Glossary entry (derived from question below)
French term or phrase:
Gagner la sympathie de l’adversaire.
English translation:
Winning your opponent over
French term
Gagner la sympathie de l’adversaire.
this is from a book entitled "Défendre ses marges"
The word sympathie is a problem.
I was thinking : win over....
Chapter 11
Gagner la sympathie de l’adversaire.
LAFOND – Vous m’avez souvent donné du fil à retordre, Monsieur Picard, mais je vous découvre aujourd’hui et, finalement… je vous trouve très sympathique !
PICARD – Vous ne m’aimiez pas beaucoup, je suppose ?
LAFOND – Je dois dire que je me demandais parfois s’il vous arrivait de ressentir des émotions. Vous n’étiez pas humain, à mes yeux…
PRO (3): Michele Fauble, 234561, Jane Lamb-Ruiz (X)
Non-PRO (1): df49f (X)
When entering new questions, KudoZ askers are given an opportunity* to classify the difficulty of their questions as 'easy' or 'pro'. If you feel a question marked 'easy' should actually be marked 'pro', and if you have earned more than 20 KudoZ points, you can click the "Vote PRO" button to recommend that change.
How to tell the difference between "easy" and "pro" questions:
An easy question is one that any bilingual person would be able to answer correctly. (Or in the case of monolingual questions, an easy question is one that any native speaker of the language would be able to answer correctly.)
A pro question is anything else... in other words, any question that requires knowledge or skills that are specialized (even slightly).
Another way to think of the difficulty levels is this: an easy question is one that deals with everyday conversation. A pro question is anything else.
When deciding between easy and pro, err on the side of pro. Most questions will be pro.
* Note: non-member askers are not given the option of entering 'pro' questions; the only way for their questions to be classified as 'pro' is for a ProZ.com member or members to re-classify it.
Proposed translations
Winning your opponent over
--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 2 hrs 24 mins (2005-07-19 01:21:50 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------
Rival sounds good...
| agree |
writeaway
: yes-Anna got it right to begin with. this is what it means. no point trying to invent a new meaning
4 mins
|
| agree |
Gina W
: yes
16 mins
|
| neutral |
Michele Fauble
: This may be ambiguous. Winning your opponent over in the sense of winning him/her over to your point of view, or in the sense of making him/her like you (gagner la sympathie...) in order to facilitate negotiations.
26 mins
|
|
an 'adversary' were better, right?
|
|
| agree |
Gabo Pena
1 hr
|
| agree |
chinesetrans
1 hr
|
| agree |
suezen
5 hrs
|
earn the respect of your/the opponent
| neutral |
writeaway
: sympathy in English is what you express to someone who has lost a loved one. sympathie in French does not imply 'respect' and in business, people are rivals, not opponents afaik.
19 mins
|
United States
Scientist / Linguist
Native in: English (Variants: US, UK) 
Works in: French to English, Italian to English, Portuguese to English, and 2 more.
Taking the opponent into one's confidence
--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 33 mins (2005-07-18 23:31:22 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------
Or the adversary/opponent taking the other into his confidence, etc.
United States
Native English
Native in: English 
Works in: Norwegian to English, Danish to English, Swedish to English
making your opponent like you
--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 36 mins (2005-07-18 23:34:29 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------
\'making your rival like you\'
As writeaway points out \'rival\' may be a better term than \'opponent\'.
--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 44 mins (2005-07-18 23:42:24 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------
If the context is negotiating, then \'negotiating partner\'.
Winning the empathy (or understanding) of one's opponent
Getting Your [opponent or rival] To Be Nice To You
United Kingdom
The word is my oyster
Native in: Greek
Works in: English to Greek, Greek to English, Greek
Establish rapport with your opponent / counterpart.
I hope this wins some people over.
Discussion