# pôle d’excellence



## SylviaF

Hi,
Can anyone help me with an equivalent "in-phrase" in English ? The context is the prevention and treatment of occupational health risks, and the complete phrase is

"La création des *pôles d’excellence* dans la sous région pour les risks spécifiques"

which I have translated as "The creation of research and treatment centres in the sub-region to deal with specific risks", but it's got none of the punch of the original text !


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## Punky Zoé

Hi

Could you, please, give us more of the context, since even the french phrase sounds strange.


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## SylviaF

Hi,
That's part of the problem - it's an item in a list of planned activities to help prevent and treat occupational diseases, and the phrase I've given is the full phrase ...


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## Punky Zoé

"Pôle" seems to be translated as "cluster" in this domain. I read about "business clusters", then maybe "innovation clusters" could work?
And don't you think "ris*ques*" woul be rather "hazards" in occupational health?


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## LOLBee

I have seen the term "pole d'excellence" used in academic settings in Europe.  I would translate it "center of excellence" or "research center."  Or perhaps combining the two, "research center of excellence."  The idea of such a 'pole' is to bring together researchers who can share their knowledge.  I hope that helps at least a bit.


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## liulia

It seems to be one of the buzz-words of the last few months, and I'm delighted to find this thread!

I have used* "centres of excellence"*  (even though I don't like it much) because I think this is about places where examples of good practice are implemented and used extensively (in various fields), where funds are invested in developing new approaches, and so forth.

I would love to know what others are doing with this expression!

It does not always involve "clusters" although it does often seem to  involve cooperation of various sorts.


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## saddamtohmto

Bonjour,

en Suisse, le terme de "*pôle d'excellence*" a été traduit en anglais par "*centre of competence*" dans le milieu de la recherche, ça ne semble pas être une traduction littérale, mais elle ne me paraît pas être trop mauvaise.


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## archijacq

on trouve en anglais "poles of excellence", mais c'est peut-être de la traduction automatique


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## pyan

archijacq said:


> on trouve en anglais "poles of excellence", mais c'est peut-être de la traduction automatique


I googled this and was surprised at how many there were. Many were related to the European Union. It looks as if other people have meit the same problem and come up with "pole" as a translation for pôle.

I like "poles" with its idea of magnetism, and it may become more common, but "Centres of Excellence" as given by LOLBee and liulia are probably the best at the moment.


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## SylviaF

Wow !  This discussion is a perfect example of why I like this forum and use it so regularly.  

I'm reassured to know that I'm not the only one to find this phrase problematic!  Looking at all your suggestions - and they're all helpful - I agree that "centre of excellence" is probably the best for my purpose, though "competence" is close to it as well, I reckon.

The thread will remain open anyway, and perhaps someone will come up with something even better, one day.

Re: Punky Zoé's point about risks and hazards, that's another problem and I'm trying to work it out - the definitions I've found so far don't help, and even  the specialists seem to use both pretty indiscriminately at times, I tend to use "hazard" as a more general term for potential dangers, and risk when the hazard moves towards a concrete situation of real danger ... I'm open to ideas on that one, too, but we'd need to start a new threat to discuss it, I think.

Many thanks to you all,
SylviaF


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## liulia

I am very reluctant to go with "poles" in English - although I too have seen it often enough in English documents. It makes me think of opposites - at one end a pole of excellence, and at the other...?


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## SylviaF

I agree with you liulia, I too have seen "poles" used in English but I don't much like it and as archijacq said I think it might be an example of machine translation or perhaps "translationese" rather than good English ....


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## liulia

So, what do you think , Sylvia- is *centres of excellence*  the best we've got for now?


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## SylviaF

Yes, "centres of excellence" is the solution I prefer for the moment and it's what I've used in today's translation, but I'm still looking and with any luck someone will have a flash of genius later on ... probabably with a completely different phrase that has equivalent meaning ...
I'd just like to say thank you again to you and everyone else who has contributed to the discussion, and to ask you all to keep it on a back burner !


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## Veary

Bonjour,

je souhaiterai savoir comment traduit-on "pôle d'excellence" en anglais?

"Le territoire indien est composé de plusieurs pôles d'excellence." 

J'entends par pôle d'excellence : la capitale technologique, économique, politique, culturelle etc...


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## Matamoscas

_Centres of excellence_ is one option Veary - and welcome.


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## Veary

Thank you !


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## Ilyaness Zedez

Hi everyone,

Je me suis permise d'utiliser cet ancien thread pour qu'il n'y ait pas de doublons (j'espère n'avoir enfreint aucune règle du site en faisant ça).

My question is the same: is there any new possible translation for "*pôle d'excellence*" qui revient très souvent ces temps-ci dans tous les projets lancés dans les pays émergents ou en voie de développement.

I've used "*centre of excellence*" so many times. I hope I was not wrong in doing so

Thanks in advance.


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## SylviaF

Ilyaness Zedez said:


> Hi everyone,
> 
> Je me suis permise d'utiliser cet ancien thread pour qu'il n'y ait pas de doublons (j'espère n'avoir enfreint aucune règle du site en faisant ça).
> 
> My question is the same: is there any new possible translation for "*pôle d'excellence*" qui revient très souvent ces temps-ci dans tous les projets lancés dans les pays émergents ou en voie de développement.
> 
> I've used "*centre of excellence*" so many time. I hope I was not wrong in doing so
> 
> Thanks in advance.


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## SylviaF

Hi *Ilyaness Zedez,
Sorry to disappoint you but I still have no good answer to this one.  I use the word "centre" to translate "pôle" and depending on the context, combine it with notions such as excellence, competence, research, etc.  I think it is probably derived from "pole position" in car racing, so maybe "pole" is okay as a translation.
Has anybody else got any ideas ?
Regards to all,
SylviaF
*


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## Ilyaness Zedez

Thank you so much SylviaF for your quick reply


We have no other choice but to wait for better suggestions.

So let's wait and see if anyone could help here


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## realestate

If we were talking about education -- places where the best practices of a field were being disseminated to up-and-coming leaders -- _"magnet programs"_ might work.


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## Martyn94

Ilyaness Zedez said:


> Hi everyone,
> 
> Je me suis permise d'utiliser cet ancien thread pour qu'il n'y ait pas de doublons (j'espère n'avoir enfreint aucune règle du site en faisant ça).
> 
> My question is the same: is there any new possible translation for "*pôle d'excellence*" qui revient très souvent ces temps-ci dans tous les projets lancés dans les pays émergents ou en voie de développement.
> 
> I've used "*centre of excellence*" so many time. I hope I was not wrong in doing so
> 
> Thanks in advance.


You have used "centres of excellence" a lot because you were right to do so: it is very widely used in UK political and management language: far more so, I think, than "centres of competence" or anything which starts with "poles".


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## Ilyaness Zedez

Thank you *Martyn94* for your reply

Do you mean I can even use "*pole* of competence/ excellence" as a translation for "pôle d'excellence"????


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## Martyn94

Ilyaness Zedez said:


> Thank you *Martyn94* for your reply
> 
> Do you mean I can even use "*pole* of competence/ excellence" as a translation for "pôle d'excellence"????


You can; I wouldn't. centre of excellence is a cliché: sometimes those are the words you have to use.


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## Ilyaness Zedez

Sorry but I'm not sure *I've understood* what you mean

Could you please explain which expression is "a *cliché*" and which is the most appropriate
And why did you say *"you can. I wouldn't*"??????

Thanks in advance


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## Martyn94

Ilyaness Zedez said:


> Sorry but I'm not sure *I've understood* what you mean
> 
> Could you please explain which expression is "a *cliché*" and which is the most appropriate??????
> 
> Thanks in advance



"centre of excellence" is both a cliché and the most appropriate.


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## Ilyaness Zedez

Ok, Now I get it. Thanks a lot, especially for your patience

I'm sorry for being so slow


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## Sylenne

Hi 

I have recently seen "beacon of excellence". Could that be another possible translation? The metaphor sounds nice 

Thanks to all!


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## Matamoscas

You might use ‘beacon of excellence’, if it was a one-off;but as has been said earlier, if it is part of a government program, the appropriateterm is centre of excellence as, in this context, this has become the _phrase figée du jour_ J.


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## bh7

And not only in Europe.  Ontario has been giving money to preferred universities, which have to be of course "centres of excellence".  Once criteria for distribution of government largesse become known, a previously unknown and surprising number of "centres of excellence" materialise.  As a famous French economist (in the words of J. M. Keynes) said, "supply creates its own demand".


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## Squiggle

I note with dismay that in France the buzz word "pôle" that has caused so many headaches for those translating into English because of the very Frenchness of the whole concept is now being increasingly replaced by the word "cluster"!
I give up!!


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