s’attendre à la moindre complaisance

English translation: hope for any indulgence

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)
French term or phrase:s’attendre à la moindre complaisance
English translation:hope for any indulgence
Entered by: Mark Nathan

23:10 Feb 26, 2013
French to English translations [PRO]
Management / management science
French term or phrase: s’attendre à la moindre complaisance
Une réunion s’est tenue dans les locaux de l’Université avec 11 chercheurs, 5 dirigeants, 2 observateurs de la XXXX. Elle a permis de recevoir l’agrément des dirigeants sur la question posée et un accord de chacun d’entre eux pour leur participation. L’objet du travail a été présenté. Il a été clairement précisé que celui-ci ne pouvait pas s’assimiler à du consulting et que les chercheurs, bien qu’étant en mesure de s’impliquer, n’étaient pas appelés à répondre à un ordre de mission du donateur de la chaire. Le côté gagnant-gagnant de la relation a été mis en exergue après que la notion de BM ait été présentée. Cette mise au point n’a pas remis en question le souhait d’engagement des dirigeants, celui-ci était le bienvenu car il ne fallait évidemment pas s’attendre à la moindre complaisance de chefs d’entreprise dont l’emploi du temps est particulièrement chargé.

This is about a group of management science researchers carrying out "action research" within a company. BM stands for business model, the idea of which they plan to study/apply within the context of an existing company.
I am not quite sure about the construction of the last sentence and what "celui-ci" refers to...
Mark Nathan
France
Local time: 16:53
hope for any indulgence
Explanation:
I think "celui-ci" is a clumsy and/or lazy way of referring to the fact that the leaders' commitment is not called into question.
Selected response from:

Victoria Britten
France
Local time: 16:53
Grading comment
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
4 +3hope for any indulgence
Victoria Britten
5because one should not expect the slightest simpathy for such intent
papier
4 +1obviously couldn't have expected them to be over-accomodating
MatthewLaSon
4one could/would expect warm/full/complete enthusiasm
AllegroTrans
4expect any positive input
B D Finch
5 -2one would not even expect the slightest complacency...
Dr Lofthouse
4 -2to expect any complacency
Salih YILDIRIM


Discussion entries: 5





  

Answers


22 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 5/5 peer agreement (net): -2
one would not even expect the slightest complacency...


Explanation:
This clarification /development has not brought into question the commitment to take part of the management/executives, rather it was welcomed, because obviously, no one would even expect the slightest complacency from business leaders who had such full schedules.

Dr Lofthouse
France
Local time: 15:53
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish, Native in ItalianItalian
Notes to answerer
Asker: Yes, thanks for this, but I do not really understand how complacency in any shape or size comes into it?


Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
neutral  philgoddard: I don't think it means complacency - it doesn't fit the context. I think it means enthusiasm, as Allegro suggests.
1 hr

disagree  Victoria Britten: Doesn't mean complacency here
7 hrs

disagree  Cetacea: Complacency is a false friend here.
16 hrs
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1 hr   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
one could/would expect warm/full/complete enthusiasm


Explanation:
I think the use of the negative here is typical of a style in French that is not used in quite the same way in English, and I think turning it into a positive statement is the only real way to make sense to English (speaking) ears

AllegroTrans
United Kingdom
Local time: 15:53
Works in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 20

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
neutral  philgoddard: I think it may be the opposite of this. Doesn't it mean that you wouldn't necessarily expect their support because they're so busy, but in fact they do support it?
23 mins
  -> so perhaps "ought to expect...?"

neutral  Victoria Britten: I don't understand your explanation: what would the example sentence be?
6 hrs
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3 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 5/5
because one should not expect the slightest simpathy for such intent


Explanation:
More precise meaning of the sentence, I think.
Also, it could be translated just as:
"because no agreement on such intent could be reached with the bosses..."

papier
Brazil
Local time: 12:53
Works in field
Native speaker of: Native in PortuguesePortuguese

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
neutral  writeaway: this is the 'only' correct translation??? what is it supposed to mean???
7 hrs
  -> as it is clear above in Catherine statement, it means that "one cannot expect such busy people to waste any of their precious time (to put it in a very mundane manner). " Is that clear for you now?

neutral  Jane F: sympathy is the correct spelling, not simpathy, but it's not the right word to use here
2 days 13 hrs
  -> Sorry for the spelling. As for the word, it keeps a bit of the irony of the French writing here.
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8 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +3
hope for any indulgence


Explanation:
I think "celui-ci" is a clumsy and/or lazy way of referring to the fact that the leaders' commitment is not called into question.

Example sentence(s):
  • ...one could clearly not hope for any/the slightest indulgence on the part of...
Victoria Britten
France
Local time: 16:53
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 4

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  writeaway: fairly clear I would have thought.
3 hrs
  -> Well, I was beginning to wonder... thanks!

agree  GILOU
6 hrs
  -> Thanks

agree  Verginia Ophof
9 hrs
  -> Thanks

neutral  papier: Yes, that is the exact meaning of "celui-ci", although I don't think it is a "lazy way" in French writing, maybe in English writing. As for "indulgence", I am not sure about the tone which seems to me a little slighter in the original text.
15 hrs
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11 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
expect any positive input


Explanation:
They are too busy to give any positive input. Though "complaisance" is rather warmer in tone than "positive input", I think that it is difficult to translate both the tone and the sense and would opt for the latter.

"Celui-ci" refers to "le souhait d’engagement".

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 11 hrs (2013-02-27 10:33:49 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

I cannot see the Discussion as for some reason it just won't display. So if there are any comments there relevant to my answer, I haven't seen them.

B D Finch
France
Local time: 16:53
Works in field
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 52
Notes to answerer
Asker: Hi B, Are you using IE? I have the same problem with IE, but discussion displays with Mozilla and other browsers.

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12 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): -2
to expect any complacency


Explanation:
To me!

Salih YILDIRIM
United States
Local time: 11:53
Native speaker of: Native in TurkishTurkish

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
disagree  Kim Metzger: http://translate.google.com/#fr/en/s’attendre à la moindre c...
1 hr

disagree  Cetacea: Complacency is a false friend here. What's more, this answer has already been posted 12 hours earlier.
4 hrs
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17 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +1
obviously couldn't have expected them to be over-accomodating


Explanation:
Hello,


My try...


You couldn't have expected them to be over-accommodating in any way as they alread have very tight schedules. They're doing exactly what they're supposed to do.


I hope this helps.

MatthewLaSon
Local time: 11:53
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 12

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  papier
6 hrs
  -> Thank you, helena! I appreciate it.
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