Glossary entry (derived from question below)
English term or phrase:
a copy of which they already had
French translation:
dont ils possédaient déjà un exemplaire
English term
Switzerland
Oltre la forza la potenza!
Native in: French (Variants: Standard-France, Swiss)
Works in: English to French, Italian to French, French
a copy of which they already had
-> plus obscur, je ne vois pas... (ou alors j'ai vraiment la tête dans le guidon et je ne distingue plus la route!)
Pas plus de contexte à ce propos... je me demande s'il ne faut pas rajouter un "système (de gestion des procédures de tierce détention)" quelque part... ce qui pourrait expliquer que l'équipe de M. X en ait "une copie".
Ou alors, une bonne compréhension?
Reste que les derniers mots de la phrase compliquent encore les choses.
Bref, merci d'avance... si vous arrivez à démêler cette énigme!
Apr 12, 2016 17:22: Debora Blake changed "Level" from "PRO" to "Non-PRO"
Non-PRO (3): GILLES MEUNIER, mchd, Debora Blake
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Proposed translations
France
Audiovisual Translation Specialist
Native in: English 
, French (Variant: Standard-France)
Works in: French to English, English to French, Italian to English, and 3 more.
dont ils possédaient déjà un exemplaire
dont ils possédaient déjà une copie
| agree |
Tony M
13 mins
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Thanks Tony!
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| agree |
Christine HOUDY
49 mins
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merci!
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| agree |
Annie Rigler
55 mins
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merci!
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dont ils ont déjà eu une copie
| neutral |
Tony M
: 'ont eu' might imply that they had had one, but had maybe lost it, so no longer had it. But I totally agree your fuller explanation is 100% correct!
9 mins
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Possibly, but I do think the use of "avoir" is less elegant than other available verbs and "exemplaire" is also better than "copie".
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| agree |
Premium✍️
: Tony se tire les cheveux en quatre. Ce n'est ni incorrect ni grave...
8 hrs
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Merci MultiPro
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Canada
Translator (EN -->FR)
Native in: French (Variant: Canadian)
Works in: English to French
dont ils avaient déjà obtenu copie
dont ils detenaient déjà une exemplaire
This inverted word oredr in EN is common, to avoid ending a phrase with a preposition (traditionally taught to be bad grammar) — so it simply replaces '...which they already had a copy of'
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Note added at 14 heures (2016-04-13 06:24:03 GMT)
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Many thanks to my FR native colleagues who have corrected my hasty errors:
détenaient
un exemplaire
That ought to teach me not to bother to answer when I'm in too much of a rush!
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Note added at 14 heures (2016-04-13 06:26:45 GMT)
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My original choice of 'détenir' was based on the notion that the verb 'had' here in EN very much has the idea of 'held' — they were copy holders, they held a copy in the safe but had never read it, etc.
Apparently, my instinctive idea was wrong, so I apologize!
| agree |
B D Finch
: Your French is more elegant, but I think my explanation is correct.
7 mins
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Thanks, B! :-)
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| agree |
GILLES MEUNIER
: un exemplaire
23 mins
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Merci, Gilles !
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| agree |
Premium✍️
: 1) d*É*tenaient.. 2) UN exemplaire.. /Vous m'auriez donné un Disagree pour la connotation et l'usage de 'détenir' qui ne sied pas vraiment à une copie.. slmnt pcq vous êtes si friand des Disagrees.. mais je ne vs rendrai pas la pareille. Give you a pass..
8 hrs
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Thanks, M/P! And especially for the corrections! If it's unequivocally wrong, then do please disagree; I believed it was correct, on the basis solely of my own empirical observations.
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