c. seem right to me.

[Melaszka]

I think iluvseverus may have picked the answers the exercise deviser intended, but I have to say that:

1. neither (a) nor (b) sounds natural to me

2. for me, both (c) and (d) work, but they mean entirely different things

(c) means "He is the most efficient of the workers under discussion"
(d) means "he works extremely efficiently" (although it is now a little archaic to use "most" like that

[ominous]

Melaszka, I have a question to you. Are the following two sentences are okay to you? What I want to know is whether I should use 'the' in front of the superlative every time.

She studied English most in her class.

She studied English the most in her class.

[Melaszka]

Yes, you do need a "the" if you want to say that she studies English more than anyone else. The sentence doesn't sound entirely natural, though, and I think I'd say either "Of the people in her class, she was the one who studied the most" or "She worked the hardest at English in her class".

"She studied English most in her class" sounds entirely wrong (although you could say "She studied mostly English in her class" if you wanted to say that they study English most of the time, but occasionally they cover other subjects)

Hope that makes some kind of sense.

[Sherazad]

Hi guys. I need your help urgently.
I have to translate "to talk funny" into Italian, but I'm not sure about my translation. The fact is that "funny" means both amusing and weird and I don't know which of the two I should use. When do you use the sentence "to talk funny"? Is it referred to someone who talks in a weird way?
Unfortunately I can't give you more context because there's no context, it's a question.

Thank you

[Pox Voldius]

Originally Posted by Sherazad

Hi guys. I need your help urgently.
I have to translate "to talk funny" into Italian, but I'm not sure about my translation. The fact is that "funny" means both amusing and weird and I don't know which of the two I should use. When do you use the sentence "to talk funny"? Is it referred to someone who talks in a weird way?
Unfortunately I can't give you more context because there's no context, it's a question.

Thank you

Yes, the "funny" in this case would be closer to the "weird" sense than the "amusing" sense.

To "talk funny" generally means "to speak with an unfamiliar accent or dialect", "to make mistakes in the spoken language that a native speaker wouldn't make", or sometimes "to have a speech impediment". It's not exactly a polite thing to say about someone.

[Sherazad]

Ok, got it. Thank you so much! You've been very helpful!

[Sherazad]

Hi again! I come up with something more "technical" now. There's this sentence:
"You can change the environment in the options"

What does 'environment' stand for? Does that refer to the background?

Thank you so much

[featherfish81]

Probably, but more context would be helpful. Are you talking about a computer program?

[ominous]

Dear my friends,

Would you please take some time and proofread my translation?
Thank you in advance! :-)



An analysis on decrease in water leakage by establishing water distribution block system in water supply in Jeju City

Dept. of Environmental Engineering, Jeju National University Graduate School of Industry

Advisor

Abstract
Revenue water ratio in Korea, which is a ratio between the total water volume from the readings of consumer meters for a period and the total water volume from the production capacity of water supply facilities for the same period, is reported to be the national average of 82.6%, fairly low compared with that of 90% in advanced countries.

Decreasing water leakage through effective management of water supply facilities is considered to be a very important task in that it can minimize destruction of the environment from developing water resources and improve the management of water supplies at the same time.

However, replacement of water networks focusing on changing old and defective pipes so far shows inadequate improvement in revenue water ratio when compared to investment, calling for systematic maintenance of water supply facilities.

For systematic management of water supply, at first, it is necessary to establish a scientific water distribution block system in water supply.

This study aims to identify the effectiveness of establishing the block system by conducting water distribution network analysis before and after the establishment of the system and check the validity of the block system through conducting an economic analysis of the assumed decrease in water leakage and the costs for the establishment of the systems.

To begin with, target areas were selected and actual revenue water ratio was measured using the data of inflow rate and amount that was read in the target areas. Also, a comparative analysis between the measured revenue water ratio and the statistic one was conducted.

Then, a plan of establishing a water distribution block system in the target areas was set up and the effect of the decrease in water leakage and the increase in the revenue water ratio was estimated through comparing the water pressure distribution patterns before and after the establishment of the block system by using a water distribution network analysis program.

As the result of the water distribution network analysis, after the establishment of the block system, it turns out that the average water pressure in target districts decreases through water pressure control with reducing valves and this leads to the considerable reduction of water leakage.

The economic analysis reveals that the establishment of a water distribution block system is economically sound with the B/C ratio of more than 1.0.

This study shows that it is necessary to build a water distribution block system preferentially in areas with a low revenue water ratio because a water distribution block system is the most basic step of effectively managing water supply networks and systematic management of networks is should be conducted through effective maintenance systems.

Key-words : water distribution block system, water distribution network analysis, management of water leakage, reducing valve, economic analysis

[Melaszka]

I've had a quick look at this, but it probably needs more work form someone with more time:

An analysis of the decrease in water leakage achieved by establishing a water distribution block system in the Jeju City water supply

Dept. of Environmental Engineering, Jeju National University Graduate School of Industry

Advisor

Abstract
The national average revenue water ratio, which is the ratio between the total water volume from the consumer meter readings for a given period and the total water volume from the production capacity of water supply facilities for the same period, is reported to be 82.6% in Korea, fairly low compared with a national average of 90% in advanced countries.

Decreasing water leakage through effective management of water supply facilities is considered to be a very important task, in that it can minimize the destruction of the environment from developing water resources and, at the same time, improve the management of water supplies.

However, a maintenance strategy for water networks which focuses on replacing old and defective pipes has so far shown inadequate improvement in revenue water ratio when compared to investment, which has led to demands for systematic maintenance of water supply facilities.

In order to enable systematic management of the water supply, it is first necessary to establish a scientific water distribution block system in the water supply.

This study aims to identify the effectiveness of establishing a block system by conducting water distribution network analysis before and after the establishment of the system and to measure the validity of the block system through conducting an economic analysis of the assumed decrease in water leakage and the costs of establishing the systems.

To begin with, target areas were selected and the actual revenue water ratio was measured using inflow rate data and meter readings in the target areas. Also, a comparative analysis was conducted between the actual revenue water ratio measured and the statistical revenue water ratio.

Then, a plan was set up for establishing a water distribution block system in the target areas and the effect of the decrease in water leakage and the increase in the revenue water ratio was estimated through comparing the water pressure distribution patterns before and after the establishment of the block system by using a water distribution network analysis program.

The analysis of the water distribution network after the establishment of the block system revealed that the average water pressure in target districts decreased as a result of water pressure control with reducing valves and this led to a considerable reduction in water leakage.

The economic analysis reveals that the establishment of a water distribution block system is economically sound, with a B/C ratio of more than 1.0.

This study shows that it is necessary to build a water distribution block system, preferentially in areas with a low revenue water ratio, because a water distribution block system is the most basic step in effectively managing water supply networks and systematic management of networks must be conducted through effective maintenance systems.

Key-words : water distribution block system, water distribution network analysis, management of water leakage, reducing valve, economic analysis

[ominous]

Always thanks, Melaszka. :-)