paul_h  +  587987 Sun, 16 Nov 08 03:08 AM Hi, Once again a question concerning past and present perfect tense. I didn't agree with my friends when we wrote a sentence about a web application. Shoult it be The web pages were translated into 5 different languages. or The web pages have been translated into 5 different languages. I don't even quite get the difference between those sentences. The one in past tense implies that the translation progress happened in the past and is over. The pages are available in many languages. The one in present perfect tense states that the process of translation happened at some point in the past, right? The point is unspecified. Where's the difference in meaning? Paul paul_h Joined on Sun, May 25 2008 New Member 26 Difference Between, Tenses, Present Perfect, Past Tenses, Translation

	Avangi  +  587990 Sun, 16 Nov 08 03:18 AM This probably doesn't answer your question. I don't think there's any difference in meaning.  But I feel the present perfect is the clear choice for your application.  You're in the process (present) of describing what you've [recently] done.  The implication (to me) of the present perfect is that the translating has been [recently] done for the purposes of your application. If you use simple past, it sounds like you might have found some old translations somewhere and resurrected them. While the translations are a done deal in either case, at the time of your writing, there's a good chance that you're now releasing some news.  This sense would be lost with the simple past.   I guess I'm trying to suggest that the present perfect can bear a certain contextual relation to the present which the simple past cannot.   - A.  Avangi Joined on Mon, Nov 19 2007 Veteran Member 8,197 ". . . le plaisir delicieux et toujours nouveau d'une occupation inutile." - Henri de Regnier Simple Past, Present Perfect

	CalifJim  +  588038 Sun, 16 Nov 08 08:48 AM Are you mostly concerned with telling the story of the translation?  For example, was the translation a step in a larger process?   Use were translated. A was done.  (Then) B was done. (Then) C was done. ... Are you mostly concerned with the current availabiilty of the translations?   Use have been translated. paul_h “Where's the difference in meaning?” In the speaker's head.  If the speaker is telling the story, it's past.  If the speaker is calling attention to the fact that the events of the story happened, it's present perfect. CJ  CalifJim Joined on Mon, Aug 2 2004 California Veteran Member 22,447 "There are no facts, only interpretations" - Nietzsche Present Perfect, Translation

	CalifJim  +  588209 Sun, 16 Nov 08 07:18 PM paul_h “the thing bugging me most” It's a common complaint.  There are too many subcategories of usage that seem to contradict one another.  It takes a while to catch on to all the different ways the two tenses are used.  CJ  CalifJim Tenses