Translation of "duty cycle" into... - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: android
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: April 18, 2016, 12:54:35 pm
content: I'm writing an Android app that I'm translating via Google Translate from English into some other languages but am having trouble with German (among others, since I only speak Australian).The German translation of "duty cycle" (in the EE context) from Google Translate is: AuslastungsgradBut, when translated back to English, it is: capacity utilization...which doesn't look quite right to me. I suspect in German there is a very specific word for "the percentage of one period in which a signal is active".Is there a better translation?Also, if there are any native (or knowlegeable) speakers of the following languages who could kindly translate "duty cycle" for me, that would be très bon...stretching my knowledge of French there:Spanish, French, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Dutch, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, and Simplified Chinese.If you think I should have a crack at other languages then feel free to throw in a translation

author: Wytnucls
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 18, 2016, 01:00:56 pm
content: According to the Voltcraft manual: 'Tastgrad'.'Rapport cyclique' in French.

author: bktemp
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 18, 2016, 01:17:25 pm
content: "Tastverhältnis" is probably the more common term for the duty cycle of a square wave than "Tastgrad", but I have seen both terms in manuals.

author: Augustus
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: April 18, 2016, 01:19:59 pm
content: To be honest, I never talked to fellow Germans who called it "Tastgrad" in a conversation, you will find it in books, yes, but "Tastverhältnis" is way more common.

author: brabus
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 18, 2016, 02:18:34 pm
content: In Italian we usually just call it "duty cycle" if referred to a DC-DC converter.If referred to a machine duty-cycle in the 24 hours, it's "ciclo di lavoro".Someone may suggest literal translations, but I'd rather keep it as it is: duty cycle. Everyone will understand it.If you want you can send me the complete list of what you need to translate to Italian, I'd be happy to do that!

author: Augustus
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: April 18, 2016, 02:29:02 pm
content: Quote from: brabus on April 18, 2016, 02:18:34 pmIn German (lets say the duty cycle of a welding transformer) that would be "Einschaltdauer".

author: Zbig
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 18, 2016, 03:34:14 pm
content: In Polish, that's "Wspó?czynnik wype?nienia". That translates loosely to "fill ratio" so the meaning is a bit similar to German, I guess.EDIT:Turns out the forum software doesn't support UTF-8 properly. The "?" character's UTF-8 code is &#322; It seems there's some misconfiguration at the database level as the post preview works just fine - it gets messed up only after the post has actually been submitted.

author: German_EE
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 18, 2016, 07:20:28 pm
content: Try the old term for this, mark-space ratio.

author: Jeroen3
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 18, 2016, 07:24:56 pm
content: Have you tried the German Wikipedia?https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/PulsweitenmodulationWhere it seems like tastgrad is correct:https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/TastgradI didn't even know it was called "Arbeidscyclus' in DutchMakes sense though, Arbeid = work, cycles = cycle.

author: AlxDroidDev
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 18, 2016, 07:26:10 pm
content: In Brazilian Portuguese, it is "razão cíclica" or also "ciclo de trabalho" (less common). Many people however just use duty cycle.

author: android
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: April 19, 2016, 12:51:20 pm
content: Thank you all for your help...I'll make the necessary updates with confidence.@brabus I may yet take you up on your kind offer...stay tuned

author: AlxDroidDev
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 20, 2016, 02:44:01 pm
content: Quote from: brabus on April 18, 2016, 02:18:34 pmSame here, if you need help with Brazilian Portuguese (pt-br). I'll be glad to help.

author: JacobPilsen
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: April 20, 2016, 03:43:11 pm
content: In Czech, that's "st?ída" (strida with hook over r, and long i), it is related to "be substitued" or "alternating".In real, this word doesn't mean "breadcrumbs" in czech ("breadcrumbs" is "st?ídka").Quote from: Augustus on April 18, 2016, 01:19:59 pmLooks strange, because "Tastverhältnis" looks much complicated word than "Tastgrad".

author: fubar.gr
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: April 20, 2016, 05:53:13 pm
content: I don't think I've ever seen a translation of "duty cycle" in Greek. We just use the english term.

author: pelule
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 20, 2016, 06:17:41 pm
content: As many english technical frames have become quite common in use in Germany, "duty cycle" is acceptable in German also out of my view.

author: vk6zgo
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 21, 2016, 06:30:41 am
content: Quote from: German_EE on April 18, 2016, 07:20:28 pmSome modern EEs look a bit "fish-eyed" if you use that term!

author: Ice-Tea
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 21, 2016, 07:22:54 am
content: If it's not too much work I can help you with Dutch. My French is pretty decent too, so if you can't find a native speaker...

author: jeroen74
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 21, 2016, 10:39:53 am
content: Quote from: Jeroen3 on April 18, 2016, 07:24:56 pmSame hereMy initial thought was 'pulsbreedte-verhouding'.

author: gamalot
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 22, 2016, 01:52:49 pm
content: Google Translate gives the right answer in Simplified Chinese

author: Wytnucls
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 22, 2016, 02:11:11 pm
content: I don't know why you feel obliged to provide several languages for an electronics app. Any user worth his salt will be familiar with the English terms already.

author: Kilrah
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: April 22, 2016, 02:26:55 pm
content: +1... at least if you want to provide translations make sure they're of high quality rather than Google translate, and offer a "force English" option.Once a translation exists regardless of how poor it is the system (app store, then app itself) will force it on you, and there's nothing worse than coming across app store descriptions and app UIs that are absolutely unreadable in my system language when I'd obviously be perfectly fine with English.