avoid compensation loss of "envergure"

English translation: stature, standing, wingspan

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)

French term or phrase:	envergure
English translation:	stature, standing, wingspan
Entered by:	Jeff Whittaker

10:04 Mar 15, 2001

French to English translations [PRO]

French term or phrase: avoid compensation loss of "envergure"

This sentence appears in a letter to an airline company:
"Il est regretable qu'une compagnie de votre envergure puisse..." "It is regrettable that a company of your (magnitude)(scope)..."

Although for the purposes of this letter, envergure could be translated simply as scope/magnitude/importance etc. since this letter is written to an airline company I was wondering if anyone could think of a creative way to somehow include the double meaning of "wingspan" into the English.

Jeff Whittaker KudoZ activity Questions: 267 (none open) (18 closed without grading) Answers: 278 United States
Local time: 07:20

stature, standing

Explanation:
Standing is nice, stature sounds even bigger, covers more - go for stature!

Selected response from:

Nikki Scott-Despaigne
Local time: 13:20

Grading comment

I agree, I like stature. I also received some interesting suggestions via private e-mail including this one:

It is most unfortunate that an airline such as yours, whose importance extends far beyond the wingspan of its aircraft,could
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer

Summary of answers provided

stature

Barnaby Capel-Dunn

Scale

Gokhan SARPKAYA

stature, standing

Nikki Scott-Despaigne

such an outstanding airline

CLS Lexi-tech

notoriety

Annie Robberecht, C. Tr.

importance

nickw

Yes!

Nikki Scott-Despaigne

Answers

11 mins

stature

Explanation:
Difficult to convey the double meaning in English, but I think "stature" or "standing" would be better than "scope" or "magnitude"

All the best

Barnaby Capel-Dunn

Barnaby Capel-Dunn
Local time: 13:20
Native speaker of:

English
PRO pts in pair: 42

15 mins

Scale

Explanation:
"It is regrettable that a company ofyour scale..."

Reference: http://www.dicitionary.com

Gokhan SARPKAYA
Local time: 06:20
Native speaker of:

Turkish

43 mins

stature, standing

Explanation:
Standing is nice, stature sounds even bigger, covers more - go for stature!

Nikki Scott-Despaigne
Local time: 13:20
Native speaker of:

English
PRO pts in pair: 4638

Grading comment

1 hr

such an outstanding airline

Explanation:
far reaching, outspread, airline with such a sweeping record...
I am getting carried away.
I translate letter to and from airlines, but none that ever attempted a pun!

Cheers
Paola L M

CLS Lexi-tech
Local time: 07:20
Native speaker of:

Italian
PRO pts in pair: 162

1 hr

notoriety

Explanation:
notion of prestige / stature, etc.

BD, Internet, etc.

Annie Robberecht, C. Tr.
Local time: 13:20
Native speaker of:

French
PRO pts in pair: 187

1 hr

importance

Explanation:
envergure implies power. Standing (beware of French!) and stature imply moral quality.

nickw
Local time: 13:20

14 hrs

Yes!

Explanation:
Well done to the person who found the play on "wingspan" - nice job!

Nikki Scott-Despaigne
Local time: 13:20
Native speaker of:

English
PRO pts in pair: 4638

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