Gilles
Is this grammatically correct ? Hey ! :) I had to translate an excerpt from a article from French to English. "What is our real perception of China ? In other words, why are we afraid of this country ? (…) Beijing is above all the perfect example of gigantism : demographically, geographically, economically, militarily, “Middle Kingdom” paralyze us, discourage us. Undoubtedly because we persist in thinking that size determines success. Quantitative obsess us, at the cost of qualitative." Is this grammatically correct ? Original text : "Que dit vraiment notre perception de la Chine ? Ou pour le dire autrement, pourquoi en avons-nous peur ? (...) Pékin est d’abord l’illustration du gigantisme : démographiquement, géographiquement, économiquement, militairement, « l’empire du Milieu » nous paralyse, il nous décourage a priori. Sans doute parce que nous persistons à croire que la taille conditionne le succès. Le quantitatif nous obsède, au détriment du qualitatif." Thanks/Merci ! :)
Mar 1, 2015 7:25 PM
Answers · 3
3
Hi Gilles, That's an excellent effort. I have changed very little. We don't use a comparable term for "l'empire du Milieu". "Cathay" seems the closest parallel but you may want to change this if you're not sure of its derivation. Look up the French Wikipedia article on the meaning of "l'empire du Milieu" - one of the references links to an article which explains it. Beware also of the "comma splice"! What is our real perception of China ? In other words, why are we afraid of this country ? (…) Beijing is above all the perfect example of gigantism : demographically, geographically, economically, militarily. “Cathay” paralyzes us and discourages us, undoubtedly because we persist in thinking that size determines success. The "quantitative" obsesses us, at the cost of the "qualitative".
March 1, 2015
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