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French to English translations [PRO] Art/Literary - Journalism / Opera review
French term or phrase:hagiographie
Source: magazine article, French-French
Target: US English, cultured audience
"Certains morceaux étaient tellement beaux, suscitaient tellement d'exaltation qu'on aurait pu croire que nous faisions l’hagiographie du XXXX"
(XXX is a political party.)
This is the playwright talking about the creative process of his opera.
While I know hagiography exists in English would it be understood by a well-educated American? (If not, any suitable suggestions ?). While it gets almost a million g-hits I don't feel it's a very common word.
"Can you use "hagiography" in your translation?", and I would say not. You certainly can't "do the hagiography" of someone, so a paraphrase is necessary.
that the French is unlikely to be understood by a Frenchhuman who is not "well educated" (what percentile of the population?) and that it is fair to assume only a "well-educated" American (what percentile of the population?) would understand. The only question is what constitutes "well educated", and whether people in France, the US, the UK, or elsewhere of the same level of education, cultural awareness, etc. represent the same percentile of the population of those countries. Apart from actual levels of education, differing percentages of immigrants from different countries and backgrounds, for example, could alter those percentile figures.
As an American, I’m not offended in the slightest. First, because that wasn’t the intent, and second, I don't feel I'm culturely inferior that I didn't know what hagiography meant before today, just as I don’t feel culturely inferior because I didn’t know ancient Greek so as to figure out its etymology. It’s just another word to learn on the journey to a heightened cultural awareness. All of us on the same journey may learn it at one time or the other, and this was just my time. The important thing (to me at least) is that I’m on the journey to begin with.
Believe me, if I wanted to feel offended about something someone said here on KudoZ about Americans and our relative cultural/linguistic levels, there are far more deliberately condescending examples I could point to.
native English speaker. American or not?? The only thing that matters is the target audience, not necessarily their nationality. A bit insulting imo. Dumb it down if you think it will fly better. It's not exactly a word on the tip of anyone's tongue.
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Answers
22 mins confidence: peer agreement (net): +11
hagiography
Explanation: I'm sure it would be clear to US readers
Theodora OB Local time: 19:33 Meets criteria Specializes in field Native speaker of: Dutch, English PRO pts in category: 4
The translation workplace 
peer agreement (net): +11