Glossary entry (derived from question below)
Finnish term or phrase:
viranomaistoimihenkilö
English translation:
public official
Added to glossary by
Owen Witesman
Sep 23, 2009 17:57
14 yrs ago
1 viewer *
Finnish term
viranomaistoimihenkilö
Finnish to English
Law/Patents
Forestry / Wood / Timber
This appears to be an administrator subordinate to a director (johtaja) in a government agency, but superior to a run-of-the-mill civil servant.
"viranomaispäällikkö" is also used synonymously.
You can look at Finlex 93/1996 § 8 and § 11 for more context.
There is a previous (unofficial) translation of that document that uses "public authority official", but that doesn't really float my boat.
"viranomaispäällikkö" is also used synonymously.
You can look at Finlex 93/1996 § 8 and § 11 for more context.
There is a previous (unofficial) translation of that document that uses "public authority official", but that doesn't really float my boat.
Proposed translations
(English)
5 | person attending to public-authority duties in a semi-governmental organisation | Erkki Pekkinen |
4 +1 | public authority official | Alfa Trans (X) |
Proposed translations
22 mins
Selected
person attending to public-authority duties in a semi-governmental organisation
Finland has both governmental and semi-governmental forestry organisations, and one of these semi-governmental organisations (regional unit being metsäkeskus, pl. metsäkeskukset) have the duty of seeing to it that forest owners adhere to the forestry legislation...
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Note added at 24 mins (2009-09-23 18:22:21 GMT)
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Actually, "public authority official", is very good even if it doesn't really float your boat.
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Note added at 24 mins (2009-09-23 18:22:21 GMT)
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Actually, "public authority official", is very good even if it doesn't really float your boat.
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer.
+1
42 mins
public authority official
that's used in the translation of the Decree .
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Note added at 12 hrs (2009-09-24 06:31:18 GMT)
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When we say public authority (julkinen valta, viranomainen), we mostly mean government departments or the police.
As for an official, we have all kinds of officials, for example a municipal official = kunnallinen viranhaltija, a trade-union official = ammattiyhdistysvirkailija, etc.
In this context, official (toimihenkilö) refers to someone who holds an office for a government department.
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Note added at 12 hrs (2009-09-24 06:31:18 GMT)
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When we say public authority (julkinen valta, viranomainen), we mostly mean government departments or the police.
As for an official, we have all kinds of officials, for example a municipal official = kunnallinen viranhaltija, a trade-union official = ammattiyhdistysvirkailija, etc.
In this context, official (toimihenkilö) refers to someone who holds an office for a government department.
Note from asker:
This means "official of a public authority" not "an official who exercises public authority". Just "public official" is sufficient to express that. |
Peer comment(s):
agree |
Timo Lehtilä
: I think the translation is good and largely in use in many countries. The explanation, though, isn't correct, 'public authority official' refers to a person who executes tasks of public authority notwithstanding the organization he is working in.
13 hrs
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Discussion
I must admit, however, when speaking English to calling Finnish mustard "sinappi" and pronouncing the "u" in "sauna" if I'm talking about a sauna with pine or spruce walls rather than the execrable red cedar you find here in the States...they are clearly different products! And porkkanalaatikko is clearly not a casserole, so we call it "carrot box".
This is why a Google search of "public authority official" returns so few results that are actually applicable here.
For this doc, I left "public authority official" because throughout the doc references were made to "public authority". However even the orig. Finnish included an explanation in parens since the usage
For all we know, the document you're proofreading may be part of a larger body of documents in which "public authority official" is also used, so it would be important to be consistent.
So again: I'd ask the client if they have any preferences regarding the English versions of their job titles. If they do, use them; if not, then you can come up with your own version.
The term ‘public authority official’ is quite largely used in many countries. Quite obviously, language isn’t a thing that anybody has an authority over, even more so over English. There are many English speaking countries at the moment and every one is creating their own official and authorized terms. And when English is more and more a world language, also non-English-speaking countries start creating their own official and authorized English terms. Sorry, Englishmen, Americans, Indians, Australians, that’s the general rule of this world, nobody e
But otherwise, how about "senior public liaison officer"?