French expression – soulever plusieurs préoccupations – expression bien française.

Back in May 2007, I wrote a post about the creeping in of English syntax into French speech. I was particularly shocked by the expression

“soulever plusieurs préoccupations”  used in a Quebec newspaper.

I have since acquired a very reliable and comprehensive spell checker call Antidote

which has a dictionary not only of words but also of their use in sentences. Used as a direct object of a verb, as in this case. “Soulever des préoccupations”  turned out to be quite idiomatic, especially when I examined the examples provided. There were 28 other examples of direct object use, showing their frequency in decreasing order. 

I have noticed lately several hits on that particular post and wanted to correct my initial opinion. As they say, the more you know, the less you know.

Dans mon billet du 8 mai 2007 j’avais été impitoyable envers les utilisateurs de l’expression « soulever plusieurs préoccupations».  Le récent achat du logiciel de correction Antidote

m’a fait découvrir un nouveau monde.  Je parle du dictionnaire Antidote qui non seulement définit les mots, mais en donne l’usage dans différents contextes.

Dans le cas présent, il donne 28 occurrences du mot préoccupation utilisé comme complément direct, dont soulever des préoccupations.   L’usage est indiqué en ordre décroissant. Autres exemples : exprimer sa préoccupation, prendre en compte d’autres préoccupations, souligner sa préoccupation, réitérer sa préoccupation, etc.

J’ai remarqué ces derniers temps que plusieurs visiteurs s’étaient attardés sur ce billet et je voulais rectifier le tir et corriger mon opinion de l’usage de cette expression. Comme on dit, plus on apprend, plus il reste à apprendre.

 

Editing an English Newsletter

One of the major components of translation is revision, i.e. the detailed and careful analysis of a translation to ensure its accuracy. It is a form of editing. Traditionally, translation students learned it from their professors, employees from their company revisors. Debuting freelance translators are at a disadvantage because they do not have a second pair of eyes looking critically at their work.

I was fortunate to have had good revisors and later on carried out an extensive study of translation quality control using statistical analysis. In recent years, I have used my critical skills while assisting ATIO's certification exam candidates during their preparatory work.

In the present world of the Internet and Websites, many business people resort to E-letters and Newsbulletins to reach their potential clients. In many cases, these are professionals who have embarked on a second or third career in the independent world. They are well educated, knowledgeable and have years of experience in their field but they have, in the past, relied on writers or other staff to do the bulk of their writing. Some have discovered the advantages of speech recognition and dictate their letters. I myself have tried it and find it quite effective once you have mastered the media and the method. The problem is that people have little time to do the editing work or they are too absorbed in it to see the errors or areas for improvement.

In the last six months, I have had the opportunity to provide editorial (i.e. revision) services to several very capable independents and was amazed by their reaction. They absolutely welcomed my comments, asked for opinions and generally made me feel that the service provided was worthwhile.

What has been your experience?