This site uses cookies.
Some of these cookies are essential to the operation of the site,
while others help to improve your experience by providing insights into how the site is being used.
For more information, please see the ProZ.com privacy policy.
French to English translations [PRO] Social Sciences - International Org/Dev/Coop / Conflict transformation
French term or phrase:méchanisation
Hello, I'm working on some reports to do with conflict transformation.
The report I'm currently working on mentions the term "mécanisation" (or verb "mécaniser) a couple of times.
Here are some examples:
Recenser, mécaniser et payer les salaires de toutes les unités de sécurisation déployées dans les différents villages.
Certaines écoles restent non mécanisées et les enseignants les abandonnent.
Obviously the more literal translation would be "mechanise/automate" but I'm not sure it refers to this. Could it be to do with putting these people on a payroll? (hence "automating" their salaries?)
In particular, in relation to the point about schools, I wondered if it referred to funding, as in the set of reports as a whole, there is a reference to the fact that parents have to pay the teachers (i.e. the state does not fund their salaries).
Globalement, il y a trois étapes : premièrement l’école devient agréée au sein du Ministère de l’Education à Kinshasa. Deuxièmement, elle devient mécanisée au SECOPE (Service de Contrôle et de Paie des Enseignants). Troisièmement, l’école devient incluse dans le mécanisme de paie publique. (https://educationanddevelopment.files.wordpress.com/2014/09/...
M. Oubandoma recommande au gouvernement de procéder à la "mécanisation" des enseignants pour avoir la traçabilité des salaires et mieux maîtriser l'effectif. ( https://www.bbc.com/afrique/37415487 )
Le nombre des conseillers du primaire du secondaire dépend du nombre des classes mécanisées... La mécanisation des écoles et des classes se fait par le service de contrôle et de la paie des enseignants, SECOPE en sigle. Or, il existe souvent beaucoup d’écoles et de classes qui remplissent les conditions d’être mécanisées mais qui n’ont jamais été mécanisées. (http://www.cbca-kanisa.org/departements/enseignement/)
This one is about GPs, but I presume it's the same thing. Les médecins congolais ont manifesté lundi 29 avril dans plusieurs villes du pays pour réclamer la paie de la prime de risque et l’inscription sur les listes de paie (mécanisation). ( https://afriquepanorama.com/2019/04/30/rdc-manifestations-de... )
It looks like mécaniser means being registered with the DRC department of Education’s payroll. There may be a neater way of saying it in English (hence CL3), but I think that's the right idea.
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 1 day 1 hr (2019-08-21 15:23:50 GMT) --------------------------------------------------
You're right, of course. I completely forgot about les unités de sécurisation. Oops! Delete "DoE" from my answer and I'm sure you'll work something out.
Thanks again Ph_B for your contribution, it really helped to confirm my thoughts on this tricky term.
Thanks also to other contributors, Phil and Daryo, in particular, and others for peer agreements in general. It all helps with getting there in the end.
For other readers. DRC = Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Again, reading all the comments and thinking of context, I have the feeling that "mécanisation" may be fairly rudimentary in nature and not how we generally think of payroll i.e. salary paid direct to your bank account. It may simply be a case of making the payment of salaries more "mechanised", e.g. a regular pay packet handed out weekly/monthly, etc. Nonetheless, I think this is the best way of expressing this. 4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer
Thank you again for the further context. It's interesting what you say because when I looked inside my 1967 edition Harrap's French/English dictionary(!), which I sometimes use in these circumstances it did give more of a clue. As you say, "the use of machines in office work" or simply "working techniques". Along with Daryo's reminder that older terms may still be in more general use in DRC, and just to focus on the context of this term, it really had to be that (a payroll system). Of course, we knew it related to pay in some way but it's trying to fit what might seem like a slightly outmoded term to the concept. It wasn't obvious as a stand-alone term. Given this point was one of the report outcomes/recommendations for further aid/funding, it was important to get it right. Thank you again!
Ph_B (X)
France
Thanks and more about "mécanisation"
11:55 Aug 27, 2019
Thanks for the vote of confidence. I also found this later on: De plus, les méthodes actuelles de mécanisation des paies prévoient l'impression du chèque de règlement en annexe au bulletin de paie. ( http://archives.assemblee-nationale.fr/6/qst/6-qst-1979-01-1... ) It dates back to 1979 and is about France and not the DRC - so may not be directly relevant to your question, but it gives an example of what mécanisation could be about. As a phrase, mécanisation des bureaux, i.e. using machines where you didn't use to, was certainly widely used from the 1950s to the spread of IT (early 90s?). In any case, I agree with Daryo re IT and I think your author would have used the word informatisation if IT is what they had in mind.
I do agree with what you say and it's why I'm questioning the terms suggested (although this would be the translation in the purest sense). In a context where basics such as drinking water and school fees aren't being met, it's hard to imagine how any kind of automation or computerisation is going to be implemented. Nonetheless, it could be wishful thinking on the part of the author of the report. I think I'll just have to double-check the term with the organisation to see if there is some localised meaning. Thanks again for all your input.
someone sitting at their desk, surrounded with all the modern comfort, might not be the same as when living in some remote parts of DRC, just after a conflict.
As you said yourself "I just don't know how feasible this would be in more remote parts of DRC" - and I'm not convinced IT equipment would be such a huge priority (maybe getting some drinkable water and any electricity at all - using some kind of "mécanismes" - would come first?). But it's no more than a hunch / guessing.
Yes, that certainly explains some of the tricky terms in this document. I could go back to the organisation in question. I'm not honestly sure if the PM is from DRC. However, I imaging the author is. It did occur to me that it could be more of a localised term. I have a feeling the meaning is somewhere between the possibilities raised so far. It could be to do with making the schools/security units automated, however, I just don't know how feasible this would be in more remote parts of DRC.
I'm just trying to give some "outsider's view", a bit of "réflexion à haute voix".
To make it more "fun" DRC being an ex-Belgium colony, they are probably using some historical / outdated version of Belgium French. It's quite possible that their version of "mécanisé" is what it meant in Belgian French about 100-odd years ago!
Apart from looking for clues in the rest of the document(s), the other solution I see is to ask someone from DRC what it means. Or someone from this international organisation.
Many thanks for your suggestions, that's really helpful. I know from other parts of the report (and across this set of reports) that teachers are not paid (in fact the parents have to pay the school fees). I think it's also pretty likely the security forces may not be paid on occasion as well, although the report doesn't specify this. However, it does specify that they exort and harass the local population, imposing arbitrary taxes, etc. One might assume this could be down to the lack of a regular pay cheque. The country in question is DRC, to provide a bit more context.
without knowing the rest of the text you could interpret
"Recenser, mécaniser et payer les salaires de toutes les unités de sécurisation déployées dans les différents villages."
as
-- Recenser les salaires -- mécaniser les salaires et -- payer les salaires [de toutes les unités de sécurisation déployées dans les différents villages.]
OR you could interpret it (as much, if not MORE plausibly!) as:
-- Recenser toutes les unités de sécurisation -- mécaniser toutes les unités de sécurisation et -- payer les salaires de toutes les unités de sécurisation [déployées dans les différents villages.]
Whatever you might think of it, one of the methods for "conflict resolution" is to turn private militias into state funded troops, which makes the second interpretation in fact quite plausible.
as for
Certaines écoles restent non mécanisées et les enseignants les abandonnent.
not knowing the overall level of development in that conflict zone, you could see "mécanisé" as "using IT (automated data processing)" or more down to earth the school having some basic "mechanical equipment" as say power generators or water pumps or ... you would expect that that would have far more impact!!!
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 24 mins (2019-08-20 14:43:30 GMT) --------------------------------------------------
Note the correct spelling, with no "h".
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 1 hr (2019-08-20 15:56:06 GMT) --------------------------------------------------
In the two examples you've given, the verb doesn't relate to the teachers or security staff. The first is about salaries, and the second about schools.
philgoddard United States Native speaker of: English PRO pts in category: 20
Notes to answerer
Asker: Hi Phil, many thanks for your suggestion. The verb seems to relate to the teachers and security services themselves, so I'm not sure how they would be automated/computerised themselves. Do you agree this would relate more to an automation of their salaries? Or relate to their roles somehow? Many thanks.
Asker: I see what you mean Phil. I'm just trying to clarify whether you think the automation process relates to the salaries? That's the only thing I can think it means in this context. Many thanks.
Asker: Thank you again for your help on this one Phil. Although I believe your answer would be correct in a different context, looking at everything I've read in the reports, along with the other suggestion, I do believe this term relates to some sort of payroll system, possibly slightly rudimentary in nature. It might even be like getting the old "pay packet". I've had a few tricky terms lately and you've contributed in all cases I think, so I do appreciate this. Kind regards, Louise