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French to English translations [Non-PRO] Social Sciences - Government / Politics
French term or phrase:Messieurs les Présidents
Hi all,
Just wondering if anyone can help. I am translating a speech and the beginning starts with:
Monsieur le Premier ministre,
Messieurs les Présidents,
Mesdames et Messieurs les Ministres,
Mesdames et Messieurs les Parlementaires,
Mesdames et Messieurs,
A literal translation of this would not be too tough (although I don't think we could get away with 'Mr Presidents' in the plural) but I am guessing that this is the standard opening of a speech in French? Is there any other convention in political speeches in English? I can't find much on conventions of political speeches. Can anyone help with this in any way? Any ideas or suggestions gratefully received!
Explanation: From the list you have given of the other people being addressed, I assume that the "présidents" being referred to are chairmen of Parliamentary Committees. I think the term "Chairmen" would be most appropriate in this context.
If you Google the term "messieurs les présidents" and the word "English" you will see lots of hits for the Canadian Parliamentary site where this term is used a lot in speeches. See, for example:
Hiya! It's Chirac's speech at the Elysée. He made it on 17 Dec 2003. According to the NY Times Chirac made the speech to, '...an audience of 400 guests, including members of the cabinet and parliament, representatives of the major political parties and leaders of religious, human rights and labor groups.' It is his 'Discours prononcé...relatif au respect du principe de la laicité.'
... on who, exactly, the 'Presidents' are.
The pecking order suggests they might be the 'Président du Chambre des Députés' and 'Président du Sénat' ('Speaker' in several English-speaking democracies), but that's only a hunch without more context.
Explanation: From the list you have given of the other people being addressed, I assume that the "présidents" being referred to are chairmen of Parliamentary Committees. I think the term "Chairmen" would be most appropriate in this context.
If you Google the term "messieurs les présidents" and the word "English" you will see lots of hits for the Canadian Parliamentary site where this term is used a lot in speeches. See, for example:
Explanation: Much will depend how you handle "Monsieur le Premier Ministre", of course, but "Messrs Presidents" has around 600 Googles. Many of these are of non-native-English source. This one however is from a mixture of Russian and American signatories:
An Open Letter to the President of the United States of America GEORGE W. BUSH and the President of the Russian Federation VLADIMIR V. PUTIN
Dear Messrs. Presidents,
Citizens of your countries have re-elected you to head two great nations at a critical time in world history http://www.america-russia.net/eng/geopolitics/93054395?user_...
This and the rest of it may well sound odd in English, but the fact that it IS after all a French speech may mean it will not be seen as a problem.
Since, in addition, it appears to be a wholly Franco-French speech, it might even be possible to dispense with the whole damn thing and just launch into the body text.
I don't know what we do in English. If we had a large aristocratic gathering and insisted on prefixing every speech with everybody's appropriate title (Your Majesty, Your Highnesses, My Lords and Ladies, Marquises and Marquesses, Counts and Countesses, Barons and Baronesses, ...) the show could go on forever, especially if there are some foreign dignataries, ambassadors (a friend of mine was recently Ambassador to the Netherlands and Plenipotentiary to Scandinavia - I hate to think what the formal form of address might have been!), a few Serenissime Highnesses, etc.
Yes, the French love this kind of thing. At a more local level, we get (not necessarily in the right hierarchical order, for that I'd need to consult my partner) "Monsieur le Président du Conseil Général, Madame la Préfète, Messieurs et Mesdames les Députés, Messieurs et Mesdames les Conseillers Régionaux, Monsieur le Maire, Messieurs et Mesdames les Maires des communes avoisinantes, Messieurs et Mesdames les Conseillers Municipaux, (long pause), Messieurs, Mesdames ...".
And our current Préfète gets shirty if letters to her do not close with the appropriate formula. This in a country that beheaded its aristocracy ...
xxxBourth Local time: 18:08 Native speaker of: English PRO pts in category: 73
The translation workplace 
peer agreement (net): +1
