This site uses cookies. Some of these cookies are essential to the operation of the site, while others help to improve your experience by providing insights into how the site is being used. For more information, please see the ProZ.com privacy policy.
Cookie settings
freinage minute
public 'empêché'
Nov 28, 2018 14:12
5 yrs ago
4 viewers *
French term

vulcanisateur

French to English Tech/Engineering Mechanics / Mech Engineering transport industry
Hello,

I've come across this term for a job in the context of professions relating to the transport industry in Africa:
" la chaîne des métiers du transport de passagers en particulier : chauffeurs, mécaniciens, vulcanisateurs, ferrailleurs, commerçants de pièces détachées neuves ou usagées… "

I also found this definition online: "Définition du métier Vulcanisateur(petite ou moyenne installation) (Ouvrier) : Ouvriers semi-qualifiés, qualifiés assurant la conduite d'une installation ou d'une machine de la chimie ou des industries voisines (carbo et pétrochimie, parachimie, pharmacie, fils et fibres synthétiques, caoutchouc, plastiques), hors agro-alimentaire. Ils sont capables de régler cette installation ou cette machine. Dans certains cas, ils connaissent les grandes lignes du processus et sont capables d'intervenir en cas d'incident."
Source éditoriale : JuriTravail


But perhaps this definition is too large and there is a more specific use of this term when relating to the transport industry.
Would anyone know what the term would be in English?


Thanks so much for your help!

Una
Proposed translations (English)
4 tyre/tire repairer
3 +2 vulcanizer
4 Curing man or Curing Woman
References
Terminology and linguistic data bank

Discussion

philgoddard Nov 28, 2018:
Una The definition you found online is from a job nomenclature, "Autres opérateurs et ouvriers qualifiés de la chimie (y.c. pharmacie) et de la plasturgie", not "vulcanisateur". I think some information must have got mixed up somewhere.
Yewande Oluwajobi Nov 28, 2018:
@Chris and @Finch

Vulcanizer is generally recognized in Nigeria as an artisan who repairs tyres - (Inflation, repair and maintenance) infact some indigenous Nigerian languages have their own way of calling it. Like yoruba's will call it -Forganisah or onitaya

and some just call them curemen or women as we have the female folks in the field now.
B D Finch Nov 28, 2018:
@chris Yes, it's possible that the term "vulcanizer" as used on that website has, in Nigeria, come to mean someone who inflates tyres. So I've checked that and it does look as though "vulcanizer" does, indeed, have a very different meaning in Nigeria and one that fits in Una's list rather better than the standard English meaning:

https://www.quora.com/What-does-a-vulcanizer-do-in-Nigeria
A vulcanizer or vorcah like they're usually called, does any repair/maintenance work on vehicle tires. Their services range from: inflating low tires, checking tire pressure, sealing up punctured tires, replacing tire tubes, replacing tires with spares, selling used tires and ...

Adejoke's answer had suggested that might not be the case, as I thought that, as she's Nigerian, she would surely have recognised "vulcanisateur" as the French form for a (tyre inflation/repair/maintenance) vulcanizer.

Another point to bear in mind is that "Africa" is a continent, not a country, and so it might depend which particular African country or countries the question applies to and local usage of terms in both English and French may well vary across different anglophone or francophone countries.
chris collister Nov 28, 2018:
Fascinating Nigerian definition (tyre technician?). I wouldn't describe it as "wrong", just part of how language evolves in different cultures. That said, the question relates specifically to Africa, so maybe it is, in fact, correct, and has nothing to do with the cross-linking of elastomers! Given the context of other hands-on métiers (mécanicien, etc) it could indeed be the one to go for!
B D Finch Nov 28, 2018:
@Asker The definition you found online appears to be wrong. See http://www.cnrtl.fr/definition/vulcanisateur for a reliable definition.
Note, also, the totally wrong use of the English term on this website: https://www.wealthresult.com/business/how-to-start-vulcanize... - just to illustrate that there's a lot of wrong terminology to be found online.

Note: my comment above about "totally wrong use" turned out to be, itself, wrong - or at least partially, because a Nigerian vulcanizer does more than just inflate tyres. See later comment.

Proposed translations

5 hrs
Selected

tyre/tire repairer

I once travelled around Togo, Benin and Burkina Faso in a car whose chassis was out of alignment, so we kept getting flat tyres. Each time, no matter how remote the location, we'd just wait a while and one of these people would appear out of the bushes and fix it. We even wondered whether they were leaving nails in the road.

Surnommés les « professionnels de pneus et chambres à air percés », les "vulcanisateurs" sont de plus en plus visibles aux abords des rues à Lomé, capitale du Togo. Présent à leur poste de jour comme de nuit, ils permettent de réparer les pneus et roues des automobiles afin de permettre à leurs utilisateurs de continuer leur trajet sans trop de retard.
http://www.lecanaldesmetiers.tv/actualites/119447-vulcanisat...

En Côte d’Ivoire, la réparation des pneus est opérée par de jeunes déscolarisés exerçant dans l’informel. En effet, par manque de formation professionnelle dans le domaine en Côte d’Ivoire, les vulcanisateurs ayant appris sur le tas proposent leurs services de dépannage à moindre coût aux automobilistes.
http://openlab.michelin.com/videos/1601-le-métier-de-vulcani...


--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 5 hrs (2018-11-28 19:42:44 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

It usually involved lighting a fire beside the road and melting a block of rubber.
Something went wrong...
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "Thanks, this is the clearest term I think!"
34 mins

Curing man or Curing Woman

Someone charged with the duty of correcting or relieving anything that is troublesome or detrimental especially in the automobile industry as this situation suggests.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 2 hrs (2018-11-28 17:01:35 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Vulcanizer is also the name that tyre repairers are called especially here in Nigeria. We have them by the roadsides and in workshops.

Yoruba's call them "Forganisah" or "Forga" for short.

Peer comment(s):
neutral philgoddard : I agree with your note, but not with your translation or explanation.
4 hrs
Thank you.
Something went wrong...
+2
26 mins

vulcanizer

vulcanizer: someone who vulcanizes rubber to improve its strength and resiliency (to treat (rubber) with sulfur and heat, thereby imparting strength, greater elasticity, durability, etc.)

I hope this can help you, Una. :-)

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 30 mins (2018-11-28 14:43:36 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

J'ai aussi trouvé ce film :-) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRmwwsutItI

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 1 day 21 hrs (2018-11-30 11:48:02 GMT) Post-grading
--------------------------------------------------

Thanks for your reaction, Una. :-)
Note from asker:
Thanks for the video, that certainly made it clear what the job entails. I'm going with another definition since I think most people reading the text would be puzzled by the term 'vulcanizer'.
Peer comment(s):
agree B D Finch : It now seems you may have suggested the correct term, but with the wrong definition. See Discussion.
42 mins
Yes, probably. Interesting terminology search with colleagues 😊
agree mchd
2 hrs
Something went wrong...

Reference comments

2 hrs
Reference:

Terminology and linguistic data bank

The below links lead to some terminology banks that could be useful in deciphering the correct usage!

https://www.btb.termiumplus.gc.ca/tpv2alpha/alpha-fra.html?l...

https://iate.europa.eu/search/standard/result/1543421976934/...
Peer comments on this reference comment:
neutral B D Finch : See the Discussion for why that "correct" usage might not apply here.
28 mins
Something went wrong...
Close search
Term search
  • All of ProZ.com
  • Term search
  • Jobs
  • Forums
  • Multiple search