public empêché

09:43 Jun 30, 2022
This question was closed without grading. Reason: No acceptable answer

French to English translations [PRO]
Social Sciences - General / Conversation / Greetings / Letters
French term or phrase: public empêché
Hello,

Does anyone know if there is an equivalent term in English (UK, US or other)?

Here's the definition in French:

Par convention, on appelle "publics empêchés", les personnes ne pouvant se déplacer à la bibliothèque : malades, personnes à mobilité très réduite, personnes très âgées, hospitalisés, détenus…

TIA!
Idna
Local time: 02:03


Summary of answers provided
4 +4persons unable to visit
Bourth
4 +1access restricted individuals
Barbara Cochran, MFA
3 +1individuals prevented from visiting in person
Daryo
4people facing barriers to access
Michele Fauble
Summary of reference entries provided
fwiw/hth
writeaway

Discussion entries: 18





  

Answers


3 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +1
access restricted individuals


Explanation:
If the library in question has signs on the door that states that anyone with certain medical symptoms are prohibited from entering, or if the building has not been modified to make it "handicap accessible", or if the person in question is barred access because of her/his status as a criminal. I like this interpretation better than my initial one. And it's short and sweet, like the expression in the source text.

Barbara Cochran, MFA
United States
Local time: 20:03
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 16

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  philgoddard: With a hyphen.
1 hr
  -> Yes, I struggled for just a couple of seconds re: the hyphen issue, which is something I usually use in these kinds of instances. Thanks for your "agree", in spite of my momentary lapsus or laziness.

disagree  Daryo: you turned the ST on its head // "public empêché" is NOT "public empêché de rentrer" (as in: we restrict who can get in) but "public empêché de se déplacer" (it's too much effort / too many obstacles for these people to go to the venue).
2 hrs
  -> Sorry, but in what I call the "heydey of Covid paranoia", sick people, which is one group the source text refers to, were instructed not to enter, on the doors of many public places around here, particualrly if they had any Covid-like symptoms.

agree  AllegroTrans: This works - with a hyphen
2 hrs
  -> Yeah, OK.Thanks.
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2 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +4
persons unable to visit


Explanation:
My main point is 'unable'. If one says one is 'empêché' from doing something, it's simply that one is unable to do it, for whatever reason.

In the case of the library, of course, being unable to vist might include being hit by a tram on the way there, a case which is not included in the definition. But any definition has its limits, and this one is simply that adopted by the library in question.

BIG QUESTION : does your text actually concern libraries?

Assuming your text does concern libraries, and given that it presumably includes the definition, you could, theoretically, translate 'publics empêchés' by the first thing that comes into your head.

I wouldn't worry too much about fine-tuning it to the cases listed (and only those).

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Note added at 3 hrs (2022-06-30 13:19:56 GMT)
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Wikipedia gives a more general definition, that of the Ministry of Culture:
"En France, les publics empêchés représentent, selon le ministère de la Culture, les personnes ne pouvant se déplacer aux lieux culturels.'
https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Publics_empêchés


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Note added at 3 hrs (2022-06-30 13:29:22 GMT)
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If we are talking about access to culture more generally (cf. https://en.unesco.org/creativity/policy-monitoring-platform/... maybe we could say 'persons IMPEDED from access to cultural facilities*' and abbreviate that to 'impeded persons'. Access for them is not impossible, just considerably more difficult than for the fit, healthy, able-bodied, relatively young and unincarcerated.

* 'Facilities' because of course these 'impeded persons' still have access to books, music, TV, DVDs, etc.


Bourth
France
Local time: 02:03
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 12
Notes to answerer
Asker: The Wikepedia definition is better than the one I provided. Thank you.


Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
neutral  Barbara Cochran, MFA: Like you say, "the library in question". Therefore, I think it has more to do with being "denied access" than your more generic interpretation of "unable".
11 mins
  -> Maybe Asker will come back to us with the relationship between the text in which the term appears and the library-related definition.

agree  Mpoma
28 mins

neutral  philgoddard: Like Daryo's version, this is a circular definition - "X is X".
2 hrs
  -> Fan of Los Bravos / Johnny?

agree  Daryo: that could work // 'impeded persons' also sounds right.
3 hrs

agree  SafeTex: simple and avoids the trap of suggesting that these people are denied/rfused access
1 day 7 hrs

agree  AllegroTrans
2 days 9 hrs
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2 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5 peer agreement (net): +1
individuals prevented from visiting in person


Explanation:
most literally it would be

"persons prevented from visiting the library"
or
"individuals prevented from visiting the library in person"

can't think of anything shorter


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Note added at 7 hrs (2022-06-30 17:28:03 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

clarification: prevented by their personal circumstances, not prevented in the sense of "forbidden from entering the venue" (because of being drunk, f.ex.)

Daryo
United Kingdom
Local time: 01:03
Works in field
Native speaker of: Native in SerbianSerbian, Native in FrenchFrench
PRO pts in category: 105

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
neutral  Barbara Cochran, MFA: Agree that the individuals in question are prevented from visiting, as in "denied acess", something I mentioned in my answer. But otherwise too long, based on the source text./Pls see my response to Daryo's "disagree" above.
30 mins
  -> these individuals are not "denied access" (/barred from entering the library), there are limiting factors external to the library that prevent them from going to the library.// No one will turn them back IF they manage to get to the library.

agree  Stephanie Benoist: In the US, you can use the term "patrons" using library services (so "patrons prevented from visiting in person). https://americanlibrariesmagazine.org/2012/03/28/just-whom-d...
1 hr
  -> Interesting article. In UK "patrons" is an old-fashioned way of referring to people drinking beer in pubs. Thanks!

neutral  philgoddard: 'By convention, the term "individuals prevented from visiting in person" is used for people unable to visit the library.' No thanks.
3 hrs
  -> ?? I can't see where is the problem? That's exaclty what the FR term means. If someone finds some shorter and accurate version, fine.
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8 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
people facing barriers to access


Explanation:
... particularly for people facing barriers to access.
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&c...


Michele Fauble
United States
Local time: 17:03
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 16
Notes to answerer
Asker: Thank you Michele. Your answer seems to have been overlooked, but I think it is quite good. Any solution is necessarily going to be vague so extra context will be needed.

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Reference comments


32 mins peer agreement (net): +4
Reference: fwiw/hth

Reference information:
https://www.proz.com/kudoz/french-to-english/music/6595790-p...

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Note added at 34 mins (2022-06-30 10:17:43 GMT)
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Answer chosen is not great but other answers posted there should help find a more suitable translation

writeaway
Works in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 66
Note to reference poster
Asker: Thank you again for this reference which I hadn't seen.


Peer comments on this reference comment (and responses from the reference poster)
agree  AllegroTrans: a good translation could be challenging
1 hr
agree  philgoddard
3 hrs
agree  Cyril Tollari
3 hrs
agree  Anastasia Kalantzi
4 days
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