Chevalière de l\'Ordre National du Mérite

English translation: Leave it in French

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)
French term or phrase:Chevalière de l\\\'Ordre National du Mérite
English translation:Leave it in French
Entered by: Ibrahima Saidou CAMARA

15:59 Jan 11, 2016
French to English translations [PRO]
Social Science, Sociology, Ethics, etc. / Distinction honorifique
French term or phrase: Chevalière de l\'Ordre National du Mérite
décoration accordée à une Ministre des Affaires Etrangères
Ibrahima Saidou CAMARA
Saudi Arabia
Local time: 11:10
Leave it in French
Explanation:
Literally it's Knight of the National Order of Merit, and that would be an acceptable translation. However, decorations are commonly left in the original language.
Selected response from:

philgoddard
United States
Grading comment
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
4 +13Leave it in French
philgoddard
4Knight of the National Order of Merit
Julia Burgess
4 -1Chevalier of the National Order of Merit
Elodie Marias


  

Answers


5 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +13
Leave it in French


Explanation:
Literally it's Knight of the National Order of Merit, and that would be an acceptable translation. However, decorations are commonly left in the original language.

philgoddard
United States
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 38

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  John Holland
4 mins

agree  Tony M
10 mins

agree  Wendy Streitparth
13 mins

agree  B D Finch
26 mins

agree  Guillaume Brownlie Pacteau
47 mins

agree  katsy
1 hr

agree  BrigitteHilgner: The French would be horrified if somebody translated this.
1 hr
  -> Yes, apart from anything else I think it takes away the grandeur. It sounds much less impressive if you translate it, like a restaurant menu.

agree  writeaway
3 hrs

agree  Chakib Roula
4 hrs

agree  Nikki Scott-Despaigne
6 hrs

agree  Jean-Claude Gouin
11 hrs

agree  Karen Stokes
16 hrs

agree  James A. Walsh
19 hrs
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24 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): -1
Chevalière de l\\\'Ordre National du Mérite
Chevalier of the National Order of Merit


Explanation:
http://www.wordreference.com/fren/chevalier de l'ordre ...

Elodie Marias
France
Local time: 09:10
Native speaker of: French

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
disagree  Tony M: It makes no sense at all to translate most of the French words but then leave one word (for which a perfectly good EN translation exists) in FR, BUT changing its feminine agreement.
28 mins
  -> In FR you don't use the feminine agreement "chevalière" in that case. Even for a woman, you just say "chevalier". And the translation that leaves one French word is totally accepted by the online dictionary Wordreference.

neutral  Nikki Scott-Despaigne: A common approach, but one that does not respect the golden rule not to translate titles. The Wordreference source is an online compilation dictionary and insufficient w/o formal sources :http://www.wordreference.com/english/AboutUs.aspx
17 hrs
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7 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
Chevalier/ ère de l'Ordre National du Mérite
Knight of the National Order of Merit


Explanation:
Fairly self-explanitory

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Note added at 11 mins (2016-01-11 16:10:21 GMT)
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I think translating the title is acceptable since it is widely seen in English online.

http://www.legiondhonneur.fr/en/page/national-order-merit/40...

You could add French before National, if necessary in the wider context.

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Note added at 18 hrs (2016-01-12 10:12:00 GMT)
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NB No 'feminisation' of Chevalier (i.e. the -ère ending is not used).


    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Order_of_Merit_(France)
    Reference: http://anmonm.com/
Julia Burgess
United Kingdom
Local time: 08:10
Works in field
Native speaker of: English

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
neutral  Nikki Scott-Despaigne: Not to be translated, ever. Further, "Knight" would be not be appropriate for a woman (It's "Dame" in the UK, for example).
6 hrs
  -> Trickier than it sounds: since there is no female equivalent for Chevalier in French. Furthermore, my references demonstrate that the term has been officially translated. Whether to translate or not would depend on the context/readership.
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