Maîtrise d’œuvre

English translation: glossary

03:47 May 18, 2005

French to English translations [PRO]
Tech/Engineering - Environment & Ecology / water science

French term or phrase: Maîtrise d’œuvre

I'd like to know whether this term is just another way of referring to "project management" or something more specific. It ties into the last question I asked, equivalents for "suivi de travaux". Is there any real difference between oeuvre, ouvrage and travail? I see phrases containing these three all over the place. Context (from a hydrological engineer's CV):

**Maîtrise d’œuvre** (conception et suivi des travaux) pour des ouvrages géotechniques

Thanks!

Kelvin Wu KudoZ activity Questions: 131 (none open) (5 closed without grading) Answers: 150
Local time: 10:45

English translation:glossary

Explanation:
http://www.proz.com/kudoz/63509?keyword=maitrise

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Note added at 22 mins (2005-05-18 04:10:57 GMT)
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there are many options on that page
hth

maîtrise d\'oeuvre : project management

maître d\'oeuvre: project manager or architect (depending on the context)

maître d\'ouvrage: contracting authority or employer

maîtrise d\'ouvrage: building contract management

Selected response from:

RHELLER
United States
Local time: 08:45

Grading comment

Thank you, Rita. I didn't search thoroughly enough.
3 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer

Summary of answers provided

4 +4

glossary

RHELLER

oeuvre, ouvrage and travail

Bourth (X)

yes it is project management

Loubna Benkirane

3 +1

project design and construction supervision

Assimina Vavoula

Discussion entries: 1

Answers

20 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +4

glossary

RHELLER
United States
Local time: 08:45
Native speaker of:

English
PRO pts in category: 7

Grading comment

Thank you, Rita. I didn't search thoroughly enough.

1 hr confidence:

peer agreement (net): +1

project design and construction supervision

Explanation:
ICOLD,Tech Dict Dams 1978

Reference: http://www.europa.eu.int/eurodicautom/Controller

Assimina Vavoula
Greece
Local time: 17:45
Native speaker of:

Greek

5 hrs confidence:

oeuvre, ouvrage and travail

Explanation:
The 3 terms are related and may possibly be used more or less interchangeably in some instances (not that I can think of any offhand), but do each have their specific meanings.

"Oeuvre" doesn't really exist as a word by itself, except in artistic (and other) senses (l'oeuvre du grand peintre; enfant naturel, fils de ses oeuvres, etc.), but is used a lot in compounds: main d'oeuvre, oeuvre d'art, maître d'oeuvre, etc. where it means "work" in some of that words many senses.

"ouvrage" can overlap "oeuvre" to some extent, but also has the more specific meaning of "works" in the sense of something that has been built. When the context is clear, "ouvrage" is often used where in English we would refer to the "bridge", the "tunnel", the "building". An example is "ouvrage d'art" which means any "engineered structure" such as a bridge, tunnel, culvert, toll plaza, retaining wall etc. along a road or railway. Most frequently it means "bridge". If you look at the signs alongside French roads, you will see a lot marked "OA xxx (number)" where "OA" means "ouvrage d'art", not to be confused with "oeuvre d'art", however, even if some constructions do fall into both categories!

"travail" is the work one does to build or create any of the works referred to above.

So basically, in English we have one word (work or works) where French has at least 3.

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Note added at 5 hrs 20 mins (2005-05-18 09:08:46 GMT)
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Just to complicate matters, remember that a \"main d\'oeuvre\" is a labourer, while a woman in labour is \"en travail\" giving birth to the \"oeuvre\" of her husband.

Bourth (X)
Local time: 16:45
Specializes in field
Native speaker of:

English
PRO pts in category: 227

6 hrs confidence:

yes it is project management

Explanation:
Dans des chantiers de construction par exemple, le maître d'oeuvre c'est l'ingenieur TP qui est le gérant "manager" du projet.

Loubna Benkirane
Local time: 16:45
Works in field
Native speaker of:

Arabic,

French

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English translation: glossary

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