Major contributions in the field of microbiology… Great commitment to the field of science... When the abstract of your paper is limited to a specific word count and you’ve kept the Dutch just inside, it can be annoying to discover it’s gone up by 5% in the English version.
The Dutch phrases “op (het) gebied van” and “op (het) vlak van” often add absolutely nothing in terms of the semantics.
- in the field of => zap it: in is enough
- to the field of => zap it: to is enough
Lots of languages have similar phrases, so non-natives with various mother tongues may all do this. An example of Eurospeak.
Prevalence: high. People seem to want every word of the source – whether in their heads or a translation task – to appear in the target. Even when it’s just filler.
Frequency: high. Often multiple times in the same text.
Native: sometimes. In translations… particularly if it’s the kind of client who’s going to insist you’ve left something out.
Advanced Dunglish 