AMONG OTHER THINGS

The phrase “między innymi” (m.in.), or in English “among other things”, appears often enough in Polish and in English, more often in Polish. The way it often appears, however, leads to ambiguity. Consider the following sentence:

“Pracował w diecezji m.in. jako sekretarz biskupa”.

Literally, word by word: “He worked in the diocese, among other things, as secretary of the bishop.” Where does “among other things” fit. “He worked, and did other things…”, “in the diocese, and elsewhere”, “as secretary, and in other positions”, “for the bishop, and for others” — perhaps all of the above. It seems that this means that he worked in the diocese, and did several jobs, including that of secretary to the bishop. However, here the translator is introducing more precision than exists in the original text.

“Among other things” and “między innymi” are much overused. When the translator can discern exactly what it refers to in a sentence, it is better to use the word “including”. For example, “Pisał m.in. tych prac:” is better this way: “He wrote many works, including the following:”. Otherwise, “m.in.” is providing non-information, e.g., he wrote, he slept, he ate, and other things.

Or this example: “Wydano także m.in.: …”. The literal translation: “Among other things, [the following] were also published”. This is better translated as “The following works are also among those that were published”, or “Also, other works were published, including the following: …”