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10:34 Jan 6, 2011
French to English translations [Non-PRO] Geography
French term or phrase:Moyen-Orient & Proche-Orient
Can both of these be translated as Middle East or is there a better way of neatly expressing "proche orient"?
Thanks, that is the clarification I was looking for, turned out to be quite an interesting discussion thread! 2 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer
Gone the way of the British Empire. Now, orbis terrarum est omnis divisus in partes tres: EMEA, APAC and NCSA (or variants thereof). The Middle East persists as a subset of EMEA (= EFTA + EEMEA (Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa)).
To the extent that 'Near East' included non-sub-Saharan parts of Africa, it became politically incorrect and/or undiplomatic.
Thanks to Carol and co for updating me on the usage. It's hard enough learning all the new stuff when you live abroad, but even trickier perhaps to keep track of what is dropping out of usage. Just this morning I was thinking I should tune into R4 more often, so this makes it a definite.
"Near East n. 1. = Middle East n. 2. The Balkans the countries on the Balkan peninsula, comprising Greece, Albania, Romania, Bulgaria, the states of the former Yugoslavia, and the European part of Turkey (dated)"
From the World English Dictionary.
I would add Cyprus.
Near East = the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, etc.
Middle East = KSA, Iran, Iraq
Far East = China, Japan, SE Asia
This in itself is not logical but betrays an Anglo-centric point of view in that the countries between the Middle East and the Far East - India, Pakistan, and to some extent Afghanistan and Burma, basically the Raj - are not part of the sequence, being under British domination. As often, it's a case of "Us" versus "Others", in the same way as the French will speak of "France" and "Europe" as distinct entities.
the Radio 4 discussion Carol refers to, but it confirms my feeling that "Near East" has disappeared off the face of the Earth (as it probably should). I too am a child of the fifties and grew up knowing and using the expression.
I suppose if you can have Middle East and a Far East without a Near East, then the person I heard on Radio4 the other day is right in saying that certain things have been done "without any kind of punity"!
That is interesting as the reason I asked was because I have never heard the term "Near East" used before... The article in question is about Israel, so perhaps I will stick to Middle East as an umbrella term. Thanks for your help.
... so I think the answer to this question depends partly at least on the period in question, as well as other factors: - is it contemporary? If so, Near East is rarely used these days.
this discussion arose only a few days ago on BBC Radio 4! Apparently, the use of "Near East" has virtually disappeared these days, all of it now coming under the umbrella of "Middle East", especially such places as Jerusalem...
But in the fifties and sixties, when I was a child in the Sudan, this was definitely considered to be part of the "Near East". Not sure how far this extended, and of course it is all relative, to a certain extent! It depends a lot on whether you're looking it from an Anglocentric point of view ...
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Answers
3 mins confidence: peer agreement (net): +9
moyen orient & proche orient
Middle East and Near East
Explanation: And China is in the Far East
Terry Richards France Local time: 18:06 Native speaker of: English
The translation workplace 
peer agreement (net): +9