under föregående natt

Non-PRO Swedish Other General / Conversation / Greetings / Letters

I know what it means. What I want to know is whether a native speaker of Swedish would use it to refer to last night in a questionnaire:

"Följande frågor handlar om hur X påverkade din sömn under föregående natt."

"Hur många gånger vaknade du på grund av X under föregående natt?"

I'm doing the back translation, and this seems to me to be an error in usage, given the context.

Responses

4 +2

i går natt

m_a_a_

Change log

Apr 26, 2017 00:24: Anna Herbst changed "Level" from "PRO" to "Non-PRO"

Apr 26, 2017 00:28: Anna Herbst changed "Language pair" from "Swedish to English" to "Swedish"

Votes to reclassify question as PRO/non-PRO:

Non-PRO (3): Christopher Schröder, Daniel Löfström, Anna Herbst

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Discussion

Anna Herbst Apr 26, 2017: PS Den första exempelmeningen, "Följande frågor handlar om hur X påverkade din sömn under föregående natt", är helt korrekt. Även här skulle man dock kunna byta ut "under föregående natt" till "i går natt" för att förenkla språket, men det är en smaksak.
Anna Herbst Apr 26, 2017: I går natt eller föregående natt? Den direkta frågan, som det handlar om här, blir: "Hur många gånger vaknade du i går natt?". Om det hade rört sig om en indirekt fråga i imperfekt skulle formuleringen i stället kunnat bli t. ex.: "Hon undrade hur många gånger jag hade vaknat föregående natt/natten innan". Den här typen av fråga bör lämpligen ställas på svensk-svenska KudoZ eftersom det inte är en översättning du söker, utan en diskussion om svenskt språkbruk.
Charles Ek (asker) Apr 25, 2017: There are indeed a couple other oddities, not as glaring as this one perhaps.
Christopher Schröder Apr 25, 2017: This is a strange error. My experience of back-translations is that most errors are where the translator misunderstands the English or is unduly influenced by the English (a kind of reverse svengelska), both of which seem unlikely here, and that if there is one such error there tend to be quite a few. In other words, isn't the rest of the text stilted and unnatural too?
m_a_a_ Apr 25, 2017: "Natten innan" would hardly make any sense. It was a spontaneous thought that came to mind after reading Chris S' discussion entry, suggesting the possibility that the term might refer to some night other than "last ~". On second thought, however, that would only be plausible if the night in question could be considered an antecedent of some other event mentioned in the sentence: e.g. Vid intag av X, var god notera hur många gånger du vaknade natten innan (i.e. the night before) för att sedan kunna jämföra med natten därpå (or aomething like that). However, both examples provided by Charles speak of cause and effect ("påverkade", "på grund av") - the night in question being the effect, i.e. the succeeding event. So, "last night" does indeed most probably refer to "yesterday night", since no other point of reference apart from the very time of reading seems available. Hence, "i går natt", or the equally colloquial "natten till idag", as Deane suggested, seems like the way to go.
Charles Ek (asker) Apr 25, 2017: Thanks to all for your contributions. It has provided the independent ammunition I need. :-)
Deane Goltermann Apr 25, 2017: All of this leads... me to think your original hunch is correct... your Swe phrase 'seems' incorrect. The news and papers will say 'under natten till idag,' but never 'föregående natt'. My in-house consultant pretty much agreed with my statement that your phrase was highly unusual/overly formal. Which is what back-translating is all about, eh?
George Hopkins Apr 25, 2017: Right or wrong I would say 'under natten', but I'm not Swedish... Ie, during the night.
m_a_a_ Apr 25, 2017: Then I'd probably say "natten innan"...
Christopher Schröder Apr 25, 2017: Unless, of course, the previous night isn't actually last night
m_a_a_ Apr 25, 2017: i går natt (or "igår natt") I'd say that's by far the most colloquial equivalent of "last night".
Charles Ek (asker) Apr 25, 2017: "I'm doing the back translation" would be the part where I indicate I'm doing a back translation. ;-)
Deane Goltermann Apr 25, 2017: Sounds like you're doing a back translation!? Native Swe would (in my experience) almost never use ur phrasing. Except perhaps in some formal setting .... see https://sv.wiktionary.org/wiki/i_natt. This reference tells me 'during the previous night' -- which is also a little tortured except for, say, a medical questionnaire. I guess one needs to read through the whole thing :D... but yeah, pretty formal language...