caractériser

English translation: describe/caracterise

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)

French term or phrase:	caractériser
English translation:	describe/caracterise
Entered by:	Carol Gullidge

23:54 Nov 1, 2007

French to English translations [PRO]
Social Sciences - Social Science, Sociology, Ethics, etc. / social psychology (fairly general)

French term or phrase: caractériser

On pourrait ainsi répertorier un très grand nombre de travaux empiriques (et tendanciellement tous) dans un simple tableau à trois colonnes (O, P, M). Bien entendu, la variété de la colonne O serait plus grande que celle de la colonne P et celle-ci plus grande que la variété de la colonne M : il y a plus d'objets différents que de populations et plus de populations susceptibles d'être étudiées que de méthodes. Cependant, cette propriété distributive ne suffit pas à *******caractériser******* un tel tableau.
Supposons qu'on mélange les lignes au hasard, dans l'une au moins des trois colonnes. On risque très facilement d'arriver à des cas où l'on étudierait n'importe quoi chez n'importe qui, et cela n'importe comment.

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There's a (hypothetical) table with 3 columns, headed "Object", "Population" and "Method", which will be unevenly distributed. Yet this "distributional property" won't be sufficient to ???? such a table
I'm having trouble with figuring out which meaning of "caractériser" fits here. So far, I haven't found one.

I'd be grateful for any suggestions to make this read logically! Thanks!

Carol Gullidge KudoZ activity Questions: 352 (1 open) (1 without valid answers) (3 closed without grading) Answers: 2710 United Kingdom
Local time: 00:51

describe/caracterise

Explanation:
other ideas of literal translations

Selected response from:

Richard Piet (X)
Local time: 01:51

Grading comment

Many thanks! This one fits best, in the end
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer

Summary of answers provided

3 +5

define/determine the nature of/the essential quality of

Adriana Penco

4 +3

describe/caracterise

Richard Piet (X)

demonstrate / prove

Catherine CHAUVIN

identify

Attorney DC Bar

in itself does not constitute a defining characteristic of ...

MatthewLaSon

the way the results are distributed still does not give us enough information to interpret such a

RHELLER

Discussion entries: 1

Answers

31 mins confidence:

caractériser (here) demonstrate / prove

Explanation:
I can't find anything else, in the sense of the phrase.

Catherine CHAUVIN
France
Local time: 01:51
Native speaker of:

French

54 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +5

caractériser (here) define/determine the nature of/the essential quality of

Explanation:
I prefer "define".

Adriana Penco
Local time: 20:51
Works in field
Native speaker of:

Spanish

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)

agree

Melissa McMahon: I like define or determine because it means both characterise/describe and establish/settle, but I have to say I don't really understand his point here... is there a broader argument?

4 hrs

-> Thank you, Melissa

agree

Diane de Cicco: yes, define but I would use the word "characteristics" rather than "nature"

7 hrs

-> Thank you,Diane

agree

veratek

9 hrs

-> Thank you, Vera

agree

Julie Barber: define \\ oh...cheers for the Vera bit ;-))

10 hrs

-> Sorry! Thanks, Julie!!!

agree

sporran

1 day 1 hr

-> Thank you, Sporran

neutral

MatthewLaSon: I'd say rather "a defining characteristic of". For some reason, I don't like saying just "define" as it sounds a little awkward in English. Your other examples would sound even more awkward in English in this context. Sorry for being harsh.

3 days 23 hrs

1 hr confidence:

peer agreement (net): +3

caractériser (here)

describe/caracterise

Explanation:
other ideas of literal translations

Richard Piet (X)
Local time: 01:51
Native speaker of:

French
PRO pts in category: 4

Grading comment

Many thanks! This one fits best, in the end

3 hrs confidence:

caractériser (here) identify

Explanation:
In the sense of, mark it off from all other tables, give it a name and say what kind of table it is.

Attorney DC Bar
Local time: 01:51
Native speaker of:

English

2 hrs confidence:

caractériser (here) in itself does not constitute a defining characteristic of ...

Explanation:
Hello,

The distributive property in itself does not constitute a defining characteristic of a table/chart such as this.

It was hard to make this sound like English. LOL.

I hope this helps.

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Note added at 6 hrs (2007-11-02 06:01:41 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

is not enough to set it apart from others
is not enough to distinguish it from others...

That has to be the meaning, unless I'm missing something big here. LOL

MatthewLaSon
Local time: 19:51
Works in field
Native speaker of:

English
PRO pts in category: 28

16 hrs confidence:

caractériser (here) the way the results are distributed still does not give us enough information to interpret such a

Explanation:
I think you should label this "Statistics"

I think some freedom is necessary to convey the meaning here:
does this fit?

the way the results are distributed still does not give us enough information to interpret such a table.

(some tables demonstrate their results visually just by looking at them...this sounds somewhat more complex)

RHELLER
United States
Local time: 17:51
Works in field
Native speaker of:

English
PRO pts in category: 12

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