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16:18 Mar 16, 2009
French to English translations [PRO] Science - Science (general)
French term or phrase:la force d'inertie de l'impulsion culturelle
Hi
This is from an informal chat with a physicist. Immediately prior to the sentence I'm struggling with, he has remarked that scientists must be able to "think for thinking's sake" and that real breakthroughs rarely happen by trying to improve what's already there. "Think outside the box" kind of thing. He refers to this as a "ferveur spéculative" and goes on to say:
"Si cette ferveur venait à s'émousser, les hautes technologies d'aujourd'hui ne survivraient que le temps que durera la force d'inertie de l'impulsion culturelle qui les a créées."
My rather literal rendering is:
"If this urge to speculate should wane, the technologies we love would only survive for as long as the inertial force of the cultural momentum that created them."
I would really appreciate help in improving the last part.
Explanation: there is the cultural impetus ("l'impulsion culturelle") of innovation producing a momentum (force d'inertie) which is to die out after a while.
The "force d'inertie" referred to here is that of physicists, not the one found in journalese vernacular. "Inertial force" is not right here.
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 1 hr (2009-03-16 17:39:27 GMT) --------------------------------------------------
The fact is "inertial force" would appear to "slow down" the process whilst in the physicist's imagery it is rather a "moment of inertia" which can preserve the initial impetus.
My word of warning was in connection with the French journalese use of "force d'inertie" which means the exact opposite: weighing down on the motion and slowing it down, such as in catch phrases like "inertie sociologique" which stands for "resistance to societal changes" in French journalese.
Thank you Francis and everyone for helping, especially as it was important to use the correct physics terminology (as noted in the discussion). I used "inertia" and "impetus" - "...would survive only as long as the inertia of the cultural impetus that produced them." 4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer
I think its a slip of the tongue/mixed metaphor - scientists are as inarticulate as anyone else (I am one :)) , particularly if giving an ad hoc interview off their usual topic after several pints (ie in an 'informal chat' scenario, like this). Sage advice from Chris though
but only to a point: when the interviewee chooses his words carefully, so should the translator - "force" is too distant from the impetus ("pulsion") used by the interviewee to denote the seminal force of technological innovation.
Being a scientist, the interviewee would tend to choose his words carefully and with precision. At the risk of linguistic hair-splitting, I doubt whether a physicist would mix his forces and his momenta, the former being the rate of change of the latter. Avoid momentum unless you can ingeniously work in the idea of rate of change. There is nothing wrong with "inertial force", although this is commonly referred to, less precisely, simply as inertia. My personal inclination would be to keep it as simple as possible while preserving the sense, ie forget "inertial", "impulse" and "momentum", while retaining "force" and "cultural"
Explanation: there is the cultural impetus ("l'impulsion culturelle") of innovation producing a momentum (force d'inertie) which is to die out after a while.
The "force d'inertie" referred to here is that of physicists, not the one found in journalese vernacular. "Inertial force" is not right here.
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 1 hr (2009-03-16 17:39:27 GMT) --------------------------------------------------
The fact is "inertial force" would appear to "slow down" the process whilst in the physicist's imagery it is rather a "moment of inertia" which can preserve the initial impetus.
My word of warning was in connection with the French journalese use of "force d'inertie" which means the exact opposite: weighing down on the motion and slowing it down, such as in catch phrases like "inertie sociologique" which stands for "resistance to societal changes" in French journalese.
Francis Marche Cambodia Local time: 04:39 Works in field Native speaker of: French, English PRO pts in category: 4
Grading comment
Thank you Francis and everyone for helping, especially as it was important to use the correct physics terminology (as noted in the discussion). I used "inertia" and "impetus" - "...would survive only as long as the inertia of the cultural impetus that produced them."
Notes to answerer
Asker: Thanks for answering Francis. I did find "inertial force" relating to physics. Is it totally wrong ?
e.g. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fictitious_force
today's high technology would only survive as long as the resistance force of cultural impulse
Explanation:
If this enthuisiasm were to wane, today's high technology would only survive as long as the resistance force of cultural impulse, which, in turn, created it (it = high technology)
In other words, the resistance force of cultural impulse is what drives technology innovation. Once enthusiasm to innovate begins to wane, the resistance force of cultural impulse drives technology away (the technology acquired will only last as long as the resistance force of cultural impulse). This resistance force both creates technology and takes it away.
Society controls it all. Whatever the culture wants it shall get.
I hope this helps.
MatthewLaSon Local time: 17:39 Native speaker of: English
The translation workplace 
peer agreement (net): +1
