English term
France
Social Sciences | Published Translations
Native in: French (Variant: Standard-France) 
Works in: English to French, Spanish to French
all outside space of shallow depth from the windows
The office space above of necessity had to be ideal, which meant flexibility for arrangement and all outside space of shallow depth from the windows.
| 3 | tout l'espace utile doit être proche des fenêtres |
Cyril B.
|
| 3 | l'ensemble des volumes devaient donner sur l'extérieur... |
Tony M
|
PRO (3): Tony M, FX Fraipont (X), Cyril B.
When entering new questions, KudoZ askers are given an opportunity* to classify the difficulty of their questions as 'easy' or 'pro'. If you feel a question marked 'easy' should actually be marked 'pro', and if you have earned more than 20 KudoZ points, you can click the "Vote PRO" button to recommend that change.
How to tell the difference between "easy" and "pro" questions:
An easy question is one that any bilingual person would be able to answer correctly. (Or in the case of monolingual questions, an easy question is one that any native speaker of the language would be able to answer correctly.)
A pro question is anything else... in other words, any question that requires knowledge or skills that are specialized (even slightly).
Another way to think of the difficulty levels is this: an easy question is one that deals with everyday conversation. A pro question is anything else.
When deciding between easy and pro, err on the side of pro. Most questions will be pro.
* Note: non-member askers are not given the option of entering 'pro' questions; the only way for their questions to be classified as 'pro' is for a ProZ.com member or members to re-classify it.
Proposed translations
tout l'espace utile doit être proche des fenêtres
Je pense, comme Tony, que l'idée est que tout point de l'espace utile (commercialement) doit être proche d'une fenêtre, pour bénéficier d'une bonne lumière.
l'ensemble des volumes devaient donner sur l'extérieur...
Well, that's the idea, but it seems so horribly unwieldy, I hope someone can come up with something better for you!
Were you having touble understanding the EN, or coming up with a formulation in FR?
--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 12 mins (2013-03-10 17:22:53 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------
It is actually ambiguous, and could easily be read 2 ways:
either:
that all the space had to be outside
or:
that all the space that was outside (implying there might also be some space that wasn't) must be close to the windows.
It's a bit silly really: how far from the windows do you have to go before 'outside' space becomes 'inside' space?
It's all about making sure the offices have as much natural daylight as possible, of course.
--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 18 mins (2013-03-10 17:29:15 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------
Yes, like I say, it is ambiguous anyway! I think it means that if it is meant to be 'outside' space, then it must be as close as possible to the windows; i.e. deliberately 'inside' space (stairwells, lift shafts, toilets, etc.) should be well placed in the centre of the building so as to leave as much space as possible free closer to the windows for the precious 'outside' space. It actually seems like a bit of a stupid remark to make, but in the overall context of the building as a whole, perhaps it make sense...
--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 20 mins (2013-03-10 17:31:04 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------
It's "quite bad" inasmuch as it is imprecise and potentially ambiguous; I think they have tried to express a quite complex concept in language that is too telegraphic, and probably didn't realize that in doing so, they were making it ambiguous.
--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 22 mins (2013-03-10 17:32:42 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------
'Outside space' means it has windows; but the far side of the room (= furthest from the windows) mustn't be TOO far; in other words, they want shallow space lining each window wall, with all the "doesn't need windows" space in the 'fat' bit in the middle
| Coming up with a formulation in French. Indeed, how is it possible to mention "outside space" in the sentence as we describe the distance "from" the window. That is, the distance "INSIDE" the building. As your mother tongue is English, don't you think the English sentence here is quite bad? |
Discussion
Merci à vous deux en tout cas.