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Hôtel Communal

English translation: Municipal Office, Local Council Office

01:19 Mar 30, 2017
French to English translations [PRO]
Social Sciences - Government / Politics
French term or phrase: Hôtel Communal
This is from a document on decentralization in Haiti. It is listed in contrast to "Hôtel de ville," but I can only seem to find the same definition for both. How else could this be translated so that they are different?

 Différence entre Collectivité Communale et Mairie
 Différence entre Hôtel de ville et Hôtel Communal
 Organes de la CTC et leurs rôles
 Organisation et fonctionnement de l’Hôtel Communal

 Difference between Municipal Authority and Town Hall
 Difference between Town Hall (building) and Hôtel Communal
 CTC bodies and their roles
 Organization and functioning of the Hotel Communal
Lauren-g
United States
Local time: 16:40
English translation:Municipal Office, Local Council Office
Explanation:
In my opinion, once you have used "municipal" with "authority" I think you need to use the same term for the "htôtel". I don't like "communal hall" though, as it depends upon your target reader knowing what a "commune" mean in this context. They may, they may not. "Municipal" or "Council" seem fairly clear. Also, I don't like "hall" which I had first suggested here, as "hall" for "hôtel" loses the notion of "office" as it could simply be a local hall that could back(mis)translate to "salle polyvalente".

On the choice of "rural" which has appeared in a couple of suggestions, there are "Hôtel Communal" which are not necessarily rural.

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Note added at 2 days12 hrs (2017-04-01 14:02:12 GMT)
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By way of example, check out this photo of a Hôtel Communal which is in the south of a town in Haiti https://www.facebook.com/312318759550/photos/a.1015019668393...

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 2 days12 hrs (2017-04-01 14:04:36 GMT)
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https://www.google.fr/search?q="hôtel communal" haiti&source...
Selected response from:

Nikki Scott-Despaigne
Local time: 23:40
Grading comment
Thank you. I used municipal office.
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
4rural district council office
Gordon Matthews
3Rural Council Office
Ben Gaia
3Municipal Office, Local Council Office
Nikki Scott-Despaigne
Summary of reference entries provided
Dictionnaire géographique et administratif
Yolanda Broad

Discussion entries: 1





  

Answers


8 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
Rural Council Office


Explanation:
"Communal" is usually a village as opposed to a "town hall" but "village hall" sounds too Cotswolds. I would translate it as "Village Hall" for a group of Oxfordshire worthies.

Ben Gaia
New Zealand
Local time: 09:40
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 16

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
neutral  B D Finch: The town I live in is the departmental capital, but we still have (besides the Hotel de Ville) the offices of the Communauté de Communes, i.e. our (town) commune and the communes of various surrounding villages.
6 hrs
neutral  Nikki Scott-Despaigne: This is Haiti and there are photos of "Hôtel Communal" which are not in rural settings.
2 days 4 hrs
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1 day 7 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
rural district council office


Explanation:
"rural council office" is okay, but "rural district council office" would make it clear that the reference is to the main office of a rural district council rather than a council office which is in a rural area.

Gordon Matthews
Germany
Local time: 23:40
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 8

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
neutral  AllegroTrans: "rural district councils" (which were abolished in 1974) were a particularly British entity. I think it is wrong to try to "localise" in this fashion.
6 hrs
neutral  Nikki Scott-Despaigne: "District council office" would probably be more accurate. The HC in Haiti are not necesarily in rural areas. Some are just simply on the outer edges of towns.
1 day 5 hrs
  -> This makes good sense to me. "District council office" sounds right.
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2 days 12 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
Municipal Office, Local Council Office


Explanation:
In my opinion, once you have used "municipal" with "authority" I think you need to use the same term for the "htôtel". I don't like "communal hall" though, as it depends upon your target reader knowing what a "commune" mean in this context. They may, they may not. "Municipal" or "Council" seem fairly clear. Also, I don't like "hall" which I had first suggested here, as "hall" for "hôtel" loses the notion of "office" as it could simply be a local hall that could back(mis)translate to "salle polyvalente".

On the choice of "rural" which has appeared in a couple of suggestions, there are "Hôtel Communal" which are not necessarily rural.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 2 days12 hrs (2017-04-01 14:02:12 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

By way of example, check out this photo of a Hôtel Communal which is in the south of a town in Haiti https://www.facebook.com/312318759550/photos/a.1015019668393...

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 2 days12 hrs (2017-04-01 14:04:36 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

https://www.google.fr/search?q="hôtel communal" haiti&source...

Nikki Scott-Despaigne
Local time: 23:40
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 31
Grading comment
Thank you. I used municipal office.
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Reference comments


38 mins peer agreement (net): +1
Reference: Dictionnaire géographique et administratif

Reference information:
You may want to check this "Dictionnaire géographique et administratif universel d'Haïti illustré Tome 2"

https://issuu.com/scduag/docs/sch13009

Yolanda Broad
United States
Works in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 4

Peer comments on this reference comment (and responses from the reference poster)
agree  AllegroTrans
1 day 22 hrs
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