English translation: expert evaluation, expert knowledge
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French to English translations [PRO] Social Sciences - Social Science, Sociology, Ethics, etc.
French term or phrase:expertise
At the risk of you all wanting to reclassify this question as non-pro, I need help with translating "expertise" in my article on the politics of knowledge. I have quoted the first several sentences of the article:
Une *expertise* se présente avant tout comme un agencement, à la constitution complexe puisqu'il mixte des méthodes, des postures, des enjeux de notoriété et de spécialité, des concepts et des cadres d'analyses mais également des rapports de reconnaissance et de disqualification. Toute *expertise* doit donc être appréhendée à cette échelle-là, à la mesure des questions politiques et épistémiques qu'elle soulève. En effet, c'est bien l'agencement en tant que tel qui devient productif (de sens et de connaissance), au-delà de la simple association des savoirs ou de la simple cohabitation des discours. Qu'est-ce que cette *expertise*-agencement révèle et provoque ? Qu'est-ce qu'elle génère comme résistance ou engagement ?
The author goes on to use the word frequently, often in a way that seems interchangeable with savoir. But I'm beginning to wonder whether "expert opinion" or "appraisal" isn't actually what is meant in this context. The article stays very theoretical, it is not at all clear what kind of projects are being evaluated/appraised, broadly speaking it is about social practices in urban space. This vagueness is what led me to assume that expertise and savoir where being used here in a synonomous way, but I'm not so sure anymore.
Explanation: I think "evaluation" or "assessment" are too weak for "expertise", which realy implies that an expert or experts are responsible for making the evaluation/assessment
I am going to use various translations depending on the context, but your suggestion led me to "expert knowledge" which is appropriate in some of the cases. So thanks. 4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer
PS I would suggest translating the word "expertise" by say ####, and trying to work out what it means after you've finished the whole article.... It probably means either "expertise" or "expert opinion", but it may take a while to work out which....
Maybe we should vote the author of the article Non-PRO?! I wouldn't have read past the first sentence before I wrote back to the client/agent saying that I had just accepted a huge sewage processing plant tender specification....
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Answers
1 hr confidence:
evaluation/assessment
Explanation: I think that's the meaning in this context (see Collins Robert).
But I'm sure you're right to interpret it as "savoir" or "savoir faire" ("compétence") in other contexts within the same article.
Good luck with the translation! It certainly looks very academic. My experience so far of translating this sort of thing from French is that a good many of these academic articles seem to be very repetitive and a good deal longer than they need. But perhaps that's just my experience...
Carol Gullidge United Kingdom Local time: 22:43 Works in field Native speaker of: English PRO pts in category: 23
Explanation: I think "evaluation" or "assessment" are too weak for "expertise", which realy implies that an expert or experts are responsible for making the evaluation/assessment
Diane de Cicco France Local time: 23:43 Works in field Native speaker of: English, French PRO pts in category: 16
Grading comment
I am going to use various translations depending on the context, but your suggestion led me to "expert knowledge" which is appropriate in some of the cases. So thanks.
The translation workplace 
peer agreement (net): +1
