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  3. Military / Defense

They had not been entered

French translation: Ils étaient novices

11:51 May 16, 2017
English to French translations [PRO]
Tech/Engineering - Military / Defense / WW1
English term or phrase: They had not been entered
Voici le contexte :
"Now it was a life or death race, but the Tommies did not know it. They had not been entered."

Ce texte parle du premier jour de la bataille de la Somme de 1916. Les Britanniques ont participé à cette bataille avec une armée inexpérimentée. Je comprends l'idée de "ils n'avaient pas encore faits leurs débuts", mais cette traduction ne me plait pas.

Merci pour vos suggestions.
Fanette Pocentek-Leroy
France
Local time: 16:12
French translation:Ils étaient novices
Explanation:
Je préfère "novice" pour introduire la nuance de naïveté et d'ignorance.

Selected response from:

badr-L
Morocco
Local time: 15:12
Grading comment
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
4ils n'avaient pas été rodés
Kévin Bacquet
4Ils étaient novices
badr-L
2 +2baptême du feu (?)
ph-b (X)
4ils n'étaient pas encore sur le champ de bataille
Daryo
3 -1Ils ne l'avaient pas intégré
Philippe Lascourrèges


Discussion entries: 7





  

Answers


5 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
they had not been entered
ils n'avaient pas été rodés


Explanation:
Suggestion d'après vos explications et le contexte donné

Kévin Bacquet
France
Local time: 16:12
Meets criteria
Native speaker of: Native in FrenchFrench
PRO pts in category: 16
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1 hr   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
they had not been entered
Ils étaient novices


Explanation:
Je préfère "novice" pour introduire la nuance de naïveté et d'ignorance.



badr-L
Morocco
Local time: 15:12
Meets criteria
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in ArabicArabic, Native in FrenchFrench
PRO pts in category: 8
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1 hr   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5 peer agreement (net): -1
they had not been entered
Ils ne l'avaient pas intégré


Explanation:
Suggestion.....
(ils n'en étaient pas persuadé)

Philippe Lascourrèges
France
Local time: 16:12
Meets criteria
Works in field
Native speaker of: French
PRO pts in category: 25

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
disagree  Daryo: doesn't make much sense // "persuadé" even less
19 hrs
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2 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 2/5Answerer confidence 2/5 peer agreement (net): +2
they had not been entered
baptême du feu (?)


Explanation:

Pas la moindre idée de ce que signifie cette expression ; peut-être [they had not yet] been entered [into battle]?

Mais sur la base de votre « ils n\'avaient pas encore fait leurs débuts », dont vous dites ne pas être satisfaite, peut-être qchose comme :

«... mais les Tommies ne le savaient pas (encore) : cette bataille serait leur baptême du feu. »

À tout hasard et sans grande conviction...

NB: Dans l'une des citations de votre extrait, entered est entre guillemets.



ph-b (X)
France
Local time: 16:12
Meets criteria
Native speaker of: French

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Françoise Vogel: idem: je ne sais pas si c'est exactement ce que veulent dire les auteurs mais le texte fonctionne bien en français (et pourrait correspondre à la suite... texte disponible sur internet).
19 hrs
  -> Merci. De la même manière, votre « rite de passage » pourrait aussi se justifier.
agree  Angie Garbarino: .....
1 day 2 hrs
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19 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
they had not been entered
ils n'étaient pas encore sur le champ de bataille


Explanation:
literally:

ils n'ont pas encore fait leur entrée dans le théâtre d'opérations.

ils n'ont pas été encore introduits dans le théâtre d'opérations

one possible interpretation:

they had not been entered in the battle itself
=
they had not yet been deployed in the tranches

they were not yet in the tranches, not in battle positions, so they still didn't have any idea what was awaiting them ..

could be that, depending on the text that comes before (and after).



--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 19 hrs (2017-05-17 07:41:20 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

another possibility, as it was the first day of the battle:

they were not yet entered in the fighting

IOW they were already deployed in tranches, but were not yet involved in the fighting - they were still just sitting and waiting ...

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 21 hrs (2017-05-17 09:33:17 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

ils ne sont pas encore entrés dans la bataille / les combats

Daryo
United Kingdom
Local time: 15:12
Meets criteria
Native speaker of: Native in SerbianSerbian, Native in FrenchFrench
PRO pts in category: 28
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