Glossary entry

English term or phrase:

threatened the expansion of

French translation:

risquait d\'encourager une expansion de

Added to glossary by Stephanie Sullivan
Apr 6, 2017 17:30
7 yrs ago
English term

threatened the expansion of

English to French Other Government / Politics water resources
There are five main reasons for the countries’ low level of cooperation: First, cooperation with Bashir-al-Turabi **threatened the expansion of Islamic extremist ideology into Egypt because of his support for the Muslim Brotherhood. Second, Sudan’s decision to give sanctuary to Umar Abd al-Rahman, a leader of the banned Islamic Jihad organization, was one of the core factors for the deterioration of Egypt’s relations with Sudan. Third, Sudan’s President Bashir was building some strong ties with the Iranian leaders, who were considered to be a threat to Egypt. Fourth, Sudan was very close to Libya’s leaders, who were not on good terms with Egypt.

Discussion

Marion Feildel (X) Apr 8, 2017:
@ B D Finch Thank you for all your enlightening explanations and references! By the way, I have tried to improve my translation and propose now: "a fait peser la menace d'une expansion de..".
B D Finch Apr 7, 2017:
The meaning of "threatened" in this text Some examples to support my reading of this construction:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_blackmail
Nuclear blackmail is a form of nuclear strategy in which an aggressor uses the threat of use of ... Ali Magoudi, a psychoanalyst of French president François Mitterrand, claimed that Margaret Thatcher threatened nuclear war against Argentina ...

www.telegraph.co.uk › News › World News › Asia › North Korea
29 Jan 2014 - North Korea is threatening nuclear war in the run up to scheduled, soon-to-start, joint military maneuvers between the US and South Korea.

https://books.google.co.uk/books?isbn=1575061007
James D. G. Dunn, ‎Scot McKnight - 2005
Thus we conclude that Jesus publicly predicted or threatened the destruction of the temple ...

https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=H0VRAAAAcAAJ
Abraham Rees - 1819
Thus, God absolutely threatened the destruction of Nineveh, and his peevish prophet understood the threatening to be absolute,

https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2017/01/07/lepe-j07.html7 Jan 2017 - “NATO was created when the Warsaw Pact threatened the expansion of communism from the Soviet Union, ...

B D Finch Apr 7, 2017:
What "threatened" means in this text I agree that the construction can be read in two, diametrically opposite ways and is, therefore, unfortunate. However, I am absolutely sure that, in this text, "cooperation with X threatened the expansion of Y" means "cooperation with X threatened to bring about the expansion of Y". It does not mean that Y was expanding and cooperation with X threatened to stop that expansion.

" ... main reasons for the countries’ low level of cooperation: First, cooperation with [al-Bashir and al-Turabi OR al-Turabi]? threatened the expansion of Islamic extremist ideology into Egypt because of his support for the Muslim Brotherhood".

Analysing that statement:
a) The "he" who supported the Muslim Brotherhood was al-Turabi (indeed, he was a leading member).

b) It is certainly logical for the author to state that cooperation with al-Turabi would have encouraged "the expansion of Islamic extremist ideology into Egypt". It would be totally illogical for the author to state that such cooperation would have restricted or stopped such expansion. (The Muslim Brotherhood was founded in and has had its main influence and membership in Egypt. So, "expansion ... in Egypt", not "into".)
B D Finch Apr 7, 2017:
Context and correction Brigadier Umar Hassan Ahmad al-Bashir and the late Hassan Abdallah al-Turabi were two distinct people, who did collaborate in a coup and jointly governed Sudan in 1989. However, they might have objected to being melded into one "Bashir-al-Turabi", especially as they fell out during the '90s and al-Bashir had al-Turabi imprisoned several times.

Al-Bashir may have a lot to answer for, including possible war crimes in Darfur, corruption and money laundering, however the Islamist wasn't him, but al-Turabi. The latter's membership of the Muslim Brotherhood, in itself, hardly rates as extremism and the MB tends to be anti-corruption." In March 2009, al-Bashir became the first sitting president to be indicted by the International Criminal Court (ICC), for allegedly directing a campaign of mass killing, rape, and pillage against civilians in Darfur." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omar_al-Bashir#Tensions_with_H...

Arguably, one reason why successive Egyptian dictators have outlawed the Muslim Brotherhood is its opposition to their corruption, not to mention its opposition to mass killing, rape, and pillage, torture of prisoners etc.
Tony M Apr 6, 2017:
@ Peter It's hard to be sure without fuller context, but yes, in general, given the apparent sequence of tenses, I see the imperfect tense used here in EN very much in the sense of a 'past continuous' as in 'was threatening'; I don't believe that at the moment in time the writer is referring to, it had necessarily stopped doing so; a synonym in EN might have been 'was a threat to' (or even 'was posing a threat to'), which highlights the continuous nature of the action
Peter LEGUIE Apr 6, 2017:
Tony There is some confusion about the use of past tenses in French nowadays: using "freina" (passé simple) would sound clumsy or even possibly pedantic. This tense is gradually becoming archaic in this language (except in the Mediterranean area).
And if I back translate your answer, I would say "was threatening": is that what you mean?
You are however right about over-interpretation: I got carried away by my imagination and feelings! Sorry.
Tony M Apr 6, 2017:
@ Peter (2) As for 'a mis un frein', I'm far from happy with that either; for a start, the EN uses a simple past, which may not necessarily need to be converted into a perfect tense in FR.

Also, the source text only says 'threatened', not that it actually affected it.. again, there is a risk of over-interpretation. "This afternoon it threatened to rain, but in the end the sun came out."
Tony M Apr 6, 2017:
@ Peter Yes, I agree about 'diffusion'...

But 'expansion' can be just starting ('nipped in the bud') or ongoing — but 'essor' seems to me a judgement, implying a certain quality of 'expansion' ('booming', etc.) that is simply not there in the totally neutral source text; we simply don't know what the author's viewpoint is, so we must not "put words into their mouth" — that's the meaning of 'over-interpretation': taking into consideration what we know from our own knowledge when interpreting someone else's text. It can of course inform us — but it must not influence us to the point of using coloured language.
Peter LEGUIE Apr 6, 2017:
Tony And I also thought of "diffusion", which I found a little weak.
Peter LEGUIE Apr 6, 2017:
Tony I was in fact more concerned about "mis un frein".

Proposed translations

+1
13 hrs
Selected

risquait d'encourager une expansion de

"threatened to encourage the expansion of"? Sinon la phrase n'a pas de sens dans le contexte de ces "five main reasons for the countries’ low level of cooperation".

Je suppose qu'on parle ici des relations entre le Soudan et l'Égypte. Comme le président égyptien est contre l'extrêmisme islamiste en général et les Frères Musulmans en particulier, il serait ravi si qqn mettait un frein à leur expansion en Égypte. Donc cela ne figurerait pas dans les 5 raisons de la dégradation des relations entre les deux pays. C'est juste une idée.



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Note added at 1 day13 hrs (2017-04-08 07:01:10 GMT)
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Réflexion faite, je propose la traduction suivante : FAIT PESER LA MENACE d'une expansion de...

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Note added at 1 day13 hrs (2017-04-08 07:01:39 GMT)
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A FAIT
Peer comment(s):

agree B D Finch : Sauf le fait que les Frères Musulmans ne sont pas, à mon avis, un organisme qui prône l'extrémisme islamiste. The US claims that it is, but then they support the al-Sisi dictatorship.//Indeed, he would be, having deposed the democratically elected Morsi.
11 hrs
Merci beaucoup. En fait, je voulais simplement dire qu'Al-Sissi est l'ennemi juré des FM.
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4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "Merci Marion"
7 mins

A menacé l'expansion

Mon traduction
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-1
8 mins

a mis un frein à l'essor du

"Mis un frein" may be a little too strong: in which case one may use "menacé" or "fait obstacle à".
Peer comment(s):

neutral Tony M : I'm not sure we can take 'expansion' as far as 'essor' — it really amounts to over-interpretation, surely? / Yes, because that's exactly what "over-interpretation" means!
3 mins
Are you really sure, Tony, considering what is going on nowadays?
disagree B D Finch : No, the meaning is that it threatened to bring about the expansion ... , not to stop it.
1 day 24 mins
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27 mins

A constitué une menace pour l'expansion

Cette solution me semble plus fidèle à l'idée de l'auteur anglophone
Peer comment(s):

agree Maïté Mendiondo-George : ceci me semble bien être fidèle aussi à a réalité historique
15 hrs
disagree B D Finch : On the contrary!
23 hrs
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1 day 21 hrs

compromettait l'expansion de

....
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Reference comments

1 day 34 mins
Reference:

Some background

"LES islamistes eux-mêmes se divisent en deux catégories : les « conservateurs », les wahhabites par exemple, qui considèrent que la charia est un système global et figé ; les « évolutionnistes », pour lesquels la loi musulmane est un système universel de valeurs qu’il faudrait interpréter et adapter. Mais cette classification ne vaut que dans le domaine de l’interprétation des textes. Il convient de faire appel à d’autres catégories, souvent imbriquées, pour caractériser l’action politique : d’un côté, les « révolutionnaires », qui appellent à la création d’un Etat islamiste « du sommet jusqu’à la base de la société » en recourant si nécessaire à la violence ; de l’autre, les « réformistes », comme les Frères musulmans, pour lesquels l’Etat musulman peut être créé « de la base jusqu’au sommet » grâce à des changements progressifs et à un consensus politique. Les deux courants sont d’ailleurs analysés avec une grande clarté dans l’article de Iyad Barghouti traitant de la Jordanie et des territoires palestiniens. Le Djihad islamique et le Parti de la libération islamique (Hizb al-Tahrir) appartiendraient au courant révolutionnaire, la confrérie des Frères musulmans dirigerait les « réformistes »."
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