"Dependiendo de los límites utilizados"

Question

Is this translation correct?

"'Depending on the boundaries used, Tokyo can have a population of anywhere between 8 and 40 million people." Idid it like this: ? Dependiendo de los límites utilizados, Tokio puede tener una población, en cualquier lugar, de entre 8 a 40 millones de personas

thanks

Good attempt I gave you a vote :) - FELIZ77, Sep 22, 2010

Answer 1

It's mostly right, but "anywhere" wouldn't be carried over to the Spanish translation in that context, it's simply dropped. "En cualquier lugar" isn't used as a figure of speech in Spanish, it is used to talk always about actual places, not things like numbers. Also, "can have" wouldn't be translated as "puede tener" in that context, you would simply say "tiene", unless you are doubtful of the numbers you are giving. Finally, if you say "de entre 8 y 40" to describe a range of numbers, you have to use "y" instead of "a". It's when you say "de 8 a 40" that you have to use "a", but in this sentence "de entre.." looks better.

The whole sentence would look like:

"Dependiendo de los límites utilizados, Tokio tiene una población de entre 8 y 40 millones de personas".

Answer 2

I think that the idea is that there is a great statistical difference with different methods, so I suggest an Spanish version that reflects that concept.

Según los límites que se tracen, Tokio puede tener una población de 8 millones o una de 40 millones.

It does not mean that depending can´t be translated as dependiendo although I prefer avoiding gerunds when writing in Spanish.

anywhere between is a phrase that expresses possibility or probability, so it usually calls for a subjunctive form in Spanish.

I see your point, but when talking about a city of a developed country I don't think statistical dispersion is an issue here, but rather the definition of the limits; thus why I chose "tiene" instead - bill1111, Sep 22, 2010

I think you´re version is too literal and does not work right in Spanish. Anyway, what would you use when talking about a city of an underdeveloped country? - mediterrunio, Sep 22, 2010

What I meant is that the population of Tokyo must be well known, unlike other big cities like Mumbai, whose population is probably an educated guess, considering the millions of people who live there in slums. For that I'd use "debe tener" or "puede tener - bill1111, Sep 22, 2010

Ok, but I think the point here was that cities grow without planification, so estimations depend on where do they set the boundaries. - mediterrunio, Sep 23, 2010

but if you express probability you use ´debe de + infinite´. and apparently the population is not well known. they are trying to establish what to call Tokyo and then they claculate the population. - mediterrunio, Sep 23, 2010