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Article Hi, there Could you correct this little text for me? It is a translation from a Portuguese article about the oil spill on the Brazilian coast. It is just a part of the article, and not the whole thing. Could you tell me my grammatical mistakes? Crying over spilled oil I've walked the Brazilian Northeast beaches for three weeks now and I still can not come to a conclusion about this disaster. It has been relatively easy to follow southwards the wake left by this oil slick and observe its effects on sand and sea creatures. However, backtracking all the way to the slick's origin has been highly complicated. American satelites were used for that but found no trace. The oil slick seems to trick satelites. Based on photos made available by Europeans, researchers at the University of Bahia saw what could be a 22-square-kilometer new oil slick off the Bahia coast. This possibility was ruled out. Brazilian agency IBAMA flew over the region and could not spot it. It suggested that the researchers had been mistaken, as there were some clouds over the place that hindered visibility. The technique used to measure the slick is based on water rugosity/roughness. The supposedly problematic region was smooth and even. The oil was thought to hava spread all over the surface. By claiming not to have been able to track the slick, Americans indirectly confirm the idea that oil, heavier than water, sinks and flows along a lower level. Please, guys. Thank you!!!!

Corrections · 8

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"It has been relatively easy to follow southwards the wake left by this oil slick and observe its effects on sand and sea creatures."

This sentence is fine grammatically but maybe a bit clunky, you should have the directional adverb 'southwards' after the object. e.g. "follow the wake southwards".

Also, when you say "sand and sea creatures" I'm not sure if you're trying to say "sand creatures and sea creatures", or if you're really interested in how the oil is effecting the sand itself. At any rate, we don't really say 'sand creatures' in English, so if that is what you're trying to say, you should find a different way to say it.

I'd write this:

"It has been relatively easy to follow the oil slick's wake southwards and observe its effect on the environment and wildlife."

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"American *satellites* were used for that but found no trace. The oil slick seems to trick *satellites*."

Be careful, satellite not "satelite" in English! Also, no trace of what? "found no trace *of it*"!

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"Based on photos made available by Europeans, researchers at the University of Bahia saw what could be a 22-square-kilometer new oil slick off the Bahia coast. This possibility was ruled out."

Change the order of ‘new’ and ’22-square-kilometer’. Adjectives have a natural order, and normally size adjectives come before adjectives about the quality of it. So, it should be “new 22-square-kilometer oil slick”.

Also, these two sentences are related. One common problem people have when they translate is they miss out on all the small words that link sentences together. In this case, I would write:

“However, this possibility was ruled out.”

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“The oil was thought to *have* spread all over the surface.”

Spelling!
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This is a very good translation overall though. Let me know if you don't understand my feedback! Also, I would say "the Americans" not "Americans" in the last sentence :). It sounds like you are say everyone in America, when you're just talking about a small group of American researchers.
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Oops, I didn't see the 'write a correction' button, and wrote my correction as a comment ! :S
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Please...
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Could you help me? Please...

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