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balcon

English translation: Balcony

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GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)

French term or phrase:	balcon
English translation:	Balcony
Entered by:	Eutychus

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12:41 Sep 20, 2010

French to English translations [PRO]
Geography / local development

French term or phrase: balcon

This is from a text describing local development. It uses "balcon" in the way referred to in the text below (not the one I'm working on):

"des étages classiques de la géographie alpine : balcons, forêt, alpages"

Suggestions as to what this would be in English welcome! (I've noted a similar entry on KudoZ which offers "ledge" or "terracing" but not sure that's right here).

Eutychus KudoZ activity Questions: 225 (1 open) (2 without valid answers) (6 closed without grading) Answers: 889
Local time: 18:05

Balcony

Explanation:
That's what I call mine.....

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Note added at 51 mins (2010-09-20 13:33:05 GMT)
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Yes, The place I use regularly sits on a sort of long promontory, and yes surionds by woods and 'alpages'. My French neighbours call it the 'balcon', and my English guests have never proposed a better suggestion than balcony, but I suspect there are other ideas.

Selected response from:

Andrew Mason
France
Local time: 18:05

Grading comment

Thanks. Apologies for my initial incredulity! Wikipedia seems to agree too http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belledonne
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer

Summary of answers provided

4 +2

Balcony

Andrew Mason

canopy

Liz Slaney

terrace

Euqinimod

Summary of reference entries provided
balcon	xxxBourth

Discussion entries: 2

Answers

17 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +2

Balcony

Andrew Mason
France
Local time: 18:05
Native speaker of:

English
PRO pts in category: 4

Grading comment

Thanks. Apologies for my initial incredulity! Wikipedia seems to agree too http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belledonne

Notes to answerer

Asker: It's what you call your what? Your geographical feature which sits below forests and alpine pastures in the Alps??

Asker: thanks for the further explanation!

56 mins confidence:

terrace

Explanation:
turf-banked terraces as in the following example:
"Turf-banked terraces in the alpine tundra of Glacier National Park, Montana, are typically characterized by alternating stripes of flat, stone-covered treads or steps and angled risers covered by alpine tundra vegetation."
Lien : linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0928202508002058

Voir aussi l'article référencé ci-dessous.

Voir aussi la réf. ci-dessous.

Reference: http://www.persee.fr/web/revues/.../quate_1142-2904_2004_num...
Reference: http://www.persee.fr/web/revues/.../morfo_1266-5304_1998_num...

Euqinimod
Local time: 18:05
Works in field
Native speaker of:

French

1 hr confidence:

canopy

Explanation:
I immediately think of "canopy" or "tree canopy" as suggesting the upper level of a forest. The first "tier" in an alpine setting, before moving down through the forest to the lower level of pasture. I think "tree canopy" may be more specific in English.

Reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canopy_%28biology%29
Reference: http://www.dlia.org/atbi/methods/tree_canopy.shtml

Liz Slaney
Local time: 12:05
Native speaker of:

English

Reference comments

1 hr

Reference: balcon

Reference information:
Employé parfois, par image, pour des escarpements et hauts reliefs offrant sur une certaine longueur une vue étendue, notamment en montagne: soit de grande envergure (le balcon des Cevennes), soit de dimension restreinte (d'ordre décamétrique eou hectométrique). De balk, poutre. Le mot est considéré comme littéraire et approximatif, et ne définit pas une forme de relief particulière. "Du village perdu au balcon le plus rare / De prairie et de roc glaciaire entremêlés" (P.-J. Jouve, Mélodrame)

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Note added at 1 hr (2010-09-20 14:30:16 GMT)
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Sorry, forgot the source for that:
Les mots de la géographie, dictionnaire critique, by Roger Brunet, R. Ferras, H. Théry.

xxxBourth
France
Native speaker of:

English
PRO pts in category: 52

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English translation: Balcony

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