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Glossary entry

French term or phrase:

Découplage

English translation:

Non-coterminous

Added to glossary by Timothy Barton
Nov 12, 2015 12:22
8 yrs ago
French term

Découplage

French to English Social Sciences Government / Politics
"Unité ou découplage des circonscriptions territoriales"

The text talks about the fact that in some countries, the boundaries of the districts/provinces/regions used for central-government delegations coincide with those used by local government (unité), whereas in other countries they do not (découplage). In most sentences I could reword it (Le découplage des circonscriptions favorise... = If the boundaries do not coincide, ...), but the words appear in isolation in tables, so I could do with a translation for each word. I'd wanted to the post the two terms together, as it's important to have two words that contrast with each other, but the moderators won't allow it, so I'm just looking for "découplage" for now.
Proposed translations (English)
5 Non-coterminous
4 Disparity/mismatch/differing/conflict
4 decoupling
3 +1 dis-alignment of territorial units
2 -1 disconnection

Discussion

Timothy Barton (asker) Nov 24, 2015:
But if I'd but "unité / découplage" on one side and "coterminous / non-coterminous" on the other, they'd still show up in searches wouldn't they?
Tony M Nov 16, 2015:
@ Asker Obviously, your two terms are related, and there is nothing whatsoever stopping you from mentioning them together in your explanatory text — as indeed you have done.
The reason for the "one term per question" rule is quite simply so as to produce meaningful glossary entries at the end of the day; if there are 2 related terms, there is nothing stopping you posting a similar question about the other term, thereby opening the possibility of creating 2 meaningful (and hopefully cross-referenced) glossary entries. It is a small amount of extra work for askers at the moment of posting their question, but makes the glossary a whole lot more useful for future users.
Timothy Barton (asker) Nov 16, 2015:
My deadline is not until mid-December, so I'll wait for their response to you.

You mention the "pair", which is why I wanted to post the two terms together. Sometimes Proz should be a little flexible on their one-term-per-question rule.
Graeme Jones Nov 13, 2015:
Digging... Fair point Daryo. I dropped an email to ONS (Office for National Statistics) to ask what terms they would use - their response time is within 5 days - so it depends how much you want to hold your breath on this! There is lots on their website about the ever changing nature of UK administrative boundaries - but they don't seem to use any of those helpful words when describing them!
It's easier to think of the positive side of this pair: so there is "alignment (with)" or "mapping on to" - but finding words to mean the opposite is hard. "Misalignment" is not the right meaning. I notice you have a suggestion of "dis-alignment" - or maybe even "unalignment". I think we're into neologisms here!
Daryo Nov 13, 2015:
ideally by digging into texts written by political analyst and political scientists it should be possible to find the exact term used in their jargon. Some "trade terms" can be very counter-intuitive, but still be the only "right one" - IF you can find them.
But you could also spend considerable time wadding through EN texts only to discover that it's a new concept/term introduced by this FR author, and you are the first one having to translate it into EN ...
Graeme Jones Nov 12, 2015:
congruence? Perhaps play with the idea of congruent/incongruent. So congruent means that two shapes (boundaries) etc. match exactly; incongruent would mean they do not.

Also: are you sure that découplage refers only to the state of not being the same, rather than the action of splitting off?

Proposed translations

6 days
Selected

Non-coterminous

Technical explanation of terms provided after I submitted a request to Office of National Statistics. See below for their helpful reply. The only proviso I would put is that coterminous/non-coterminous clearly refer to the state of boundaries coinciding, or not; they would not refer to the action of them becoming aligned or un/dis-aligned! Hope that helps.

Dear Graeme

Thank you for your recent enquiry.

I am pleased to say that my colleagues have confirmed that the technical term to use is "coterminous", as in "the boundaries are coterminous" meaning the areas have the same or coincident boundaries. However, non-coterminous applies when the boundaries do not align.

I hope you find the above explanations helpful.

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Note added at 6 days (2015-11-19 10:42:55 GMT)
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Note: your original term is a noun. I cannot find a "coterminance" or "coterminosity". "Coterminousness" doesn't really bear thinking about.
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4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "Excellent. Thanks for your research! Yes, it's an adjective, but I add the noun "boundaries" and all is well. Certain sentences will need rephrasing, but that shouldn't be a problem."
-1
3 mins

disconnection

One way of saying it in this sort of adminsitrative context.
Peer comment(s):
disagree GILLES MEUNIER : en électronique, pas ici....
1 hr
Oh but yes, it is VERY OFTEN used in this sort of figurative sense, e.g. a government disconnected from its people.
Something went wrong...
21 mins

Disparity/mismatch/differing/conflict

Various suggestions that came to me when looking at your question.

"The disparity between borders..."
"The mismatch between borders..."
"The differing borders..."
"The conflict between borders..."/"If the borders conflict..."

Hope this helps a bit.
Peer comment(s):
neutral Tony M : Almost all of those have a negative connotation which is not wanted here. Only 'differing' couldn't be negative, the others usually are.
1 hr
I wouldn't say they're all negative, it would depend on how the sentence was worded.
neutral Daryo : there is a problem of negative connotation - all these terms imply boundaries should be the same, while the ST is simply neutral - only noting facts // "differing" vs "same" boundaries could be OK
17 hrs
Something went wrong...
4 hrs

decoupling

My translation is inspired by the link. It contains a document on 'decoupling local government elections'.

http://www.gov.scot/Resource/Doc/264632/0099659.pdf
Note from asker:
Hmm, it has a completely different meaning here, but the dictionary definition does seem to fit: "Separate, disengage, or dissociate (something) from something else:" (Oxford)
Something went wrong...
+1
50 mins
French term (edited): découplage des circonscriptions territoriales

dis-alignment of territorial units

vs

alignment of territorial units = Unité des circonscriptions territoriales (=same boundaries)


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Note added at 50 days (2016-01-01 19:54:58 GMT) Post-grading
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The Greater London Authority, London Assembly and the directly elected Mayor of London were created in 2000 by the Greater London Authority Act 1999. In 2000, the outer boundary of the Metropolitan Police District was re-aligned to the Greater London boundary. The 2000 and 2004 mayoral elections were won by Ken Livingstone (L), who had been the final leader of the GLC. The 2008 and 2012 elections were won by Boris Johnson (C).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greater_London#Proposals_to_ex...
Peer comment(s):
agree John Detre
27 mins
Thanks!
neutral Nikki Kopelman : Think this sounds much closer than any of the other suggestions so far (including my own), was trying to think if there was a word with the direct opposite meaning of "alignment" but couldn't think of one, still wondering if there's a better word though.
1 hr
ideally a political analyst might know the exact term used in their jargon; saving that we can only try to get as close as possible.
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