Jan 10, 2013 09:18
11 yrs ago
1 viewer *
French term

Voilà pourquoi les politiques en viennent à s’affubler du qualificatif

French to English Bus/Financial General / Conversation / Greetings / Letters
Hi guys,

I come in desperate need of a suitable translation of the following sentence:

"Voilà pourquoi les politiques en viennent à s’affubler du qualificatif – hélas pour eux fort réaliste – de « normal » !"

To provide more context, it is from a book on economics and the language is quite elaborate, technical and literary all it once. The sentence before it is:

"Le résultat consiste aujourd’hui en une ruine où le politique ne peut pratiquement plus rien car il a été dépouillé de quasiment tous ses leviers."

So far the best I can come up with is:

"And this is why politicians are being saddled with..."

I can't figure a way to finish the rest of the sentence. Any ideas on a suitable translation for the entire sentence?

Thanks!
Change log

Jan 10, 2013 11:25: writeaway changed "Field" from "Art/Literary" to "Bus/Financial" , "Field (specific)" from "Economics" to "General / Conversation / Greetings / Letters"

Discussion

Eoghan McMonagle (asker) Jan 14, 2013:
@cc in nyc You're right. I'll keep it in mind in the future. :)
cc in nyc Jan 11, 2013:
@ Eoghan Have pity on the Proz Glossary! A thought for next time... try to distill the thread title to the term in question, with some thought ahead towards the glossary entry. Though I could be wrong, I suspect that you didn't need help with "volià pourquoi" or "les politiques." So maybe the thread title might have been either "en venir à" or "s’affubler du qualificatif"? ;-)

Proposed translations

+6
30 mins
Selected

which explains why politicians end up labelling themselves "normal"

This is clearly a reference to the current French President who has chosen to give himself the monicker "Mr. Normal"

Which explains why politicians today (see fit to) dub themselves "normal"

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Note added at 31 mins (2013-01-10 09:49:17 GMT)
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PS - I can think of loads of ways of translating this but you will need to find the way that tallies best with the rest of the translation and "your" style
Peer comment(s):

agree Sandra Petch : Makes the important distinction (vs. Eoghan's suggested translation) that politicans are choosing to label THEMSELVES as normal.
36 mins
agree GILLES MEUNIER
2 hrs
agree katsy
3 hrs
agree Michael GREEN : And I agree with Sandra's point
1 day 1 hr
agree Cetacea
1 day 3 hrs
agree Wolf Draeger
1 day 3 hrs
Something went wrong...
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "This fits excellently into the translation. Thanks"
-3
15 hrs

This is why politicians call themseleves qualified. (are they!)

Imho
Peer comment(s):

disagree cc in nyc : no they don't; they call themselves "normal"
2 hrs
disagree Michael GREEN : You seem to have confused "qualificatif" and "qualifié(s)"
10 hrs
disagree Cetacea : "qualificatif" is not the same as "qualifié".
12 hrs
Something went wrong...
+1
1 hr

this is why politicians come to portraying themselves as 'normal'

My suggestion.

Please see following link;

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Note added at 1 hr (2013-01-10 11:06:59 GMT)
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or,

this is why politicians come to adopt an image of normality which, unfortunately for them, is all too realistic

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Note added at 1 day1 hr (2013-01-11 10:23:37 GMT)
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finally, I think "portray themselves" would be better than "portraying themseves"

Peer comment(s):

agree Yolanda Broad
7 hrs
thanks Yolanda
Something went wrong...
+1
1 day 4 hrs

Which is why today's emperors have chosen to wear "normal" clothes - which fit them all too well!

S'affubler means to wear ridiculous, silly or bizarre clothing, so here's a different take. Allusion to the emperor with no clothes highlights the vain pretentiousness of most politicians, who aren't much better with their clothes on either, lol :-)

Might not fit with the style and tone of your translation, of course.
Example sentence:

Which is why today's emperors have resorted to "normal" clothes - which fit them all too well!

Which is why today's emperors end up disguising themselves in "normal" clothes - that fit them all too well!

Note from asker:
I love this translation. I am going to suggest it to the author and see what he thinks. I will get back to you on the response!
Peer comment(s):

agree Yolanda Broad : Clever!
1 day 15 hrs
Thanks Yolanda :)
Something went wrong...
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