English Experts

[donay mendonça]

Guys,

Could someone help me out when I should use Cater ou Attend?

Actually I ask it because today I said to a foreigner customer I attend other countries and she told me as me they cater many countries as well. So I got that cater has similar means, but I'm kinda confused when use each one.

Thanks in advanced.

[donay mendonça]

Imee,

Existem muitas possibilidades. Você poderia nos dizer em que contexto( equivalente em português) gostaria de usar" cater" ou "attend"?

[Flavia.lm]

imee4fun,

O que vc quis dizer com "attend other countries"?

[imee4fun]

Hello Donay, I'd like to say that I provide services to other countries, ou em português, eu atendo o Brazil e outros países e ela disse que a equipe dela também atende outros países, mas ela usou a palavra Cater. Provavelmente eu errei ao usar esta palavra, então eu poderia dizer I cater other countries?

hugs!

[imee4fun]

Olá Flávia,
Desculé só vi sua msg agora, mas é exatamente o que disse ao Donay acima.

Thanks in advanced.

[donay mendonça]

Imee,

"Atende" em que contexto? Médico, por exemplo?

[imee4fun]

Olá Donay, Atendo eles fornecendo serviços de informática.

[donay mendonça]

Neste caso, eu não recomendo nem "cater", nem "attend". Minha sugestão é a de que se use "cater for".

Veja exemplos feitos por nativos, retirados do Google:

"- Dr Bartels identifies some difficulties in adjusting the overall EPA text to cater for countries that might opt for a “goods only” agreement..."


"- We normally develop our programs in System International (SI) units but we do cater for countries that have not yet converted."

[dlr]

It's kinda hard to explain how these two words are used. Most often, 'cater' refers to an entity that delivers food to events or groups. For example:
"ABCDE catered for my sister's wedding."
"ABCDE also caters larger events."

Then there is 'cater to' and 'attend to' which I think are interchangeable:
"When Anna was sick her children catered to her every need."
"When Anna was sick her children attended to her every need."

But the meaning of 'attend' diverges from cater in other contexts:
"Bill attended the weekly meetings at Enron." (Bill was present at the meetings, or paid attention to the meetings)


Maybe you should say that you "do business with other countries"? Otherwise I think it's ok to say that you "cater to/attend to customers in other countries".

[imee4fun]

Hello Donay and DLR,

I'm so grateful for your answers, I'm sure it helped me out a lot.