Glossary entry (derived from question below)
English term or phrase:
he had closed his operations some time back
French translation:
qu\'il avait DÉJÀ cessé son activité à cette époque
Added to glossary by
Silvia Brandon-Pérez
May 27, 2010 02:58
13 yrs ago
English term
United States
Precise and on time; lawyer/writer.
Native in: English 
, Spanish
Works in: English to Spanish, Spanish to English, French to English, and 7 more.
some time back
English to French
Law/Patents
Law: Contract(s)
Vendor mentioned however that he had closed out his operations some time back.
Proposed translations
(French)
| 3 +3 | qu'il avait DÉJÀ cessé son activité à cette époque |
ALIAS trad
|
| 4 | il y a quelque temps |
Merline
|
| 1 +3 | quelque temps avant |
Tony M
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| 3 | il y a quelque temps de cela |
christelle.c
|
| 3 | antérieurement |
kashew
|
Proposed translations
+3
6 hrs
Selected
qu'il avait DÉJÀ cessé son activité à cette époque
n'est-ce pas l'idée première ? qu'il avait fermé boutique AVANT la période dont il est question ? Que son business était "déjà" fermé ?
Peer comment(s):
| agree |
Tony M
: That's very much the way I read it too; however, the use of 'some time back' in EN is rather odd, since to my mind, that is usually used only in the present, whereas in the past we'd more likely use 'before' or 'earlier' (cf. auparavant)
27 mins
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Hello there. I get your point, but perhaps the client's use of English is not as scrupulous as yours... :-)
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| agree |
mimi 254
37 mins
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Merci.
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| agree |
Françoise Vogel
: effectivement c'est tout aussi vague (un peu loin du texte certes)
2 hrs
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Merci tout de même...
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4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer.
Comment: "I really really liked the 'elegance' of this suggestion and used it in one of the two instances requiring translation... "
14 mins
il y a quelque temps
La phrase pourrait se lire ainsi : "Le fournisseur a toutefois mentionné qu'il avait mis fin à ses opérations il y a quelque temps."
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Note added at 14 minutes (2010-05-27 03:13:14 GMT)
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à ses opérations OU à ses activités commerciales
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Note added at 14 minutes (2010-05-27 03:13:14 GMT)
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à ses opérations OU à ses activités commerciales
3 hrs
christelle.c
Native in French
Works in field
Software localization specialist
Native in: French
Works in: English to French, Spanish to French, English to Spanish, and 1 more.
il y a quelque temps de cela
une variante
4 hrs
antérieurement
* source very (deliberately) vague.
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Note added at 4 heures (2010-05-27 07:16:19 GMT)
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par ex; : les périodes pendant lesquelles une pension d'invalidité accordée en vertu du présent livre ou en vertu de la législation antérieurement en vigueur ...
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Note added at 4 heures (2010-05-27 07:16:19 GMT)
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par ex; : les périodes pendant lesquelles une pension d'invalidité accordée en vertu du présent livre ou en vertu de la législation antérieurement en vigueur ...
+3
3 hrs
quelque temps avant
It seems to me that it is crucial here to know whether 'some time back' actually refers to the present time (in which case the solutions using 'il y a...' are of course more appropriate), or — as I suspect — refers to some earlier point in time, which was pre-dated by this closure. In the latter case, I'm not sure whether 'il y a...' still works OK, does it?
Perhaps Asker could clarify the sequence of events for us?
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Note added at 3 hrs (2010-05-27 06:22:17 GMT)
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My reason for wondering is the use of the pluperfect in EN: 'had closed out', which leaves us wondering about the sequence of tenses, since the 'mentioned' already places events in the past.
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Note added at 3 hrs (2010-05-27 06:34:39 GMT)
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Darn it, you have my sympathy, I hate jobs like that!
Might be worth trying to draw up a sort of 'timeline' to try and get things organized in your own mind; on a few occasions I've found that a really helpful exercise!
Bon courage !
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Note added at 4 hrs (2010-05-27 07:53:02 GMT)
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Right, « quelque temps auparavant », as peer commenters have so kindly said!
(I wish I'd stuck with what I'd originally thought!)
I think we're all agreed that here, 'some' means 'quite a significant', rather than merely 'an unspecified amount' (though without more context, the latter is feasible, but less likely, I feel).
Perhaps Asker could clarify the sequence of events for us?
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Note added at 3 hrs (2010-05-27 06:22:17 GMT)
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My reason for wondering is the use of the pluperfect in EN: 'had closed out', which leaves us wondering about the sequence of tenses, since the 'mentioned' already places events in the past.
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Note added at 3 hrs (2010-05-27 06:34:39 GMT)
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Darn it, you have my sympathy, I hate jobs like that!
Might be worth trying to draw up a sort of 'timeline' to try and get things organized in your own mind; on a few occasions I've found that a really helpful exercise!
Bon courage !
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Note added at 4 hrs (2010-05-27 07:53:02 GMT)
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Right, « quelque temps auparavant », as peer commenters have so kindly said!
(I wish I'd stuck with what I'd originally thought!)
I think we're all agreed that here, 'some' means 'quite a significant', rather than merely 'an unspecified amount' (though without more context, the latter is feasible, but less likely, I feel).
Note from asker:
| The file has so many errors I could not answer that... I have asked the client to explain, but so far, no explanations. Words (in particular, verbs) are missing, wrong tenses are used... I am just now making up a list of mistakes, to see if I can get some clarification... |
Peer comment(s):
| neutral |
Eric MARRET
: I am not sure if you're right or not, but, in any case, i'd rather use "quelque temps auparavant" or even simplier "auparavant"
58 mins
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Thanks, Eric! Thta's really odd, because 'auparavant' was what I put at first, and then I corrected myself! Should have gone with my instinct...
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| agree |
FX Fraipont (X)
: quelque temps auparavant, oui
1 hr
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Merci, F-X !
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| agree |
Imanol
: j'aurais également dit quelque temps auparavant
1 hr
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Merci, Imanol !
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| agree |
mtfadel
: quelque temps auparavant : pour bien marquer l'antériorité (la présence de "however" semble décharger le vendeur de qqc)
2 hrs
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Merci, mtf !
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Discussion