translating 測定項目

[Kenny同志]

The 测定項目 includes pH value, ash content, and impurity content, blah, blah, blah.

 

What's its equivalent word/phrase in English? I've seen it translated as "testing items" a few times but Google seems to suggest it's wrong.

 

Thanks in advance for your help.

 

 

 

 

[陳德聰]

I don't think we have a more specific word than "measurements" that can encompass all the different types.

 

pH, salinity, conductivity etc. to me are a set of "measurements" rather than "items".

[Kenny同志]

I see. Thank you very much 陳德聰!

[roddy]

I might just go for 'tests'. 

[YuehanHao]

It may not be quite literal, but in English, I would have called the set of items in this case [pH value, ash content, and impurity content] perhaps "measured parameters."

Not to sound critical of the helpful suggestions above (which come from others with knowledge superior to mine, and so maybe I am answering the wrong question -- sorry if so), but I would consider the measurements themselves as the quantitative values corresponding to each parameter, and the tests as the physical processes used to generate these measurements or numbers.

Depending on the technical field, you could also see more-jargony terms like "assayed" in place of "measured" and so forth.

[Kenny同志]

Thanks 約翰好. I tend to agree with you.

 

What do you say, 陳德聰 and Roddy?

[陳德聰]

I use "parameter" in linguistics, which only allows a binary definition so it doesn't readily come to mind for this meaning, and the common definition of parameter does not really apply here, but there may be specific precedence for this usage in physical sciences that I am not aware of. The type of usage that Yuehan mentions in #5 seems to be like that of computer programming with parameter vs. argument distinction, but I don't know if this usage really extends beyond programming.

 

But I am intrigued now. I originally wanted to say "measures", but felt that it was wrong and changed it to "measurements".

 

This came from my understanding of "pH" as a measure(ment?) of acidity/basicity of a solution and "ash content/ash count" as a measure(ment?) of mineral content. If anything, I would even find "property" to be more desirable than "parameter" in distinguishing between the concept and the number value. But I don't think that pH is property. pH is a scale used to measure a property (acidity or basicity), is it not? Similarly, ash count is a scale/metric used to measure something. It's not the target of the measurement that is being referred to when we say "pH" or "ash count", but the measurement itself...

 

If I'm not completely mistaken, 測定項目 refers to the scale/metric/measure rather than the specific number values obtained after applying tests.

 

After trying to write that using different words to refer to them, I think I would favour measure over measurement, but there is some evidence that would say the two are borderline interchangeable.

[Kenny同志]

http://jsm.gig.eu/sites/default/files/articles/en/jsm_140306_full_text.pdf

 

The author of the paper used 'parameter' in the table, but since he is Polish, I had my doubts.

[anonymoose]

I think generally speaking, 项目 can be translated as "item". It should be noted, however, that often the use of "item" in this way is more common in scientific and technical areas, and may sound odd in everyday language. For example, I was just reading a scientific paper which contained this sentence:
 

To measure trait aggression, participants responded to the short version of the Buss and Perry aggression questionnaire, which comprises 12 items.

 

In everyday language, I think it would be more normal to refer to a question in a questionnaire as a "question" rather than as an "item".

 

As for "测定项目", the problem boils down to how to translate 测定. The dictionary gives "measurement", and I feel that "measurement items" would be more natural than "testing items".

 

So I think "measurement items" would be an acceptable translation, but it would have to be in an appropriate context (for example a scientific report) if it is not to sound weird.

[Tiana]

The author of the paper used 'parameter' in the table, but since he is Polish, I had my doubts.

 

I would give the author more credit on this.

- He's an expert in the subject and he knows the context for the use of the term more than any of us.

- His references have many articles on the subject in English, so he must be very familiar with the use of the term in English.

[陳德聰]

Ditto to #10.

[Kenny同志]

Anonymoose, Tiana, and 陳德聰, 非常謝謝你們. 

 

I think I will go for 'measured parameters'. : )