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Full text: SQLの集計機能については概要の紹介にとどめますが、SQLによるデータ集計機能はRDBMSの大きな魅力の1つです

My understanding: Our introductory overview of information about SQL aggregate functions is limited but the SQL data aggregation function is one of the major attractions of RDBMS.

My Issue: 概要の紹介にとどめますが. I believe that I have not translated this text correctly. Please help.

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    Why do you think it's wrong?
    – Ringil
    Dec 11, 2020 at 17:33
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    @Ringil 概要の紹介に留めます is different from 概要の紹介に留まっています. The correct translation should express the author's intention ("I will limit something"), not an objective fact ("something is limited").
    – naruto
    Dec 13, 2020 at 4:07
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    @naruto I agree it's wasn't quite right, but I think it's important for questions on this site to indicate what they think is wrong about their translation. All that's in this answer is that "I think I have not translated this text correctly" and I don't think that's really quite sufficient.
    – Ringil
    Dec 13, 2020 at 14:04
  • @Ringil Sorry to answer late. I believed it was wrong because I was not getting the nuance of the text right. On further search, I found that 概要の紹介にとどめますが" part of the question in Japanese is an idiomatic expression used to express the presenter's apology for giving a very brief explanation due to limited time (or other reasons).
    – Harpreet Singh Kapula
    Dec 14, 2020 at 7:29

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Xに留める is a transitive verb that means "to limit/keep something to X", but you've translated it as if it were intransitive 留まる ("to be limited", "to stay").

費用を10000円に留めてください。
Please limit the expense to 10,000 yen.

飲酒を最小限に留めるべきですよ。
You should keep alcohol to a minimum.

Thus the original sentence literally means "As for the SQL aggregate function, I will keep it to an introduction". A more natural translation would be something like this:

SQLの集計機能については概要の紹介にとどめますが、SQLによるデータ集計機能はRDBMSの大きな魅力の1つです。
I will not go into detail on the SQL aggregation function (for now), but it is one of the major attractions of RDBMS.

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  • Thank you for your help. I found that the Japanese text is a part of idiomatic expression. So, now my translation is like this " SQLの集計機能については概要の紹介にとどめますが、SQLによるデータ集計機能はRDBMSの大きな魅力の1つです" " Due to limited time left, we will only give you an overview of the SQL aggregation function, but the data aggregation function using SQL is one of the major attractions of RDBMS.
    – Harpreet Singh Kapula
    Dec 14, 2020 at 7:31
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    @HarpreetSinghKapula You should remove "due to limited time left". I don't think this is an idiom (there is no surprising or derivative meaning), and the sentence says nothing about time. Simply you need to understand how 留める works in Japanese.
    – naruto
    Dec 14, 2020 at 7:44

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