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French to English translations [PRO] Art/Literary - Journalism
French term or phrase:se fendre d'un démenti
I'm working on the translation of a press article regarding the consequences of the Fukushima nuclear disaster. The text is for a very general readership and is not specialised. I am having difficulty translating the phrase 'avant de se fendre d'un démenti'. Here is the context:
'Mais si le Vieux Continent a trouvé un accord, l’affaire nucléaire avec Téhéran reste un combat délicat puisque l’Iran a récemment lancé des menaces concernant la fermeture du détroit d’Ormuz (avant de se fendre d’un démenti), lieu de transit d’environ 40% du trafic pétrolier mondial, mais aussi à l’égard des États-Unis dues à sa présence navale dans le golfe Persique.'
At the moment I have translated this as '...Iran has recently made threats (before reluctantly retracting them) regarding a potential closure of the Strait of Hormuz...' but I am not convinced that this is accurate and, even if it is, it sounds horribly 'clunky'...
Any help or suggestions would be much appreciated!
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 1 hr (2012-02-13 17:31:00 GMT) --------------------------------------------------
perhaps the se fendre element means that they backed down without doing so explicitly, or without a formal retraction. So they recoiled or wiggled out of the confrontation
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 1 hr (2012-02-13 17:32:15 GMT) --------------------------------------------------
were forced to back down
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 1 hr (2012-02-13 17:57:54 GMT) --------------------------------------------------
on reflection, I think that se fendre could be translated as "distancing itself". The phrase then means either "distancing itself with a denial" or "distancing itself with a denial". Hmmm
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 1 hr (2012-02-13 17:58:44 GMT) --------------------------------------------------
the second option should have been "distancing itself from a denial"
When you back track, you recognize you have said something and then act in contradiction to those words. Here, however, Their is no admission that the words were uttered at all. It's important because it saves loss of face in front of the world. A country which backs down loses a lot of credibility. I think Iran is trying to place itself in a situation where it does not have to back down by saying the equivalenet of "Hey, we did not say that in the first place".
Oh Hi Tony, didn't see your suggestion before posting an answer. Back down is what you do after making a threat. Some of the other suggestions would work in the context of denying a claim or other type of statement, but not a threat.
It could be the difference between Br. EN and Am. EN: to "reverse course" is indeed quite natural for us. To prove my point, "an about-turn" may be in normal use in the UK but it is not idiomatic where I come from, though it is certaily comprehensible. We would say "an about-face" instead. Ah, the subtleties of the English language...
I think you have the right idea, though I fear that 'to reverse course' isn't terribly natural in EN; we tend normally to use expressions like 'an about-turn' or 'a U-turn'.
se fendre de = to decide to pay for/offer. I have heard that "reluctantly" is implied in "se fendre de," so perhaps something like "(before reluctantly deciding to reverse course)" could work.
I think you might just use the verb 'threatened' instead of 'made threats', and consider the simple past instead of the perfect tense. Also, as it is only a 'threat', I don't see why you have added all that rigmarole about 'regarding a potential...'?
More directly in answer to your question, 'se fendre de' is not an expression I'm particularly familiar with, but I'm not sure just how much sense of 'reluctantly' it conveys? How about something like "...though subsequently backed down."? Or "before doing a U-turn."
BTW, this expression is indeed in my trusty R+C, so don't know why Carol couldn't find it?
Automatic update in 00:
Answers
14 mins confidence: peer agreement (net): +1
to issue a denial
Explanation: Je crois que ça doit convenir...
Thanks for any comment...
Michel F. Morin France Local time: 20:33 Specializes in field Native speaker of: French PRO pts in category: 8
23 mins confidence: peer agreement (net): +4
se fendre d\'un démenti
backtrack
Explanation: condescending to retract
se fendre de - do something unwillingly, beacuse expected of one, not from choice
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 24 mins (2012-02-13 16:51:28 GMT) --------------------------------------------------
BEGRUDGINGLY
polyglot45 Native speaker of: English, French PRO pts in category: 20
The translation workplace 
peer agreement (net): +1