Mar 29, 2017 12:23
7 yrs ago
French term
dont les derniers hectomètres
French to English
Marketing
Telecom(munications)
This is from a text relating to the reorganisation of a telecommunications company. The full sentence is as follows:
Il est important d’avoir une stratégie centrale dont les derniers hectomètres de négociation de prix, de plan de lancement réalisées au niveau des OpCos.
Any help on this one is much appreciated.
Il est important d’avoir une stratégie centrale dont les derniers hectomètres de négociation de prix, de plan de lancement réalisées au niveau des OpCos.
Any help on this one is much appreciated.
Proposed translations
(English)
4 +2 | the final stages of which | Tony M |
4 | including the final stages... | katsy |
Proposed translations
+2
5 hrs
Selected
the final stages of which
All credit is entirely due to Katsy for the 'final stages' part — but do note that the sentence structure as it stands rather precludes the use of 'including' here, and fits a lot easier with the use of 'of which' (which is, of course, the underlying meaning of 'dont').
The FR omits an auxiliary with the participle 'réalisées', but in EN you may well find you need to add one in.
The FR omits an auxiliary with the participle 'réalisées', but in EN you may well find you need to add one in.
Peer comment(s):
agree |
B D Finch
7 mins
|
Thanks, B! :-)
|
|
agree |
Nathalie Stewart
4 hrs
|
Thanks, Nathalie!
|
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer.
Comment: "I'd like to thank both Tony and Katsy for their help with this, and only wish I could allocate points to both of you."
11 mins
including the final stages...
... of price negotiation etc...
(literally the last few hundred yards)
(literally the last few hundred yards)
Discussion
It's also perhaps worth bearing in mind that when the sense actually requires 'including', FR has the option of using 'y compris' — hence when something else is used instead, I always like to reflect on why that might be?
I hope my explanation makes sense, and adequately addresses the points you raised?
:-)
First of all, it is indeed easy to lose sight of the fact that the underlying meaning of 'dont' is always 'of which', even though of course in most everyday circumstances that can be more readily rendered as 'including', etc. — but sometimes in EN, the syntax requires a different part of speech; consider, "250 personnes, dont la moitié femmes" > "half of whom are women". I just felt that in the particular situation here, this made it easier to fit into the sentence without having to restructure it too much — and also, better conveys the notion: 'the final stages of something' to me makes more sense than 'including the final stages'.
As for the verb issue, which I raised as you may have noticed in my suggestion below: I have frequently observed this construction in FR, where a past participle is used without an accompanying auxiliary, as we would expect in EN.
So my reading is: 'the final stages of which ... [are] carried out by/in/at/etc. OpCops' — in EN, we could use a similar construction without an auxiliary by using 'with' instead: 'with the final stages... carried out by/in/at/etc. OpCops'.
I note also that there is "réalisées", and I don't understand, even on several careful readings, what "réalisées" qualifies. I would be grateful for all enlightenment. I put this in DB as I wouldn't have room to ask Tony directly in his answer box. TIA