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état de services

English translation: contributions to the cause / record of services

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)
French term or phrase:état de services
English translation:contributions to the cause / record of services
Entered by: Una D.

21:01 Dec 6, 2018
French to English translations [PRO]
Government / Politics / militancy
French term or phrase: état de services
Context: An academic text on the political situation in Ivory Coast.

This first sentence follows a paragraph about the "wartime achievements" (both successful actions and martyrdoms) of certain militants (not professional soldiers) during periods of civil conflict.
"Cet état de services, dont plusieurs aspirent au statut de hauts faits de guerre, oblige. Il témoigne également d’un sens de la discipline de parti..."

The second appearance of the term is in the context of "debt" owed to loyal supporters:
"l’action militante applique une inflexion et même une inversion du vecteur de la dette politique et l’État se retrouve comme débiteur. Autour de l’enjeu de la conquête du pouvoir, par leur état de service, les militants accumulent des états de services. Ils se mobilisent et vont au charbon
pour la victoire de celui qui incarne les valeurs auxquelles ils croient."

The definitions I seem to find in French for this term (e.g. "liste des emplois et activités de quelqu'un au cours de sa carrière.") don't quite fit in my context, especially in this second sentence which is rather unclear to me and in which the term appears twice. I'm not even sure if it should be translated with the same English term each time.


Thanks in advance for your help!
Una D.
France
Local time: 21:46
contributions to the revolutionary [liberation? ...] struggle
Explanation:
would fit in this ST, as the use of "états de services" is ideologically charged - these are not soldiers in some regular army, spending most of their time doing basically nothing, "motivated" by compulsory recruitment or being professionals, these are militants.

the plain bureaucratic version ("service records") is in fact only half-correct - there was probably no one keeping any "records" while the struggle was ongoing...
Selected response from:

Daryo
United Kingdom
Local time: 20:46
Grading comment
Thanks (hvala!), I altered it a bit, but I felt 'contributions to the cause' fit in well in my contexts.
3 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
3 +4service record
Douglas Galloway
4"Service status"
Ben Gaia
4contributions to the revolutionary [liberation? ...] struggle
Daryo


  

Answers


6 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
"Service status"


Explanation:
I would put it in inverted commas as a translated title. It strikes me as being akin to the the status of the "old soldier" who fought for the cause, counting as a positive badge of honour in the eyes of the new regime.

Ben Gaia
New Zealand
Local time: 07:46
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 16

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
disagree  Daryo: "status" is about how something is at a given point in time while "états de service" is about historical records of all that happened during a time period when these "militants" were engaged in the fighting / liberation struggle/ whatever ..
19 hrs
agree  philgoddard
23 hrs
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12 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5 peer agreement (net): +4
service record


Explanation:
The Collins-Robert dictionary translates "états de service" (in the plural) as "service record".

Douglas Galloway
France
Local time: 21:46
Native speaker of: English

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  B D Finch: As they weren't formally soldiers, perhaps it should, at least in some instances, be "record of service".
17 mins
agree  katsy
15 hrs
agree  Victoria Britten
17 hrs
agree  Daryo
18 hrs
Login to enter a peer comment (or grade)

1 day 8 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
états de services
contributions to the revolutionary [liberation? ...] struggle


Explanation:
would fit in this ST, as the use of "états de services" is ideologically charged - these are not soldiers in some regular army, spending most of their time doing basically nothing, "motivated" by compulsory recruitment or being professionals, these are militants.

the plain bureaucratic version ("service records") is in fact only half-correct - there was probably no one keeping any "records" while the struggle was ongoing...

Daryo
United Kingdom
Local time: 20:46
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in SerbianSerbian, Native in FrenchFrench
PRO pts in category: 33
Grading comment
Thanks (hvala!), I altered it a bit, but I felt 'contributions to the cause' fit in well in my contexts.
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