Glossary entry (derived from question below)
French term or phrase:
caractériser
English translation:
describe/caracterise
Added to glossary by
Carol Gullidge
Nov 1, 2007 23:54
16 yrs ago
9 viewers *
French term
United Kingdom
poetically precise prose with... panache
Native in: English 
Works in: French to English, Spanish to English, English
caractériser
French to English
Social Sciences
Social Science, Sociology, Ethics, etc.
social psychology (fairly general)
On pourrait ainsi répertorier un très grand nombre de travaux empiriques (et tendanciellement tous) dans un simple tableau à trois colonnes (O, P, M). Bien entendu, la variété de la colonne O serait plus grande que celle de la colonne P et celle-ci plus grande que la variété de la colonne M : il y a plus d'objets différents que de populations et plus de populations susceptibles d'être étudiées que de méthodes. Cependant, cette propriété distributive ne suffit pas à *******caractériser******* un tel tableau.
Supposons qu'on mélange les lignes au hasard, dans l'une au moins des trois colonnes. On risque très facilement d'arriver à des cas où l'on étudierait n'importe quoi chez n'importe qui, et cela n'importe comment.
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There's a (hypothetical) table with 3 columns, headed "Object", "Population" and "Method", which will be unevenly distributed. Yet this "distributional property" won't be sufficient to ???? such a table
I'm having trouble with figuring out which meaning of "caractériser" fits here. So far, I haven't found one.
I'd be grateful for any suggestions to make this read logically! Thanks!
Supposons qu'on mélange les lignes au hasard, dans l'une au moins des trois colonnes. On risque très facilement d'arriver à des cas où l'on étudierait n'importe quoi chez n'importe qui, et cela n'importe comment.
---
There's a (hypothetical) table with 3 columns, headed "Object", "Population" and "Method", which will be unevenly distributed. Yet this "distributional property" won't be sufficient to ???? such a table
I'm having trouble with figuring out which meaning of "caractériser" fits here. So far, I haven't found one.
I'd be grateful for any suggestions to make this read logically! Thanks!
Proposed translations
(English)
Change log
Nov 5, 2007 08:45: Gayle Wallimann changed "Term asked" from "caractériser (here)" to "caractériser"
Proposed translations
+3
1 hr
French term (edited):
caractériser (here)
Selected
describe/caracterise
other ideas of literal translations
Peer comment(s):
| agree |
suezen
: insufficient to fully characterise ...in other words, to be characteristic of (but not describe)
6 hrs
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| agree |
veratek
: characterize
8 hrs
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| agree |
Julie Barber
: characterise
9 hrs
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| neutral |
MatthewLaSon
: Not "describe" here. That's doesn't work well in English in this context.
3 days 22 hrs
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4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer.
Comment: "Many thanks! This one fits best, in the end"
31 mins
Catherine CHAUVIN
France
France
Native in French
France
Capable et disponible 7j/7.
Native in: French
Works in: Russian to French, French to English, English to French, and 1 more.
French term (edited):
caractériser (here)
demonstrate / prove
I can't find anything else, in the sense of the phrase.
+5
54 mins
Adriana Penco
Works in field
A seasoned translator, writer, editor.
Native in: Spanish (Variants: Rioplatense, Standard-Spain) 
Works in: English to Spanish, Spanish to English, Spanish, and 3 more.
French term (edited):
caractériser (here)
define/determine the nature of/the essential quality of
I prefer "define".
Peer comment(s):
| agree |
Melissa McMahon
: I like define or determine because it means both characterise/describe and establish/settle, but I have to say I don't really understand his point here... is there a broader argument?
4 hrs
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Thank you, Melissa
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| agree |
Diane de Cicco
: yes, define but I would use the word "characteristics" rather than "nature"
7 hrs
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Thank you,Diane
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| agree |
veratek
9 hrs
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Thank you, Vera
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| agree |
Julie Barber
: define \\ oh...cheers for the Vera bit ;-))
10 hrs
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Sorry! Thanks, Julie!!!
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| agree |
sporran
1 day 1 hr
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Thank you, Sporran
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| neutral |
MatthewLaSon
: I'd say rather "a defining characteristic of". For some reason, I don't like saying just "define" as it sounds a little awkward in English. Your other examples would sound even more awkward in English in this context. Sorry for being harsh.
3 days 23 hrs
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3 hrs
French term (edited):
caractériser (here)
identify
In the sense of, mark it off from all other tables, give it a name and say what kind of table it is.
2 hrs
French term (edited):
caractériser (here)
in itself does not constitute a defining characteristic of ...
Hello,
The distributive property in itself does not constitute a defining characteristic of a table/chart such as this.
It was hard to make this sound like English. LOL.
I hope this helps.
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Note added at 6 hrs (2007-11-02 06:01:41 GMT)
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is not enough to set it apart from others
is not enough to distinguish it from others...
That has to be the meaning, unless I'm missing something big here. LOL
The distributive property in itself does not constitute a defining characteristic of a table/chart such as this.
It was hard to make this sound like English. LOL.
I hope this helps.
--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 6 hrs (2007-11-02 06:01:41 GMT)
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is not enough to set it apart from others
is not enough to distinguish it from others...
That has to be the meaning, unless I'm missing something big here. LOL
16 hrs
French term (edited):
caractériser (here)
the way the results are distributed still does not give us enough information to interpret such a
I think you should label this "Statistics"
I think some freedom is necessary to convey the meaning here:
does this fit?
the way the results are distributed still does not give us enough information to interpret such a table.
(some tables demonstrate their results visually just by looking at them...this sounds somewhat more complex)
I think some freedom is necessary to convey the meaning here:
does this fit?
the way the results are distributed still does not give us enough information to interpret such a table.
(some tables demonstrate their results visually just by looking at them...this sounds somewhat more complex)
Discussion