English translation: Chief of the Dunkirk border police (SPAF)
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14:08 Jul 2, 2011
French to English translations [PRO] Military / Defense / police rank/terminology
French term or phrase:Brigadier Chef en fonction à la SPAF DUNKERQUE
This is the title of the person who is endorsing the minutes of a legal case. I think Brigadier Chef de Police could be loosely translated as Police Sergeant. So would plain brigadier chef just be sergeant? Or corporal? I want to get it right. I also don't know what SPAF is. My loose translation is Sergeant based at Dunkirk SPAF... but I could use some help. Thanks!
The discussion there highlights the point that although the words lead what one might be forgiven for thinking is an obvious solution (chief birgadier), this is no doubt not the case here. Ranks are complicated and the same title may represent differing levels of authority and/or seniority from one strcutre to another.
I like the simple "chief" suggestion by AllegroTrans.
Never the less, I would plump for leaving the original in italics for example and offer "chief of the Dunkirk border police" as a guide. You will know whether the original better supports English first and French afterwards, vice-versa or indeed a footnote.
I did research SPAF and I found a few things and was unsure which one it would be - this is not a type of document I have translated before. I truly appreciate your help!! Now that I know what it is, it seems it should have been obvious... but it wasn't. Thank you again. :)
I'm sorry if I was unclear. I am looking for a specific translation for this as there are several translation choices for brigadier chef. I am not a child, I have google SPAF and there are several options of it. Perhaps if you are simply going to be rude, you can keep your opinions to yourself. If I wanted a list of synonyms, rather than a specific term for this context, I wouldn't have posted this thread.
Explanation: would be my attempt
SPAF - Service de la Police aux Frontières
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 26 mins (2011-07-02 14:34:20 GMT) --------------------------------------------------
or maybe Chief Officer of .....
AllegroTrans United Kingdom Local time: 07:00 Native speaker of: English
Notes to answerer
Asker: Thank you!
Asker: For right now I am going with Chief Sergeant of Dunkirk Border Police. Border Police is the term used in the US - does UK usually say frontier police instead?
The discussion there highlights the point that although the words lead what one might be forgiven for thinking is an obvious solution (chief birgadier), this is no doubt not the case here. Ranks are complicated and the same title may represent differing levels of authority and/or seniority from one strcutre to another.
I like the simple "chief" suggestion by AllegroTrans.
Never the less, I would plump for leaving the original in italics for example and offer "chief of the Dunkirk border police" as a guide. You will know whether the original better supports English first and French afterwards, vice-versa or indeed a footnote.
Nikki Scott-Despaigne Local time: 08:00 Native speaker of: English PRO pts in category: 4
Explanation: but define it as "sergeant" in English.
While Wikipedia mentions the term brigadier-chef as it is used in the police, the "OR" (other ranks?) ranking given is that of the military.
In the French National Police, the sub-officer variations are used for non-commissioned officers are:
• Sous-brigadier (OR-6, equal to gendarmerie maréchal-des-logis-chef)
• Brigadier (OR-8, equal to gendarmerie adjudant)
• Brigadier-chef (OR-9, equal to gendarmerie adjudant-chef) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brigadier
I'm not aware that the British police have warrent officers or that the US police has sergeant-majors, so maybe good ol' 'sarge' will do the job. Anyone here speak Z Cars?
Border police sounds good to me.
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 1 hr (2011-07-02 16:02:38 GMT) --------------------------------------------------
I've found nothing to say that a UK Border Police force exists yet, but they appear to be gearing up to it. What next? ID cards? What about our OWN exception culturelle?
The Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) in 2008 PROPOSED THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A SEPARATE BORDER POLICE FORCE, comparable to British Transport Police. In its Policing Green Paper, From the neighbourhood to the national: policing our communities together,1 the Government invited views on various possible models of policing the border: http://www.parliament.uk/briefingpapers/commons/lib/research...
So, the Home Secretary has decided that THE UK IS GETTING a BORDER POLICE force (which, looking through BBC news, I see the Government condemned as "uncosted and unworkable" when the Tories proposed it in 2005). Sounds like a good idea to me. Well, I mean apart from the vast cost of getting the existing Immigration, Customs and Police officers who already do the job cross-trained and formed into one integrated force with a joint intelligence system.
The translation workplace 
