Estonian to Khmer: valmis lahkuma does not say that someone has already left
Ready to leave and finished with leaving are different states
Eesti Keele Instituut records valmis both for something completed and for someone prepared to perform an activity. Its example Olime valmis lahkuma describes being ready to leave. It does not, solely through valmis, report that the people actually departed. A Khmer translation must preserve that distinction.
For an original departure arrangement, a group may have packed its bags and be waiting beside the door while its driver is still outside. Reporting that the group has already left would send a coordinator looking in the wrong place. Readiness concerns preparation; departure concerns the later movement.
The dictionary also illustrates things prepared for future use. Equipment can be ready for a task without that task having begun. Keep the equipment’s state separate from the operator’s action, especially when a short message combines both under a general statement that everything is ready.
A Khmer particle must be read with its predicate
Northern Illinois University’s Khmer grammar note discusses ហើយ as a particle often translated with already. Its examples include being married and being engaged, rather than only completed physical actions. The whole predicate identifies what state or development is being reported. The particle cannot independently tell a reader that an unstated departure occurred.
This matters when translating the Estonian readiness statement. A target expression about being ready now and an expression about having departed concern different predicates. Adding a familiar completion-related particle to the wrong action would not fix the meaning. Establish whether the source reports preparation, departure or arrival before evaluating the target.
The NIU note also gives a context in which the particle has an emphatic or confirmatory interpretation. That analysis is scoped to its illustrated text. It is another reason not to treat every occurrence as an instruction to insert the Estonian equivalent of finished, regardless of what the rest of the sentence says.
A deadline can describe future completion
The EKI entry illustrates Pildid on homseks valmis, about pictures being ready by tomorrow. That time expression places the expected readiness at a future deadline. A Khmer message announcing that the pictures are already finished now would change the production status, even if it retained a word associated with completion.
For a practical photography order, the images could be selected today, edited tonight and ready for collection tomorrow. Finishing the selection does not establish that editing is finished or that collection has happened. Preserve the stage named in the Estonian instead of turning a partly completed sequence into one completed event.
Before sending the Khmer result, identify what is ready, what remains to be done and whether the readiness applies now or by a stated deadline. A person prepared to leave, equipment prepared for use and pictures expected tomorrow are all compatible with different unfinished actions. The translation should retain those boundaries rather than allow one general ready-or-already association to invent an event that the source never reports.
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