# ground zero



## psxws

I am looking for an idiomatic rendering of the expression "ground zero", as in:

"it is ground zero for modern slavery"

Meaning it is the place where it occurs the most or where it has its greatest impact. The literal translation of ground zero given by the dictionary here is: منطقة التأثير المباشر للانفجار, but I don't think "منطقة التأثير المباشر للعبودية الحديثة" renders the same meaning; does it?

Thank you.


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## clevermizo

psxws said:


> I am looking for an idiomatic rendering of the expression "ground zero", as in:
> 
> "it is ground zero for modern slavery"
> 
> Meaning it is the place where it occurs the most or where it has its greatest impact. The literal translation of ground zero given by the dictionary here is: منطقة التأثير المباشر للانفجار, but I don't think "منطقة التأثير المباشر للعبودية الحديثة" renders the same meaning; does it?
> 
> Thank you.



No, that's an _explanation_ of what ground zero can refer too,  the Arabic essentially says "An area directly affected by an explosion". The term in English specifically refers to the area that feels the most effect of an explosion. The extension of this meaning to an area that feels the greatest impact of anything is a metaphor. Because of that, it's too idiomatic to render into Arabic this way, I think.

I don't know how منطقة التأثير المباشر للعبودية sounds; hopefully a native speaker can comment. I would just say something like منطقة أثّرتها العبودية أكثر من مناطق أخرى . There's probably a more eloquent way to say it.


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## psxws

Yeah, I understand that that is an explanation. The reason I posted this is to either get a more natural sounding expression or a better translation. I would normally just translate the meaning as you suggested, but this is part of a direct quote so I would like a more concise way of expressing it (as in the original quote)


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## xebonyx

I'm not a native speaker, but I'll comment anyway . The original provided definition is the traditional definition of 'ground zero', but it didn't include the frequency of occurrences.

I would suggest maybe: تربة خصبة للعبودية الحديثة


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## psxws

Thank you!


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## Masjeen

xebonyx said:


> I would suggest maybe: تربة خصبة للعبودية الحديثة



Perfect


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## Haroon

May I ask how *ground zero* could be replaced with _*fertile soil*_ in such a context if we make a back-translation?


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## إسكندراني

تربة خصبة ~ breeding ground
I think to help you I'd like the rest of the quote please .


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## cherine

How about مركز ? I know that markaz is "center" but it also has the meaning of "central point": مركز العبودية الحديثة .
What do you think ?


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## إسكندراني

That's what came to my mind too cherine but I was a little hesitant as I wasn't sure exactly what he meant by 'ground zero', I don't think we use this expression very much in Britain...


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## Xence

May I suggest بؤرة ?

إنها بؤرة الاستعباد الحديث


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## إسكندراني

Xence said:


> May I suggest بؤرة ?
> 
> إنها بؤرة الاستعباد الحديث



بؤرة is a really nice word here, in my mind it sounds like 'breeding-hole'!


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## psxws

إسكندراني said:


> تربة خصبة ~ breeding ground
> I think to help you I'd like the rest of the quote please .



That is the quote in its entirety. As to context, it is referring to the city of Immokalee in South Florida, which has seen a number of slavery cases in its tomato industry dating back to 1997. As so, it is saying that this city/area is "ground zero for modern slavery"; that is to say, it is where most of these cases are predominantly likely to occur and which has been the most affected.

Thank you very much for all your suggestions, I can see more than one which would do the job just fine


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## Outlandish

Xence said:


> May I suggest بؤرة ?
> 
> إنها بؤرة الاستعباد الحديث



I want to add that I would choose a word similar in meaning to Xence's choice:

بؤرة، منبع، مصنع، مرتع، إلى آخره

IMO تربة خصبة is so expressive but these are better when it comes to the degree of equivalence.


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## cherine

I like Xence's expression very much. It expresses the idea of being a center for a bad thing. 

And I suggest a little change: instead of العبودية , why not say تجارة العبيد ? This way, we can say that the place was بؤرة لتجارة العبيد في العصر الحديث .


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## إسكندراني

مدينة إموكالي في جنوب فلوريدا شهدت عدداً كبيراً من حالات الإستعباد المتعلّقة بصناعة الطماطم منذ عام ١٩٩٧. فتلك المدينة بؤرة للإستعباد الحديث، مرتعاً رئيسيّاً لتلك الظاهرة القبيحة ومركز تأثيرها.ـ
I thought it would help to just translate your whole paragraph.


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