Jan 18, 2006 11:08
18 yrs ago
French term

ouvertures

French to English Bus/Financial IT (Information Technology)
Once again from an IT solutions case study and another quote from the head of IT:

“Dans notre métier, il est vital de travailler sur un système d’information évolutif où les ouvertures comme les retours en arrière sont possibles.”

This is a stand-alone quotation, and I am unsure about 'ouvertures' and how it relates to 'retours en arriere'.

Discussion

Steve Yates (asker) Jan 18, 2006:
Thanks for the suggestions so far. Do you think 'retours en arriere' is simply the opposite here, or is it more like 'backward compatibility'?

Proposed translations

+1
2 hrs
Selected

new openings/options/possibilities

My first point is that if, for once, an IT director has NOT lapsed into impenetrable jargon and just used an 'ordinary word', the least we can do is translate what he says :-)

Second, I confess I immediately understood "tout comme" rather than "comme par exemple", this is backed up by what "retours en arrière" means, which is basically "regression" (that bit IS jargon! - it means reverting to a previous situation, often in a context of backing out an upgrade which has proved to be defective in some way, but used its more general sense here).

"évolutif" is, of course, usually translated as "scalable", quite rightly, but let us not forget than both terms do not necessarily mean bigger and better, but merely "different from before", which includes the possibility of being smaller, providing less, not more, functionality if that is the requirement.

All of which means that the head of IT said:
"... a scalable information system where both new openings/options and (indeed) regression are possible/possibilities".
Peer comment(s):

agree Dr Sue Levy (X) : sounds good to me :-)
2 hrs
Something went wrong...
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "Thanks for all contributions. Charlie clinched it with the explanation about 'retours...', although I actually opted for 'upgrades' in the end."
+4
7 mins

upscaling

one suggestion - extending the system to incorporate new features / requirements / technologies etc.
Peer comment(s):

agree Sylvia Smith
9 mins
thanks!
agree Linda Young (X)
15 mins
thanks!
agree Romanian Translator (X)
18 mins
thanks!
agree Miranda Joubioux (X)
37 mins
thanks!
neutral Charlie Bavington : I tend to agree with the meaning (with reservations since upscaling simply = "bigger", IMO), but have doubts about the register - this person has not used jargon (unusually one might think, for a head of IT !), and you have.
2 hrs
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+1
10 mins

new strategies

On first reading it seems to mean "ouvertures comme PAR EXEMPLE les retours en arrière". But my second impression is that the "comme" means "as well as" here, "tout comme" in other words. It is ambiguous however.
Peer comment(s):

neutral Philippe Etienne : Interesting point. I opted for as well as on first reading, but your alternative meaning sounds just as correct.
8 mins
Hi Philippe. I think this is a good example of how first impressions are different for native and non-native speakers :-)
agree Charlie Bavington : Certainly the right tone & meaning. Several minutes after posting my answer, I'm now wondering whether your "par ex." interpretation might be right too.... :-)
3 hrs
Something went wrong...
1 hr

opportunities

Another possibility, if "comme" is read as "such as"...
Something went wrong...
+1
6 mins

upgrading/downgrading

An idea

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 7 mins (2006-01-18 11:15:43 GMT)
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évolutif: scalable

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 4 hrs 11 mins (2006-01-18 15:19:24 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Even though I agree with Charlie that the sentence is plain FR, I just can't resist submitting an even more Jargonese option: rollback for "retour en arrière"
Peer comment(s):

agree Kimberly De Haan
3 mins
neutral Charlie Bavington : As with Susan, while the idea might be right, I'm not sure the register is....// and yup, rollback works for me :-)
3 hrs
Maybe straight English (I'm no expert) would do, provided that it remains meaningful also for the odd nerd
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