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Explanation: "Then he said my daughter’s race should follow the father, so, she was listed as Pakistani.
Hang on a minute, I argued. A Pakistani is someone who is a national of Pakistan. My daughter is a citizen of Malaysia and should be Malaysian. Or, if he insisted on following the father’s ethnicity, she should be a Pathan.
But the clerk, who held the power of determining what ethnic group or nationality my daughter belonged to, insisted there was no category for Pathans in the official list. So, after a while, I gave up arguing. What’s in a name? A rose, by any other name smells just as sweet." http://www.theborneopost.com/2011/06/19/the-elusive-anak-mal...
"In light of the adverse credibility finding, the Averianovas attempted to present evidence corroborating their Jewish ethnicity and of their past persecution or well-founded fear of future persecution on account of it. The only corroborating evidence the Averianovas offer in regard to their Jewish ethnicity was the Tashkent tribunal decision amending their father's ethnicity from "Russian" to "Jewish" on a birth certificate issued in Chelyabinsk, Russia, which they urge deserves comity." http://www.leagle.com/xmlResult.aspx?page=4&xmldoc=200713995...
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 9 days (2011-09-01 14:33:02 GMT) Post-grading --------------------------------------------------
A bit of local information:
"These forces coordinated with partisans in the ruling, northern-based party, Rally of the Togolese People (RPT), the report says, excoriating the impunity with which the RPT conducted its strategy of using ethnic and clan relationships to orchestrate repression in a country of more than three dozen ethnic groups. ...
... The dynamic of the ethnic and xenophobic polarization in Togolese society, leading to durable ethnic and clan management of power, has engendered a tendency to read ethnicity into political cleavages, the report says." http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=15994&Cr=togo&C...
"There are between 20 and 40 different ethnic groups in Togo, depending on differing classifications. No group has a numerical majority. A northern group, the Kabyé, has dominanted the country's politics, and is the second largest group in Togo (after the Éwé), with some 12 per cent of the population. Northern Togo, where Kabyé are concentrated, is more ethnically diverse that the south. Other northern groups include the Moba, Kotokoli, Bassari, Hausa and Konkomba. One of Togo's most homogeneous ethnic groups, Moba inhabit rich agricultural lands in north Dapaong area and speak a dialect influenced by the More language of the Mossi of Burkina Faso. Konkomba are related to Moba and live in northern Togo and Ghana in the Oti River basin, a tributary of the Volta, north of Basseri. They live in clans organized into patrilineages and age sets, with no central structure." http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/publisher,MRGI,,TGO,4954ce5cc,...
I think that the clan would be less likely to be listed on a birth certificate.
Clan isn't Scottish - it's just that Scotland is the country nearest to you where the term still has some meaning! It's used all over the world, and it means an extended family. You've made your choice, but I still disagree. :-) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clan
I think 'clan' is the right idea but sounds quite Scottish to me. I'm thinking of something like 'family' or 'extended family' although they're still not really quite right. Thank you very much for your ideas and also the references.
Sorry, ignore what I've just written - got mixed up with my 2 questions! Coutume du père is followed by AGBOBLIKOSSIWA, which I've assumed is a name. The next line on the certificate is Profession du père
It's the first line of the birth certificate and is followed by a number. The next line is No. du registre, followed by Année and No. de l'acte. Thanks for any suggestions.
Explanation: It is a strange way of putting it as it would literally translate as "father's custom" but I am pretty sure that they mean his customary vocation.
I can't see how it could mean anything else..
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 39 mins (2011-08-23 14:41:03 GMT) --------------------------------------------------
Now that I've seen the extra context, I'm pretty sure it's this:
Certificat de Coutume: Il s’agit de l’attestation d’un juriste étranger relative à l’existence, au contenu et à l’interprétation d’une loi étrangère. Lorsque, à l’occasion d’un litige, il y a lieu de faire application d’une loi étrangère d’après la règle des conflits, le plaideur qui entend s’en prévaloir produit au juge français un certificat de coutume.
It is under the international adoption section on the French immigration website and you can find references on wikipedia to this.
In English I would translate this as a ***The affidavit of law and customs***
PDF]
MARRIAGE
- [ Traducir esta página ] www.ielanguages.com/documents/marriageinfrance.pdf
Formato de archivo: PDF/Adobe Acrobat - Vista rápida
The Affidavit of Law and Customs is a statement about U.S. marriage laws, certifying that the American citizen is free to contract marriage in France and ...
Explanation: See the discussion entries.
I don't think it's tribe, because neither Agbobli-Kossiwa nor Watsi (the "coutumes" cited in Teresa's birth certificate and the one I found) come up on Google as the names of tribes. I think it's the next step down, a large family group or clan.
This is also one possible translation of Abstammung, the chosen answer when this question came up in French to German.
philgoddard Local time: 02:32 Native speaker of: English PRO pts in category: 11
Explanation: "Then he said my daughter’s race should follow the father, so, she was listed as Pakistani.
Hang on a minute, I argued. A Pakistani is someone who is a national of Pakistan. My daughter is a citizen of Malaysia and should be Malaysian. Or, if he insisted on following the father’s ethnicity, she should be a Pathan.
But the clerk, who held the power of determining what ethnic group or nationality my daughter belonged to, insisted there was no category for Pathans in the official list. So, after a while, I gave up arguing. What’s in a name? A rose, by any other name smells just as sweet." http://www.theborneopost.com/2011/06/19/the-elusive-anak-mal...
"In light of the adverse credibility finding, the Averianovas attempted to present evidence corroborating their Jewish ethnicity and of their past persecution or well-founded fear of future persecution on account of it. The only corroborating evidence the Averianovas offer in regard to their Jewish ethnicity was the Tashkent tribunal decision amending their father's ethnicity from "Russian" to "Jewish" on a birth certificate issued in Chelyabinsk, Russia, which they urge deserves comity." http://www.leagle.com/xmlResult.aspx?page=4&xmldoc=200713995...
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 9 days (2011-09-01 14:33:02 GMT) Post-grading --------------------------------------------------
A bit of local information:
"These forces coordinated with partisans in the ruling, northern-based party, Rally of the Togolese People (RPT), the report says, excoriating the impunity with which the RPT conducted its strategy of using ethnic and clan relationships to orchestrate repression in a country of more than three dozen ethnic groups. ...
... The dynamic of the ethnic and xenophobic polarization in Togolese society, leading to durable ethnic and clan management of power, has engendered a tendency to read ethnicity into political cleavages, the report says." http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=15994&Cr=togo&C...
"There are between 20 and 40 different ethnic groups in Togo, depending on differing classifications. No group has a numerical majority. A northern group, the Kabyé, has dominanted the country's politics, and is the second largest group in Togo (after the Éwé), with some 12 per cent of the population. Northern Togo, where Kabyé are concentrated, is more ethnically diverse that the south. Other northern groups include the Moba, Kotokoli, Bassari, Hausa and Konkomba. One of Togo's most homogeneous ethnic groups, Moba inhabit rich agricultural lands in north Dapaong area and speak a dialect influenced by the More language of the Mossi of Burkina Faso. Konkomba are related to Moba and live in northern Togo and Ghana in the Oti River basin, a tributary of the Volta, north of Basseri. They live in clans organized into patrilineages and age sets, with no central structure." http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/publisher,MRGI,,TGO,4954ce5cc,...
I think that the clan would be less likely to be listed on a birth certificate.
B D Finch France Local time: 09:32 Works in field Native speaker of: English PRO pts in category: 66
The translation workplace 
peer agreement (net): +1
