Glossary entry

French term or phrase:

J’avais en face, onze hommes et moi, qui était la seule femme

English translation:

Out of the twelve candidates, I was the only woman

Added to glossary by Jane F
Dec 27, 2015 10:37
8 yrs ago
French term

J’avais en face, onze hommes et moi, qui était la seule femme

Non-PRO French to English Other Government / Politics Candidate to elections
A woman candidate talking about elections. My doubt here is 'J'avais en face'
Change log

Dec 27, 2015 12:37: Yvonne Gallagher changed "Level" from "PRO" to "Non-PRO"

Jan 9, 2016 10:47: Jane F Created KOG entry

Votes to reclassify question as PRO/non-PRO:

Non-PRO (3): Tony M, Jennifer White, Yvonne Gallagher

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Discussion

Peter LEGUIE Dec 27, 2015:
Asker and pairs Ou bien la phrase initiale pourrait être "Je devais faire face à onze hommes, moi, l'unique candidate féminine" évite la répétition de "moi", et rentre un peu plus dans le contexte, mais je sais que ce n'est pas la question soumise.
Peter LEGUIE Dec 27, 2015:
Daryo Yes, the punctuation can indeed be improved. How about "J'avais en face de moi onze hommes, moi, l'unique femme"?
That is just a suggestion of mine.
Peter LEGUIE Dec 27, 2015:
Asker Are you sure that "était" should not be spelt "étais"?
Daryo Dec 27, 2015:
yes, the punctuation doesn't make sense. In:

"J’avais en face onze hommes"

there is no need for any comma

"et moi _ , _ qui était la seule femme _ , _ ..."

would be a likely introduction for the following part of this sentence

Carol Gullidge Dec 27, 2015:
Punctuation, etc Imo, the source term would make far more sense if the comma were moved: j'avais en face onze hommes, et moi qui étais la seule femme.

Ie, she was the only woman against 11 male candidates

Proposed translations

+6
36 mins
Selected

Out of the twelve candidates, I was the only woman

Another way of putting it.
Peer comment(s):

agree Julia Burgess
4 mins
agree Peter LEGUIE
1 hr
agree Yvonne Gallagher
1 hr
agree Nikki Scott-Despaigne
2 hrs
agree Michele Fauble
8 hrs
agree Yolanda Broad
13 hrs
Something went wrong...
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer.
+4
3 mins
French term (edited): J’avais en face

I was facing / Opposing me were

'en face' basically connotes the idea of 'opposite', 'facing'

Possibly 'I was confronted with'

The slickest way to word it in EN will of course depend on the surrounding text.
Peer comment(s):

agree Daryo : you can't be wrong with "I was facing"
1 hr
Merci, Daryo !
agree Yvonne Gallagher
1 hr
Thanks, G!
agree Peter LEGUIE : Or possibly "I was having to face"...
2 hrs
Merci, Peter ! Yes, though like certain other suggestions, to me that more accurately translates « je devais faire face à... »
agree philgoddard : I think your first option sounds more natural and is closer to the French.
3 hrs
Thanks, Phil! Yes, it all depends, of course, on just what comes next — and maybe what came before.
Something went wrong...
+3
56 mins

As the only female, I was up against 11 men

en face = up against
Peer comment(s):

agree Yvonne Gallagher
1 hr
agree Nikki Scott-Despaigne : I like the use of "to be up against" here. I'm less fond of "female" which is no problem in the English-speaking world, but may strike a French speaker oddly. Depends on how international the final readership is.
2 hrs
woman, if you prefer - I have no particular prefrence myself
agree erwan-l
15 hrs
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5 hrs

"Up against me were eleven men; I was the only woman."

What I would do.

"Up against someone or something
In opposition to someone or something as in a contest."
http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/up against

Example sentence:

"When David Rodriguez was going UP AGAINST ME in the second to last round I told him exactly what to do in order to beat me, and he did."

Peer comment(s):

neutral Daryo : you make it sound like if she was against one group of eleven men; in fact every candidate acts alone against all other candidates individually.
3 hrs
I don't see how it can sound like she is up against a "group of eleven men" especially. If you are competing against 11 individuals, you are up against them. That is the nature of the expression unless you choose to twist your interpretation of it.
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