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Le travail se conjugue en un

English translation: Workplace gender neutral space

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)
French term or phrase:Le travail se conjugue en un
English translation:Workplace gender neutral space
Entered by: MatthewLaSon

15:15 May 21, 2013
French to English translations [PRO]
Art/Literary - Poetry & Literature / Feminism
French term or phrase: Le travail se conjugue en un
I'm struggling to make much sense of this Haiku either. I was hoping to be able to figure these out myself after taking a break from them, but time is running out now and I'm still stuck.

Would "se conjuguer" here be used in the grammatical or mathematical sense: to conjugate, or would it mean "combine" (combining the feminine and masculine of the previous lines??).


Féminin ou Masculin ?
Masculin ou Féminin ?
Le travail se conjugue en un !

Many thanks for your valuable time.
Sonya Mountford-Jones
Local time: 16:00
In the grammar of work, it all stays "neutral"/Work makes no distinctions
Explanation:
Hello,

In other words, no "special forms" for men or women (used in the grammatical sense).

If you don't want the grammar analogy as is in the original French, you might just say "Work makes no distinctions".

I hope this helps.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 28 mins (2013-05-21 15:44:16 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Even though we don't use gender in English, the meaning is most obvious by what precedes "Le travail se conjugue en un". So you can do the grammar analogy here.
Selected response from:

MatthewLaSon
Local time: 11:00
Grading comment
Selected automatically based on peer agreement.
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
4 +3In the grammar of work, it all stays "neutral"/Work makes no distinctions
MatthewLaSon
4 +1Work does not know of gender
Kévin Bernier
4 +1Work is just work
Carla Buchman
3 +1Jobs have no gender bias
polyglot45
3 +1Work takes both and marries the two!
Huw Davies
5 -1Working makes no difference
papier
3 +1Come together at work!
Nikki Scott-Despaigne
3No conjugating at work!
B D Finch
3Work is gender free!
Nikki Scott-Despaigne
3At work, it's just we!
Wolf Draeger
3Labor is universal!
Nicholas Andrew Courtney
3Work is conjugated as one.
axies
1 +1there's no conjugating in the workplace
Jonathan MacKerron


Discussion entries: 3





  

Answers


5 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5 peer agreement (net): +1
Jobs have no gender bias


Explanation:
respecting the syllables yet again
The idea is: Feminine or masculine, masculine or feminine, at the workplace there is no such distinction

polyglot45
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish, Native in FrenchFrench
PRO pts in category: 52

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  MatthewLaSon: I didn't realize that you wrote the word "distinction. Sorry.
2 days 9 hrs
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15 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5 peer agreement (net): +1
Work takes both and marries the two!


Explanation:
'takes' might get the grammatical idea across...

Huw Davies
United Kingdom
Local time: 16:00
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 4

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Yvonne Gallagher: like this
1 hr
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24 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
No conjugating at work!


Explanation:
Mildly cheeky.

B D Finch
France
Local time: 17:00
Works in field
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 43

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
neutral  Jane Proctor (X): too much off at a tangent since the French conjugation has nothing to do with sex.
2 hrs
  -> You're probably right. :(
neutral  Wolf Draeger: Very good, though :-)
4 hrs
  -> Thanks Wolf.
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26 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +3
In the grammar of work, it all stays "neutral"/Work makes no distinctions


Explanation:
Hello,

In other words, no "special forms" for men or women (used in the grammatical sense).

If you don't want the grammar analogy as is in the original French, you might just say "Work makes no distinctions".

I hope this helps.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 28 mins (2013-05-21 15:44:16 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Even though we don't use gender in English, the meaning is most obvious by what precedes "Le travail se conjugue en un". So you can do the grammar analogy here.

MatthewLaSon
Local time: 11:00
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 20
Grading comment
Selected automatically based on peer agreement.

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Jane F: Of the two suggestions, I prefer 'work makes no distinctions' but wonder if it should be in the singular, i.e. work makes no distinction
5 mins
  -> Thank you, Jane! I appreciate it. Yes, it should be in the singular (Only two are being compared: masculine and feminine).
agree  Yvonne Gallagher: work makes no distinction//no point in grammar analogy in English which is why I don't like your 1st suggestion
1 hr
  -> Thank you, gallagy2! I prefer my first suggestion, though. It makes perfect sense in this context. There is a grammar point in the French, so we can do the same in English.
agree  GILLES MEUNIER
1 hr
  -> Thank you, Gilou! I prefer my first suggestion.
disagree  Jane Proctor (X): Just not remotely snappy! sorry! In fact, yes, I agree with your second suggestion, but disagree with your first. These are 2 completely different solutions which call for two separate answers.
2 hrs
  -> Thank you, Jane1 I think the first one is better, however (more "fun" like in the French, and perfectly clear in meaning from the context).
agree  Sandra & Kenneth Grossman: Work makes no distinction
14 hrs
  -> Thank you, Sangro! I appreciate it. I prefer my first suggestion, though (perfectly clear in meaning from the context).
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15 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 1/5Answerer confidence 1/5 peer agreement (net): +1
there's no conjugating in the workplace


Explanation:
a wild guess

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 1 hr (2013-05-21 16:22:22 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

work knows no gender/work is not a declinable word

Jonathan MacKerron
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 22

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  philgoddard: Good idea.
5 mins
neutral  Jane Proctor (X): I DO like this, and indeed would like to agree, but see my comment against BD Finch's similar anwser :(
2 hrs
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1 hr   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +1
Work does not know of gender


Explanation:
Just another suggestion.

Kévin Bernier
France
Local time: 17:00
Native speaker of: French

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Peter LEGUIE
16 mins
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1 hr   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +1
Work is just work


Explanation:
I find this is really the meaning of the sentence

Carla Buchman
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish, Native in FrenchFrench

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Jane Proctor (X): Yes since the whole gender thing is a nonsense in English
9 mins
  -> Thank you Jane!
neutral  Peter LEGUIE: This may cover other forms of discrimination, other than those based on gender.
2 days 17 hrs
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3 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 5/5 peer agreement (net): -1
Working makes no difference


Explanation:
or
The work is just the same.

My suggestions.

papier
Brazil
Local time: 12:00
Native speaker of: Native in PortuguesePortuguese

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
disagree  Yvonne Gallagher: sorry, but this does not mean the same thing at all.
1 day 15 hrs
  -> Yes it does. Read the sentences which comes first and you will have the right meaning of the answer.
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4 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
Work is gender free!


Explanation:
*

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 4 hrs (2013-05-21 19:53:49 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

All the necessary masc/fem references are clear enough in the preceding lines. Not sure this is the best solution, but it is short and clear.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 4 hrs (2013-05-21 19:57:07 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

I'm not mad on using the original idea of "conjugate" in English, particularly as "conjugation" relates to verbs whereas gender is more about choice of personal pronoun and agreements of adjectives. In fact, I don't even think the idea is that elegant in French, come to that, although I suspect it's a double use of "se conjuguer" with the meaning of "to be expressed".

Nikki Scott-Despaigne
Local time: 17:00
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 16
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4 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5 peer agreement (net): +1
Come together at work!


Explanation:
The Beatles song sprung to mind!

The Beatles song has just sprung to mind.

"Feminine or masculine?
Masculine or feminine.
Come together at work!"

The idea of the combination meaning of "conjuguer" and then well, as in the Beatles.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 4 hrs (2013-05-21 20:01:48 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Er, if it fits with the rest of your context. I t may be precisely what you should avoid, but I preferred to post it as a separate suggestion as it is quite different from my other suggestion.

Nikki Scott-Despaigne
Local time: 17:00
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 16

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Yolanda Broad
1 day 46 mins
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5 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
At work, it's just we!


Explanation:
Very non-literal, but hey, what the heck :-) plus it conveys some of the play on grammar.

Is it he, she or I
Or I, he or she
Well, at work it's just we!

Wolf Draeger
South Africa
Local time: 17:00
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 32
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9 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
Labor is universal!


Explanation:
-

Nicholas Andrew Courtney
United States
Local time: 11:00
Native speaker of: English
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18 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
Work is conjugated as one.


Explanation:
Play with words, but is used in the grammatical sense.
What it means, I believe, is that for:

Féminin ou Masculin ?
Masculin ou Féminin ?
Le travail se conjugue en un !

We use both expressions for the masculine and/or feminine; for instance we say mon, ton, son, le votre, le notre etc travail. Never ma, ta,sa...
It does not change be it a male or female talking about his, her, mine, yours, ours work etc. More like in the English language!

axies
Australia
Local time: 00:30
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish, Native in PortuguesePortuguese
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